Upgrade Schmozzle
Blog entries are a little sparse the last few days. I attempted to upgrade from Fedora Core 3 to Fedora Core 4 and that just totally blew up in my face. The FC4 upgrade broke my desktop, my soundcard, and did something to make my laptop run like it’s wallowing in molasses.
I then decided that since this is Linux this provided a perfect opportunity to try a new distro. So, I tried SuSe personal which was bust. I should have remembered that because it was on a single CD that it doesn’t come with the gcc compiler (and other assorted development tools that I need to get my wlan card up).
Finally…I’m downloading Mandriva/Mandrake as we speak. It’s 3 CDs and I’ve confirmed that it comes with gcc. I’ll let you know how that goes.
One of these nights I’ll have a working laptop again to do my podcast on :)
June 17th, 2005 at 12:35 am
Hi Jon,
As someone who has just started getting into Linux, can you say a total noob, I was happy to see a Linux Show turn up here on TPN.
I started with Fedora which a friend gave me from a Linux for Dummies book and then tried FC3 which took me ages to update as the up2date program kept freezing. I finally gave up on that and installed a Xandros 3.0 distro I had from a cover dvd and not sure I am liking that much either.
I have since downloaded Kubuntu, Linspire and Simply mepis but haven’t tried any of them as yet but will try one on the weekend.
At least with Windows you only have 1 version (mostly) but when I finally get up and running I hope to move as much as I can away from Windows. The only real reason is I need it to play games likes Everquest 2 and WoW but that’s life.
Well just thought I would write a little essay as I am going through a distro selection exercise as well but as I don’t really know what I am doing it’s kind of hard to tell what really works for me and what dosen’t.
Love the show and hope there are a lot more to come.
June 17th, 2005 at 1:16 am
Heya!
Thanks for stopping by and I’m glad you like the show. Since you have some ‘mission critical’ windows apps that you want to keep running, you may be interested in this week’s show which is on exactly that: how to run Windows apps in Linux. Games don’t have a particularly spectacular track record with Linux, but I’m testing out a powerhouse Windows enabler called Win4Lin Pro. It looks pretty promising at the onset, but due to my distro problems I haven’t really geared into the testing yet.
I’ve been through FC4, SuSe, and Mandriva this week. All of them were a bust for one reason or another so it looks like I’m going back to FC3. I recognize that running a laptop has it’s own special problems, but I’m still surprised at how many problems some of the supposedly ‘better’ distros are having with simple things like video refresh rates and sound cards right out of the box.
Having choice is one of the major strengths of Linux over Windows, for sure. But as we’re both learning, this can also present it’s own special difficulties :)
Let me know what distro you end up with, I’d like to know.
Jon
June 17th, 2005 at 2:39 am
Seeing how your having issues with a laptop maybe you can give me advice on something I was considering. I have been thinking of buying a “cheap” laptop, probbaly 2nd hand, just for using with Linux as a way of learning. I have a long commute on the train everyday, over 2 hrs each way, and thought it was something I could work on whilst on the way home (sleep in the morning).
Is this a good way of doing things or am I better off sticking to my desktop for now. I have a 2nd hard drive I have been using on my desktop for Linux only and keeping it free from my main HD.
In the future I will prob try and get a 2nd desktop but don’t have the room/space for that at the moment.
Looking forward to the next show.
June 17th, 2005 at 6:27 am
Sounds like an excellent way to learn Linux to me.
I think that the single biggest thing that you’ll want to get working first is the video. As long as the video works then you’ll be able to use it to learn with on the train. If the video is giving you problems then you won’t be able to get anything done.
If at all possible (although it may not be), try to get your hands on a Live CD of the distro you plan on using and the laptop you plan on using. Test it out to see if the video flickers of the mouse ’submarines’ (meaning the pointer dissapears and reappears while moving).
Failing that possibility, I would suggest that you just take the plunge and buy a laptop. In almost 100% of the cases you will be able to get at least 800×600 resolution out of it using the generic VESA driver. I can probably help you with that since I’ve been down that road before.
Here’s a link to a Linux Laptop Hardware site that has some good info: http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Laptop-HOWTO.html#toc6
I know in the past I have found a list of specific hardware that is supported by various distros of Linux, but I can’t find it now. I’ll post it if I find it again.
You’re pretty much guaranteed to have fewer problems with a desktop than a laptop, but that’s not a specific Linux thing - that’s pretty much true of any OS. Laptops are full of proprietary stuff. Having said that, Knoppix is probably the best Live CD out there because (as Mark Rais says) Klaus Knopper is driving himself crazy to find and include every single driver for every piece of hardware on the planet it the distro. Knoppix also has a full distro that can be installed, you’re not limited to the Live CD.
The only other recommendation I can make with respect to Linux and laptops is Fedora Core 3 (2 worked well with the VESA driver though - but 4 is a bust for me).
Have fun, and let me know how it goes!
June 20th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
Why not try Mepis? In my experience, it has had the best hardware detection of any distro (not even Kanotix was able to configure my wireless card). It’s one CD, and I think it comes with compilers standard (and more stuff is installable via debian apt-get)
Perhaps you could review Mepis and put it on the show
http://www.mepis.com
June 21st, 2005 at 1:43 am
I’ve heard good things about Mepis. I’ll put it on the list and give it a whirl.
Good idea :)