ReFoRMaT

Ahem...Dylaar: Would give the history of computing, the world and GUI's one more time. As for my slow computer, DID YOU NOT READ THE PART WHERE I HAD A NEWER FASTER COMPUTER THAN THE PIII THAT I BUILT MYSELF. Did I once state my computer was fast? ONE MORE TIME FOR THE BLIND AND STUPID, KDE IS MORE OF A RESOURCE HOG THAN GNOME, NO MATTER WHAT F*CKING COMPUTER YOU ARE ON! Dude, unless you are a computer scientist from MIT, don't automatically assume people are stupid in here. I fix old and new computers with all the different flavours of windohs. I de-virus windohs when ALL the so-called antivirus softwares fail. NONE OF THIS I WENT TO SCHOOL FOR. As for the plug and play, most distros have excellent hardware detection and AUTOMATIC SETUP!

I wonder if it reports all the 'on by default' Micro$lop 'phone-home-ware' built right in to windohs?! Everything after '98' should have had it built right in to the OS, the nerve! They are offering a free beta for now, pay them later for software to fix the other software they sold you in the first place. Ummm...how about a RECALL Billy G., just like the car manufacturers! Windohs is broken right out of the box!

Debian is scary. Managed to get to the kde desktop only to screw up the nvidia driver by apt update. When an installer asks you if you want a 'typical desktop' install, WHY IN THE H*LL WOULD IT NOT INSTALL THE XWINDOW SERVER and then ask, would you like kde, gnome or fries with that...and how about upsize the drink? When people call the installer archaic, THEY WERE NOT KIDDING. I did not write down what 'tty*' port my optical usb mouse is on BECAUSE I DID NOT THINK I WOULD NEED THAT INCONSEQUENTIAL BIT OF INFORMATION LATER ON IN THE INSTALL! Are the Debian crowd elitists that want to keep the 'average' user out of their clique? I am going to give Suse 9.2 a try since I liked Suse 9.1 the best so far. http://www.novell.com/products/linuxprofessional/downloads/ftp/int_mirrors.html Once again, I was not able to 'see' my windohs 2k partition. Suse is the only distro so far, that I am able to 'see' AND access the 2k partition (this is just a matter of convenience, not having to put a cdrw in the drive to look at the same files that are still on the harddrive until I get rid of the 2k partition completely). ProMepis can wait until they have sorted their kernel problems. P.S. In this day and age, some people just don't have the time to fool with an 'uber-geek' distro. I just want to get away from windohs for cryin' out loud (*sigh*).

Try this. Download it, burn it and boot the machine with it. Boots in about 30 seconds (depending on hardware of course). No install to the harddrive. Played lots of different files for me and has a dvd player. I am using it till I settle on a distro to use fulltime and get mplayer installed. http://www.geexbox.org/en/index.html

Mr. Phil: Nobody should have to wrestle an OS to the floor and choke it to get A VERY COMMON VIDEO CARD to work. I tried both yum and up2date without much success. I even overwrote the yumconfig file with a 'newer' version I found at www.fedorafaq.org which added alot more servers. Fedora is a poor distro in my opion, because it does not have a policy similar to Debian. Fedora is the Titanic with a thousand bandaids on the hull. I think I will melt my copy of FC3 in the sun with a magnifiying glass just for the hell of it. I appreciate your suggestions of other distros but I want one with some 'meat on it's bones' right out of the box. Most corporate 'trials' reek of shareware (try this table scrap and if you like it, come buy the whole meal mentality).

*Ahhhheeemmmm*...all I said was I found Gnome 'faster' than KDE, aside from you guys having a laugh at the expense of my trusty little 'workhorse' , thank you all for your advice and comments. I thought Micr$py/monopoly/gouge Corp. was funny, 'tough' room, *tap*, *tap*, *tap*, is 'thing' on?(*feedback*) P.S. I prefer a disk install because you can not verify data integrity during a 'net' install. If something goes wrong, you have no way of 'pinpointing' the problem.

I will definitely be trying ProMepis Beta 3. Sounds good. I may not have any money right now but in the near future I will start donating to certain freewares that I like and pay for a full version distro if it is good enough. I am sure there is a lot of other people out there like me who are fed up with Micro$py/monopoly/gouge Corp. Win2k sp2 is the last Micro$lop product I will ever use. Good riddance to bad rubbish! I have already switched from hotmail to http://www.linuxmail.org/scripts/common/index.main?signin=1〈=us P.S. This is the whole point of my distro trials. Find a nice comfortable 'shoe' that fits!

I appreciate the info egorgy but I am 'torrenting' the last 10 disks right now. I want to be able to give the installer whatever it wants when it asks for it. If I really like it, I will make some copies for friends.

