as for user accounts, i assume that it's the linux core that manages them, and so it's possible to use the same account with a different window manager?
or is that not recommended due to the way each saves settings and preferences etc.?

if not, being able to switch on the fly will be incredibly useful

yes. Alot of distros (I use SuSE 10) comes with alot more desktops to choose from than just KDe/Gnome, and you can switch around as you want...log out of KDE and log back in using Gnome...orwhatever desktop you feel like using...YOUR CHOICE.

each desktop will save the settings into it's own fiile/directory structure and does not interfere with each other.


here is a snapshot of my desktop using KDE:

http://www.mikesbawx.org/snap4.jpg

First, yes the user accounts are part of the system. You have a "root" account which you only use to administer the system, then you have "user" accounts for each user on the system. (There are quite a few other accounts for specific purposes since in linux every file or directory has to be "owned" by someone.)
You *can* create only one user account and run different window managers from the same account, however personally I recommend setting up testing accounts to just play around with various window managers and then remove the account and delete the users directory when you finally decide which one you want. The reason is they each use different directory structures to store configurations etc. and you will end up with anywhere from one or two to a dozen different sets of directories in your "home" directory and deleting the proper ones can be a pain. Of course if you have plenty of disk space you could just leave them but if you never run that window manager again they're just sitting there taking up space.
As far as the configuration, you don't need to touch the source code for the configuring that I was talking about. Most of the "configuring" at least on the window manager itself will be done by "point and click", much like windows. KDE has a "Control Center" which even though it looks and acts entirely different, is much like windows "control panel" for the main window manager settings. Someone else mentioned that Gnome has "panels" and yes KDE has them too. They can be placed anywhere on the edge of the screen and can contain applets, program launchers, desktop switchers, program listings, etc. I have four. One main program launcher at the bottom middle with my main menu and program buttons for my most used programs and utilities, I have one in the bottom right corner that contains a digital clock, One on the top right of the screen that contains my desktop switcher and one on the top left that contains my "open programs" list which shows all of the programs running on that particular desktop. All of them hide when not in use so I still have the entire desktop clear.

And Michael, I like your pix on the background. I have a whole series of "space" pix from apollo missions to the hubble and yours looks like one of the nebulae pix from the hubble. Don't remember which one. Am I close?

And Michael and Roguebfl both, yes I've tried to run q3 linux version but haven't gotten it to work yet. I tried a precompiled version and it needed some library version that I didn't have and I just hadn't took the time to compile my own yet. I'll get around to it one of these days, but I've got so many irons in the fire right now that's kinda low on my priority list.

---

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.

...what the frell are you running Q3 via emulation? why are you use the Linux relaese that leaves Q3 for win, on widows in the dust? [try a mixed OS lan party with the native vetion some time

Yeah....I would have said the same thing :0

It will smoke the win version.

OK, shameless plug, there's this online site for Linux games:
http://www.tuxgames.com/

Enjoy,
Martin

---

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

Some very good reading in this thread, and thanks to Jim for some good descriptions.

One doc I found useful for looking at what Linux "is" was:
LINUX NEWBIE ADMINISTRATOR GUIDE

A few other links are:
Linux Knowledge Base and Tutorial
Newbie's Top Ten Commands
The Linux Documentation Project

And there's lot's more.

Good luck,
Martin

---

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

Hardware compatibility is one big issue...

i'm guessing the older the PC the more compatible it'll behowever this makes me wonder... i'm sure i'll convert completely to linux once i get a taste of it, however, my main workstation (a dell precision 650) has a lot of specialised stuff (GeForce 5900 (i know it's quite old by todays standards), creative SB audigy 2 ZS platunim pro, with lots and lots of features (i'm an audiophile too) dual xeons each with HT, 320-SCSI interface and disk drives, dual monitors, and quite a bit of other stuff too) is there much chance of that kind of linux working with a machine like that?
or am i best keeping it windows only?

