I need some help here. I am to install linux and use it full time for the first time in my life. I have in the past used RedHat/Fedora for web server and when SlackWare was in versions 2 and 3 I had them on my DT. But I am somewhat more lazy now, and just want it all to work. I have had some discussions with my friends, and they say that Linux can never replace Windows completely, for the home users. And I agree. But I am at least going to test it.

 

I am going to install either Mandriva or Open SuSE on a laptop.

- Any comments on which distro I am to use of these two?

- Which is the easiest to manager in regards to updates etc?

 

Requirements:

- External USB HDD

- USB MP3 Player

- USB Digital Camera Support (External Drive)

- Dual monitor?

- TV Out (To view DVD etc. on TV)

- Bluetooth support

- WiFi Support

- Gigabit Network

- Notebook support (Advanced power etc).

From back in secondry school i wanted to do things differently, i wanted to stand out from the crowd that little bit, just to make sure that i was counted and not just part of whatever happened.

My first expirence with a computer which i remember, and which wasn't just messing around on websites playing games (didn't we all do this!) or taking direct orders from a teacher was in the first week of school. The teacher knew that if they tried to teach these 30 or so young boys, about these amazing machines without first letting them run wild then they would get no where. So we were given free reign on the computers for a hour, allowed to do what we liked.

Many played games, or viewed websites and signed up to email accounts and the like. I sat in the corner of the room and started up some editor named "Turtle Edit" or something simuler. I managed to write a program which took the input from a user, ask for a even number and then swear at them if it wasn't even.

 

Now to the present day, computers have got faster and faster before our very eyes, and with this they have become so much more complicated. After those first few weeks of "IT" at school we had no more lessions with computers, and so i had looked for another way to learn, for this i eventually had a Cyrix 300 at home and i learnt to dismantle and rebuild this with ease.

 

Problem was, it was still running at the same slow speed, with the same boring O/S. Windows 95. I didn't like the idea of being with the "norm" but it was something i stuck with until Feb 2005.

 

I had a windows system which i wasn't fond of, and some spare space and a spare hard disk. I moved all my data off the spare hard disk so it was nice and empty so i could install suse.

This great idea didn't last long. I had all the cables connected and for some reason suse refused to do any kind of install, sometimes it would get half way then refuse to update. Sometimes it would refuse to boot outright, but eitherway it wasn't going to happen.

 

From this i was annoyed, i had heard so many great things about linux, and how it should work on any box i choose to try it on. It was meant to blow my mind and break me out of the mould that windows had created for me, to free me from windows constaints, and instead i was stuck with a "Source not found" message leaving me totally bewildered.

I then left it a few days, and once again plucked up my courage and downloaded a mandrake CD. At the time on BT Dialup downloading a ISO would take all night easily, so to do this was a big thing. I took my new Mandrake disk and plompted it into the disk drive..... Nothing. It refused to boot, just like suse.

 

Now i was really amused and baffled, i had tried two linux distros, both which i had heard great things about, and yet nither booted. I decided that i needed extra help, i contacted my local lug (Linux user group) whom at first assisted me, but then slowly started to turn against me for whatever reason (sometimes it would be because my spelling was off, sometimes because i forgot to mention something), but slowly but surely they pushed me away.

Strangely, they were my blessing, how could they dare to treat me so badly after i had entered their world? I was shocked and horrified at how nasty they had been, but i decided there and then that i WOULD get linux working, and it WOULD be with this machine.

 

I went in search of the fastest way of installing linux on my machine and found two options, a debian net install, or gentoo. I talked to various people on IRC and they all pretty much gave me the same answer, debian was far eaiser to install than gentoo.

 

So i went for it, the debian install it was....

 

It appered to be going peachy up until the point at which i had to choose sources. I went off to the family PC so i could find out what i was doing. The documetnation i found was beyond awful in some places. It was hard to read and didn't flow, plus most of it said it was out of date, and was going to be updated, but none of it appered to actually be upto date. I sighed and went back to my computer and tried to work through selecting packages my self, but without knowing what i was really doing.

 

I ended up with a half dead system, which may or maynot of been easily fixed, but i was once again put off. I turned off my computer and it sat there for about 2 weeks. At uni at the time i had a programming assignment, and someone suggested that we look at installing linux, so that we had some idea how computers worked with logic and other things along these lines.

I rushed home and popped back onto irc....

 

One guy, whom has my upmost respect was almost... waiting for me. He greeted me as he does and we chatted for awhile, i then announced that i was planning to install gentoo, and his answer was "I hope you can read". Little did i know how much that was going to mean.

Hi guys,

 

most of you whom use IRC regularly will have prob either spoken to me or caused me to laugh loudly at something you've said.

 

 

Im 22, and im always looking for a job it seems ;). I hide in dark corners and only come out at night. [img]<___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_ph34r.png[/img]

 

I know i shouldn't reply to my self but im lazy and can't be bothered to wait for you people!

 

 

I run generally gentoo linux, which i've been running for a year on my main desktop. It was the first distro i had working with my motherboard (i started in between the transition of 2.4 and 2.6 kernels!) so some distrobutions also might of worked but i knew a few gentoo'ers from #setiathome at the time.

 

 

I also run various boinc projects on the machines i control (windows and linux) in a team called boinc synergy (formally setisynergy) whom have stats and nice forums over @ [/url][url=http://www.boincsynergy.com/]http://www.boincsynergy.com/ . I've also met a nice guy who advised me if i ever want to work with linux in the work place then i should look at setting up other distrobutions too, so i've now setup debian and will maybe work on a few others in awhile.

 

 

Other random notes include im thinking of wiping my windows partition as it now no longer boots because i broke my motherboard (and i can't find a socketA mb in the uk!)

One thing I've noticed working in suse is that it becomes annoying to enter a password to get into system properties and edit things. Is there a way that I can just automatically login with admin privledges once I boot up my PC?

o_O

:/ whenever I open an mp3 with xmms it doesn't work!!! I've already once enabled my sound, but I guess something went horribly wrong and now I get nothing :( -- Where should I start?

I thought this would be kinda fun to see for a few reasons!

 

:)

I read the gentoo-wiki on installing and running vsftpd and whenever I ftp localhost and login, I can't get a directory listing of my ftp! (/var/ftp)

 

tux ftp # ftp localhost

Connected to localhost.

220 (vsFTPd 2.0.3)

Name (localhost:stenro): ftp

530 Please login with USER and PASS.

SSL not available

331 Please specify the password.

Password:

230 Login successful.

Remote system type is UNIX.

Using binary mode to transfer files.

ftp> ls

200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.

150 Here comes the directory listing.

226 Transfer done (but failed to open directory)

 

 

Why can't I get a directory i have my distro files in there and a screeny :(? any help would be appreciated, thank you.

So this will hopefully explain a bit on how to install xmms2. First for the bare min you need the following things installed. I'm doing this on a slackware-current install so things are always pretty current for me

 

Right now I'm using the gnome desktop, but I would like to try the KDE for a little while to see how I like that one. Is there an easy way to switch?

What might be causing a problem like this? (Sorry for the picture hugeness.)

 

Basically, whenever I minimize photoshop, the windows inside never minimize with it and they're always on top of all my other windows.

<a class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image" href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/post-1325-1140712686.png" data-fileid="481">[img]<fileStore.core_Attachment>/post-1325-1140712686.png[/img]</a>

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