Teach me about Linux - Page 3

**CingularDuality** · 05-12-2008, 02:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScratchMonkey

I'm mainly a server guy, and try to avoid wireless, so I can't do much more than offer the same help you've already found.

The instructions at that link look straightforward. Where do they fail for you?

That's just it, I don't understand much of anything at that link. That link assumes a basic understanding of linux, which I do not have. The only reason I even tried Ubuntu is because I've been told that I can do everything via the GUI now. I'm most definitely NOT a command line sorta guy...

I tried copying the code from that site and pasting it into the "Terminal" application, and it looked like it was working, but then it threw all kinds of errors at me and I figured I had guessed wrong and that there's something else I should be doing.

**Lorax74** · 05-12-2008, 07:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

That's just it, I don't understand much of anything at that link. That link assumes a basic understanding of linux, which I do not have. The only reason I even tried Ubuntu is because I've been told that I can do everything via the GUI now. I'm most definitely NOT a command line sorta guy...

I tried copying the code from that site and pasting it into the "Terminal" application, and it looked like it was working, but then it threw all kinds of errors at me and I figured I had guessed wrong and that there's something else I should be doing.

Which device do you actually have and is it a laptop or desktop?

**CingularDuality** · 05-12-2008, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorax74

Which device do you actually have and is it a laptop or desktop?

It's a laptop and I'm assuming that it's a newer Broadcom chip since the laptop is only a year old. I don't know how to find out exactly what device I have using linux.

**Lorax74** · 05-12-2008, 09:11 AM

Laptops can be fickle, to say the least. Are you using a PCMCIA card or onboard wireless? Also, provide us with the make and model please.

**MagnaCentipede** · 05-12-2008, 02:00 PM

I was hoping they would get wireless working in Ubuntu with 8.04. They didn't. I guess I get to wait for 8.10.

ScratchMonkey · 05-12-2008, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

That's just it, I don't understand much of anything at that link. That link assumes a basic understanding of linux, which I do not have. The only reason I even tried Ubuntu is because I've been told that I can do everything via the GUI now. I'm most definitely NOT a command line sorta guy...

Ah, you're a WIMP.

Quote:

I tried copying the code from that site and pasting it into the "Terminal" application, and it looked like it was working, but then it threw all kinds of errors at me and I figured I had guessed wrong and that there's something else I should be doing.

Without knowing what the commands do, that's a crap shoot.

I grew up with the Apple II, MSDOS, SunOS, and other command line systems. GUIs are a good way to do "one off" tasks, but they suck at batch operations where you need to do a bunch of similar things in a way the GUI designer didn't forsee. For example, try renaming all the files in a large folder in a regular way (say, adding the date to the middle of the filename) using a GUI.

If you're willing to slog through the terminal-based documentation, you can get the manual page for any command using the "man" command. For example, "man wget" and "man tar" tell you the syntax of those commands and what they do. Do that for each command shown on the firmware instructions page to see how to adapt it to your rig.

**birdie_in_Texas** · 05-12-2008, 03:23 PM

This weekend while cleaning up getting ready for this surgery mess, I found a store-bought verion of Mandrake..complete with about 10 cd's and some books..I think i bought it about 5 years ago maybe..?

Anyone thinks it is worth me messing with?

**CingularDuality** · 05-12-2008, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorax74

Laptops can be fickle, to say the least. Are you using a PCMCIA card or onboard wireless? Also, provide us with the make and model please.

As I said, it's a Broadcom chip in my laptop, not a PC card. I don't know the model number of the chip because I don't know how to find that info.

ScratchMonkey · 05-12-2008, 03:35 PM

You might be able to find out what chip with the "lspci" command. This prints out all devices found on the PCI bus, and I'd bet the chip is a PCI device on the internal bus. Chips are identified by a vendor/product number pair, and this is what's used by both Linux and Windows to locate the driver to use.

http://linux.about.com/od/commands/l/blcmdl8_lspci.htm

**Lorax74** · 05-12-2008, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

As I said, it's a Broadcom chip in my laptop, not a PC card. I don't know the model number of the chip because I don't know how to find that info.

Sorry, I meant the make and model of the laptop...

**CingularDuality** · 05-12-2008, 05:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lorax74

Sorry, I meant the make and model of the laptop...

Oh, heck. I've never paid any attention to that.

It's a Compaq Presario v6110US

**Waldo_II** · 05-14-2008, 08:54 PM

I don't know why people like Ubuntu so much! First off, the most annoying to me, is that they almost completely crippled the command interface! Ever try logging in as root on Ubuntu? Pretty hard. When I tried it (nightmare to me), I tried to login as root to do some work, realizing that I had no idea what the root password was! During setup, it never asked me what I wanted the password to be. I later found out that there was no problem. No root password = biggest possible security hole ever conceived linux.

