OK Liniacs, I took the plunge and ordered a CD for my laptop.

So, any thoughts? This a IBM T40, with plenty of room on the drive. Must I first install linux and then remove XP?

Any thoughts on replacing Trillian? WMP? Eudora?

I thought I would give it a try since everyone seems to rave about it.

Hints, tips, tricks, suggestions, you name it, it would be appreciated. Ideally, I'd like to dump XP all together, but we shall see.

Thanks in advance for any help.

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

OK Liniacs, I took the plunge and ordered a CD for my laptop.

So, any thoughts? This a IBM T40, with plenty of room on the drive. Must I first install linux and then remove XP?

Any thoughts on replacing Trillian? WMP? Eudora?

I thought I would give it a try since everyone seems to rave about it.

Hints, tips, tricks, suggestions, you name it, it would be appreciated. Ideally, I'd like to dump XP all together, but we shall see.

Thanks in advance for any help.

If you want to get rid of XP you can simply repartition the entire drive when you install Linux. However there are tools available to let you shrink a dos/windows partition to make room for a Linux partition and dual boot the computer.

Any decent Linux distro should have programs that are functionally equivalent to all normal Windows programs. If you have a program that you don't have a replacement for, there's Wine and a few other programs that let you run most Windows programs in Linux.

---

Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

Hey thanks, Jim, I appreciate it.

Wine, eh? There's nothing I'm in dire need of from Windows, except maybe Trillian. It conglomerates all the messaging programs into one, AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, et cetera, so that I don't have to run all of them. One catches them all.

Thanks for the heads up, I think I'll try the dual boot first and then go from there. We shall see.

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

...So, any thoughts? This a IBM T40, with plenty of room on the drive. Must I first install linux and then remove XP?

Briefly:

If WinXP is already on there, then you can install Ubuntu so that you can "dual boot". The Grub bootloader will let you select between Ubuntu and WinXP (or whatever else).

Installing Ubuntu and then WinXP and you'll find that WinXP will over-write the Ubuntu stuff.

You need to give Ubuntu at least 10GBytes of disk space for a full install (OS + apps can get up to 4 GBytes or so, but that's a LOT of apps).

Resist the temptation to try to install everything! Just start with what you need and install the rest after any updates/upgrades.

... Hints, tips, tricks, suggestions, you name it, it would be appreciated. Ideally, I'd like to dump XP all together, but we shall see...

Take a look at the respective Ubuntu or Linux forums. There's usually lots of friendly help there.

I'll let others add any hints/tips and directions.

Good luck,

and welcome to Linux.

Cheers,
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Hey thanks, Jim, I appreciate it.

Wine, eh? There's nothing I'm in dire need of from Windows, except maybe Trillian. It conglomerates all the messaging programs into one, AIM, ICQ, MSN Messenger, et cetera, so that I don't have to run all of them. One catches them all.

You will probably use GAIM. It is a combination program that lets you use different types of IM services. The only one I use is IRC so I use Xchat for that, but GAIM lets you use the same program for AIM, ICQ IRC, etc.

---

Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

There are really 2 "branches" on the Ubunta tree.
Ubunta is based on Gnome which is very Mac like, task bar at the top, etc.
Kubunta is KDE based, which has more of a Windows look and feel.
Functionally, they are the same, it is a choice of preference. It is possible to install both Gnome and KDE on the same machine and switch back and forth between them (single click to do it) until you decide which you prefer.

---

Boinc Button Abuser In Training >My Shrubbers<

If you have a Windows CD and serial number, go ahead and make Linux the only OS on your computer.
Anything you do with Windows - you can do it with Linux! It's just a little different.
If there's an easy way back (dual boot), people (including me) tend to use the stuff they are used to instead of really trying out the new....

---

mic.

Thanks Martin,

Installing Ubuntu and then WinXP and you'll find that WinXP will over-write the Ubuntu stuff.

You need to give Ubuntu at least 10GBytes of disk space for a full install (OS + apps can get up to 4 GBytes or so, but that's a LOT of apps).

OK, cool. This thing already has XP on it so I should be OK.

Resist the temptation to try to install everything! Just start with what you need and install the rest after any updates/upgrades.

As in, it's going to want to check for them? I'm not interested in "everything" this isn't a workhorse, it's just for school, commo, browsing, et cetera.

Take a look at the respective Ubuntu or Linux forums. There's usually lots of friendly help there.

Thank you again, Martin.

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

You will probably use GAIM. It is a combination program that lets you use different types of IM services. The only one I use is IRC so I use Xchat for that, but GAIM lets you use the same program for AIM, ICQ IRC, etc.