Dear Mr. clutch (I will assume you are male) Re:1. Very low on money right now (*sigh*). Re:2. I wish you guys would get off the 'slow' thing. The only reason I mentioned anything is the obvious resource hunger of KDE compared to Gnome. Somebody should trim the fat from KDE before it explodes! Don't get me wrong, I actually prefer KDE. My computer works just fine. You would not believe what I do on this thing (archive, decode/encrypt very large files etc.). I had an AMD 'thunderbird' core 1733MHz/1GB 233 ddr pile of junk I built from new parts. I do the same tasks, if not more on this PIII/733. The AMD would lag and kahk alot under pressure. I was anti-Intel for awhile but after realizing anything that runs as hot as an AMD chip will have a shorter life span and be prone to making errors. I don't think this computer has gave me a single problem. It is an IBM 6565rbu. Built like a brick outhouse. I like IBM's, never had any trouble with them. This is my second IBM (Bimmer II). I use and abuse it and it never complains. Of course some extra custom cooling always helps. Re:4. The fact that Debian is so package 'flexible' is very appealing. Thankyou for that information. Re: "As for 15 ISOs, that doesn't make any sense." Check this out: http://ftp.acc.umu.se/pub/cd-images/debian-weekly/torrents/i386/ I think I will stick to a trouble free disk install for now, thankyou very much. I tried the online install which did not give a pppoe setup option. The setup assumes everbody is on cable with a fixed IP or you want to spend a week using a dialup modem. P.S. I don't care how bad some people say the Debian installer is, once I am up and running, I will be enjoying thousands of packages on what I hear is a stable Linux with much less 'dependancy' headaches! What is the 'native/default' desktop for Debian? Why do you prefer Gentoo? Do I ask too many questions?

How big is the harddrive? One and a half hours sounds like a long time because I believe the FC3 disk utility does a 'quick format'. Did you get the what bootloader to use (should be grub) question? When you say "wipe", how was it wiped? You may have a boot sector virus or you need to use a special command just before the install starts to shut off the IDE DMA. One of the 'F' keys, F5 I believe lets you into the command prompt at the install boot screen. Type: linux ide=nodma <enter>. There is more on this in the readme on the disk (readable in windohs) or go to this website that I found somewhat helpful: www.fedorafaq.org One other scenario is if you used a low level format utility, you may have to restore the mbr (master boot record) with a windohs utility called fdisk ( fdisk/mbr <enter> ) or the fixmbr command after you boot with a 2k or XPee disk. Other than that dude, I am stumped. There are other guys on here that know way more than me so hopefully they will 'chime' in. One more question, did you check the iso's with md5sum? A corrupt download would make a bogus install disk.

Boy, you guys reply fast. 1. ProMepis costs money, I would prefer to try before I buy, even if I did have the money. 2. My machine is not THAT slow! It is a PIII/733, 80GB Seagate @ ata66, 512/133 SDram, nVidia GeForce FX 5200/128MB, fast PPPoe dsl, etc... 3. I will be building a very fast/new machine as soon as my money situation improves (see 2.) 4. Do other Debian/apt based distros use the same or have their own repositories? 5. Last but not least, I decided to go with the lastest Debian 'sarge' release WHICH IS 15 ISO'S, instead of 3.0 r3. I vont cutting edge, if something acts up I will fix or remove it! Probably the latter since I am not THAT good yet. P.S. I will give Ubuntu (gotta love that funny name) a 'whirl' if I don't like Debian. Thankyou both for your suggestions and comments.

Dear Mr. egorgy (ego orgy?) http://www.linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/plural-of-virus.html No offense but every time I see viri, virri, virii and assorted other versions, it is like fingernails dragged across a chalk board. The Register article was fascinating and very informative. It gave me a new perspective and understanding of the Linux 'model' (and a better understanding of why I have had a couple of billion bsod's in windohs). P.S. Sorry swvines, not exactly on topic but you raise a very good point that is worth investigating further. By the way, that link does not work (for me anyway).

Here are some Micro$ux instructions for using an XPeePee (or XPee Home, same tools) cd: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docum...kd_tro_ldau.asp Now...if you have windohs98 boot floppy, choose the "start computer without cdrom support" (boots faster for what you wanna do). When it is finished 'loading' and you are at the prompt (looks like this with a flashing cursor: A:\), type fdisk/mbr and hit the 'enter' key. Shut the computer off by the button on the front (as opposed to a software shutdown). Remove the floppy. Fire up the computer and it should boot into windohs. This will get your windohs back at least. By the way, Fedora sucks for newbies (which I consider myself to be still). I hated it. Try Suse 9.1 personal if you have a dsl or cable connection, there is some extra driver and program downloading after (or during if you can configure your connection) the main install. I have 2k and Suse on my drive and have not had one prob. I even access files on the windohs partition from Suse Linux. If you don't get windohs back, you MAY (or maybe not, don't go re-installing windows if you are not sure) have wiped it out when Fedora was getting your harddrive ready to install itself. P.S. I love new words, i.e. computery (heh heh).

