The Linux Distro Thread (maybe)

[ej-solutions]

Thought I'd start this one off, rather than continue on another thread.

As a quick catch up for others:

Have a look at Unetbootin, as a means to try out different versions of Linux, without producing numerous coasters (unwanted CDs).
I haven't tried the method of installing to hard drive, only the USB flash drive method (so far).

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[ej-solutions]

It suggests that your WPA password is blank, or the router is set to accept any type of connection. There is absolutely no way that it read a WPA password from your Windows installation! [Wonders if it didn't actually connect to your network afterall and found the first available open wireless network - would explain low signal strength].
(No Operating System defaults to using eBay as its' home page for an internet browser - it's your choice)

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[ej-solutions]

Click once on the wireless icon - is your network with one that is highlighted?

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[grumpy-cook]

A neighbour could be calling the police at this very minute. ]:)

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[blackburn_stevie]

ej ... My WPA password is a combination of numbers, lower case letters, upper case letters and punctuation marks and 19 characters long.

[Wonders if it didn't actually connect to your network afterall and found the first available open wireless network - would explain low signal strength

I have to admit that that is possible.
The following happened during my internet session. It all fired up as described before but I didn't check to see what network I was on. I just assumed it was mine because I wasn't asked to "Connect" to any particular wireless network. I also assumed that the low strength had something to do with the "Live CD" session.
Then, as I finished reading a lengthy web page which took maybe 10 minutes, I clicked the BACK button but got told that I didn't have an internet connection. That's when I clicked the little icon at the top/right to try to re-connect. At that time, my network was the only one showing so maybe the network I had connected to was somebody else's and they had shut down, hence loss of signal.
So, OK, I'll give you that one, lol

What I meant by it not firing up to my home page (The Home page I use on my Firefox/Windows XP sessions) was a point for your side. If it HAD opened with the eBay page, that could surely only happen with collusion between the Live disk and the Windows XP files on the PC.

I have 2 rules. I say exactly what I mean and I mean exactly what I say.

[ej-solutions]

Didn't realise that I was 'on the bat' to get as many home runs as possible.
"I'm alright, Jack" as far as Linux is concerned - whether others wish to join/gatecrash the free party, is entirely their own choice 😄
Just try not to look for things that aren't there and keep an open mind ;-)

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[ej-solutions]

You have proven that your wireless BT dongle thingy works with that version of Linux, as to whether you can connect to your own network...

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[blackburn_stevie]

Right ..... I've had another go at it and I've had a bit o' bother.
I now have Ubuntu 8. something or other with a 4 in it somewhere, running on an old PC (I'm on it now) and I could use a little help.

Is there a way to avoid doing the Username & Password stuff when the PC first boots up?

I am just running a bog standard set up with no fancy stuff installed or connected so why can't by screen resolution go above 800 x 600? ... When I had windows fitted to this computer it had no problem with a screen res of 1200 x 9??

Is there a place I can go to that looks a bit like "Control panel >> System" or System Info so that I can get info about the devices that are installed in this beige box without opening it up and taking the bits out?

The computer keeps telling me that there are something like 216 things that I can download but when I click to say "OK, download the suckers" I get a message saying that WE failed to download the files.
Then it tells me that there are 216 files that I can download. Where it gets this "WE" from I have no idea 'cos it was smeg all to do with me.

Oh, and before I forget, how come that 2 x 256 sticks of RAM equate to only 471.8 MiB of installed RAM in System >> Admin >> System monitor? Or have I read that MiB bit wrong which is exactly how the PC wrote it.
Cheers lots.
Steve

I have 2 rules. I say exactly what I mean and I mean exactly what I say.

[blackburn_stevie]

ej ... BTW, "Off the bat" is the same as "Straight out of the box". In other words, it works with no extra intervention from us mere mortals

I have 2 rules. I say exactly what I mean and I mean exactly what I say.

[ej-solutions]

In reverse...

"Off the bat" - was a poor reference to cricket/baseball (I'm not a fan) and intended to convey the competition between Win & Linux. Thread is not intended as a competition.

Out of the 512Mb, memory has been reserved for the graphics adapter (mostly), with some used by the base system.

The 216 items are due to you using an outdated version of the distribution - think of it as Windows updates (a service pack but as individual files). Better to start with a more recent distro.

Got to the Package Manager (Synaptic), type sysinfo in the Quick search box. Hopefully it'll show in the list and you can right click to install.
[There may be another utility in Administration/System but I can't remember off-hand and I'm trying to keep you away from a command-line command].

Screen resolution: Control Centre, Hardware, Display (in Mint). It'll be there somewhere in the menu system.

Administrattion, Login Window, Security, Enable Automatic Login.

Probably Ubuntu 8.0.4 - not sure if that's the latest of the 8 series - may well be. Check at ubuntu.com

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[ej-solutions]

Ubuntu 8.04 that should be, I think. ;-)

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[blackburn_stevie]

In reverse order ...

Administrattion, Login Window, Security, Enable Automatic Login.

