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Old 11-19-2004, 06:24 PM   #1
amdalltheway
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Location: Flint, MI
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ok just tell me this


im kinda gettin sick of trying to decide which distro is gonna be best for me, especially since its not a matter what which is best for me but the other way around, which distro is gonna suck the least for the hardware i have??

this is what i need to know. WHICH distro is gonna suit me best, i want my mouse to actually work, i want my wireless card to work so i can get online, and i would like it if it would run KDE everytime i start it up, and not just sometimes like mandrake is doing to me.

Here's my situation in more detail:

-----

MOUSE: Logitech MX1000.

Situation in SuSE 9.1 Personal: it worked to the extent that i could move the cursor, left and right click, and nothing else. not even basic scrollwheel action.

Situation in Mandrake 10.0 Official: Nothing. No, not even that. Or that. NOTHING.

Additional notes on this subject: I realize that Linux is not Windows and things dont always just work, but i want to do as little as i can to get them to, and a mouse should just work, c'mon...

-----

NIC: Xterasys XN-2511b Wireless PCI Card.

Situation in SuSE 9.1 Personal: Nothing.

Situation in Mandrake 10.0 Official: Nothing.

Additional notes: I realize, too, that wireless is pretty much not supported at all in linux, Mandrake 10 had a few cards supported, just not mine (of course).

-----

So, also, i should mention that i am a fan of KDE so id like my distro to have that included, and the latest linux kernel if possible.

I just want to add that i dont want to hear some crap like "the linux distro you are looking for does not exsist, blah blah blah im not helful at all". no. i didnt ask the name of the magical distro that will solve all my problems, i just want to know the closest i can get.

Also, i read some guides on getting things to work, and i gotta say, being the n00b that i am, they just dont make any sense. they need to spell things out in plain english, like "click RIIIIIIGHT there and type THIS in THAT box RIGHT THERE". when they say open a new terminal something or other and then enter mumbojumbo, im ****ed because i dont know how to open a new terminal. plain english for us newbies, lol.

thanks in advanced for your guys help!
 
Old 11-19-2004, 08:55 PM   #2
guzzi
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Registered: Jun 2004
Location: Lawrence, KS
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distro choice

You bring up interesting points.

"Knoppix Hacks" has just been published. With the book is a CD with Knoppix.

My experiance with this is that if Knoppix can't find and config simple stuff like your mouse, nothing can. It will also find and config most of the stuff on your system.

The book has lots of info., and is clear and easy to follow.

Good Luck
 
Old 11-19-2004, 09:11 PM   #3
amdalltheway
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1. knoppix seems like a great distro from what ive read but i couldnt find a damn thing about wireless, not good, bad, yes, no, not even whether or not it was POSSIBLE to get my card (or any for that matter) working with it. maybe i just was looking in the wrong place. can you by any chance tell me if this book has in it what i need to get my card working?

2. will someoen that knows nearly everything about windows and nearly nothing about linux be able to read this book and they go and do what it says? an easy way to answer this is on a scale from 1-10, how much prior knowledge with linux should the user have? I have 0.1 at the most.

3. the cd that comes with it, am i to understand that it is a Live CD? so i would have to download the install disks from linuxiso.org still? thats fine, just curious.

thanks alot for your help!

Last edited by amdalltheway; 11-19-2004 at 09:16 PM.
 
Old 11-19-2004, 09:29 PM   #4
guzzi
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Knoppix

Yes, the CD is a live CD. I found it to boot on everything I have that will boot from a CD.

The WiFi bit may present a problem. Knoppix will attempt to auto config your wireless and connect to an access point when it boots. It didn't for me. But my WiFi setup is odd. The book says that if it can't auto config, just do stuff and go with default suggestions. That is a dead end for me. Guess I will have to actually think to get mine going. Ha.

The book with the CD is very clear. In fact, I found that it covers stuff that I have not found elswhere. If you can work through Windows stuff, this book should be a breeze. Well, untill you get near the back of the book, and decide you want to make your own Live CD.

I found Knoppix Hacks at Borders Books. Cost $29.95. It's an O'Reilly. You may want to hit a book store and just read some of the stuff, and then decide.
 
Old 11-19-2004, 09:51 PM   #5
mAineAc
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You can get the drivers for your wireless card here: http://aluminum.sourmilk.net/adm8211/
 
Old 11-22-2004, 12:07 AM   #6
amdalltheway
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Which one do I download, and how the hell do I install it? That's the hard part!

Tell me how to install a driver in a terminal or with YaST if possible...

Last edited by amdalltheway; 11-22-2004 at 12:08 AM.
 
Old 11-22-2004, 06:49 AM   #7
mAineAc
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The last one is the newest, I would use that. To install just extract the file with 'tar -xjvf adm8211-20041121.tar.bz2 ' After it finishes cd into the directory and read the README and INSTALL files on how to install the drivers. If you get errors or have problems list the errors or your questions.
 
Old 11-22-2004, 06:57 AM   #8
Dummy-in-Linux
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Your answer is Suse 9.2, Suse supports now most of today Wireless hardware....

Second Fedora Core 3 with 2.6-1.681 is not far behind, hotplug is now supporting hardware I never belieft I get ever working with Linux.

With kind regards,

Richard
 
Old 11-22-2004, 10:53 AM   #9
amdalltheway
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Quote:
To install just extract the file with 'tar -xjvf adm8211-20041121.tar.bz2 '
Thanks, I will let you know how it goes, please check back and stay with me if you have time!

Your answer is Suse 9.2, Suse supports now most of today Wireless hardware....

