Clueless newbee looking for information
 

Hi.
I consider myself a typical to advanced MS Windows user. I've been using that OS since '96. I can add/remove programs, set up and troubleshoot PPOE networks, general troubleshooting etc.

I've always been "curious" about Linux but don't like command line. Last time I did that was back in my DOS days, and know nothing of compilation or script.

Last month I set up a new Compaq for a friend and was forced to check Microsoft's license which arrogantly made me agree ONLY MS OS would be ran on that computer. Well I'm switching to Linux.

My main machine is Toshiba notebook 1905.
2.4GHZ P4 512RAM
I tried RH 9.1 but wasn't really pleased with it so I created a dual boot open source SUSE 10.2. I downloaded all the available updates during install.
WOW this SUSE is fantastic, GUI wise. Really impressive.

SUSE detected and installed everything on my notebook. It even detected my USB 2.0 PCMCIA card!
Alas, it didn't detect my Linksys Wireless B PCMCIA so if I want to surf it must be tethered to my switch or router.

This is what I need SUSE to do of what it is not doing now:
1. Surf wireless. If I need a new card I'll buy one but would like to use my old Linksys "Wireless B" card.
2. Run some Windows programs. I use high-end and industry standard graphics programs such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe After Effects, Goldwave and most important is Newtek's Lightwave 3D.

I downloaded the WINE RPM which has been tested on some of those programs.
I don't know how to install and run it, and the instructions take for granted that you are very familiar with Linux. I click the RPM file but nothing happens.

What I really need is a kind of "SUSE for Dummies" source to study.
Any suggestions would be appreciated, as everything I've found seems advanced.
Am I hopeless?
Thanks again.
-Steve

I thought MS lost a court case the last time they did this.

This sites wiki has instructions about setting up wireless. There are 3 steps 1) Install driver 2) configure wpa_psk encryption 3) setup networking.
You should look at the output of "lspci -v" to get information on the controller your Linksys card uses. Then check this cards HCL for information on the driver you need.. If it is a broadcom 43xx device, you can use either the bcm43xx driver or install ndiswrapper to use a windows driver. Again, this site has details.

What, specifically, did it say to make you believe this? I've never seen text like that on a license unless I am misreading it.

It was a new, out of the box Compaq. I'm used to seeing one license agreement, but this one had two.
You know how those things read but I'm pretty sure the first one was an agreement to run only Win OS, and the second agreement was the typical MS OS copywrite agreement.

Thank you jschiwal, I'll see if I can locate that information.

I replaced Goldwave with a combination of Audacity and gwc (Gnome Wave Cleaner)

An older Linksys card should work. Look for a "Networking" GUI, and try to activate the card there.

For SuSE documentation, look in /usr/share/doc/manual. You should find two manuals: Administrators Guide and Users Guide.

Thank you all! :)

Hot Georgia wrote,
"I use high-end and industry standard graphics programs such as Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Photoshop CS, Adobe After Effects, Goldwave and most important is Newtek's Lightwave 3D."
If you have to use these programs, I stick with a Windows machine for a while. Try to get accustomed to using Nvu and Gimp on Linux with the thought of getting away from the Adobe, Newtek/Windows products. Gimp is very powerful and Nvu has most of Dreamweavers capabilities. I have to use both, Dreamweaver and Nvu myself. Wine is an emulator for Windows and you will take a tremendous application hit on speed of the graphics applications you intend to run. I think you will be very disappointed with the performance. I think you'd be better off if you could duel boot XP and SUSE on the Compaq and just run the graphics/web programs in XP. You will have to get both OSs to connect to the internet to upload your web devs from Dreamweaver/Nuv.
The Linksys B card should work, go to Linksys and search for a Linux driver. Google Linksys B PCMCIA and Linux and see what results you get.