I've been talking about it for a while... finally DID it...

[Reorx]

Lately, I have been getting tired of the proprietary bloatware from Redmond... I have been heard saying - "I have to try to find the time to start playing with Linux..." Well, I finally did it! ;-) This is my first post from a Linux box that I am using as a testbed for the Linux experience... I thought it was ironic that the first day I was up & running with a Linux installation was July 4th!!! I am declaring my independence from the malware prone bloated OS and venturing out on a new adventure... I've also changed my avatar to commemorate the occasion!

Besides SL, does anybody out there have any experience with Penguinware in a desktop configuration?

My testbed is an Asus netbook and the only problem I am having so far is getting the OS to configure/use my wireless 802.11n card correctly... I am hot on the trail though - should have it up & running in the near future...

Happy 4th everyone!:D

[Snooty]

R,
Hopefully, your new system (and freedom) will enable you to visit us more often...
S ;~)

[Reorx]

Snoots -

Sir, I resemble that remark! I stop in here daily, usually several times per day. I don't participate as much as I used to mainly because I don't have as much time as used to! :eek: Sorry for that...

The Linux adventure continues... The flavor of Linux I am currently running is Fedora 11. and, as I mentioned above, I haven't been successful at getting it to work with my wireless lan card yet so I am typing this wired to my router!!! Earlier today, I D/L a copy of another flavor - Mint 7. I burned the .iso to a CD and then booted to the CD for a quick test drive... It seamlessly began working with my wireless lan card and saw my hidden encrypted wireless router... it had me connected PDQ (after I typed in the encryption key)... Mint seems to be a reasonably user friendly desktop environment...

... to be continued... ;)

[SoCalSam]

I've used Linux as a desktop system on a number of occasions. Lately OpenSUSE (10 and 11 versions) with the KDE desktop, using Firefox (browser) and Thunderbird (email). Works great. If you're a casual PC user, with basic email and web browsing needs, it'll do the job nicely. For other tasks, Linux systems can be a bit more demanding technically than many folks can tolerate. I use the system mainly when developing solutions making use of all or part of the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PERL/PHP).

The latest Apple OSs are based on the BSD Unix OS, and are rock solid with awesome UIs. I highly recommend everyone look at the newest Apple PCs, unless you need absolute top performance for Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 .NET development.

As my primary focus is Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 .NET development, I currently run Windows XP Professional SP3 as my daily OS, and run my Linux environment in a VMWare slice when needed. I don't like Vista, and am looking forward to buying a new ThinkPad running Windows 7 soon, to be released in October of this year if all goes well.

But I just may buy a new MacBook Pro too :-)

Enjoy your new Linux PC!

[Reorx]

Sam - thanx for the insights. ;) My main interest in Linux is as a desktop replacement for Windows both at home and at the office... I need it to do "everyday" tasks - surfing, e-mail, word processing, printing... I believe Fedora can do it with some tweaking but Mint might do it out of the box... I'm taking the Mint bootable CD to the office today to give it a spin. Network printing should be interesting! :eek:

[Reorx]

So today I took my netbook to the office to try out printing with Linux...

I have a network HP Laser printer attached to my router via a cat 5 RJ45 connection. My netbook running Mint 7 found the wireless router, the printer attached to it, configured the printer setup, and printed a test page or 2 in about 10 minutes! Without using a manual, online help, an installation CD, etc...

For anyone considering migrating away from Microsoft and not wanting to dive in head first into the Mac world - consider Linux Mint 7 (Main edition) a good place to start. It is free for the D/L from the Linux Mint 7 download page (http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php) - the file comes as a single .iso image (about 700 MB) which can be used to make a bootable CD or bootable USB flash drive (use a 2GB UFD if you choose this option). Once you have the bootable medium, you can boot to it (UFDs produce better performance that CDs) and run Mint from the USB or CD without affecting your computer or anything on its HD - sort of as a test drive... If you like your test drive, you can install Mint to your HD directly from the bootable medium. There is even a partitioning tool on the bootable medium to help you make space on your current HD for the installation into its own partition (the partitioning tool allows you to resize partitions (FAT, NTFS, ext3, etc) without losing data!). If you elect this option, Mint will install a dual-boot manager so that you can choose between your old OS and Mint at the time of boot up - so you can run either whenever you like! ;-)
http://www.newturfers.com/mwf/attach/64/143664/MBLinuxMint.JPG
Think Mint!

...carry on...

- R -

[huck]

Sounds cool, R.

I'm toying with the idea of putting Linux on my Asus - I just have to find a distro which will work the sound, wireless etc. and then I'll consider making the jump. Which Asus netbook do you have?

My netbook is just that - used for the net. Anything which will make it run a bit faster, safer and save space can only be a good thing. So why didn't I buy the Linux Asus in the first place? D'oh!

[Reorx]

Huck;

I have a newly acquired (just for this little project) Asus Eee PC1000HE (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2340593,00.asp). Mint 7 recognized and correctly configured the wired network port, the wireless card, etc. It plays and streams movies correctly out of the box although the 1000HE is a bit under-powered for this application so video can occasionally be "choppy". Audio seems OK but I haven't taken a critical ear to any music...

The nicest feature of the 1000HE for this type of project is that the Windows version comes with a 160GB HD which is partitioned into 4 pieces. 2 small partitions hold recovery software and files for restoring the main Windows partition when some nasty little piece of malware trashes it - nice feature (these 2 partitions are hidden) - there is also a recovery DVD that comes with the system that will do the same thing (according to the manual). The other 2 partitions are 70 GB each - one for the main OS (Windows XP home - SP3) and 1 is empty. I removed the empty partition and let Mint set up its own partition in that space - worked great - plus, Mint can't (won't) install to a single primary partition - it installs into an extended partition and then sub-partitions the extended partition for it's own use.

Go make yourself a "Mint stick" and go try it out - enjoy!!!

<If you need any assistance along the way shoot me a PM or an e-mail and I'll do whatever I can to lend a hand... :D>

http://www.newturfers.com/mwf/attach/47/52547/LinuxMintLogo.png

[Reorx]

...so a friend of mine with an I-Phone recorded something with a newly acquired I-Phone app and sent the file to me via E-mail... the file format is .m4a... I tried to open the file in Windows (XP) - no go... A little research revealed that I would need to D/L something to assist in listening to the file in question...

I then put the file in question on a UFD and plugged it into my Linux Mint 7 netbook... IT PLAYED!!! I'm lovin' this minty OS... :D