Ah, brilliant... Thank you. GAIM it is. And all this stuff is free, right?

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

There are really 2 "branches" on the Ubunta tree.
Ubunta is based on Gnome which is very Mac like, task bar at the top, etc.
Kubunta is KDE based, which has more of a Windows look and feel.
Functionally, they are the same, it is a choice of preference. It is possible to install both Gnome and KDE on the same machine and switch back and forth between them (single click to do it) until you decide which you prefer.

Ah, and they will both be on the CD? I prefer Window over Mac, just because Mac is still so 1985, but that's trivial regardless.

Are they the same as far as speed and purpose?

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

If you have a Windows CD and serial number, go ahead and make Linux the only OS on your computer.
Anything you do with Windows - you can do it with Linux! It's just a little different.
If there's an easy way back (dual boot), people (including me) tend to use the stuff they are used to instead of really trying out the new....

I'm thinking about doing just that, but on that note, why exactly am I loading Ubuntu on a laptop?

I mean, I don't really want to hear about eeeevil corporate Microsoft, but will it run faster? Better? Less space? Cooler?

I mean, what exactly is the benefit of running Linux over MS?

Thoughts? Theories? Reasons?

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

You will probably use GAIM. It is a combination program that lets you use different types of IM services. The only one I use is IRC so I use Xchat for that, but GAIM lets you use the same program for AIM, ICQ IRC, etc.

Ah, brilliant... Thank you. GAIM it is. And all this stuff is free, right?

Yes, everything is totally free, not even any registration required, although they will leave an email in your root mailbox asking you to contact them just so they can keep an account of the number of people running Linux. At least in Slackware they do.

As far as "everything" is concerned, no you won't need everything. But you might want to do a complete install to find out what's available if you have never used it before. Linux is a true multi-user os so they have many duplicate programs. All with a different look and "feel" to them. For instance editors. I can count at least ten different editors that are installed in a full installation. This ranges from the basic "pico" simple text based editor to Vi, Vim, Joe, gedit, kate kedit, kword, Emacs, Xedit, Abiword, and others! This is because different editors serve different purposes, but also different users prefer different types of editors.

So you need to check out everything first and pick out your favorites of all the different programs available. There are even dozens of different "window managers". As already mentioned, Gnome and KDE are the two heavyweights, but there are a lot of lighter window manager for those that want a simpler interface without all the fancy bells and whistles. They all do the job of managing the windows that are placed on the screen, it's just a matter of taste as to what you want.

Once you have tried a full installation and chosen a couple different editors, a good multimedia player, a good email program, etc. and decided which window manager you want, then you can wipe out that installation and reinstall using only the programs you want and save a lot of disk space.

---

Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

If you have a Windows CD and serial number, go ahead and make Linux the only OS on your computer.
Anything you do with Windows - you can do it with Linux! It's just a little different.
If there's an easy way back (dual boot), people (including me) tend to use the stuff they are used to instead of really trying out the new....

I'm thinking about doing just that, but on that note, why exactly am I loading Ubuntu on a laptop?

I mean, I don't really want to hear about eeeevil corporate Microsoft, but will it run faster? Better? Less space? Cooler?

I mean, what exactly is the benefit of running Linux over MS?

Thoughts? Theories? Reasons?

If you use a full featured window manager such as Gnome or KDE and run a lot of services it will probably run just slightly faster than Windows. But if you choose a lesser window manager, like xfce or blackbox or enlightenment, you will have more trouble setting it up (the configuration takes more work sometimes even editing config files by hand, but in Linux you will soon get used to that!) and cut off all of the services you don't really use then it will run faster.

It will run better, since everything runs in it's own "space". You can kill an offending program (even the entire "Xwindows" server and restart them without shutting down the computer. Also "crashes" as such don't happen as often as in Windows.

As far as running cooler, or using less space, yes and no. Just running normal programs, there's less overhead than in Windows so it will probably run a little cooler, but if you plan on running BOINC on it, no it won't run any cooler as the cpu is still running at 100%. Using less space? this depends. Many programs in Windows depend on special "DLL's" or Libraries. Linux has them too, but most of the ones in Linux are pretty well standardized so once the libraries are installed the program won't have to contain the libraries also. Also many "programs" in Linux are simple scripts. Linux contains hundreds of little utilities that do everything from sorting text to playing music, to burning a CD. The big "programs" simply take all of these little utilities and tie them together into a big useful program.

For instance a graphic program to burn cd's is simply that, a graphic "front end" to a command line utility that actually does the burning. The graphic program simply makes it easier to use instead of having to remember a long complicated list of options to feed the actual burning program. So you can have ten "graphic" cd burning programs on your computer in Linux and they will take up less space than say one or two in Windows because in Windows, each program has all of the routines it needs in the program.

