The Hundred Gunner

Suse releases about once every year or so rather than 6 months like Ubuntu or Fedora (Fedora releases between 6 months and a year).

Yeah, that's probably the reason it took over. The community is very large. On the other hand, I never knew many people who used Mandrake. Also, the first time I went to download it (about the first time I used Linux, around 4 years ago), I had a hard time finding it on their site. They made it seem like they really wanted you to purchase the box before going for the free OSS download.

__________________
"But you would be amazed by how many people think that the only reason to have a computer is to play games, and that playing games is all that anyone with a computer does." - dangerousHobo

"Linux is everywhere, it is all around us, even now in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window, or you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work, when you go to church, when you pay your taxes. " - mbp

"I have used a mac before. And they still don't have right click I mean come on." - aakar

Blah, blah, can't hear you

enorbet2

Greetz
While this post is somewhat specific for SemperFidelis, it should be helpful in general for a few. At the very least in your BIOS/cmos-setup one should go to the PNP page and fix the "PNP OS" entry. This entry is designed almost specifically for windows and can really get in the way on some machines and with some OpSys choices. Basically since the entry varies a little from bios to bios just take control for plug 'n play (PNP) away from the OS and put it back in the hands of the bios. Most commonly it will be an entry like "PNP OS" with "yes" or "no" as the only two options. Just say no.

As for distros, since so many have LiveCDs either directly or indirectly (example: while Slackware install dvd is not technically a live CD/DVD, there exists "Slax" which is) and this can almost always be discovered simply by utilizing one of the many websites devoted to distros and/or live cds where a brief synopsis is always included and often is "searchable". Most live CDs have boot options that if simply either thought through or played with will result in achieving desktop if the default doesn't as it might it the case of some specific hardware problem. It is true that not all distros share the same hardware difficulties so it is worth trying a few.

Also since distros are merely a form of packaging select software items, perhaps most importantlly to most software package handling such as rpm's, deb's, tgz's or simple compilation from source, the main interface is your choice of window manager and while there are at least a dozen possible to choose from, only two are common, KDE and Gnome.

There is considerable controversy even among linux fans as to which is best (we never escape Chevy vs/ Ford, right?) but both are fairly intuitive and for better or worse KDE is more sort of "windowsy" so maybe you might be inclined to opt for livecds that feature it but believe me it really makes little difference to most folks if you are at all inclined to any bit of adventure at all. Even the minimalist Blackbox, Fluxbox and it's derivatives are immediately usable to anyone at all used to either right clcking or the tab key.

On a slightly personal note to Semper - At first I thought you were just a troller/flame-baiter largely because of your seeming negativity and hard to understand difficulty with Ubuntu. Because you stuck it out and didn't resort to name calling et al I just thought I'd give you some props for being misunderstood and having the cojones to persevere. Keep it up and you too will likely find an alternative that while you may not see a need yet, one day, mark my words, microsoft will piss you off one too many times once to deeply to ever want to give them another dime and you will not be stuck like a slave.

Jimmy

enorbet2

PS I didn't mean to "short" the heated controversy over package management... well actually yes, I did, since it really just sin't all that important. They all work, more or less, and each has it's pros and cons. Point is, worry about that later. Get something or a few things running and pick what you like best. Let idiots fight holy wars.

enorbet2

Greetz
Well it seems our prayers may get answered as recently a number of fairly important games have been given the Linux treatment. That is to say they are natively running in Linux. "Eve Online" is a new SciFi based MMORPG that looks really good, is handled by Steam, has a 14 day trial downloadable client and, like many, is trying to cash in on and repeat "World of Warcraft" success. Could be big.
"Eternal Lands" doesn't have quite the glossy look as Eve but manages a near clone look to WoW and it, too, now has a Linux client. I'm not sure what to say about "Second Life" since it seems to be very controversial as to whether it's user base is real or hype, but apparently even if it is hype the company that makes it is in for the long haul determined to make it happen and part of that commitment is a new Linux client. "Runescape" is a viking warrior based MMORPG and is apparently new enough that it hasn't had time to show whether it is going to make it and in all fairness and honesty the first "M" for "massive" needs to refer not only to the maps but to the population of those maps too but in any case it is spanking new and offers the Linux client right from jump street.

Also the pro quality Firewall Builder (www.fwbuilder.com) has come out with support for windows, mac and linux , their free but potent firewall, for those power users who want the fullest control over the first line of defense within a home computer. It is also worthy of note that dslreports.com which has offered broadband (of all kinds not just dsl) support including internet speed testing, software for tweaking and benchmarking, and tons of high quality FAQs on how to get the most out of your broadband connection, is now fully compatible with Linux. The speed test has worked for a long time but the Unix/Linux tweak papers are fairly new and a button is now included for Linux when displaying results for public comparison.

Hopefully this is the beginning of a trend.

lattyware

Frankly, there are plenty of Linux firewalls out there - iptables is a powerful tool.

EVE Online isn't actually native, they just ship it with a version of Cedega (based on WINE) free.

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Lattyware | Main (Sig) Rig: gBOX42 | Lan Rig: gLAN42
Never been convinced by Linux? Here is a challenge. | Using LVM
Scratched Disc? | Guide To LAN Parties | Writing a GUI application in Python/Glade
Etching an image into your case. | Wireless Access Points: Easy wireless networking.
A Member Of The OCN Anime/Manga Club
There are three types of software. Free as in speech (FOSS), Free as in beer (Freeware) and Free as in BitTorrent.

legoman786

Hey guys... I finally got my dedicated Linux box.

But the problem is that its so old school that trying to run Ubuntu 8.04 Live CD is not working.

P3 650Mhz, 128MB RAM, needs a new CMOS battery, What can I run on this thing? I wanted to go Ubuntu, but it seems that it's not gonna work. Fedora will probably be the same thing... Maybe DSL?

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Aumotocnic "An unfortunate member of the overclock.net insomnia club"
That a 1305% OC right there... O_O

lattyware

dsl might be a little too cut down for your tastes. You could try Xubuntu, I'm not sure how much faster it would be.

If you feel up to the challenge, you could try Arch with LXDE. Arch isn't easy to set up (you literally get a terminal to begin with) - but the installation guide is good, and will hold your hand through the process. Plus, because it begins with nothing, it has no bloat, and so can run on very light systems.

If you don't want to take that route, Ubuntulite uses LXDE - and would apparently run on your hardware well enough.

__________________
Lattyware | Main (Sig) Rig: gBOX42 | Lan Rig: gLAN42
Never been convinced by Linux? Here is a challenge. | Using LVM
Scratched Disc? | Guide To LAN Parties | Writing a GUI application in Python/Glade
Etching an image into your case. | Wireless Access Points: Easy wireless networking.
A Member Of The OCN Anime/Manga Club
There are three types of software. Free as in speech (FOSS), Free as in beer (Freeware) and Free as in BitTorrent.

legoman786

I'll try UL first and see how that goes, because I'm in DSL and the mouse doesn't work. lol

And I'm almost out of blank CDs.

__________________
Aumotocnic "An unfortunate member of the overclock.net insomnia club"
That a 1305% OC right there... O_O

error10

You should put it on that E6600, it'll run a whole lot nicer.

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I did error10's Windows Challenge and I now am an MCSE: Minesweeper Consultant and Solitaire Expert!

legoman786

Ok well Ubuntu Lite failed hardcore. A lot of install files are missing off of the install servers (go figure).

I'm gonna take a break and re try in a few hours.

__________________
Aumotocnic "An unfortunate member of the overclock.net insomnia club"
That a 1305% OC right there... O_O