With that list, you have a very good chance that it is all fully supported in the standard Linux kernel.

...just considering that the choices made about filesystem usage and storage have long-term impact, and i'd rather get it done properly from the start, rather than have to learn as i go, and scrap my current install to start over from scratch (after i start customising it)
but yea, sounds very well designed, many times i've had issues when i've wanted to move data around which has caused problems with lots of things that depend on it (and obviously once it was moved they all complained)
it'd be great to just direct all the apps to a "pointer" (a virtual folder of sorts) that acts like it contains the data (or just redirects), so i'd just have to update the pointer, rather than input the new absolute path into about 20 apps lol
linux sounds like it does all that and more :)
think i'm starting to fall in love with it already lol

Look up "LVM" (Logical Volume Manager). It lets you spread your filesystem seamlessly around any number of disks and partitions. The filesystem structure remains unchanged. You can also do clever tricks with mounts and pointers.

Another advantage to linux is the quick release times for new features, bug fixes, etc.

oh yes, i've heard much about the availability of fixes etc. and the level of general up-keep sounds more than impressive, must be very dedicated people behind most of the distributions :)

There are indeed some very dedicated and very passionate (and very clever) people for Linux.

Have fun,
Martin

---

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

And Michael, I like your pix on the background. I have a whole series of "space" pix from apollo missions to the hubble and yours looks like one of the nebulae pix from the hubble. Don't remember which one. Am I close?

Orion in false color.

---

Cool Michael! I use the same theme in KDE on my FreeBSD box. I tried the others but like this one the best.... (-:<

Yup, I even customized my shell prompt, as you can see :)

Yes, Linux users are clever.

---

yes. Alot of distros (I use SuSE 10) comes with alot more desktops to choose from than just KDe/Gnome, and you can switch around as you want...log out of KDE and log back in using Gnome...orwhatever desktop you feel like using...YOUR CHOICE.

each desktop will save the settings into it's own fiile/directory structure and does not interfere with each other.

brill, i imagined it would be able to

here is a snapshot of my desktop using KDE:
http://www.mikesbawx.org/snap4.jpg

looks better than windows, think i'll start with KDE then :)

how goes it with Linux...downloaded anything yet?

---

Hmmmm.... Something is different here. For quite a while, several months, I was having a problem with having to reboot XP every day to be able to access the Internet through Firefox. BOINC had no problem, it kept connecting.

My current uptime for XP is: 7 days, 16 hours. I can still access the Internet through Firefox.... (-:<

My FreeBSD uptime is:
$ uptime
9:15AM up 9 days, 12:28, 0 users, load averages: 0.57, 0.38, 0.26
$

I can always connect with FreeBSD. FreeBSD rules....! (-:<

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Hmmmm.... Something is different here. For quite a while, several months, I was having a problem with having to reboot XP every day to be able to access the Internet through Firefox. BOINC had no problem, it kept connecting.

My current uptime for XP is: 7 days, 16 hours. I can still access the Internet through Firefox.... (-:<

My FreeBSD uptime is:
$ uptime
9:15AM up 9 days, 12:28, 0 users, load averages: 0.57, 0.38, 0.26
$

I can always connect with FreeBSD. FreeBSD rules....! (-:<

[101] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:16 [madcow][madness][~] uptime
12:32pm up 45 days 14:17, 2 users, load average: 2.03, 2.04, 2.00
[102] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:18 [madcow][madness][~]

---

Hmmmm.... Something is different here. For quite a while, several months, I was having a problem with having to reboot XP every day to be able to access the Internet through Firefox. BOINC had no problem, it kept connecting.

