Newbie and a Dell Latitude CP 233M
 

Hello,

First and foremost, please excuse my ignorance regarding my questions. I realize that the answers probably lie somewhere in this forum or possibly in other forums, but I assure you that I’ve been unable to faithfully assemble the information that I need after much effort. (almost at the triple digits in hours) Therefore, I decide to seek assistance with my quandary.

I have an older laptop (Dell latitude CP 233MX) with a 4 GB HD, and 64MB ram. From what I have been able to gather, it uses the NeoMagic chip set for video (1260 I believe). Additionally, I have a Netgear WG511-PCMCIA (older version) wireless Ethernet adapter that I would like to incorporate into the configuration. Furthermore, I have a HPLaserjet on my home net that is setup via TCP/IP (I’m assuming that it should be easy to hook up when the wireless connection is active)

My goal is to create a “playground” that I can use to become familiar and versed in the Linux environment. (both command line and GUI) I’m currently well versed in the Mac (OS 9 and X), and Windows (95 / 98 and just purchased and XP laptop)

First, my question resides in the selection of the “right” distribution of Linux.

I’ve looked at Caldera 1.3 (free with the COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO LINUX), Debian 3.0, and Fedora Core 3. Caldera seems to lack the necessary GUI ability, Debian looks pretty good, but I can’t get the video to push 600 x 800, and Fedora looks MARVELOUS, but the response of the machine is WAY less than acceptable.

I’ve not been able to get the wireless card to function in any of the environments, but Fedora did seem to recognize something that appeared to be the wireless card. (please excuse my ignorance as to what it saw, as I’m reflecting from memory while at work)

So, after that long-winded scenario, could someone assist me with selecting a version / distribution of Linux that would accommodate my needs? Additionally, I’m sure that I will need some guidance with installing the necessary drivers and modifying the configuration files. (I have a good background from the DOS world and understand the concepts of the AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files, but I am quit a novice when it comes to proper syntax and execution within Linux environments.

Thanks in advance for any assistance that you may be able to render.


Kos Semonski

You are going to be less than happy trying to run any modern Linux distro with X running and a GUI windows manager running. It is going to be slooooooooooow on that 233. Slackware might be one of your best choices if you must have a GUI for an interface. But it will still be slow. There are many others. http://linuxiso.org/
Fedora, Mandrake, Debian, or one of the larger distros might be a little hard on it., but do as you like.

For your Wi-Fi card look here
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...by=&sortorder=

but I can’t get the video to push 600 x 800
That is a matter of configuring you Xfree or Xorg config file located at
/etc/X11/xorgconf
/etc/X11/xfree86-config4
or something similar depending on distro. Some of the distros like Fedora have tools to help you configure X

Wade in and learn like all of us had to do. Using a machine that you aren't using for anything else is a good choice. You wont get too mad when you mess it up and have to look for a while to understand it. Good luck.

i'm running Libranet on a 233mhz 128MB on an old machine with XFCE & it is fairly fast on the internet with dial-up. I have tried several distros & most were slow. Mephis & RH 7.3 were acceptable.

I run Slackware on a nearly identical machine (Dell Latitude Cpi, 300MHz, 128 MB RAM, with same video card) at it works very well. Slackware is great on old hardware. Plus, if you are looking for a playground, then Slackware will be really nice as it will force you to learn Linux--lots of tweaking done in vim.

Then Slackware it is.... any recomendations on the version? on the FTP sites I see versions from 3 through 10......

Thanks again!

Kos

Hi semonski - I can't help with slackware versions but.....

I think gdivens51 gave a VERY helpful hint when he said he uses xfce - avoid KDE or Gnome because they will be very slow on 64Mb RAM, but xfce or IceWM should be very good. There is a site about window managers for linux at xwinman.org (you have dozens to choose from)

Paul

I have Slackware 10, but you might want to just grab the newest one--I think that Pat (Pat runs Slackware) is up to 10.1 or 10.2 by now.

Note: I did have to do a little configuring to get the sound to work, but I don't remember it being very hard.

Ok, so the idea would be to install the latest and greatest TEXT version of the OS, then find a low overhead GUI to install? right?

Kos

No, just install Slackware and pick a Desktop environment during the install process like KDE or Fluxbox.

You can run it all in text if you want, but if you are going to go GUI, then just do it at the beginning.

About GUIs & such
 

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Ok, so the idea would be to install the latest and greatest TEXT version of the OS, then find a low overhead GUI to install? right?

===

Bear in mind I'm a newbie too, but this doesn't seem quite what I meant;

The install provides an OS which has a full text interface (CLI) but also installs X,which is the graphical manager - so there is a GUI option already.

But X just draws windows on the screen, it doesn't manage window borders, window positioning, min/max buttons etc. For this you need a Window Manager - and your choice wil have the most impact on the look & feel of your GUI. If you want to start out with a Windows-like interface for easier orientation then IceWM is a good pick & you can install 'themes' to give it a new look/colourway (think of the "appearance" option in Win9x or XP's "properties").
However a different window manager will give you a GUI with different window borders, button styles, colours etc.

A desktop such as KDE or Gnome has the window manager properties, but also deals with desktop icons, a panel, system tray & various integration features. Xfce replicates a lot of this functionality with a lower overhead in terms of memory etc. Personally I find xfce very intuitive & customizable, and will be re-installing it on my new distro soon. But as they say, "your mileage may vary", so try a few.

For those more experienced in these matters - is that explanation reasonable?

Paul
West Yorks UK

Re: About GUIs & such
 

Hmmm..... Well I've installed yet another version of Linux on my system. I started working with the Slackware, but found it a little overwhelming. Moved back to the Debian flavour. On a couple of the versions there was a VIMTUTOR, but alas, that did not seem to be available on the Debian one. I did find the .bashrc file, but no matter what I did, in order to invoke my alias', I had to run bash from bash. Seemed weird......

Oh well, it would appear that this journey is going to be a bit long.... :)

I really like Debian, but if you want to play with Linux, you shouldn't give up on Slack so quickly.

Here is a great site that walks through the setup process:

http://shilo.is-a-geek.com/slack/

Also, the Slackware boards here are really good.

Debian is great (I run it on my main computer) but after you get everything setup there is nothing to play with becasue Debian does it all for you.