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What Linux Distro?

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veeeffarr
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PostPosted: 10:45 - 08 Jan 2007    Post subject: What Linux Distro? Reply with quote
Hi,

Looking for a Linux Distro for my Toshiba 2410 Satellite Laptop.

I have a Netgear WPN511 PCMCIA WLAN card and a Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX USB, are either likely to be a problem?

Also, I have a lot of files on my windows share I would like to keep, would I be able to partition, install Linux with a bootloader, and then transfer the files I want and merge the old windows NTFS partition into my EXT one?

What distro does anyone reckon would be quite good for me?

Ta!

T
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techierob
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PostPosted: 11:03 - 08 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Personally, I'd go with debian. It strikes a good balance between ease of use and maintainability and makes a fairly decent desktop os and isn't too shabby as a server os either.

I've only ever tried resizing partitions to accommodate a linux install once and the partitions got corrupted after a couple of months - this was about eight years ago using ext2 and fat32, so there's a chance it's slightly less hazardous these days.
I'd recommend you do a full backup of the drive and re-format re-install instead. I'd also suggest you format your windows partition as fat32 so that linux can have read/write access to it.
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bazza
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PostPosted: 12:29 - 08 Jan 2007    Post subject: Re: What Linux Distro? Reply with quote
Toby R wrote:
What distro does anyone reckon would be quite good for me?


Ubuntu - use as a CD distro or install from the CD. It worked with my very old Toshiba laptop and pcmcia card. Thumbs Up
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veeeffarr
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PostPosted: 12:34 - 08 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Ta,

I was looking at Ubuntu/Kubuntu just now, think I'll go for Ubuntu.

T
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250xc
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PostPosted: 18:19 - 08 Jan 2007    Post subject: Linux Bootable CD/DVD Reply with quote
Hi,

I used to be a bit of a *nix geek but now do my day to day stuff on a Mac.

I recommend trying the LiveCD/DVD for any distributions you are interested in. These will run off the CD/DVD drive without touching your currently installed system and let you test the operating system before you take the plunge and install it.

I also liked Knoppix/SLAX live CDs but not sure if they are still up to date. When I was fiddling with drivers for tv tuners, unsupported hardware in *nix, I found more info when I google for Fedora than Ubuntu/Kbuntu, so feel a bit safer with that.

You'll need to find which is the best for you simply by trial and error I think.
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bunglehaze
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PostPosted: 21:41 - 08 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Personally I would go with SuSe 10.2 , nice and easy, up to date and good support.

regards

leigh
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Teamcalibra
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PostPosted: 23:36 - 08 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Another vote for SUSE LINUX.
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250xc
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PostPosted: 00:33 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: hmm Reply with quote
hmm, all this Suse talk is making me want to free up next weekend and give it a run...
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veeeffarr
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PostPosted: 00:36 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Fuck sake.

My fucking Laptop CDROM doesn't work.

It plays DVD's, but not CD's, it makes a sound as if its spinning up, and then cuts out Sad Sad

Borrowed my flatmates laptop to burn the disc, won't boot into the disc either.

So now I'm stuck with this CD I can't read.

Tried mounting in DAEMON tools but there's nothing I can do with it from there.

Any ideas?

CD/DVD is a Teac DW224-E
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250xc
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PostPosted: 00:43 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Hi Tony Reply with quote
I'm guessing by your post that you've tried say an original audio CD to make sure its the drive not the media, so....

How about do the big download and install Linux from a DVD image? Or go and grab a linux magazine that comes with a free install DVD...
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veeeffarr
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PostPosted: 01:02 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Re: Hi Tony Reply with quote
250xc wrote:
I'm guessing by your post that you've tried say an original audio CD to make sure its the drive not the media, so....

How about do the big download and install Linux from a DVD image? Or go and grab a linux magazine that comes with a free install DVD...


Good idea, got my eye on a replacement drive on ebay, at £20 at the moment with my max bid...

I did know it had problems with CD's a long time but it's usually been ok with bootable media, it's a bit temperamental but I don't want to spend money on it as it's 5 years old, the keyboard has been fucked over from having cranberry juice spilt on it and it's just generally a piece of shit.

Know a good website for laptop spare parts btw?
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Tarmacsurfer
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PostPosted: 01:18 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Suse is well worth a look, definitely one of the better *nix flavours. Strikes a nice balance between having all the tools/options a geek could wish for, and actually being accessible/usable by a newbie.
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techierob
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PostPosted: 09:23 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Toby R wrote:

Any ideas?


not sure whether it's an option with your chosen distro, but you can probably manage a net install from an install kernel distributed on floppies. You might need to compile the disk image manually if you've got some sort of exotic network card, but it could be a possibility.
I know that freebsd, redhat and debian have this option (or at least they did five years ago), but you'd need to check the ftp site for floppy net install images to be sure. Some still have a two-disk floppy boot distribution with a four-disk optional driver distribution.

As for SuSE, I tried using the sparc distro once on a couple of Sun4m's (an ss10 and ss20) because it seemed like a decent linux distro with good smp support, but there was a serious bug with the install that caused it to revert to a PC keymap despite the fact it was being installed on a sun. I got around this by completing the install over slip with a wyse term, but the distribution was so buggy it put me off SuSE for life (I ended up using netbsd instead for the sparcs). I've never tried the intel version, but I've only ever heard good things about it as a desktop os.

