Linux help

[mcnichol]

hello nerds reading this.

i have an old 500 mhz P3 that i'm not sure what i'm doing with, but i'm definitely taking the xp license off of it for another machine.

i've always wanted to use linux but never had the impetus until now. someone here at work recommended Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) and it seems to be pretty popular and robust, from what i've read. But then maybe there are other options.

does anyone have experience with different linux builds/brands/whatever they are called? any do's or don'ts, or general recommendations/tips?

I've only installed it so far but haven't had a chance to do anything else. i did notice that it's messing up my router (some D-link model) and is connected through a usb-to-ethernet connection to the router -- not sure where things are going wrong there. any hints on what that problem might be would be helpful too.

thanks for any information!!!

[ratliff]

I installed Ubuntu (actually Kubuntu, which is the KDE variant) on my iBook for a while and found it very user-friendly. I eventually took it off because there was no way to integrate the files with the existing Mac OS, which meant that it was counterproductive to do actual work on it, but if I ever switch to Linux I'll go with Ubuntu.

[ratliff]

Also, you've probably already done this, but if you start searching online you can usually find answers to specific problems on various fora once you get past the initial "RTFM" replies.

[Mo Daviau]

Talk to Bob A. He's a Linux wizard.

[Brian Boyko]

hello nerds reading this.

i have an old 500 mhz P3 that i'm not sure what i'm doing with, but i'm definitely taking the xp license off of it for another machine.

i've always wanted to use linux but never had the impetus until now. someone here at work recommended Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com) and it seems to be pretty popular and robust, from what i've read. But then maybe there are other options.

does anyone have experience with different linux builds/brands/whatever they are called? any do's or don'ts, or general recommendations/tips?

I've only installed it so far but haven't had a chance to do anything else. i did notice that it's messing up my router (some D-link model) and is connected through a usb-to-ethernet connection to the router -- not sure where things are going wrong there. any hints on what that problem might be would be helpful too.

thanks for any information!!!

Hey - I -literally- wrote the book... well, in-depth 14,000 word article, anyway, on what it's like to migrate to Linux.

Ubuntu is a great distro for beginners because you can check to see how much hardware will work out of the box and get a sense of how much configuring and tweaking you'll need to do through the LiveCD - I'd boot off of the live CD and see if it works first, if it does, then you should have no problems.

[javelina]

I just installed Ubuntu on a P3-1.2GHz Dell laptop (Latitude C400), and it is rad. Brian Boyko's article really helped push me in that direction (thanks, Brian). I've run linux before (RedHat 6.x, Debian Potato and Woody), and got tired of having to diddle with everything. I want the stability of Linux (and neato free software), but I'm not interested in doing computer stuff because I do not actually like computers. A slight paradox, I know. Anyway, give Ubuntu 7.04 a whirl with the Live CD and see what you think. There's nothing to lose other than, perhaps, an hour of your time.

Here is a link to Brian's very nice article.

ben

[mcnichol]

this is awesome, peeps. Thanks!!

And I'll have to check out your article over lunch Brian.

I've actually already installed it and have been using it a little bit (I haven't had any time more than a few minutes here and then to spend with it). I did some research and realized that this old SpeedStream (Siemens) usb-to-ethernet adapter just don't work with Linux, so I need to just get a cheap NIC in it's place. It's so weird -- I'm used to everything working with windows, or at least every piece of hardware having a comparable driver.

Anyway, it looks really cool so far and the software included is great! Considering that this machine is about 8 years old, the OS is pretty kind to my limited resources. It seems like, so far, I've really had very little hardware issues. It's just that the one I have had is related to networking and internet so it seems bigger.

Anyway, thanks for all of the help and advice. I can't wait to get some time to just play with it now!

[Brian Boyko]

this is awesome, peeps. Thanks!!

And I'll have to check out your article over lunch Brian.

I've actually already installed it and have been using it a little bit (I haven't had any time more than a few minutes here and then to spend with it). I did some research and realized that this old SpeedStream (Siemens) usb-to-ethernet adapter just don't work with Linux, so I need to just get a cheap NIC in it's place. It's so weird -- I'm used to everything working with windows, or at least every piece of hardware having a comparable driver.

Anyway, it looks really cool so far and the software included is great! Considering that this machine is about 8 years old, the OS is pretty kind to my limited resources. It seems like, so far, I've really had very little hardware issues. It's just that the one I have had is related to networking and internet so it seems bigger.

Anyway, thanks for all of the help and advice. I can't wait to get some time to just play with it now!

I don't want to say any PCI nic will work, but when I tested Linux on newer hardware and couldn't get the ethernet port on the motherboard working, I literally got the cheapest NIC that Wal*Mart sold without checking to see if it would work in Linux. It did.

[mcnichol]

Hey, that article is great Brian! I'm sure I'll be revisiting it a bit when I'm actually in front of the pc, working through all of this.