Then I tried playing mp3s. Grr, setup didn't even install an audio player, let alone mp3 support! So, I had to install those. That leads me to my second major point- the apt package system. In my short time with it, it managed to seriously frustrate me. This is probably because I was used to the all mighty glorious RPM system. RPMs are just wonderful. They are like APT only on steroids. Wonderful, downside-less steroids.

A few things may have changed since I tried Ubuntu, but that is my experience with it.

The best distro out there, in my opinion, is OpenSUSE. OpenSUSE is absolutely perfect. KDE or Gnome or XFCE, comes with mp3 support out-of-the-box, Amarokk (for KDE), and, above all, YaST! YaST is the greatest thing since the dawn of the microprocessor. You can do pretty much everything with it- Install, update, remove, and modify your installed packages, organizes packages in repositories that you specify, letting you just click two buttons (literally- check box and the accept box) to install software.
YaST also has a god-like partitioning tool (twenty parititions on my flash drive- all sorts of file systems. Encrypted ext3, non encrypted ext3, FAT, encrypted ext2, ReizerFS, and many more), god-like network setup, user managing, all sorts of hardware setup goodies (bluetooth, joysticks, printers, scanners, etc), bootloader options, just too many to count. All user friendly too!
The security is like military-grade, too. OpenSUSE is (I'm pretty sure), the only distro with AppArmor, a process that limit's the abilities of certain programs so no evil process can go messing around in /dev.
One more thing I want to mention is the glorious one-click install. Only a few applications use this (NVidia drivers, KDE4, and Compiz-fusion namely). Just click a big "one-click install" button on a webpage, enter the root password, and watch the magic happen (Insert link to Compiz Fusion Development video on youtube here).
OpenSUSE rules. Try it.

And the installer makes it insanely easy to set up a dual-boot system.

Grr, dang fifteen post restriction. You will have to do some Googling.

**Reaperassault** · 05-14-2008, 09:24 PM

I have the openSUSE 10.3 iso but haven't had the time to pull the trigger yet

**Waldo_II** · 05-14-2008, 10:45 PM

If you do plan on installing it, I suppose now would be a bad time to do so. There are only 35 days to go until version 11.0 comes out.

BUT, if you don't think you will have time to do it later, you can install OpenSUSE 10.3 now and update later on. Linux has this wonderful way of changing distros without losing all of your data.

Usually, when you set yourself up with a Linux distro, the installer will create two or three partitions. These are /root, /home, and everything else (system files and such). The /home folder is for all of your personal documents. A normal user (one that is not root), can only modify files in /home/username. They need the root password to modify anything outside of there. This is one of the reasons why Linux is so secure- it is impossible for a virus to do real damage unless you are logged in as root.
/root is just like /home, only for root.
Now, the reason this is so wonderful is when you install a new distro or update, what the installer will do is delete the system files partition and replace it with it's own, leaving all of your personal documents untouched because they are on a different partition. The OpenSUSE installer can do either this, or it will just update certain applications and libraries (like KDE, the kernel, Gnome, stuff like AppArmor, YaST, etc.).

**birdie_in_Texas** · 05-15-2008, 10:35 AM

this has inspired me to "attempt" to install this OpenSUSE thingy onto one of my boxes...dual-boot is a mystery for now, but I am sure I can mess it up and then get help to get it going right! ahhahah

05-12-2008, 09:11 AM	#34 (permalink)
Lorax74 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Bridgewater, NJ Age: 34 Posts: 5,467	Re: Teach me about Linux Laptops can be fickle, to say the least. Are you using a PCMCIA card or onboard wireless? Also, provide us with the make and model please. __________________ Ikariam (Alpha) Bayhios [35:70] > Truax (c) - Wine Streardeos [39:70] > New Truax - Marble Meikaios[35:68] > Truax Minor - Crystal

05-12-2008, 02:00 PM	#35 (permalink)
MagnaCentipede Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 1,551	Re: Teach me about Linux I was hoping they would get wireless working in Ubuntu with 8.04. They didn't. I guess I get to wait for 8.10. __________________

05-12-2008, 03:23 PM	#37 (permalink)
birdie_in_Texas Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: TEXAS..! Age: 38 Posts: 1,514	Re: Teach me about Linux This weekend while cleaning up getting ready for this surgery mess, I found a store-bought verion of Mandrake..complete with about 10 cd's and some books..I think i bought it about 5 years ago maybe..? Anyone thinks it is worth me messing with? __________________ \|TG-13th\|Birdie IKARIAM INFO: 2 TOWNS IN 2 WORLDS WITH 4 COLONIES AND 1 BIRDIE TO RULE THEM ALL. Call of Duty - Official Rules, Announcements & SOPs Contact a CoD Admin Here

05-12-2008, 03:35 PM	#39 (permalink)
ScratchMonkey Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: San Pablo, California Posts: 3,349	Re: Teach me about Linux You might be able to find out what chip with the "lspci" command. This prints out all devices found on the PCI bus, and I'd bet the chip is a PCI device on the internal bus. Chips are identified by a vendor/product number pair, and this is what's used by both Linux and Windows to locate the driver to use. http://linux.about.com/od/commands/l/blcmdl8_lspci.htm __________________ Sig

