I want to install mandrake linux 10.1, but...

[Mik3y]

i'm a n00b when it comes to linux, but i want to move on to linux and ditch windows (for my laptop). can you guys tell me if there will be a problem with installing any of my programs (generally for windows, like photoshop) onto mandrake? i would hate to have to rely on wine to emulate windows for the programs. but my primary biggest worry is how i can get my wireless adapter for my wireless card running. i'm going to reformat my harddrive to linux. thanks.

 

[Crusty]

Any program that is written for Windows without a Linux client will have to be run under Wine. BUT there are many alternatives to the windows programs, IE Gimp for PShop, and OpenOffice.org for Office.

What wifi card do you have? What chipset is on it?

 

[Mik3y]

my wifi card is a usrobotics 802.11g wireless turbo adaptor.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
my wifi card is a usrobotics 802.11g wireless turbo adaptor.

Do you know what chipset it is based off of?

 

[Mik3y]

i have no clue what chipset it's based off of. can you give me a hint of where i can find out?

 

[Mik3y]

well, the model is USR805410 if that helps.

 

[Crusty]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
i have no clue what chipset it's based off of. can you give me a hint of where i can find out?

Manufactures site? Google??

 

[notfred]

Here's the manufacturer's page with driver's for that USR network card. Scroll down to the "linux" section.

Also: WINE blows. It's a huge pain in the ass to configure, it's slow as sh!t, and buggy as hell. If you want to run Photoshop, you have two OS choices: Windows, and Mac OS. If you want to run Windows applications, you are best off running Windows. If you need a bit of Unix functionality along with that, then install cygwin and have a Unix-like environment in Windows. If you want to run Linux applications, then install Linux. Installing Linux to run Windows applications is plain stupid.

 

[Nothinman]

Also you could look into ndiswrapper, it's a driver for Windows drivers. Basically it implements the NDIS interface that Windows uses so that you can load good drivers in Linux, I say good because we all know that the majority of Windows drivers are crap and probably don't follow the standard APIs properly.

Here's the manufacturer's page with driver's for that USR network card. Scroll down to the "linux" section.

The Linux section just points out driverloader which is nearly the same thing as ndiswrapper, except that it's a commercial offering. I would only use that as a last resort because I believe you have to pay like $20 to use it for more than 30 days.

 

[Kilrsat]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Also you could look into ndiswrapper, it's a driver for Windows drivers. Basically it implements the NDIS interface that Windows uses so that you can load good drivers in Linux, I say good because we all know that the majority of Windows drivers are crap and probably don't follow the standard APIs properly.

Here's the manufacturer's page with driver's for that USR network card. Scroll down to the "linux" section.

The Linux section just points out driverloader which is nearly the same thing as ndiswrapper, except that it's a commercial offering. I would only use that as a last resort because I believe you have to pay like $20 to use it for more than 30 days.

The latest ndiswrapper got my Micrsoft 802.11g notebook card working, so I say give it a shot.

From the Ndiswrapper Supported Card List Your USR card is there, so you should be able to get it to work. The wireless card is the least of your worries, as someone said, if you want to run windows programs, use windows.