My current uptime for XP is: 7 days, 16 hours. I can still access the Internet through Firefox.... (-:<

My FreeBSD uptime is:
$ uptime
9:15AM up 9 days, 12:28, 0 users, load averages: 0.57, 0.38, 0.26
$

I can always connect with FreeBSD. FreeBSD rules....! (-:<

[101] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:16 [madcow][madness][~] uptime
12:32pm up 45 days 14:17, 2 users, load average: 2.03, 2.04, 2.00
[102] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:18 [madcow][madness][~]

Ok Michael, you now have my interest piqued. How are you able to make a custom Konsole command line prompt? I have been all through the configurations and have found nothing. Although, I have made some cool changes to my Konsole.... (-:<

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath

Hmmmm.... Something is different here. For quite a while, several months, I was having a problem with having to reboot XP every day to be able to access the Internet through Firefox. BOINC had no problem, it kept connecting.

My current uptime for XP is: 7 days, 16 hours. I can still access the Internet through Firefox.... (-:<

My FreeBSD uptime is:
$ uptime
9:15AM up 9 days, 12:28, 0 users, load averages: 0.57, 0.38, 0.26
$

I can always connect with FreeBSD. FreeBSD rules....! (-:<

[101] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:16 [madcow][madness][~] uptime
12:32pm up 45 days 14:17, 2 users, load average: 2.03, 2.04, 2.00
[102] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:18 [madcow][madness][~]

Ok Michael, you now have my interest piqued. How are you able to make a custom Konsole command line prompt? I have been all through the configurations and have found nothing. Although, I have made some cool changes to my Konsole.... (-:<

it requires a little bit of programming.scripting knowledge, and a little bit about how shell interprets varous things...but to help you out...took me forever to get it worked out...

you must edit/create the file .cshrc and put ONLY this line in it:


set prompt="\\n%B%{\\033[34m%}[%h] %d %D.%w.%Y %P\\n%{\\033[31m%}[%n][%m][%~]\\n%{\\033[30m%}%b"

and then enjoy...by the way, it's a custom shell prompt, and has nothing to do with Konsole.

---

I needed to add that /bin/csh should be your default login shell

---

Hmmmm.... Something is different here. For quite a while, several months, I was having a problem with having to reboot XP every day to be able to access the Internet through Firefox. BOINC had no problem, it kept connecting.

My current uptime for XP is: 7 days, 16 hours. I can still access the Internet through Firefox.... (-:<

My FreeBSD uptime is:
$ uptime
9:15AM up 9 days, 12:28, 0 users, load averages: 0.57, 0.38, 0.26
$

I can always connect with FreeBSD. FreeBSD rules....! (-:<

[101] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:16 [madcow][madness][~] uptime
12:32pm up 45 days 14:17, 2 users, load average: 2.03, 2.04, 2.00
[102] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:18 [madcow][madness][~]

Ok Michael, you now have my interest piqued. How are you able to make a custom Konsole command line prompt? I have been all through the configurations and have found nothing. Although, I have made some cool changes to my Konsole.... (-:<

Didn't actually notice Michael's prompt but just looking at the line he gave you I can sorta imagine what it looks like.
If you want yours like his, as he said, simply add the line he gave you to a .cshrc file. If you want to customize your own, check the Bash Users Guide or the Bash info files or even the man page for bash. They will give you a list of all the various codes that you can use in your prompt. I kept getting lost when I would type a command that gave a lot of output (such as a make) and I wanted to see exactly where the output started. With the basic prompt it appears just as another line in the output without any newlines or anything to show at a glance that it *was* anything but output lines. So I created a prompt that would skip down two lines, print the date and time in highlighted colors, skip down a line and then print the path to the directory I was in, then skip to the next line for my actual "prompt". This way I had a break between lines of output from various commands that was easily recognizable at a glance plus if I looked at the prompt just following the output it would give a "timestamp" to the output.

---

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 needed to add that /bin/csh should be your default login shell

or /bin/bash It'll work too. Matter of fact you should be able to do the same thing with any shell command processor however the particular codes may be a little different, but csh and bash are functionally equivalent. I think bash has some extra enhanced features not present in csh.

---

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.

