Linux OS - a real "Venture"

[fixit3546]

there's something beside windows????

 

I have tried to run a couple of the open source flavors;but could never find anyone that would help me to get the internet and printer working.........I gave up.

 

Has any of that gotten better in the last couple of years? I did like the idea of getting away from winders.

[Dave77459]

Note, Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) has been released. Here's a story on Slashdot.

 

"The latest version of

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) has been released. Offering numerous enhancements for both desktop and server environments, this release includes notable features like Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud images, the Ubuntu One "personal cloud", and Linux kernel version 2.6.31. Please be sure to use a release mirror close to your geographic location to help reduce the stress on Ubuntu's primary servers; using BitTorrent for downloads can help alleviate the load even more. If your organization has adequate network and server resources, please consider hosting a mirror as well."

[SilvrT]

I used Crossover Office for a while back when there was no native version of shockwave and it wasn't possible to view wmvs without Windows Media Player. Now pretty much everything's native or there are drivers.

 

One of the things I liked about it was when there was a technical issue, I wound up in an email exchange the/a primary author. It was great to be able to help sort out a problem with someone who actually codes well. Beats the Mumbai help desk big time.

 

You mentioned running Fedora. Do you follow any Installation Guides? Fedora's fully open, which can be a pain. I usually add proprietary stuff from third party repositories. I find it's easiest to tell folks to follow a guide that takes 'em through the setup process. It's not as easy to install as Ubuntu, but it's a lot more "Linux" in flavor and I find it a lot more powerful.

 

I installed Fedora 11 ... the install is very easy and it only installs what is absolutely necessary. Then you have to run the "software updates" which takes quite a long time. From there, you can install any packages you want. I downloaded the Crossover trial and got it up and running...very simple... now going to test installing Access 2000. Also intend to experiment with Apache.

 

Piece of cake connecting to my WinXP system and copying files over to the Linux box.

[SilvrT]

there's something beside windows????

 

I have tried to run a couple of the open source flavors;but could never find anyone that would help me to get the internet and printer working.........I gave up.

 

Has any of that gotten better in the last couple of years? I did like the idea of getting away from winders.

 

Every distro of Linux I have ever tried I have not once had difficulty connecting to the Internet. Printers hasn't been much of a problem either. Sorry you didn't have much success... download Fedora 11 and give it a try.

[Bummer]

Bummer, you dated yourself.

 

Guilty as charged.

 

I too have written more then a few lines of code on an 8 bit Z80 and in assembler for the bootstrap loader to get my dual cassette tape deck (one for program, one for data) to work. Guess the days of counting bits is over.

 

That's one of the things I like about Linux. I can still, and sometimes must, compile software and tinker with the code. It's not as challenging as the old machine code was, but it's still reasonably interesting.

 

Who would of ever thought a "home" machine could have quad core 64bit CPUs, 1TB drives and 4GB RAM. Unbelievable.

"640k will be enough..." Well, maybe not.

[Bummer]

I installed Fedora 11 ... the install is very easy and it only installs what is absolutely necessary. Then you have to run the "software updates" which takes quite a long time. From there, you can install any packages you want.

 

When I install or upgrade I select "Customize now" and add to the base install configuration. All the programming stuff and libraries, at very least. One thing I like is the ability to pick just how far one wants to go. Bare bones or kitchen sink. I tend to be a kitchen sink kinda guy.

 

I also add non-free stuff through one or more of the third party repositories. Livna has to be there, but that one has become semi-official. I just added the Google repository so I could yum Chromium onto the box. I also use the Adobe repository for their software. At times I've used Dag, FreshRPMs, and Dries.

 

Of course, I'm running a home hobbiest power box, not a work machine.

 

I downloaded the Crossover trial and got it up and running...very simple... now going to test installing Access 2000. Also intend to experiment with Apache.

 

Piece of cake connecting to my WinXP system and copying files over to the Linux box.

The only actual trouble I ever had with Crossover involved its operation as a plugin in the Opera browser. We got that ironed out several years ago. It might not support a given program, but its own operation was hard to fault.