A major hurdle to going full out Linux was playing an assortment of video files. I am running Suse 9.1 Personal which is ok for pretty much everything else besides multimedia (kinda weak in that department). I downloaded the GeexBox 0.98 'live' cd iso (6.something MB) and burned it. Boots from the cdrom and runs from the memory (leaves the hdd alone). You navigate through the menus with the keyboard (easier than it sounds). Recognizes many file systems and partitions, even windohs 'fat'. PLAYED 76 OF 79 FILES, ASSORTED CODECS (the 3 it didn't play aren't that important, I'll get over it, heh heh)! Even if you only have one cdrom, it pops out after it loads itself into the memory, then you pop in your disk full of videos and voila, movie time! Here is the huge bonus for you DVD drive owners, IT PLAYS DVD's (so no more excuses, i.e. waah, I can't watch my dvd's in linux). Did I mention it loads in about 30 seconds on my PIII/733? Hey Bill and Steve , you know who you are you closet Linux fans, my windohs install disk will be a coaster very soon.

Forgot to mention, it comes with Mplayer that loads during boot. No confusing install. GeexBox home page: http://www.geexbox.org/en/index.html

I agree gfolkert. Microslop has made everything so IDIOT friendly, they have enslaved the general public. I have had the same, if not more trouble with windohs installing, configuring, etc. Linux to me is not just a new toy, but a way out of vicous cycle of gouging (by Microslop and 3rd party vendors) and increasing invasion of privacy. Windohs is the Big Mac of operating systems, quick and dirty, fatty slop! Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer get my vote for the biggest scam artist(s) of all time! They feed off of the brain dead laziness of others.

One more thing, the Chinese are very smart. They probably found the holes but are not saying anything. You would not build a house out of Styrofoam in a hurricane zone would ya?

Fear mongering worked for Bush. Bill and Steve make me sick. Did anybody notice Ballmer did not deny the back doors for the U.S. government to hack the Chinese, just that they "are overblown". The pair of 'em make my skin crawl. P.S. This was posted with Klunqueror 3.2.1 in SuSE 9.1. I am going to throw a party the day I am totally independent of Micro$py!

This is a buggy hardware combo in under any OS. After much playing around with SaX2 in SuSE 9.1 personal, I was able to get it working. If you have a similar situation, don't use the monitor buttons to move the picture after 3D is enable, use SaX2/geometry, save, then log out and back in or reboot like I do to clear the memory. The path to SaX2 is K Menu/System/Configuration/SaX2. I am finding the K Menu organization a little challenging. Then again, I would rather eat dog poop then buy the next 'version' of Windohs. I have to take my hat off to Novell and Nvidia, I am totally shocked it is working!

Did you do the driver update through Yast? Did you 'fine tune' with SaX2? I had the exact opposite effect with Mandrake, could not get 3D to work and the 2D was mediocre at best. I enabled a 3D screensaver (in SuSE) and kept tweaking till it worked properly. Maybe your chipset is much newer than mine? Just go to show you, one man's Linux is another man's poison (heh heh).

Compared to my experience with RedHat 9/Gnome, I think I will stick to KDE. Seems a tad more stable and cooperative if you ask me. Then again, I liked the industrial look and feel of 2k so go figure. I like things that work, period. Even if it means less frills.

MPlayer seems to have the best codec support out there. I am currently trying to get it to work with SuSE 9.1 personal (which I am posting this with). If there is a 3rd party friendly distro with a relatively easy application install routine, PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU, WHAT IS IT?!

Check it out: http://www.novell.com/linux/truth/?sourceidint=homepage_redbox In the near future, windohs users will be pitied and laughed at.

SuSE 9.1 Personal. Very polished for a noob-boob like me (heh heh).

Just out of curiousity, how did you wind up with a drive with Linux on it if you are computer illiterate? A 2k or XP install cd does not recognize Linux so it basically will ask your if you want to change the 'file system' to Fat32 or NTFS. I prefer fat32 because it is faster but has no 'security' features that ntfs has. Find somebody who knows how to navigate through the disk formatting utility after you boot from the windohs installation CD. Delete the existing partitions and create a new one (I prefer three partitions; 10 gigs for windohs and program files - C: -, 1gig for the 'pagefile' - D: - and the rest of the drive for my 'stash' partition - E: - so I don't lose my stuff when windohs crashes or gets virused up). That is why I am going to Linux, I am tired of windohs shattering like cheap china. Here is a quick way, go to the website of the drive maker (manufacturer) and get the LOW LEVEL FORMAT UTILITY (which could be disguised by other stupid names). The utility will 'wipe' the drive clean like it just came from the store. The windohs cd will then give you a message saying it is wrecked by a virus or is brand new and ask you if you want to 'set it up' (what a dumb question huh?). Now you are going to have to partition AND format at least the partition where windohs is going.