---

Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

... I mean, I don't really want to hear about eeeevil corporate Microsoft, but will it run faster? Better? Less space? Cooler?

I mean, what exactly is the benefit of running Linux over MS?

Thoughts? Theories? Reasons?

Jim, good summary there! Just some minor additions:

If you use a full featured window manager such as Gnome or KDE and run a lot of services it will probably run just slightly faster than Windows. But if you choose a lesser window manager, like xfce or blackbox or enlightenment, you will have more trouble setting it up (the configuration takes more work sometimes even editing config files by hand, but in Linux you will soon get used to that!) and cut off all of the services you don't really use then it will run faster.

The main distros usually support at least one of the other desktops besides just KDE and Gnome. There's Xubuntu for example (xfce). And yes, despite the sometime very different looks, it's all the same Linux underneath and the same distro. It's just the software 'painting the pictures on the screen' that is different.

It will run better, since everything runs in it's own "space". You can kill an offending program (even the entire "Xwindows" server and restart them without shutting down the computer. Also "crashes" as such don't happen as often as in Windows.

There's mostly no annoying 'side effects' that 'magically' clobber something completely unrelated to what you're tweaking. The overall design is usually very robust and 'well behaved'.

The "usually" is to cover aspects that are included that are 'experimental'. Linux is a continuous 'work in progress'. If you keep to the 'stable' releases, then the system is very robust. And there is none of this reboot-reboot-reboot silliness when you change or install anything!

If you do want to live on the 'cutting edge', then there's also lots of the new alpha and beta stuff to play with.

As far as running cooler, or using less space, yes and no. Just running normal programs, there's less overhead than in Windows so it will probably run a little cooler, but if you plan on running BOINC on it, no it won't run any cooler as the cpu is still running at 100%. Using less space? this depends. Many programs in Windows depend on special "DLL's" or Libraries. Linux has them too, but most of the ones in Linux are pretty well standardized so once the libraries are installed the program won't have to contain the libraries also. Also many "programs" in Linux are simple scripts. Linux contains hundreds of little utilities that do everything from sorting text to playing music, to burning a CD. The big "programs" simply take all of these little utilities and tie them together into a big useful program.

You also get a speedup in that the Linux stuff is more compact and so doesn't take so long to load into memory and once there, it isn't such a deadweight behemoth. Hence, you can run with surprisingly little RAM.

Even so, the rest of the RAM isn't wasted in that the OS will make full use of it for many elaborate caching mechanisms to keep things running as quickly as possible.

For instance a graphic program to burn cd's is simply that, a graphic "front end" to a command line utility that actually does the burning. The graphic program simply makes it easier to use instead of having to remember a long complicated list of options to feed the actual burning program. So you can have ten "graphic" cd burning programs on your computer in Linux and they will take up less space than say one or two in Windows because in Windows, each program has all of the routines it needs in the program.

That 'unix philosophy' of doing things makes the entire system infinitely customizable if you wish. Brilliant stuff. And all completely and openly accessible.


And then there is the customized extreme of Gentoo...! :-)



A big advantage is that the system is robust against viruses and malware. You get an immediate boost in that there is no anti-virus program snooping all the time to slow things down and cause 'side-effects' problems.

The greatest peace of mind is that you can surf the web with impunity!

Happy crunchin',
Martin

---

See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

And a few other notes about Linux.
While ML1 is basically correct on the window managers, there is one correction. Linux "supports" any window manager that is written for a unix type os. Meaning that you can download and run any window manager you like. As he pointed out, unlike Windows, which is a window manager and operating system tied together inseparably, in Linux the Window Manager is a simple program that you run. They are all based on the Xwindow system which actually does the low level operations of drawing on the screen. So you can change to any window manager that is designed to work with the Xwindows server. There's no "supported" or "unsupported" window managers as long as they meet this one requirement.

Now if he's talking about "supported" in a particular distro, then that is different. Slackware used to ship with Gnome, as it's main window manager and if you wanted KDE you had to download it separately from another source. Now the reverse is true. But regardless of whether a particular distro ships with a certain window manager doesn't mean that the window manager won't run with it.

Als it's true what ML1 said about the stability. When I said it was more stable I was refering to if you stick to a stable release. One big advantage to Linux is it's under continuous development. Windows might be also, but just look how long Windows XP had been out. With Linux, every time a problem is detected a fix for that problem is available in a short time. Also major releases are done regularly (about an average of one a year) to keep the system updated.

