Suggestions

[jjm]

Caollege student's pc crashed. Want to set up a cheap box using Linux. Would be used just for surfing, email, and Word docs. Would also like it to use iTunes and iPod.

What is the best free version of Linux for someone to start using who has only used Windows in the past?

I am assuming that Linux versions of Firefox and Thunderbird would work well, but are there better choices?

Would also like to get a free word processing program that makes docs compatible with MS Word. Need suggestions for that.

Finally, can you get iPod and iTunes to work with any Linux distro?

Thanks to all who may have suggestions.

 

[Robor]

Ubuntu comes preloaded with Firefox, Evolution (Email client), and OpenOffice.org 2.0. If you do choose Ubuntu make sure you install Automatix as it will make it much easier to get it going.

Not sure on the iPod/iTunes compatibility though.

 

[jjm]

Thanks, Robor. I will look at that.

From searches, I noticed that some have tried to make iTunes replacements for Linux, but I have not seen much about how well they work.

 

[jjm]

Wow, I really thought more folks in this sections would have definite opinions on this.

 

[Hyperblaze]

I tend to agree with Robor's suggestion for Linux. It's a rather useful thing to know.

Although I do have my own preferences in the linux distributions.

(Why do so many people here either suggest Ubuntu, Fedora Core, or Debian is something which will take me a while to understand)

 

[daniel49]

http://www.pclinuxonline.com/wiki/Applications

 

[magomago]

IIRC rythembox (Comes with Ubuntu) connects up to the ipod automatically.

 

[jjm]

Thank you all. I knew there would be lots of folks here with far greater experience using Linux.

 

[scottws]

I don't have a distribution preference. Most say Ubuntu is really easy in comparison to other GNU/Linux distributions. I didn't find it any easier or more difficult than an older version of Mandrake, Fedora Core 2, or Fedora Core 4. I suppose I like apt a lot more than rpm though, so if I went to GNU/Linux today I would probably go Debian or Ubuntu.

OpenOffice.org 2.0.1 is mostly compatible with Microsoft Office. Actually, I use it on Windows XP. My old Word documents created with Word XP are formatted fine, but I haven't tested Excel/Math or Powerpoint/Impress compatibility yet.

I am much more interested in Evolution than Mozilla Thunderbird. Unfortunately there is not yet a Windows port of it. Thunderbird's only plus IMO is it's Bayesian junk mail filtering, and relative lack of bloat. In Thunderbird, there are lots of missing features like the ability to simply resend an e-mail that you already sent, and it annoyingly adds new contacts when you send e-mail, even if the e-mail address you sent to is in one of your contacts (as an alternate e-mail). I do use Thunderbird on Windows, but I certainly would use nothing but Evolution on Linux. I haven't messed around with it much, but if I remember right, it can be connected to an Exchange server like Outlook.

The iPod I have no idea about. Apple seems to want to really have control over how the iPod is used, so I'm not so sure there is something compatible on Linux. I did a quick Google search for "ipod linux" and came up with this page.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: Hyperblaze
I tend to agree with Robor's suggestion for Linux. It's a rather useful thing to know.

Although I do have my own preferences in the linux distributions.

(Why do so many people here either suggest Ubuntu, Fedora Core, or Debian is something which will take me a while to understand)

I suggested Ubuntu because it's a pretty simple install and because it's got Automatix. I don't have a lot of experience with different distributions but I don't think there's an easier way to go from scratch to functional Linux box than Ubuntu + Automatix.

 

[jjm]

Thanks again. For the iPod thing, I ceratinly want to give the user the ability to managae music, but I also want the program to be able to buy music, just like using iTunes in Mac or Windows.

 

[scottws]

I think only iTunes can do that, and I'm almost certain there is no iTunes for Linux.

 

[jjm]

Must be doing something wrong. Ubuntu DC starts fine, but can't seem to get past the partition phase. Keeps telling me that I do not have enough space. I have an old 20 GB Maxtor HD in the system. I erased and reformatted it to a single partition before running the ubunutu CD. Any thoughts?

 

[halw]

Grab a live CD version of knoppix, mepis or even ubuntu. Boot with it and see what the HD looks like. You should also be able to reformat hard drive, if necessary, with qtparted from the live cd.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: jjm
Must be doing something wrong. Ubuntu DC starts fine, but can't seem to get past the partition phase. Keeps telling me that I do not have enough space. I have an old 20 GB Maxtor HD in the system. I erased and reformatted it to a single partition before running the ubunutu CD. Any thoughts?

Wipe the harddrive from the install partitioner? Maybe it is looking for non-partitioned space and isn't finding any.

As for iTunes, I wonder if it would run on wine. And if there would be any hardware issues talking to an iPod in that situation.

 

[MrChad]

Originally posted by: kamper

Originally posted by: jjm
Must be doing something wrong. Ubuntu DC starts fine, but can't seem to get past the partition phase. Keeps telling me that I do not have enough space. I have an old 20 GB Maxtor HD in the system. I erased and reformatted it to a single partition before running the ubunutu CD. Any thoughts?

Wipe the harddrive from the install partitioner? Maybe it is looking for non-partitioned space and isn't finding any.

As for iTunes, I wonder if it would run on wine. And if there would be any hardware issues talking to an iPod in that situation.

Yep, iTunes should run in Wine with some functional limitations.

 

[jjm]

I guess I must be having problems with the iso files I have been downloading. I keep getting checksum errors. I have been burning them to CDs using Nero at a slow speed, but still having the same problem.

 

[kamper]

Are you checksumming them before burning them? There are usually md5 sums posted with isos.

 

[jjm]

Dumb question: How does one verify the checksum?

 

[The Linuxator]

Originally posted by: jjm
Dumb question: How does one verify the checksum?

I never had to figure it out in windows, but it's not an intuitive process, in Linux when I use something like K3b it does an automatic test to see if the md5 is correct, in that case it let's you know, never stumbled across something like that on a windows box though.

 

[kamper]

You have to find a program that does md5 checksums (or whatever type of checksum you have for the file). I think the one I used to use was called winmd5sum or something, but googling for windows, md5, checksum... should turn up something useful.

 

[daniel49]

in linux simply navigate to the folder and type md5sum "exact iso name" then compare with websites md5
In windows you need to download a prog called md5sum I tried it once but did not really understand what I was doingand the results it gave me made no sense. its much easier in linux

 

[jjm]

Thanks, kamper. Found one. The checksums are okay. I did not let Nero run at its fastest, and I used quality media. Maybe the CD ROM that is reading the disk is bad?

 

[skyking]

that will do it, and I would always run memtest and dft to ensure the hardware is OK before proceeding. sure, it might have been ok just the other day, but things fail.

 

[scottws]

Originally posted by: jjm
Dumb question: How does one verify the checksum?

md5summer