To install, linux, you need a computer. If you don't know what a computer is, then you are stupid because you are using a computer to read this message. You need to download the Ubuntu iso and burn it to a CD. There is a text install CD and a graphics install CD. Download the gparted iso and also burn it to a CD. Shrink your partition using the GUI. Now install linux with the ubuntu cd. If you are using the graphics install it will boot to a live cd and you click on install. If the computer did not boot, you did not record the ISO, you just burned it as a regular file. (http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm)
After you have installed, you will be able to choose between Linux and Windows. Choose Linux and then it will ask for the password and user name you chose during the install. The boot screen should be ugly and orange. If it isn't, you are running Kubuntu, which uses KDE.
Well anyway, the way you get wireless internet working is to download the drivers of the internet. This means that you must have wired internet too.
The way you install stuff is to open the terminal and do:
sudo apt-get install whatever
So to install emacs, you do
sudo apt-get install emacs
It has to be lower case because everything on linux is case sensitive. Sudo is this magic program that makes you root so you have special magic powers. (http://xkcd.com/149/) Emacs is a text editor like Notepad (http://xkcd.com/378/).
Well, let's look at some of the programs that come with Ubuntu:
(1) Firefox. Firefox is a web browser for browsing the Internets, like IE. There is also w3m on the command line for browsing the Internets. w3m supports the mouse and color even though it is a command line application -- it just doesn't have images or javascript.
(2) OpenOffice. OpenOffice is like MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, etc. OpenOffice takes a long time to load because it is written in Java and it has to load the interpreter and is slower than MS Office but it is free.
(3) Evolution, an e-mail client
(4) gedit, a text editor
If you want to run DOS programs like QBASIC, you get DOSBOX. Type this to install:
sudo apt-get install dosbox
There is also dosemu which might be faster or something:
sudo apt-get install dosemu
sudo apt-get install dosemu-freedos
If you want to run windows games, you can use WINE.
The linux command is a unix shell so the commands are different from DOS:
ls is like dir
cp is like copy
rm is like del
"cat > file" is the same as "copy con file" except you type ^d to end instead of ^z
cat is like type
grep is like find
diff is like fc
ed is like edlin
nano is like edit
lpr is like print
man is like help
And there was still a fair amount of steps to take to get that 'puppy' up and running. I'll be a happy camper if or when the day comes when someone who contributes to the development of Linux gets the idea to make a self-installer and a wizard to configure the thing so people like me, who don't get those of you in the 'Tinker' generation (oops, did I write tinker? I meant 'Thinker,' must have been a Fruedian slip.) don't have to suffer through all of this step, step, step stuff.
If course, what is happening on the other side of the OS world is starting to make Linux look more reasonable. You wouldn't believe the crap you have to go through now if your were in need of re-installing your Vista OS. I still think in the long run my ideology will survive and conquer... Hi-tech will again = easy instead of the other way around. Easy is higher evolved than tinkering, so I see this as just a phase. I mean what episode of Star Trek ever had Kirk waiting for Scotty to partition the warp core to load the engine data and make a wireless connection to the bridge and download navigational control from the helm to get the frickin’ Enterprise out of harms way? Just slam in the new dilithium crystals and get the hell going!
linux development can go in two directions (sometimes two at once)
June 8 2008, 7:30 AM
one is they can be serious and take the kind of "how would this affect the next seven generations?" approach to design. i like this one, although sometimes if taken too seriously (by less than serious people) it can end up taking seven generations just to pick a f***ing wallpaper (if you've ever read the minutes from a community edition puppy linux meeting, you know what hell is.)
however, this is why i like dsl. it's not a toy that people play with, it's meant to be used the way software is used. although tinkering is mandatory.
the other direction linux can go in is "batsh*t." just slap together anything that seems fun, even though it will be just for a laugh. while "fun" is a good drive to create a distro, and can add to the enjoyment of using it, batsh*t ends up just sh*t sooner or later. much like another project i loathe, they do nothing to ensure that features they've alreasdy worked on will in the future.
you end up with a sort of mr. potato head kind of distro, only the pieces don't fit each other unless you do that "i'll make this damn puzzle piece fit!" kind of thing with your shoe. and that is the joy of puppy linux. find a version, fall in love. just for the love of pete, do not make a habit of "upgrading." they don't.
ubuntu obviously has a serious method, and does a lot of things you insist on. but as chandler pointed out, ubuntu is only good as long the repositories exist. they have a linux like package system, where you download a million tiny files (to where) based on what's needed.
when they come out with a few more versions, they do not always make those files available. so his older machine cannot install anything, and he can't upgrade, because the new version doesn't have the drivers he needs.
i prefer the windows-like packages in dsl and puppy. another thing that was great about puppy (.pup packages) until they went batsh*t with the .pet installer. puppy is begging to be forked into something new and a little serious. but i have a double standard when it come to these things. hobby development is fine, as long as the environment you're developing in is well maintained. i consider a distro part of that environment, and a programming language. if you're working on a smaller project than that, for a small number of people, hey, go batsh*t. it's fun as long as people aren't relying on the project everyday.