Hmmmm.... Something is different here. For quite a while, several months, I was having a problem with having to reboot XP every day to be able to access the Internet through Firefox. BOINC had no problem, it kept connecting.

My current uptime for XP is: 7 days, 16 hours. I can still access the Internet through Firefox.... (-:<

My FreeBSD uptime is:
$ uptime
9:15AM up 9 days, 12:28, 0 users, load averages: 0.57, 0.38, 0.26
$

I can always connect with FreeBSD. FreeBSD rules....! (-:<

[101] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:16 [madcow][madness][~] uptime
12:32pm up 45 days 14:17, 2 users, load average: 2.03, 2.04, 2.00
[102] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:18 [madcow][madness][~]

Ok Michael, you now have my interest piqued. How are you able to make a custom Konsole command line prompt? I have been all through the configurations and have found nothing. Although, I have made some cool changes to my Konsole.... (-:<

Didn't actually notice Michael's prompt but just looking at the line he gave you I can sorta imagine what it looks like.
If you want yours like his, as he said, simply add the line he gave you to a .cshrc file. If you want to customize your own, check the Bash Users Guide or the Bash info files or even the man page for bash. They will give you a list of all the various codes that you can use in your prompt. I kept getting lost when I would type a command that gave a lot of output (such as a make) and I wanted to see exactly where the output started. With the basic prompt it appears just as another line in the output without any newlines or anything to show at a glance that it *was* anything but output lines. So I created a prompt that would skip down two lines, print the date and time in highlighted colors, skip down a line and then print the path to the directory I was in, then skip to the next line for my actual "prompt". This way I had a break between lines of output from various commands that was easily recognizable at a glance plus if I looked at the prompt just following the output it would give a "timestamp" to the output.

pretty much what mine does...

Prints firstline with date and time
nextline is username and path relative to ~
next line is the prompt

it will also display what directory you just moved to with an extralilne..like this:

[109] Sat 25.Feb.2006 14:08:07
[madcow][madness][~] $cd Desktop
Directory: /home/madcow/Desktop
[110] Sat 25.Feb.2006 14:08:14
[madcow][madness][~/Desktop]
$

---

Hmmmm.... Something is different here. For quite a while, several months, I was having a problem with having to reboot XP every day to be able to access the Internet through Firefox. BOINC had no problem, it kept connecting.

My current uptime for XP is: 7 days, 16 hours. I can still access the Internet through Firefox.... (-:<

My FreeBSD uptime is:
$ uptime
9:15AM up 9 days, 12:28, 0 users, load averages: 0.57, 0.38, 0.26
$

I can always connect with FreeBSD. FreeBSD rules....! (-:<

[101] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:16 [madcow][madness][~] uptime
12:32pm up 45 days 14:17, 2 users, load average: 2.03, 2.04, 2.00
[102] Sat 25.Feb.2006 12:32:18 [madcow][madness][~]

Ok Michael, you now have my interest piqued. How are you able to make a custom Konsole command line prompt? I have been all through the configurations and have found nothing. Although, I have made some cool changes to my Konsole.... (-:<

Didn't actually notice Michael's prompt but just looking at the line he gave you I can sorta imagine what it looks like.
If you want yours like his, as he said, simply add the line he gave you to a .cshrc file. If you want to customize your own, check the Bash Users Guide or the Bash info files or even the man page for bash. They will give you a list of all the various codes that you can use in your prompt. I kept getting lost when I would type a command that gave a lot of output (such as a make) and I wanted to see exactly where the output started. With the basic prompt it appears just as another line in the output without any newlines or anything to show at a glance that it *was* anything but output lines. So I created a prompt that would skip down two lines, print the date and time in highlighted colors, skip down a line and then print the path to the directory I was in, then skip to the next line for my actual "prompt". This way I had a break between lines of output from various commands that was easily recognizable at a glance plus if I looked at the prompt just following the output it would give a "timestamp" to the output.