 

I find myself wondering how difficult it would be to port the Access stuff to one of the SQLs, possibly with something like Rekall as graphic front end when needed.

 

I've read that the file sharing system works well, but in that I have a huge Microsoft allergy, I've never had occasion to try it out. Generally, when I'm called upon by a buddy, I show up with a Knoppix disk and an external hard drive and save their stuff that way. That's kind of excessive for daily use.

[Bummer]

there's something beside windows????

 

Yep. Believe it or not, there's always been something.

 

I have tried to run a couple of the open source flavors;but could never find anyone that would help me to get the internet and printer working.........I gave up.

 

If you install with the machine hooked up to the internet most of the distros will automatically set up your connection. It might even try to use it as part of the install. Depends on the distro.

 

If you do have problems, the easiest way to connect to the Internet is to use a router. Fifty bucks or so. The router automatically connects to the modem and the computer automatically connects to the router. That way if you ever have to call the provider for help you don't have to say "I'm running Linux", and have them refuse to talk to you. (Not all of 'em hassle Linux users, but some do.) You get to say "I have a Linksys (or D-Link, or whatever) router and can't connect". Since Windows users have routers too, they'll fix that.

 

It gets better all the time, but printers can be a problem. Cannon, for example, has been pretty uncooperative, while most of the others have worked with the open source people. HP and Epson don't make Linux drivers, but at least they've made the info to write a driver available. If you have an HP or Epson, it'll probably plug and play. Lexmark should too. At one time they even supplied their own driver software. Cannon? I don't really know. Because of the way they've treated non-Windows users, I won't even carry a Cannon product home to toss in the trash.

 

As a last resort, there's a commercial program called Turboprint that serves as a printer interface for Linux. The author started out on the Amiga and added Linux back when there were always huge problems. I bought it long ago, but haven't used it in several years since it's largely not needed now as long as the printer is fairly common.

 

Has any of that gotten better in the last couple of years? I did like the idea of getting away from winders.

GNU/Linux has gotten better with every distribution since Linus Torvalds wrote the Kernal and Richard Stallman wrote the GNU application layer. The hardest part is picking a distro that fits your needs. If you're not an obsessive/compulsive techie you probably don't want Fedora. I am, so I do. Folks who are not techies but who are trying to escape Microsoft's rather expensive lock-in will probably be happier with Ubuntu. I'd suggest starting out with a LiveCD version of Ubuntu to see how it fits you. You can also try Fedora as a LiveCD. Just keep in mind that you don't want to judge system speed. It's running off a CD which is worlds slower than a hard drive. If it feels right and works ok, you can install it and it'll be as fast as anything else.

 

If you give it a try and have questions or problems, don't hesitate to ask. I'll be happy to help to the extent I'm able from a few hundred miles away.

[SilvrT]

I find myself wondering how difficult it would be to port the Access stuff to one of the SQLs, possibly with something like Rekall as graphic front end when needed.

 

I've already gone that route using MySQL and Navicat ... very easy. Then I use the MySQL ODBC connector to hook an Access front end to the MySQL tables.

[SilvrT]

So, I was able to get Excel & Access (v 2000) running within Fedora using Crossover; however, there's a few bugs that need to be worked out but overall, it was pretty easy.

 

Additionally, I've got Apache web server running with all the files from our Intranet... now I just have to figure out how to make ASP.NET work and I'll be laffin!

[Wanderer]

there's something beside windows????

 

I have tried to run a couple of the open source flavors;but could never find anyone that would help me to get the internet and printer working.........I gave up.

 

Has any of that gotten better in the last couple of years? I did like the idea of getting away from winders.

 

Much of it is just a matter of the drivers. Please try MEPIS, it is the best out of the box Linux I've ever used. What kind of printer? Linux does not work well with Lexmark, but any HP works extremely well.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. It is a live CD so you may try it before committing, it will also auto

partition your drive so you can dual boot your current Windows version and it.

[SilvrT]

I just installed Ubuntu 9.10 on my home PC. It did not auto install drivers for my HP1020 but it did for my HP4100c scanner. To get the HP1020 to work, I had to open a terminal window, switch to root user, run the command lsusb to get the Bus and Device address, then had to run the command hp-setup -i 001:002 (001=Bus, 002=Device). From that I had to answer some simple questions and voila` ... it worked!

