Re: OT: New Virus?
 

Atrocities, that was one of the best tirades I've heard in a long time. *applause*.
Thankyou for making me laugh today.

Yeah, me too. I'd like to learn about Linux, and I figure the best way to do so would be to install it. I have an old win98 laptop at home currently doing nothing at all (it's a Toshiba 470 CDT, I think). I've done a little research online and have found both drivers and success stories for installing Linux on this model, so it seems like a good choice.

Trouble is, I wouldn't really know what to use a Linux box for. My computing needs are fairly basic and pretty well fulfilled by my winXP Sony Vaio, so I'm kind of uninspired when it comes to actually getting on with it. Also, I have no idea which of the baffling array of Linux distros I should go for.

Can anyone help relieve my apathy?

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

Thanks Jack, that was pretty informative. As I thought, Linux needs to be configured to operate along side of windows. It also sounds as though Wine will be a while before it can help.
All OS's are open to virus's. I would imagine that Linux, if it gets popular, will become a target in the future too!

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

Making yourself a little webserver is a good use for a linux box, if you're on broadband.

It will be a nice "infinite"-space server that you can run anything you like on, 24/7.

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

dogscoff said:
Also, I have no idea which of the baffling array of Linux distros I should go for.

Debian is the way to go. It has the best package management setup, making it really easy to install software.

Suicide Junkie said:
It will be a nice "infinite"-space server that you can run anything you like on, 24/7.

Only problem is that you won't get nearly as much bandwidth as a web server in a data center.

Xrati said:
It also sounds as though Wine will be a while before it can help.

Wine does a good job now. It doesn't due to well with very intensive 3d apps, such as some games, but it does work for most things (including SE4). A lot of people keep a Windows partition around for such problem games.

Technically, a lot of quite functional Linux software is still in alpha or beta. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

Debian is nice if you want to build your OS package by package. Ubuntu uses the same debian package management but will install a much better basic OS for you then debian. Ubuntu Starter Guide is a good place to start.

Wine will probably never leave alpha. By the time we get most win98se apps working longhorn will be out and nobody will build software supporting win98se. But SE4 works great in wine and thats all that matters. Wine Application DB is a good place to find out if a program will work or not. You can also do a search with Google Linux.

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

A default install of Ubuntu is really bad for an old PC like he was talking about playing with. Same for Debian. Debian lets you do a custom installation. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Fine for a newer PC, just not old ones.

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

How do these OS's function with the different motherboards and chipsets out there? Is it going to take days to get up and running once you install one of them? I wish I had a better understanding of Linux because I don't want to lose functionality of my computer for any great length of time while installing and configuring! [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/icon45.gif[/img]

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

For a free first nix install, redhat is an easy install. After you have a feal for it then go to Debian. You can also dual boot nix and windows on the same system with ease.

For a web server I would recomend FreeBSD over a nix workstation build.

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

Xrati said:
How do these OS's function with the different motherboards and chipsets out there?

99% of the time it will auto-detect everything and work right away. Might need to find the name of the chipset for your ethernet controller first, but it will give you a big list to choose from.

Xrati said:Is it going to take days to get up and running once you install one of them?

No, not really. Getting SE4 and other games running well might take some time, but other functionality will be ready as soon as the install is complete. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Thermodyne said:
For a free first nix install, redhat is an easy install.

I wouldn't recommend Red Hat. It is a very annoying distro, and it's RPM system is pretty aggravating in general. A real hassle of a distro, in my experience. Debian's Aptitude is just beautiful.

Re: OT: New Virus?
 

For a free first nix install, redhat is an easy install. After you have a feal for it then go to Debian. You can also dual boot nix and windows on the same system with ease.

Many Debian based distros have easy installers (Ubuntu, Mepis, knoppix...). Redhat Package Management (RPM) has frightened a great many people back to windows.

For a web server I would recomend FreeBSD over a nix workstation build.

FreeBSD is unix based...