I always "make >> make.out"

---

kernel 2.6.11

I think it moved on when you were not looking...2.6.15-1.1831_FC4smp

Not the distro vertion, 2.6.11 is on the download vertion.
now it might very well have that kernal aviaped as an update, but into not on download as of last weekend ;)

I am using the Knoppix version of Windows and it says :Linux 2.6.12
It is my first REAL try and Linux, it comes on a cd, but is downloadable too, and will run from the cd, but I have a harddrive that it is using too.
I got the Linux version of Boinc to run on it! I am not sure exactly how but it is working and I am not going to mess with it!!! The problem I have is that is is on an old machine I am going to get rid of, a 450mhz cpu. Can I just take the drive out and put it in a faster machine and it will run just fine, or is the distro more processor specific, drivers etc, like Windows?

I downloaded the Linux version of Boinc but never could quite find a program to run with it. Just by accident it started extracting and made all the files it needed and then I clicked on one of them and it started working.
Can anyone explain what I did and how to replicate it?
I downloaded a file with the .sh extension to the desktop. I figured out how to make a directory and copied the file over there. But from there on it is VERY VERY muddy!!!
I would LOVE to move most of my Boinc only machines over to Linux because I have heard Linux is less susceptable to viruses etc. And firewalls are just to bypassable in Windows.
ALSO how do I see the other computers thru Linux? In Windows I run a small program called "RAdmin". Symantec thinks it is a virus, which is a pain in itself, but the program lets me sit at my desktop and log on to all the other computers on my network and control them as if I were sitting in front of them.

---

I always "make >> make.out"

Yep I like to make.out too! Hehe

Now to get serious... That's a good way to do it, especially since you get a permanent record, but I usually don't need a permanent record so I just run several terminals. I do my make in one of them, and all my editing, configuring, etc. in other ones. That way I can have the one terminal there to scroll up and down checking for errors, etc. and when I get the errors fixed (hopefully) I go back and do it again.

---

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 always "make >> make.out"

Yep I like to make.out too! Hehe

Now to get serious... That's a good way to do it, especially since you get a permanent record, but I usually don't need a permanent record so I just run several terminals. I do my make in one of them, and all my editing, configuring, etc. in other ones. That way I can have the one terminal there to scroll up and down checking for errors, etc. and when I get the errors fixed (hopefully) I go back and do it again.

your absolutely right.,..my method (madness? lol) is way way overkill. I like to keep records.

I like to do that tho, on my projects I can run a diff on multiple make.out files for various reasons...somtimes makes output can be so huge you dont see what's changed until you run a diff. call me mr anal developer...lol

---

Well, FreeBSD may not be Linux, but it's close and this thread may be my only hope for answers.

I spent about an hour trying to upgrade my Firefox v1.0.3 to v1.5.0.1. I downloaded the firefox.tar.gz file. I gunzipped it and copied the firefox.tar file to my /usr/ports/www directory. There, I typed tar xvf firefox.tar and the files went into my /usr/ports/www/firefox port directory. So far, no problem.

Here's the problem:
After going into the firefox directory, I typed make and get an error that make cannot find the directory ../Mozilla in the /usr/ports/www/firefox directory. When I first installed v1.0.3, there never was a ../Mozilla directory located there.

More information:
The box is a P4 1.6Ghz machine with 512MB memory.
FreeBSD is v5.4 Stable. I have the ISOs for v6.0 Release, not installed, with no plans to. v6.0 will be going onto a brand new box after I get the parts and I get it built.

Michael, Jim, anyone, can this problem be due to my older version of FreeBSD? Any light shed would be appreciated. Oh, and haven't gotten around to doing a custom shell prompt yet. Thanks in advance.... (-:<

---

CAPT Siran d'Vel'nahr - L L & P _\\//
Winders 11 OS? "What a piece of junk!" - L. Skywalker
"Logic is the cement of our civilization with which we ascend from chaos using reason as our guide." - T'Plana-hath