After the ubuntu 5.10 repositories were taken offline,I couldn't install anything
new and decided I should try a newer version anyway. Turns out,the newer ubuntus don't
have the drivers for my obsolete starlogic monitor. Actually,this was the problem with many
distros I tried. I'm currently using MEPIS because of it's excellent hardware detection,
but if there comes a time when MEPIS is no longer working for me,I may actually try
debian which is what ubuntu is based off of anyway.
BTW,I no longer would dream of a dual boot system because I don't want Windows
taking up six gigabytes of space on my limited hard disk.
I havem't used Windows for well over a year now and I'm quite happy about that.
But in the Navy,I didn't get to use any electronic devices at all!
Let me tell you,being away from my computer may have been painful,but
I was more concerned about the lack of toilet paper.
I say use what works best for you. If nothing works, try Gentoo!
April 3 2008, 9:48 AM
I run Gentoo currently. It is awesome. There are a few problems with GCC on it, but that is why the package manager (actually it is a collection of tools) also downloads patches. ^_^
The hardest part is configuring your kernel, but if you know that Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right switches virtual terminals and you can interpret the output of lspci and lsmod, that takes care of most of the work for you. Before I realized that I could use those, I always got kernel panics. I won't go back to Fedora probably. Even though with Gentoo you need to do a bit of work, it is worth it, I think. I just wish I could get a blasted Linux-to-Windows cross-compiler to work... I suppose part of the reason could be because of the fact that GCC has changed things that the MinGW project doesn't support yet. libgomp, libgfortran and even libstdc++-v3 don't build. *sigh* This is why I use Linux. I know that when I build something, it'll work! ^_^
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Waiting patiently for Windows 7, XHTML 2.0, CSS 3.0, PHP 6.0, the ratification of C++0x, and the day that I can code without logic troubles.
i guess chandler likes doing things the most difficult way, but if that's always true, why couldn't he make the new ubuntu use his old drivers?
gentoo is not for beginners. not even a little. i've been using linux a lot for a year, and a little for so many years (in linux right now) and i won't touch gentoo. "configure the kernel," lol... i'm hoping i never have to do that. just like even though i like dos, i like that i haven't needed to run memory manager in dos 5 or 6 in more than 10 years. (for everyone younger than pete, it stepped through config.sys and told you which programs to "load high.") i mean what's the linux equivalent to "hello, world!" probably a good boot cd.
Once you beat the bear, it all just seems easy later.
Unfortunately some newbies never win and quit in futility.
What may seem like mere hurdles for some, can become a nightmare for others. Another reason I won't be using one of the numerous Linux distros for a while!
One Windows OS is bad enough! Picking from several would be a disaster...
Vista Starter
Vista Home Basic
Vista Home Premium
Vista Business
Vista Enterprise
Vista Ultimate
* - Complying with anti-trust rulings and laws, there are a couple variations of some of the editions above in certain regions. In the EU, for example, Home Basic and Business are shipped as Home Basic N and Business N, and they exclude Windows Media Player. In South Korea, there are the "K" and "KN" editions, which includes links to competing IM and media player software. The "KN" editions don't come with Windows Media Player.
Don't forget the fact that there is the 32-bit/64-bit choice when you have 64-bit hardware, not to mention the Retail, OEM and Volume-Licensed versions...
In addition, there exists two versions created specifically for embedded systems - Vista Business for Embedded Systems and Vista Ultimate for Embedded Systems.
Excluding the anti-trust law-compliant versions, the Retail/OEM/VL versions and the 32-bit/64-bit differences, there are 6 total. If you start playing with those variables, you can end up with a relatively larger number.
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Waiting patiently for Windows 7, XHTML 2.0, CSS 3.0, PHP 6.0, the ratification of C++0x, and the day that I can code without logic troubles.
*Just get Ubuntu. There are issues, but it's better than Vista, and probably Windows 7 too
June 9 2008, 4:52 PM
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Waiting patiently for Windows 7, XHTML 2.0, CSS 3.0, PHP 6.0, the ratification of C++0x, and the day that I can code without logic troubles.
dosbox came out for games and it's great, it's easier to setup than dosemu, and it has more features. but for qbasic and things like that, dosemu is so much cooler.
Your attitude toward beginners precedes your post here QBGUY!
June 8 2008, 1:55 PM
SAME thing in the Main QB Forum!
OK, you may be smart, but you don't have to rub people's noses in it!
You had to learn somehow and other people would like to learn too. So quit being a schmuck and try to not call them "stupid" even if that was supposed to be a joke.
Some of your posts are just plain STUPID themselves! Especially in the QB Forum. If you wanna act like a snob, then just don't bother to lower yourself to a newbie level or post anything there.
If you want to tango with experts like Ildurest or somebody, go for it kiddo!