[fixit3546]

Well, I just may try it again.........What is a good download site?

 

Thanks for the even replying to me about this. I am not a Guru; but i could be with a little help.............

[SilvrT]

Well, I just may try it again.........What is a good download site?

 

Thanks for the even replying to me about this. I am not a Guru; but i could be with a little help.............

 

Check this site out...it has links to all the linux distro's ...

 

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions[/ame]

[Bummer]

Well, I just may try it again.........What is a good download site?

 

Thanks for the even replying to me about this. I am not a Guru; but i could be with a little help.............

You can check out Ubuntu and Fedora. Wanderer suggested Mepis. All three offer LiveCDs you can test.

 

I find Ubuntu somewhat constraining. I don't find it as easy to compile software on. I also find security to be a bit weaker. Ubuntu was spun off from Debian to offer Windows users an easy path to Linux. I was never actually a Windows user, so I don't find that path particularly useful.

 

I started out with Linux using Red Hat 4 on a laptop. Red Hat spun off Fedora to slow its rate of change. Fedora went on as the bleeding edge with a fairly quick upgrade cycle. Red Hat uses what's learned with Fedora to create a rock solid, fully supported commercial product with the longer update cycle businesses like.

 

There are quite a few distributions of Linux. They range from the simple like Ubuntu and Mepis, through test beds like Fedora, to something like Gentoo in which everything is compiled from code right on your machine. Any prices listed are for delivered disks. If you simply download and burn it yourself there's no charge.

 

I'm more used to Fedora, but it may not be right for you. That's why I suggested trying the LiveCD versions of several of 'em first.

[fixit3546]

Well, I just may try it again.........What is a good download site?

 

Thanks for the even replying to me about this. I am not a Guru; but i could be with a little help.............

 

i am posting from the MEPIS orerating system using the konqueror browser. (downloaded live cd and created iso image):fingers-crossed-emo

[First_N_Last]

Had to chime in...

 

I run 30 VMware & 10 Openfiler unix based serversat work.

 

At home I only have 1 unix based system which is a virtual Browsing Appliance running on my VMware Server software on top of 1 16GB 2003 64bit server. The other 2 file servers are also 2003. every laptop is running XP or windows 7.

 

I never really grabbed on to unix/linux for a personal computer. had to many MS based apps & utils to give them up. In reality, it may be because of my work. A+,CNE5,CCNA,FCC,MCSE-NT4-2000-2003

 

My Openfiler Linux based iSCSI Target Servers run for ever! They do one thing & they do it GREAT!

 

Good for all of you sticking with it for home use.

[fixit3546]

Had to chime in...

 

I run 30 VMware & 10 Openfiler unix based serversat work.

 

At home I only have 1 unix based system which is a virtual Browsing Appliance running on my VMware Server software on top of 1 16GB 2003 64bit server. The other 2 file servers are also 2003. every laptop is running XP or windows 7.

 

I never really grabbed on to unix/linux for a personal computer. had to many MS based apps & utils to give them up. In reality, it may be because of my work. A+,CNE5,CCNA,FCC,MCSE-NT4-2000-2003

 

My Openfiler Linux based iSCSI Target Servers run for ever! They do one thing & they do it GREAT!

 

Good for all of you sticking with it for home use.

 

 

Hey John. This is a learning experience for me, ya know, you can't ever have too many tools in your box.

 

 

thanks to you other fellas too for the info. i might have to ask Don to add a Computer Tech section.....looks like "you can find any thing you want at...................venturerider.org"

 

 

Hey John, "Welcome home"

[SilvrT]

Servers run for ever! They do one thing & they do it GREAT!

 

I have one Linux file server in my cabinet at work (along with 4 Windows servers) ... this Linux machine has been running for about 2 years... never fails, no problems,... just sits there and does it's work. As for the Windows servers, with the exception of the Domain Controller, I've had to reboot them for one thing or another more than once during that same time.