And speaking of speed, if you want to get the most speed and responsieness out of your Xwindow system I strongly urge you to obtain and compile the latest Xwindow server yourself. This tunes the system exactly to your particular computer and in my case results in about a 40 percent improvement in the speed of loading and drawing/redrawing stuff on the screen. If you install a standard distro with the kernel headers and stuff then compiling a new Xwindows server is a simple matter of typing three commands, configure, make and make install. Of course you will have a wait while it crunches the source code and spits out the executables, but you will notice a big improvement in speed of execution.

You might also consider building a custom kernel. This lets you remove any reference to things you don't use and making a kernel which is smaller and loads faster with a slight improvement in execution speed. However you should get to know the system first before I recommend this as you can get a system that won't boot if it is done improperly. (The "kernel" IS Linux. Everything else is just layered on top.)

Hope we've helped.

ps. I just downloaded the latest Slackware version, 12.0 and will probably install it this weekend and the first thing I'm going to do once it's configured properly is to download and compile the newest Xserver! I may run the stock kernel for a while but the stock Xserver goes! Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with it, but this is like the standard SETI application, it's made to run on any machine. Compiling your own Xserver is like getting a big bowl of Chicken Soup! hehe

---

Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

Martin, Jim, and everyone, thanks for your comments.

The disk will arrive today and I'll start skrewing around with it this week and see what there is to see.

Frankly, I'm thinking of firing up the desk top too, I just got a new keyboard and the desktop won't find the drivers for it. Here on the laptop, plugged it in, >bloop< and it was done in 4 seconds.

So, in theory, I have a laptop with 2 keyboards, and and a desktop with none. D'oh!!

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

OK, boyos, I have it up and running, in fact I'm using it right now. Seems pretty stable, and no real issues so far.

A couple of things...

Do I need virus protection? Suggestions?

Also, while I've been skrewing around with it, can someone take a look at this and let me know what I have to do first? I'm kinda behind the loop.

Thanks again, everyone, this experiment is working out...

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

OH!! And how do I get SAH on here? I didn't see a Ubuntu version, did I miss it? Or am I skrewed?

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

OH!! And how do I get SAH on here? I didn't see a Ubuntu version, did I miss it? Or am I skrewed?

Go to Software Sources and check "multiverse" and "universe" (and "restricted" for nvidia drivers), then just open the Synaptic Packet Manager - search for seti and boinc and install!
Ubuntu installs BOINC (5.4.x) as a service by default, if you don't want that (no grafics!) you have to dl the latest version from the BOINC website.

If you want a newer (ubuntu-)version of BOINC (5.8.x) go to Software Sources and check "unsupported updates" on the update tab and run the update manager (check only the BOINC related suff!)

---

mic.

OK, boyos, I have it up and running, in fact I'm using it right now. Seems pretty stable, and no real issues so far.

A couple of things...

Do I need virus protection? Suggestions?

Also, while I've been skrewing around with it, can someone take a look at this and let me know what I have to do first? I'm kinda behind the loop.

Thanks again, everyone, this experiment is working out...

Good going. Glad you got it up and running!

The link you posted is just telling how to get all of your buttons/scrollwheel etc. working for a Logitech Intellimouse in the Xwindows. If you don't have an intellimouse, then you don't need to do anything. If you do, open your Xorg.conf file in a TEXT editor (usually found in /etc/X11 or a similar location) and look for a section that looks like the one in the posting. Comment it out using #'s in front of each line and put the lines posted in the forum in it's place. Restart X (if it's already running) and you should have everything working.

There is NO Ubuntu specific version of BOINC or the SETI app. Use the Linux version that agrees with the capabilities of your processor (MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, etc.) That's all there is to it. If you want it to start when you boot your computer and run in the background it's a little more work because you have to edit a configuration file and add a line to it. I'm not familiar enough with Ubuntu to attempt to tell you how since I'm familiar with mostly Slackware, although a long time ago I've tried early Red Hat and Mandrake distros. I've been attached to Slackware since they started (they were the first complete "distribution") since they follow standard Unix practices. Other distros put files in different locations, use different filenames, etc. I'm sure somebody here is familiar enough with Ubuntu to give you detailed info on how to do this.

Edit: Matter of fact I'm getting ready to shut down my system for an upgrade from Slackware 11.0 Prerelease Beta (which I've been running for nearly a year) to the new 12.0 stable version!

Second edit: There is virus protection available for Linux however I have not really found a use for it. In all my surfing the web going to all sorts of strange sites, etc. I've never had a virus that attacked my Linux system with no virus protection at all. I sure can't say that for Windows! I surfed the net in Windows and got a virus in less than a week after a fresh install! I no longer use Windows to surf! Only for playing games, and then only the ones that just will not run under Linux!

---

Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.