[NCLUG] Cheapskate thanks you for your kind assistance

[Les]

Hello Ken,
 Here's my 2 cents worth. I'm more of Linux twiddler
than a power user. I have been messing with it to
learn UNIX for about 4 years now. I really like it but
haven't been able to free myself from the windows
world. (mostly due to my hideous addiction to online
games). 
 Another cheap alternative for you would be to buy
like an 18-20 GB hard-drive for about $80. (you can't
buy new drives much smaller anymore) Put it in your
366Mhz computer. This way you can utilize all the
hardware you currently have and be able to access your
windows folders. Transfer all your windows stuff to
the big drive and making it the master then you'll
have loads of extra bloatware space. Use your little
3.5 GB drive as a slave or master on the second IDE
port for linux. (note this might only work if your
BIOS can make partitions over 2GB, Linux doesn't like
overlays like Western Digital's and Maxtor's for
partitioning.)  When you run the expert version linux
installation set it up as a dual boot using lilo boot
loader or make a boot floppy. You can even make
windows the default so it will automatically boot
first. I always leave a small windows partition(about
50 to 100 MB)on the second drive just so you can still
see it is alive when your running windows because you
can't see the linux partitions. Mandrake is a great
distribution with lots of goodies to play with and an
extensive documentation set. I can't remember exactly
but think I used well over 2 GB for a full install of
version 8.1 minus most of the server stuff. I snagged
the distro images from the Internet for free (cable
modem) and burned my own (3) installation CD's. I like
the lilo boot loader since I see it every 4 hours or
so when I have to reboot windows. It tempts me to boot
to Linux each time and spend time learning good stuff
as opposed to wasting my time with the stupid games.  
  Everything worked first time after my Mandrake
install on my 2 newest computers, sound, NIC,
Internet, printer. Still futzing with the X windows
and video settings however, since my ATI Radeon 7500
isn't fully supported. Oh yeah, do a pre-install
compatability check of your hardware on the websites
to see if Linux likes it. I tried loading Mandrake on
my old P133 system (ACER antique) and it bogged down
really slow for some reason and was quite worthless. I
had decent luck running slackware and Redhat 5.2 on
the antique before, but had to do weeks worth of
fiddling and twiddling to make everything work.

Good luck,
Les Watkinson


--- Ken Haile <kenhaile at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Greetings -
> 
> Thanks to all of you who kindly responded to my
> request for help.  I
> appreciate the hours of torn hair and despair that
> you have saved me.  The
> points made about "museum quality" hardware is a
> very good one.  It seems
> to me the best thing to do is start with a computer
> that has enough
> capability to run a standard version (one similar to
> my friends :) that
> won't pose a significant challenge to me to install.
>  After I understand
> more about Linux I will be able to pull my 486 into
> the picture.
>  
>    1. Re: Help requested in learning Linux (Marcio
> Luis Teixeira)
>    2. Re: Help requested in learning Linux
> (mbutcher)
>    3. Re: Help requested in learning Linux (Brian
> Stanback)
>    4. Re: Help requested in learning Linux (crucial)
>    5. Re: Help requested in learning Linux
> (mbutcher)
>    6. Re: Help requested in learning Linux (J. Paul
> Reed)
> 
> Cheapskate will keep his eyes open for a 200 mHz or
> better computer with
> at least a 2 gig hard drive.  In my cheapskately way
> I've got a switch
> that will allow me to share the keyboard, mouse, and
> monitor with up to 4
> computers - so all I need is the box.  I've also
> found out that there are
> many kind people at NCLUG!  Thanks again to all of
> you!
> 
> Ken Haile
> 
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