I can do all that but because the screen resolution is so low, I can't get at the bottom of the screen to press whatever button is there to make the PC accept what I have changed.

re the Screen resolution thing, I can see where all the different screen resolution options are, it's just that the highest available figures are 960 x 600, 960 x 540 and 800 x 600. The first 2 sets don't work because the hight is OK but the width is all wrong. The highest one that fits is 800 x 600 (but that won't let me scroll down to the bottom of the earlier screen mentioned ^^^ there)

I shall probably do as suggested and start with a newer distro. I'm more inclined to give it a go now that I know my wireless dongle works and on my own network too, lol
Cheers for the help.

I have 2 rules. I say exactly what I mean and I mean exactly what I say.

[ej-solutions]

😄 - good luck. Sounds as though the graphics card wasn't detected properly - hopefully a later release will pick it up correctly. If not a little bit of command-line stuff should sort it out. If you happen to know the details of the graphics card, that'll be a start but we can soon find out ;-)

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[blackburn_stevie]

I am now downloading 371 files to update the PC. I don't know if that means it is being updated to 9.something or if it just means updating to the latest version of 8.
It will take a while so I'll drop off the page until tomorrow.
Cheers,
Steve

I have 2 rules. I say exactly what I mean and I mean exactly what I say.

[blackburn_stevie]

OK, Bad news, good news time.
Ignore what I said in the last post because it didn't work as planned. My wireless connection kept falling off the page so I used an ethernet connection to download the 9.04 distro and installed it.
My graphics card won't go any higher than 800 x 600 and still keep the right aspect. The update manager refuses to work as do any of my 3 USB wi-fi dongles PLUS, having stayed connected under Ubuntu 8.04 for over an hour while it downloaded the new .iso file, the same ethernet cable unplugs itself from the web every few minutes when using 9.04.

I have 2 rules. I say exactly what I mean and I mean exactly what I say.

[ej-solutions]

Not good 😞

Start a Terminal (from the menu). Enter the following:
lspci | grep Graphics
[That's a vertical bar (like : but dashes), often above '\' on UK keyboards]

Looks as though series 8 will be a better option - 8.10 being the latest AFAIK. (site was very slow when I looked)

If you can be bothered: (official location)
http://mirror.sov.uk.goscomb.net/linuxmint.com/stable/6/community/LinuxMint-6-XFCE.iso
No need to install, just boot from CD (it'll be slower) and check how things run.

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Just skimming the surface

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[blackburn_stevie]

ej ... I have gone to Plan B.
Plan B involves formatting the hard drive and installing XP. I then have to do all the updates to get to SP3. Once that is all done and dusted and I at least have a fully working PC, (with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 with the option to go up to 1929 x 1440 if I should so wish), I can then look towards installing Linux as a dual boot system.

It keeps me off the streets, :^O

I have 2 rules. I say exactly what I mean and I mean exactly what I say.

[otherego]

I think I know how *old_guy* feels!

A suggestion - I had a similar problem with Xubuntu on a laptop. I seem to remember we eventually figured out it was the result of having installed in something like "safe video" mode (I forget the details)- turned out to be a bad idea, as I just couldn't sort the resolution out, and eventually installed Mepis instead. Mepis suited the 256mb of RAM on the old Thinkpad rather better.

So - be a little wary of graphics choices early on (but having said that, it seems better to choose "no desktop" effects initially - not the same as the "safe video" or whatever it was.

With a 20gb hard drive, you might find yourself a little pushed for space with XP AND a Linux distro - although I managed to squeeze Puppy Linux on to just that set-up. Not much room for photos and things, though.

[ej-solutions]

Otherego: Now that does ring a bell... somewhere back up this thread 😉 That would certainly limit resolutions.
"...choose "no desktop" effects initially..." - good advice.

Turning off System Restore and using a bit of compression on rarely used directories, such as Options allows XP to 'live' in a about 4-6Gb, with a few programs installed.
The newer (mainstream) distros like about 5-6Gb (with OpenOffice etc. pre-installed).
As you've found out, Puppy and its' derivatives are pretty compact. 🙂

*old_guy* might be better served by returning to my opening post and using a flash drive to try out different distros. Been to busy with other things of late (websites) to play with other distros. :-(

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[otherego]

Hmmm. After blowing off a spot of steam over my recent experiences with MS on *old_guy*'s thread (for which I crave his indulgence), I thought I might start doing a spot of reading in preparation for trying to multi-boot from two hard drives. I came across this:

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143973

(Interesting caveat in #21 of the thread; of purely academic interest right now)

Most impressive. But not for me at the moment!

Off for an early night - and I'm going to exercise some will-power and shut down NOW before I'm lured off to Distrowatch or such!

[otherego]

Hmmm. After blowing off a spot of steam over my recent experiences with MS on *old_guy*'s thread (for which I crave his indulgence), I thought I might start doing a spot of reading in preparation for trying to multi-boot from two hard drives. I came across this:

http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?t=143973

(Interesting caveat in #21 of the thread; of purely academic interest right now)

Most impressive. But not for me at the moment!

Off for an early night - and I'm going to exercise some will-power and shut down NOW before I'm lured off to Distrowatch or such!