05-14-2008, 08:54 PM	#42 (permalink)
Waldo_II Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: /bin/sh Posts: 76	Re: Teach me about Linux I don't know why people like Ubuntu so much! First off, the most annoying to me, is that they almost completely crippled the command interface! Ever try logging in as root on Ubuntu? Pretty hard. When I tried it (nightmare to me), I tried to login as root to do some work, realizing that I had no idea what the root password was! During setup, it never asked me what I wanted the password to be. I later found out that there was no problem. No root password = biggest possible security hole ever conceived linux. Then I tried playing mp3s. Grr, setup didn't even install an audio player, let alone mp3 support! So, I had to install those. That leads me to my second major point- the apt package system. In my short time with it, it managed to seriously frustrate me. This is probably because I was used to the all mighty glorious RPM system. RPMs are just wonderful. They are like APT only on steroids. Wonderful, downside-less steroids. A few things may have changed since I tried Ubuntu, but that is my experience with it. The best distro out there, in my opinion, is OpenSUSE. OpenSUSE is absolutely perfect. KDE or Gnome or XFCE, comes with mp3 support out-of-the-box, Amarokk (for KDE), and, above all, YaST! YaST is the greatest thing since the dawn of the microprocessor. You can do pretty much everything with it- Install, update, remove, and modify your installed packages, organizes packages in repositories that you specify, letting you just click two buttons (literally- check box and the accept box) to install software. YaST also has a god-like partitioning tool (twenty parititions on my flash drive- all sorts of file systems. Encrypted ext3, non encrypted ext3, FAT, encrypted ext2, ReizerFS, and many more), god-like network setup, user managing, all sorts of hardware setup goodies (bluetooth, joysticks, printers, scanners, etc), bootloader options, just too many to count. All user friendly too! The security is like military-grade, too. OpenSUSE is (I'm pretty sure), the only distro with AppArmor, a process that limit's the abilities of certain programs so no evil process can go messing around in /dev. One more thing I want to mention is the glorious one-click install. Only a few applications use this (NVidia drivers, KDE4, and Compiz-fusion namely). Just click a big "one-click install" button on a webpage, enter the root password, and watch the magic happen (Insert link to Compiz Fusion Development video on youtube here). OpenSUSE rules. Try it. And the installer makes it insanely easy to set up a dual-boot system. Grr, dang fifteen post restriction. You will have to do some Googling. __________________ \|TG-XV\|Waldo_II Violence doesn't solve anything. Exceptions for: Slavery, dictatorship, communism, genocide, oppression, evil/racist/hateful regimes bent on world domination... Florida is pretty sweet.

05-14-2008, 09:24 PM	#43 (permalink)
Reaperassault Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Not here Posts: 1,783	Re: Teach me about Linux I have the openSUSE 10.3 iso but haven't had the time to pull the trigger yet __________________

05-14-2008, 10:45 PM	#44 (permalink)
Waldo_II Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: /bin/sh Posts: 76	Re: Teach me about Linux If you do plan on installing it, I suppose now would be a bad time to do so. There are only 35 days to go until version 11.0 comes out. BUT, if you don't think you will have time to do it later, you can install OpenSUSE 10.3 now and update later on. Linux has this wonderful way of changing distros without losing all of your data. Usually, when you set yourself up with a Linux distro, the installer will create two or three partitions. These are /root, /home, and everything else (system files and such). The /home folder is for all of your personal documents. A normal user (one that is not root), can only modify files in /home/username. They need the root password to modify anything outside of there. This is one of the reasons why Linux is so secure- it is impossible for a virus to do real damage unless you are logged in as root. /root is just like /home, only for root. Now, the reason this is so wonderful is when you install a new distro or update, what the installer will do is delete the system files partition and replace it with it's own, leaving all of your personal documents untouched because they are on a different partition. The OpenSUSE installer can do either this, or it will just update certain applications and libraries (like KDE, the kernel, Gnome, stuff like AppArmor, YaST, etc.). __________________ \|TG-XV\|Waldo_II Violence doesn't solve anything. Exceptions for: Slavery, dictatorship, communism, genocide, oppression, evil/racist/hateful regimes bent on world domination... Florida is pretty sweet.

05-15-2008, 10:35 AM	#45 (permalink)
birdie_in_Texas Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: TEXAS..! Age: 38 Posts: 1,514	Re: Teach me about Linux this has inspired me to "attempt" to install this OpenSUSE thingy onto one of my boxes...dual-boot is a mystery for now, but I am sure I can mess it up and then get help to get it going right! ahhahah __________________ \|TG-13th\|Birdie IKARIAM INFO: 2 TOWNS IN 2 WORLDS WITH 4 COLONIES AND 1 BIRDIE TO RULE THEM ALL. Call of Duty - Official Rules, Announcements & SOPs Contact a CoD Admin Here

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