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OK, I've got Linux, now what can I do with it?

R

RalphTheCow

Golden Member
I've got Linux running and I'm starting to check out the Gnome desktop and games. So far I love messing with it. What interesting things can it do?

Next I want to try web surfing with a modem. Would it be possible to use it to share a major ISP dial-up connection with a fast Millenium machine with a network card? Will it even work with a major ISP? Mozilla or Konqueror?

As a secondary question, I have Redhat 7.2 running on an old Cyrix 166+ with 32MB. Yes, X is very slow. Should I invest in more obsolete memory, or a cheap CD of Redhat 6.2? Which would show more improvement? Or should I even do both to get even faster?

 
If what you mean is that you want to share an internet connection on the ME box with the Linux box, I would use Proxy by AnalogX here is a link AnalogX I use it on my XP box to share a connection with all my other machines, Linux and BeOS included. Works a lot better than the MS Internet Connection Sharing software.
 


<< If what you mean is that you want to share an internet connection on the ME box with the Linux box, I would use Proxy by AnalogX here is a link AnalogX I use it on my XP box to share a connection with all my other machines, Linux and BeOS included. Works a lot better than the MS Internet Connection Sharing software. >>



Actually, to be fair, I've found MS's ICS to work very well (better than Proxy by AnalogX). It acts more like a router than a proxy and hence you still have the ability to do things that don't work over a Proxy like Telnet and such. You also get to skip the restrictive SMTP and NNTP setup that's required with Proxy. Of cources IPTABLES on a Linux box offers this same advantage over ICS so you still can play with that.

BTW, as to things to do, why don't you try to do a little coding? Linux is a WONDERFUL environment for learning to program since most distro's come with compilers for most of the common languages (all for FREE 🙂).
 
Well for $50 bucks you can buy 256mb of memory depending if you use edo-ram or sdram in that machine. Then you can just buy a pre-bunred version of 6.2 for about $5.00 bucks or less if you can find it.
 
MGMorden I guess we're both entitled to our opinions regarding proxy software right? And I have had nothing but trouble with the MS ICS features, and as far as having to set up SMTP and NNTP, that is done from the client machine not from Proxy. I mean this is a 250k download that installs then sits in the system tray and once you configure the client machines to point in that direction they are done. As far as being able to do things like TELNET and such I wouldn't know since I never use those.
 


<< Will it even work with a major ISP? >>



HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, I find it funny to think that standards (real standards) would only work on Windows Machines 😛
 
Glad I could provide you a good belly laugh, n0cmonkey. 😀

No problem, I enjoy them myself and they are good for your health.

And, you got me, that was a naive question. I guess I was remembering the early proprietary Prodigy, and the fact that even after they went open with Prodigy Internet, I got their software on a CD.

How about this one? I am stuck with dial-up for awhile, and I am trying the Internet Call Manager, which only runs on Windows as far as I know. It gets calls forwarded to it while my line is busy. Is there something equivavent for Linux? I'm guessing that some resourceful person has probably developed something so I'll look. I had DSL for awhile and it was great, but cost too much.


 
Yap, linux is a great NOS... you should be thinking in setting the lan the other way around...
Linux as the firewall and windows as the surfing machine!!



<< i didn't say everybody was smart... >>


yap know that, that's why only a few use open source OS to do the serious work....


 
Funny, I get Linux, OpenBSD, and Windows for free(the latter from work).

And still I pay for both OpenBSD and Linux.

Guess that makes me even dumber then nort? 😉
 
First of first, check out your kernel. RH 7.2 installs a precompiled kernel.
On my Duron box, it always installs a kernel compiled for Athlon/Duron,
although there is a bug in VIA KT133A chipset that cause kernel pamic.
The problem on Cyrix 166+ may be not so serious. However, customizing
the kernel for your computer is always helpful for speed. If the gnome is
much slower than Windows95/98, there should be some problem in the
kernel options., for example MTTRs. Moreover, older RH 6.2 will not help
you any on this problem, since RH 6.2 will install an i386 kernel on any
machine including my Penitum II. Also, 2.2.x kernel (RH 6.2) is slower
(but more stable) than 2.4.x kernel (RH 7.2).

 
That was my original intention, thornc. So far I have neither a modem or network card in the Linux machine. I guess if I get both I should be able to go either way, shouldn't I? I want to use the Internet Call Manager which is for Windows, but I did find a Linux client in development.

I know nothing about networking, so I started with Redhat setup and set Firewall for Maximum Security. Would that be a sufficient protection versus ZoneAlarm on the Millennium machine?

Then in Network Configuration I didn't get too far when it started asking for IP addresses, so it's off to read the manual. The Redhat documentation seems really good to me so far.
 
Once you install LINUX the first thing you need to start working on is a wholier-than-thou attitude. Also memorzie a bunch of Microsoft jokes. If you want to be a real Linux guy, you need to hate Microsoft, apparently.
 


<< Once you install LINUX the first thing you need to start working on is a wholier-than-thou attitude. Also memorzie a bunch of Microsoft jokes. If you want to be a real Linux guy, you need to hate Microsoft, apparently. >>



Its actually not necessary, but it sometimes works out that way. When you spend 3 days trying to figure out a stupid NT networking issue while your OpenBSD box chugs away in the background you may understand a bit. Or even loading Win2k and realizing "Oh F***! I need to find a floppy drive to install a NIC driver since the stupid OS does not recognize my fairly popular card!" Where as OpenBSD, Linux, FreeBSD and BeOS all had 0 (none, zilch, null, zero) problems installing the proper driver for the same card on install. These are just a couple of the reasons I love OpenBSD and despise Windows, we shouldnt get into the security, reliability, intuitive interface, and general ease of use arguments 🙂
 
^^^^^^
See what I mean?

