A new operating system

[T-Odd]

Dang, how did I miss this thread again?

Booting from the complete iso on DVD from before the Christmas break, so maybe that was the issue. I'll try the CD boot next and if that works then I'll just download all the extras as Jeff did.

We'll see this weekend.

Thanks again, sorry so slow to get back to the thread.

T-Odd

 

[409T]

I'm reading / responding to this thread using LMDE right now, and it seems to be working well. Anybody have any suggestion for an LMDE answer to Irfanview?

 

[T-Odd]

Well, I'm now booted back to WinXP after installing LMDE. All went well with the CD install except my wireless card isn't working... so if the wireless card isn't working I am unable to download the drivers needed to get it working HAHA.

Oh well, I did get the OS installed and played with it for a second. Installed without a hitch though. Now if I can just find an Ethernet cable and test the wired connection we'll be on our way to resolve whatever driver issue I have with the wireless.

Will keep updating when more info is available.

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the LMDE recommendation, I tired it and I love it!

No thanks necessary. I'm just glad to see you are enjoying it. Isn't it amazing how far Linux has come in the last few years? The CLI is still there, if you want to use it. But most users will rarely ever have any need for it.

And the beauty of it all is the availability of different Linux distributions. I ran Ubuntu for a lot of years, but OpenSUSE, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS and Fedora are all slick distros of their own right I've found I prefer running a GNOME desktop, as the KDE environment is a bit of a resource hog. But most die-hard Windows fans really like KDE, because it 'feels' a lot like Windows.

I'm reading / responding to this thread using LMDE right now, and it seems to be working well. Anybody have any suggestion for an LMDE answer to Irfanview?

If you're looking to do simple resizing, Mirage works a treat. If you need some of the more involved functions of IrfanView, then just use GIMP. GIMP should have been part of your install. It is the open source answer to PhotoShop and really is pretty amazing. GIMP is also available for Windows and OS X, for any of you who simply cannot justify the expense of PhotoShop.

It's really good to see some of you trying LMDE. I'll wager the more you use it, the more you'll like it. I find most people really don't ever stretch the capabilities of their computers, they primarily use them for e-mail and browsing the Web. And Linux is great for those activities, because you're not having to run a bunch of firewall/anti-virus software that just slows your machine down. But for those power-users out there, look at all the Web servers that run on Linux. It's primarily the cost involved, but if Windows was so great, a lot more hosting companies would be offering/using it.

Well, I'm now booted back to WinXP after installing LMDE. All went well with the CD install except my wireless card isn't working... so if the wireless card isn't working I am unable to download the drivers needed to get it working HAHA.

Oh well, I did get the OS installed and played with it for a second. Installed without a hitch though. Now if I can just find an Ethernet cable and test the wired connection we'll be on our way to resolve whatever driver issue I have with the wireless.

Will keep updating when more info is available.

I had the same issues with my iMac and notebook. Once you get the drivers downloaded, you'll be in business.

 

[T-Odd]

Not sure if it's drivers or not just yet. Since I don't know how to troubleshoot driver issues in Linux.

I do know that it cannot locate any SSIDs so I suppose the drivers for the wireless card are missing.

 

[Corley]

I'm not sure, but I think there is something weird with the CD version and networks. I installed the CD version, and had to connect a hard cable so it would finally install the wireless driver. Funny thing was, the eithernet cable went to a wireless print server with a 4 port switch, but that was never configured to actually talk to the wireless access point. It just seemed to need something active on the eithernet cable, and then the wireless came alive, no downloads or anything.

The other thing I'm noticing with the CD version, is that it seems a lot slower to me than when I was running the DVD version. Different machines, but this on is supposed to be faster! Anyway, I'm not pleased with that aspect, and I'm hoping that some update will address it. I'm still doing updates while entering into this forum.