I love knoppix, but for what it's worth, if you're installing to disk then you might as well use debian seeing as that's what knoppix is based on. The only real differences I noticed are that knoppix uses a different window manager and request broker than the debian defaults, dhcp is slightly different and the kernel's a bit chubbier
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Tarmacsurfer
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PostPosted: 11:51 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
techierob wrote:
I ended up using netbsd instead for the sparcs


Which would have been the logical choice to start with. Sparcs are a law unto themselves, that unassumingly normal beige box is a deceptive front for an evil minded and totally alien piece of hardware Confused

I was given an UltraSparc II to play with. Sadly the lack of monitor and keyboard/mouse made a serial term the only real interface. Then again, the fact it was a dual CPU behemoth with a set of scuzzy drives made sitting next to it a scary proposition. It didn't so much sound like it could suck pasing pigeons and small dogs in, it also sounded like it was capable of eating them Shocked
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techierob
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PostPosted: 12:16 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tarmacsurfer wrote:
techierob wrote:
I ended up using netbsd instead for the sparcs


Which would have been the logical choice to start with. Sparcs are a law unto themselves, that unassumingly normal beige box is a deceptive front for an evil minded and totally alien piece of hardware Confused


the logic behind it at the time was that the sun4m's used mbus modules and could accomodate up to four processors, so I wanted to make sure that I used an os that could handle smp. This was back in 2002 when the only decent smp operating systems for a sparc were either linux or solaris (smp had just been removed from the freebsd distros at the time).

Tarmacsurfer wrote:
I was given an UltraSparc II to play with. Sadly the lack of monitor and keyboard/mouse made a serial term the only real interface. Then again, the fact it was a dual CPU behemoth with a set of scuzzy drives made sitting next to it a scary proposition. It didn't so much sound like it could suck pasing pigeons and small dogs in, it also sounded like it was capable of eating them Shocked


heh Smile - it's difficult to go back to using pc's when you've dealt with that sort of build quality and horsepower. Even the desktop suns are built like concrete slabs and have mainboards as beautiful as any turner painting:

https://www.gifford.co.uk/~coredump/ipxcat1m.jpg

https://faqaboss.sunhelp.org/
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bazza
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PostPosted: 12:29 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tarmacsurfer wrote:
techierob wrote:
I ended up using netbsd instead for the sparcs


Which would have been the logical choice to start with. Sparcs are a law unto themselves, that unassumingly normal beige box is a deceptive front for an evil minded and totally alien piece of hardware Confused

I was given an UltraSparc II to play with. Sadly the lack of monitor and keyboard/mouse made a serial term the only real interface. Then again, the fact it was a dual CPU behemoth with a set of scuzzy drives made sitting next to it a scary proposition. It didn't so much sound like it could suck pasing pigeons and small dogs in, it also sounded like it was capable of eating them Shocked


I have a spare Sun monitor, mouse and keyboard if you want them.
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Tarmacsurfer
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PostPosted: 13:49 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Many thanks, but it's gone to the great sparesbin in the sky now. One of the CPUs was decidedly dodgy when I got it (one of the reasons it was thrown my way), so it sadly didn't last too much longer. If memory serves it lasted a grand total of 3 days as a local mailserver.

On the distro note, DISTROWATCH can be an interesting site to keep an eye on. They follow some of the smaller and more specialised packages.


**edit: Having said that, if I can lay my sticky mitts on another test machine then I'll take you up on that offer. It's always good to get hands on experience.
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techierob
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PostPosted: 14:12 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tarmacsurfer wrote:
**edit: Having said that, if I can lay my sticky mitts on another test machine then I'll take you up on that offer. It's always good to get hands on experience.


if you can lay your hands on an IPX then it'd be a good place to start. They're quite robust and not so popular these days, so you should be able to pick one up for (literally) next-to-nothing. You'll score a lot of geek points if you can make a usable desktop machine out of one of those.

uk.comp.sys.sun used to be a good place to pick up used sparcs, but it's been a good few years since I've been actively looking for new hardware so things might have changed a bit.
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bazza
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PostPosted: 16:06 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Tarmacsurfer wrote:
**edit: Having said that, if I can lay my sticky mitts on another test machine then I'll take you up on that offer. It's always good to get hands on experience.


OK, you've twisted my arm. You can have one of the Sparcs as well. Laughing
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bunglehaze
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PostPosted: 18:19 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
toby, if its reading dvd's just get the dvd iso of the distro, then install as you wish. Once installed you can have the windows drive automount so you can pull the files off it and then repartition once its all done.

regards

leigh
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veeeffarr
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PostPosted: 18:49 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
bunglehaze wrote:
toby, if its reading dvd's just get the dvd iso of the distro, then install as you wish. Once installed you can have the windows drive automount so you can pull the files off it and then repartition once its all done.

regards

leigh


I dont have a DVD burner Sad
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Tarmacsurfer
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PostPosted: 19:00 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
bazza wrote:
OK, you've twisted my arm. You can have one of the Sparcs as well. Laughing


You sure about that Mr.Bazza? Not in a good financial place currently so I'm afraid I can't even really offer to donate much, if anything Confused

Would be most useful (and very appreciated) though.
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bazza
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PostPosted: 19:10 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
The bits are just taking up room, TBH. You'll have to collect, mind. PM me to sort it out.
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bunglehaze
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PostPosted: 21:30 - 09 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
I dont have a DVD burner Sad


I think an upgrade is due then eh!! Very Happy Very Happy

Looks to me like webinstall is the way to go but with it being a large download (and if torrents are anything to go by) you may have a wait. Out of interest what speed broadband you got? It might just be worth buying a mag that has the distro on it.

cheers

leigh Very Happy
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techierob
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PostPosted: 08:35 - 10 Jan 2007    Post subject: Reply with quote
bunglehaze wrote:
Looks to me like webinstall is the way to go but with it being a large download (and if torrents are anything to go by) you may have a wait. Out of interest what speed broadband you got?


With debian you could just kick off the installation with the net install floppies, install a base kernel, then apt-get install the other packages as and when you need them rather than install every part of the os in one big chunk:

https://www.debian.org/distrib/netinst

a base install would only be about 30-50 meg
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