Noc, I never experience those sort of issues with NT, mainly because it is my business to make it work (not to toot my own horn......but "toot toot"). I've never spent anywhere close to 3 days trying to fix an NT networking issue. I read the post a while back where you were banging your head against the wall trying to install 2k. It made me chuckle.

I have trouble with Linux all the time, but that's because I don't know what I'm doing with it. I don't blame it, I blame myself.

Finally,I will always admit that NT security needs a big overhaul, but I will not accept driver/ network services/stability issues to be any more relevant than they are in Nix.

 
but I will not accept driver/ network services/stability issues to be any more relevant than they are in Nix.

But they are, for better or worse most unixes have a lot less hardware support than NT. Mainly because the hardware is also controlled by the company writing the OS, there's a lot less 3rd party unix hardware meaning a lot less 3rd party drivers, which are usually problematic in NT.

Linux and the Open Source BSDs are a little different because there's no controlling company and they support more hardware than NT, but the reason I think the drivers are less problematic there is because the drivers are written by the people using them, sure they don't catch everything but the major stuff gets taken care of quickly.

The hate for MS thing many unix guys show is a product of MS' shoddy software. Sure I sound over zealous, but it's because I've used Windows for years and I've seen it do really stupid sh!t all on it's own, after you fix the problem by rebooting the box several times you tend to get annoyed. And then it's compounded by having to reboot for stupid things like software installs and security updates.
 
You all make good points, but as far as security goes they all suck particularly out of the box, even UNIX from what I've learned. I mean one OS is only as good as the person who uses it, I run Linux, Win and BeOS and I like and dislike all of them. The ones who are obviously more proficient with one OS in this case Linux tend to make the other's look bad, I mean n0cmonkey talks of taking 3 days to work out an NT issue which I have personally never run across, not saying I am a great NT guy or that NT is without problems it's just that I know NT better than I do Linux. I have personally been trying to get Suse Linux 7.3 to mount an NT share at boot up which I would think should be easy and I have a post somewhere on these forums about that problem and both Nothinman and n0cmonkey along with many others here have tried to help, but I can?t get it going and have just about given up on it, so obviously as far as I'm concerned this IMO is a mark against Linux even though the problem must be either me or just the fact that I can?t learn how to do this for whatever reason, maybe I?m just dumb. Bottom line all OSes have their place and all have their up's and downs and that's why I am trying to learn all of them.
 
Ralph,

Congrats on coming over to the dark side!! (Just kidding)

Here is what I would do...

1. Stay with 7.2, and invest in a little more memory. It is soooo cheap these days

2. Red hat has a great dial up/PPP configuration tool, so you should be able to dial into any ISP that doesn't require proprietary software (i.e., won't work with services like bluelight.com)

3. I like Galeon the best as a browser, Mozilla second. I hear great thinngs about konquerer, but I personally don't like KDE, I prefer to stay in Gnome. Netscape, opera, and nautilis are all available to you in 7.2 I believe, so try them too.

4. Things to do:
a. Try to install blackbox as your window manager instead of Gnome/sawfish. It is light and fast. Here is a great little article on black box to check out:

Peering Into the Black Box

b. Network your computers and get Samba up and running. Search on Samba here and you will find plenty of threads covering this subject.

c. Install and play with WINE, to see if you can get your favorite windows apps to run in red hat.

d. Download and install Star Office 6.0 Beta from www.sun.com

e. It is possible to play quake III on a linux box using your quake III for windows CD. I can't find the link, and I realize your machine would be really slow for that, but it might be a fun exercise should you ever move linux to a faster box. Search around at id software or on this board. You need to download a new VM from ID, but it used to be available for free.

f. Just do everything that you would do with your windows box..try out IM'ing someone with GAIM, do your bills with Gnucash, get evolution to replace outlook, play games, etc.

Enjoy!
 


<< Guess that makes me even dumber then nort? >>



when u're using 'then' instead of 'than' for comparisons, i guess so....🙂
 


<< ^^^^^^
See what I mean? >>



I dislike Linux too for all its worth.



<< Noc, I never experience those sort of issues with NT, mainly because it is my business to make it work (not to toot my own horn......but "toot toot"). I've never spent anywhere close to 3 days trying to fix an NT networking issue. >>



Nor have I really, just an example of stuff I have seen here.



<< I read the post a while back where you were banging your head against the wall trying to install 2k. It made me chuckle. >>



Yeah, Win2k did not like sp2 on my hardware. When I get a blue screen after installing a patch (or hundreds of them like the service packs are right?), there is a problem. My resolution? Dont use sp2. Linux works great on the same hardware without the trouble.



<< I have trouble with Linux all the time, but that's because I don't know what I'm doing with it. I don't blame it, I blame myself.

Finally,I will always admit that NT security needs a big overhaul, but I will not accept driver/ network services/stability issues to be any more relevant than they are in Nix. >>



The driver problem I described was just stupid. Not a big knock on the NT line, but if Windows people are going to complain about Linux not supporting their hardware out of the box then damnit so will I.



<< You all make good points, but as far as security goes they all suck particularly out of the box, even UNIX from what I've learned. >>



OpenBSD, out of the box, isnt as bad as the rest.





 
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