I cannot seem to get a distro, " security auditor "to run on a dell 9300 laptop. If any can help please do.. Almost all distros I find will not run on this laptop and I already have it

You might check out http://tuxmobil.org/dell.html. There were 3 postings for the 9300. Not sure what the "security auditor" is. It could be something in your bios.

From a quick glance through this recent review http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/...C-0O724Z062301 Ubuntu looks like it should be a breeze to install. Which distributions have you tried already ?

Cheers,

Michael.

I have found that the newest big distros will work best on laptops. Try Mandriva, Suse, or Ubuntu. Dont be shy of the beta versions as they usually have the best driver support and wireless tools.

Try the live cd distros like PCLinuxOS, Mepis, and Kanotix. If they work ok in live mode, then it should be possible to install them without difficulty. These three distros are extremely easy to install.

rlandrigan, please be more specific.

didn't you try slackware ?????

i'll go with slackware 10.2 on it, however 10.0 has the advantage of being more secure

- perry

10.0 more secure that 10.2...in what sense? Can you explain?

I find myself curious about that point as well. Please explain the logic underlying that conclusion.

This thread has gone way off topic. The issue was:

( I removed the extra stuff from the original post)

I'm still waiting to hear back from rlandrigan as to what distro he has tried, and exactly what issues he is having.

Let's work together to find out what the issue is here and see if we can help this person. If you want to promote your distribution of choice, either wait for him to ask which distro he should use, or pick another thread, thanks.

well... in not so many words....

put old wine in old wine bottles
put new wine in new
and both shall keep

this is an old proverb, but it speaks volumns...

the old have inherited wisdom
the new have all the energy
both want the best for each other
both need to work together to see which works best for each

now, more specifically, slackware 10.0 has been around longer, it has it's "issues" address. slackware 10.2 is a "decendant" of 10.0 that gets an excellent running start but is better prepared for the next generation of hardware... albeit some bumps in the road, kinks really, to get worked out....

i could go on and on, concerning this issue...

but it's really common sense.

have a nice day

- perry

So you are saying that since 10.0 has been around longer hence it is more secure. I don't think 10.0 and 10.2 are drastically different. The bumps/kinks you refer in your post are not security related bugs but usability related bugs. If for some reason I cannot use my wifi card with slackware, Is it really a security bug? Your post seems to suggest that it is. Your post says that 10.0 has its "issues" addressed...what issues, security or usability? Probably I am not aware of it...enlighten me.

Besides, newer version almost always has some more hardware compatibility than the previous version. This does not necessarily mean the newer version is giving up on legacy hardware. As you said, 10.2 is better prepared for the next generation of hardware because it is the need of the time and need of the users.

BTW, I have nothing against using 10.0 as against 10.2 but just that your statement doesn't quite hold up.

-Tux,

you are correct in understanding that by "security" i'm referring to usability (context)

i was only using the terminology provided ("security auditor")....

thankx

- perry

I thank all of you for your quick reply and help offers. I am attaching the boot screen as it occurs when it dies as that probably will explain a lot better than I what is going on and causing my problem

PCI: cannot allocate resource

Scanning for usb/firewire devices...done
cloop: initializing cloop v2.01
unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address00000000
printing eip:
*pde = 00000000
Oops: 0002 [#1]
preempt smp
cpu: 0
EIP: 0060:[c023af0d>] not tainted
EFLAGS: 00010046 92.6.6)
EIP is at ide_insw+0xd/0x20
eax: 00000400 ebx:00000801 ecx: 00000400 edx: 00000170
esi: 00000170 edi:00000000 ebp: 00000000 esp: c03b9eac
ds: 007b es: 007b ss: 0068
process swapper (pid: 0, threadinfo=c03b8000 task=co328980)
stack: c042fa80 c023b3f9 00000170 00000000 00000400 00000801 c042fa80
00000000 c023b4az 00000000 00000200 f77657c4 00000800 00000000
c042fb2c f98210c6 c042fb2c 00000000 00000800 c17f8e20 00000800 f77657c4
Call Trace:
[,c923b3f9>] ata_input_data+0x79/0x80
[<co23b4a2>] atapi_input_bytes++0x22/0x50
[<f98210c6>] idescsi_input_buffers+0x66/0xb0 [ide_scsi]
[<f98218f8>] idescsi_pc_intr+0x138/0x20 [ide_scsi]
[<c023ac04>] ide_intr+0x124/0x1f0
[<f98217c0>] idescspc_intr+0x0/0x2a0 [ide_scsi]
[<c0108661>] handle_irq_event+0x31/0x60
[<c01089f4>] do_irq+0xc4/0x1b0
[<c0106f38>] common_interupt+0x18/0x20
[<c01040dd>] default_idle+0x2a/0x40
[<c01040dd>] cpu_idle+0x2d/0x40
[<c03ba855>] start_kernel+0x1b5/0x210

Code: f3 66 5f 6d c3 8d b4 26 00 00 00 00 8d bc 27 00 00 00 00 8b
<0>Kernel panic:Fatal exception in interrupt
In interrupt handler - not syncing

with 8 video modes to choose from, you would think at least one would work
I got this from remote-exploit.org/index.php/Main_Page and it is quite popular. If anyone can decipher this,,,,,

TIA

rich

Hmmm. It looks specific to the cd that comes with the book. Have you tried running a different Linux distribution? Try downloading Knoppix Live CD and booting with it if you haven't.

When you try to boot from this cd, try passing acpi=off to the kernel. If you look at the CD contents, you should find a file called isolinux.cfg. It will have some predefined boot options that you can select. Just type the selection that wou want, along with acpi=off (i.e. "linux acpi=off").