The move to Linux-Things you need to know

It may not be quite as easy as you think...

Published on April 15, 2005 By PurrBall In OS Wars

Update: yum makes life easier. To install a package, for exaple, The GIMP, you would go ito terminal and type 'yum install gimp' or for Firefox, 'yum install firefox' etc. No more web searching!!

Comments (Page 6)

kona0197

on Aug 19, 2005

think she's already downloading Fedora.

I don't see why anybody wouldn't like it.

Maybe because you have to configure so many things after install. I'm using Xandros. it plays MP3, Mpeg, DVD and tons of other stuff staight out of the box. Did I mention it also has Crossover so I can use Windows apps straight out of the box?

PurrBall

on Aug 20, 2005

amizzz has 30 gigs that she wants to put to good use.

And, amizzz, you can see why there are so many distros out there, people have different tastes.

I havent found anything I have had to configure. If you tell Helix to play an MP3, then it gives a link to RealPlayer, which has an RPM version that you click on, click Open, and bada-bing, it starts installing it.

sunwukong

on Aug 20, 2005

I've been reading up on BSD. I want to set up a FreeBSD file server next winter, if I can get hold of the hardware I need.

FWIW, a few things to keep in mind (sorry if you're already aware of these, but this might be of general interest as well)

OpenBSD -- by far the most secure general purpose O/S "out of the box" -- perfect for edge servers and high-availability services (e.g., mail, routing, etc.). Just added SMP support.

FreeBSD -- an excellent *nix for either workstations but most especially for high load servers -- unfortunately x86_64 support is still shaky and SMP/SMT architectures have lingering concurrency and lock issues.

NetBSD -- runs on almost every ISA imaginable

Gentoo Linux -- a great server distribution for x86_64 and, in general, high powered machines* -- combines many of the good ideas from the BSD world (e.g., it's ports-like portage system)

* I use it on my dual Opteron development server

tjesterb

on Aug 20, 2005

* I use it on my dual Opteron development server

Did you have to compile your kernel to get it to run on the dual processors?

aimzzz

on Aug 25, 2005

Meowy,
Here I am in Fedora/FireFox. I was away from it for a couple of days & then had assorted problems because the BIOS didn't want to boot from the USB flash. In the end I found somebody's instructions for using RawWrite to transfer the boot image to a set of floppies (remember Win 95 installs?). Speaking of Win 95, I'd say Gnome is to KDE approx as Win 95 is to XP with OD installed. Something in that range...

PurrBall

on Aug 26, 2005

At least you got it working.
Now you know why I love K.

I had to adjust fonts in Firefox for it to be to my liking, but the Preferences are on the Edit menu in Fedora Firefox!

aimzzz

on Aug 26, 2005

I could tell I need to adjust FireFox when I got to WC forum-- The fonts were strange in the strangest way. The print was uneven the way a photocopy is uneven when the toner is low. I'll mess with it more over the weekend. I'm in IE now-- in the mood for a new WB.

PurrBall

on Aug 26, 2005

in the mood for a new WB.

Hehe.

Gotta have your Stardock.

In FF, I was able to switch all fonts to Sans (leave the fixed one to monospace) which mad it much better. I might have changed the size too.

PurrBall

on Aug 26, 2005

a set of floppies (remember Win 95 installs?)

My '95 install was on a CD.

aimzzz

on Aug 26, 2005

Maybe I'm thinking of 3.1-- I remember wandering around work with stacks of floppies

PurrBall

on Aug 27, 2005

Maybe I'm thinking of 3.1-- I remember wandering around work with stacks of floppies

Windows 3.1 - Disk 11?

I think I remember that.......

aimzzz

on Aug 27, 2005

*shudders*
Disk 11 does have an ominous ring to it...
Fedora by floppy wasn't even close, but the bulk if it was on the HD-- only the boot image was on diskettes.

BTW, the KDE site has a later release than the version in the Fedora install. Forgetting I'm not in Kansas anymore, I did what seemed right to install it & then spent a while getting back to where I was before I started (I think

). Is it a job for yum? Where do I start?

PurrBall

on Aug 28, 2005

NEVER UPDATE A DESKTOP ENVIRONMENT WHILE IN X.

Hit Ctrl-Alt-F1.

Login as root.

Then do yum update

When it's done, type reboot

aimzzz

on Aug 28, 2005

Oops-- Will let you know later

aimzzz

on Aug 28, 2005

One of those frustrating nights-- I logged on as root to install some cursors. In the Control Center, the button for installing cursor sets is hidden when I'm me. Installed 3 or 4 cursor sets, robooted & logged in as myself. None of the new cursor sets was visible. Sitting here writing, I just realiized there must be a setting for permissions. Will check later.

I was going to do the KDE upgrade, but was too sleepy after messing around with other stuff. I came across a Fedora how-to on using yum. It recommends not logging into root for installs & upgrades. Looks like they changed the functionality so a user gives permission to do root stuff by using root's password:

Managing Software with yum http://www.fedora.redhat.com/docs/yum/
Avoid Logging in with the Root Account :
You do not need to log in with the root account in order to manage your Fedora system. All of the commands shown in this tutorial that require root access will prompt you for the root password. The example terminal commands use su -c to provide this facility.

Don't think I damaged anything yesterday.

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