Quote:
Second Fedora Core 3 with 2.6-1.681 is not far behind, hotplug is now supporting hardware I never belieft I get ever working with Linux.
I've heard a lot of bad things about Fedora Core 3, but I still might have to try it out. Thanks for the input!! I appreciate any help you guys can give me.
 
Old 11-23-2004, 10:47 PM   #10
amdalltheway
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I feel like such an ass. I read through everything included in the chipset driver for my wireless card, all the text files and install instructions. I just don't get it! I must admit though, I kind of like the challenge.

Ok, one of the files said to install, run make_install. What the hell is that and how do I go about doing it?

Second, I typed exactly what I was told to in one of your posts earlier and it didn't do anything. Said file didnt exist or some stuff.

How do I navigate to a folder in a terminal?

I start by typing su and then my password so I'm in root.

then it says linux:home/gary: # or however it puts it and I type /desktop and it says folder doesn't exist. so i say well ill try one thats just a plain folder, /bin and it says "/bin: is a folder" or something along those lines. no crap! i want IN the folder! what am i doing wrong? thanks for all the help thus far. im not getting anywhere really, but i know where NOT to go now!
 
Old 11-23-2004, 11:12 PM   #11
DeadPenguin
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If I was you I would go with Fedora Core 3.
It's the most like windows I have used.
It's gotten the hardware configurations right on every computer I have installed it on.

sounds like your having a hard time getting around your file system.
I woulld search around here and google for basic linux commands

to change directories use cd
--as in cd /usr/bin
use ls to list what's in those dir.
use cd .. to go up a dir.

You might be better off trying a less newb friendly distro. It will help youl learn faster.

Knoppix is fun to get a taste of linux and to check to see if your hardware is compatible with linux.


What kind of wireless card do you have?

I will repeat. Try Fedora Core 3.

I am still new to linux myself and would suggest reading as much as you can from this forum. Check your how tos and man pages that come with the distro you choose.
There is tons of documentation for almost anything you need help with.

I hope I helped.

I forgot. Fedora is good with KDE.
Try the other wiindows managers if you haven't already.

Last edited by DeadPenguin; 11-23-2004 at 11:15 PM.
 
Old 11-24-2004, 06:49 AM   #12
enemorales
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Hi,

I'm far from being a expert, but I think you should try knoppix. I've a wireless card that is supposed to be very difficult to make to work, so I didn't even try to do it, but one day I just ran mozilla and discovered that I had connection... while my wife was using ethernet cable: Some neighborhood had a router running without WEP encryption.

Now I have my own wireless router runing and anything works fine. Just a couple of days ago (thanks to people from this forum and www.knoppix.net also) I made it to configure the wep encryption automatically :-). (Not as generous as my neighborhood, tho).

Hope it helps. Good luck...
 
Old 11-24-2004, 10:04 AM   #13
amdalltheway
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That's what I keep hearing. Knoppix, Knoppix, Knoppix. I guess I should download it, huh? I looked in my local bookstore for Knoppix Hacks, couldn't find it. I should check a few other places before ordering it online, though.

The big problem I have with SuSE right now is that it's so damn hard to install something. I mean, I know it really isn't, but everyones instructions are not laid out how I would want them to be. For instance...

In Windows, if you are telling a TOTAL NEWBIE to run regedit, they probably wouldn't know to simply click Start, Run, and type "regedit" and hit OK. So when that install file tells me to run Make_Install, I'm lost. And, stupid me, I go to X Terminal and type Make_Install and duh, nothing, haha. I know most Linux users are very smart, but I think they need to rethink their explanations. No criticism, just something that would help me personally.

I'm not giving up, though! I suppose after a few more (likely aggrivating) attempts at wireless success through SuSE, I will download and install Knoppix.

Thanks for stickin' with me through my trials, guys.
 
Old 11-25-2004, 12:31 AM   #14
DeadPenguin
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Just a word of encouragement.

Linux is definitely worth the time you spend learning it.
It's only difficult right now, because you are new to it and don't use it everyday. Windows isn't easy to use you are just used to it from using it over time.

As far as installing programs SUSE makes it pretty easy through YAST if I remember correctly.(been a little while since Ive used SUSE.) If you are compiling from source follow the directions from above, or google you might find a helpful tidbit in another forum or website that helps you understand.

Read. There is plenty of information out there on anything you want to do with Linux. Search this forum for answers. Somebody somewhere has had the same or similar ? at some tiime.

I am still a Linux and I am still learning a lot. I frequent this forum alot and spend time in IRC trying to learn more.

Keep it up.
Check out SUSE website.

I copied this out of a thread last night. I forget the member who posted it.
I copied it for myself to help me when I need to get new programs from source.

console window (a window similar to the DOS window in windows).

1. One you are in the console window, cd into the directory where you extracted the source to:
cd /path/to/extract directory
2. Check that the configure script is really there:
ls configure
If the above command does not list the configure file, then you are probably in the wrong directory.
3. Run the configure command:
./configure
4. Run the make command:
make
5. Login as root:
su -l
6. cd back into the extract directory (cause you have been dropped into root's home directory, when you logged in as root):
cd /path/to/extract directory
7. Run the "make install" command:
make install
 
Old 11-25-2004, 01:01 AM   #15
amdalltheway
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Ok, I will try all that tomorrow, just before I smash my face in with a brick, lol.

I think that might get me somewhere, I am starting to get the general idea of what I'm trying to do, I just have yet to figure out what I'm doing wrong exactly.

Thanks, though, I'll post back after I give that a shot.
 
  


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