I first tried to use version 9 as a start point, but it hung on boot up on this machine also. Then I found the CD version, and was able to get it going OK except for the speed. One other issue is that it hasn't figured out that my display can handle a higher resolution, so I'm stuck with 1040X768 or whatever it is, and I'd like to be at 1600X1024 (or whatever that is). Is there a program that I could download, or drivers or ??? to get it to work better with my display? The DVD version on a different machine seems to work fine in that regard...
Corley

 

[409T]

To get the Nvidia driver loaded I right clicked on the desktop, chose "Change Desk Top Background", clicked on the "Visual Effects" tab and then chose the "Extra" radio button. The program asked if I wanted to load the Nvidia driver, I said yes, and it loaded. This also loaded the Nvidia Display Panel under Control Center on the main menu. I opened the Nvidia Display Panel and was able to set resolutions and other stuff for my dual monitors. Hopefully you also have Nvidia, or this also works for ATI or whatever flavor of video card you have.

As an aside, this editor is telling me that I spelled flavor wrong. What do you know. It likes flavour. Must come from Gerry's neighborhood. Pardon me, neighbourhood.

Jeff

 

[Mike]

Todd, is it one of Broadcom's 4311/4312/4313/4321/4322/43224/43225 chipsets? If so, your answer is HERE.

 

[T-Odd]

Mike, I'll check that and get back. Right now it's in the middle of upgrading to the DVD version from the CD version.

 

[Telman2]

I've been following this thread with interest, I don't understand most of the terms you're using (32 bit, ISO, distro, driver etc) so I'm constantly googling them. We've got an old laptop that has been unusable since one of the grand kids used it years ago. A couple of computer smart people tried to fix it but never had any luck. So now I'm thinking I might try installing one of these systems you guys are discussing. I'm beginning to make some sense out of some of them but I'm no where near understanding enough to attempt it yet. Anyway, one of the things Mike mentioned and I found with Google was defraggler. I downloaded and installed it and after running it the computer is running much better so now I'm wondering if you guys can suggest any other programs to help improve the way it works?

 

[Mike]

If you're not using it already, grab a copy of Ad-Aware. Download it. Install it. Run it. At least once a day. Every day.

And no, I'm not kidding. Make a habit of running it every day. I think if Windows users would all learn to run Ad-Aware on a daily basis and would clear out their browser's cache history on a daily basis, the majority of their computer problems would suddenly vanish. Ad-Aware can take some time to run the first time, as it will usually have a truckload of malware to wade through. But if you run it every day, execution time drops to a minute or two. I run it every day, before I boot my work box back into Linux. It takes a couple minutes and cleans out all the junk, so I never have to get held up by any of it.

 

[T-Odd]

Also, I'd recommend checking out SpywareBlaster for Windows users. Have SpywareBlaster and Ad-Aware running on my boxes right now.

 

[Corley]

I think I've found the root of my LMDE issue on this old HP PC I put it on. I could not get it to load the DVD version, and finally loaded the CD version, then did the update to DVD version. Anyway, the problem is that this PC has an Intel Extreme Graphics chip set built into the mother board, and LMDE does not support that, so it's defaulting to the generic VGA driver. I've researched this on a dozen different LMDE and Ubuntu forums, and it seems Intel has not upgraded their driver since 2004, and it's not compatible with the later versions of Linux. I tried to install that driver, but it was a no go. Lot's of people have run into this issue, and there seems to be no current driver that will work for either the Intel Extreme graphics on the mother board or on a card. I suppose the easiest solution would be to just install a different video card and disable the Intel video in bios, but it leaves me wonderring if it really needs some other drivers for the Intel chip set on this mother board as well, since Windoz had to have several of those? It runs quite slow on this 2.8GHz machine, and I don't understand that either...

Maybe this machine is just not a very good candidate for LMDE. It's working fine on some other machines I have tried it on, so maybe I'll just play with it on those machines instead... Of course, all this is subject to my being very stupid when it comes to Linux / LMDE, so I could be, and probably am, totally wrong... Lot's to learn, and on these cold days I can only stand it for a couple hours at a time in the shop anyway so it fills the in between times. Trouble is, the other machines I've got LMDE on are set up in my electronics shop, which is upstairs out in the shop, and in the cold too. I really do want to dump Windoz totally before I have to actually pay for another version of their op sys...

Corley