possibly new linux user needs answers first
 

ok this could take some time to explain so please bear with me and let me start by thanking you for reading this post

i have 3 pc`s and 1 laptop (2 laptops on a monday)
the pc i want to change to linux is a server pc it handles the downloads (bit torrent game demos map packs etc currently thats through a programme called utorrent) and every monday night i host a battlefield 1942 server for lan games across the network.
its specs are AMd athlon xp 2000+ (at 1.67ghz) 512megs of ram a built on mother board sound video and network (according to windows xp, network = realtek RTL8139/810x family fast ethernet nic/ display adapter = s3 graphics prosavageddr compaq/ sound =well windows never liked it so i have no idea but it maters not for this machine) 2 hard drives a 40gb and a 200gb both ntfs file system
its connected my network through a hub and a router (router is the bt wireles network 1250)
i dont want to duel boot for one thing theres no flopy drive in the pc in fact non of my pc`s have one and it will only be getting a cd drive for the purpose of installing linux if i go ahead with it and for two all the guides i have read on dual booting are daunting to say the lest
now hopefully thats the info you need to help me with the following questions :)

1) with windows you can upgrade an existing instalation to what ever version can i do that with a linux that can handle windows apps for example suse (the one with wine(i have googled before asking here on all these questions but found nothing of help in the past 3 hours)

2) can i access my linux hard drives and vice a versa through the network? for example if linux pc downloads demo.exe for me can second pc browse the network and copy it ? and can the linux pc access the second pc and copy map files from that to itself? (for the time being all other pcs will be on windows thats 2 on windows xp and the laptop only came with home edition)

3)is thier a cpu usage to using linux to hosting the lan server (i`d be using the linux verson of bf1942 server) (at moment we get 120% cpu usage at times some times more due to the amount of bots we use

4) is it true that thier are no viruses that can get linux and thierfore no need to download a virus killer for it?

5) can someone sugest a linux alternative to utorrent(preferably as similier as posible for example i love the feature that picks up torrent files in a folder automaticly,example my server pc has torrents folder shared if i see a torrent download i merly drop a torrent file into that folder from whatever pc im using and utorrent adds it to its queue)

6) i use real VNC to control my server pc from any of my computers it allows me to use my mouse and keyboard as though i was sitting at the desk is thier a linux equivilent that would allow me at a windows pc use the server like that?

7) a lot of the pages of linux i have seen on my google hunt have seemed to suggest a less then user friendly enviroment an example is to install a application you dont just click the setup file you type a huge array of commands in, is this right? is it simplier then it looks? or did my searches only show old versions of linux and the method is better now)

8)is suse10 the latest version of linux (there was so many different version about and its hard to see which is which it seemed like ,to me anyway, there was multiple linux`s each with multiple versions, i figured it was like when mozilla changed its name to fire fox but thier seems too many names out thier for that so do the names represent something other then thier version ?

im sorry for so many questions i have been a windows user for many many years so linux is a little daunting but if its gonna be better for the server pc and the lan games then i want to risk trying it

Here is the answer to some of your questions:

Re Question 1: I have found linux to be less "upgradable" than windows, mainly due to wanting to avoid the shared program library conflicts that windows is so famous for. Sure, you can upgrade any version of windows to any other version. However, your upgraded windows will simply not boot. With linux, instead of getting an unbootable upgraded linux, you will be told in advance that you can't do the upgrade. Further, you don't need to upgrade linux like you do windows. You get a good version of linux to start out with and you can run with that version almost indefinitely. Regarding running windows programs under linux, you want to use a virtualization program (i.e. a program that will run the windows operating system as a guest under linux) of which there are a few: vmware (http://www.vmware.com); parallels (http://www.parallels.com); and win4lin (http://www.win4lin.com). My understanding is that wine is very clumsy and limited.

Re Question 4: There most certainly are viruses and other exploits that have been targeted for linux. Consequently, you most certainly do want an antivirus program for linux and you also want an antivirus program for the windows that you will be running under linux. I have found f-prot (http://www.f-prot.com) to be a good choice. Further, if you learn how to recompile your linux kernel, you will be able to fix vulnerabilities in the kernel as they are found rather than install patches after the fact. This is something that you simply can't do in windows since you are not given the source code for windows.

Re Question 7: You want to get a version of linux that uses RPM packages. That will give you access to many software packages that can be installed turnkey.

1) I don't know much about wine, so I'll leave that alone. As for upgrading the distro (i.e. similar to upgrade from win98 to win2k), some distros are better at it than others. Debian based seem to have the least problems IMHO. Other linux apps similar upgrade very well on Debian based systems, not sure about others.

2) Yes. You'll have to setup sharing via SAMBA, which will work much in the same way Network Neighborhood works (although the setup is a little more difficult).

3) Linux will probably use less CPU than windows by default, but the real advantage is that you can kill many services you don't need (including the GUI if no one is playing on this machine and the game doesn't require the server to have one) while you play your game. That'll lessen the CPU load. Additionally, you can always upgrade RAM...

4) Mostly true. I feel I read about one once before, but generally this is not a problem on linux. As for virus killer, if you're sharing files with windows boxes, it would be advantageous to use one (ClamAV or F-Prot) to scan your hard drive every week so you don't infect the windows machines. Linux boxes can be transmitters, even if they don't get affected themselves...

5) Don't know what utorrent's interface looks like, but there's tons of torrent clients available for linux.

6) Yes, use vncserver on the linux server and TightVNC (or any other VNC client) on the windows machine. Again, this will probably be slightly more involved than setting up on windows.

7) there are many graphical tools to install programs. For the most part they involve selecting a repository (database of programs), then once that's setup, you just check a box and hit install. There may be cases (such as with your bf1942 server) in which you have to do something more exotic. Since you're specifically interested in this bf1942 server, you might look at their website and see if they pre-made packages for any specific linux distributions (Fedora, Debian, Slackware, Ubuntu, etc) and then decide to go with that one.

8) The different names correspond to different distributions (collection of packages). Linux is a bit different from windows in that all the distributions share the same kernel (core OS) but each then adds whatever programs and configuration tools to make it different (usually to fit some special goal of the distribution). Each distribution therefore has evolved through many versions. For example, the Debian distribution was created to be the most stable distro available so it typically uses slightly older packages that are bug free. You sacrifice "cutting-edge" packages in order to have a more stable OS. Others like Fedora or Ubuntu are more interested in having all the newest stuff. Additionally, Debian only includes true free software (free as in freedom and free as in beer) where other distributions will include proprietary software like Adobe Acrobat reader and Nvidia drivers. Not that you can't install these on any linux distro, it's just that by default they are excluded from a distribution. So for Suse, the latest version is 10, and 9.3 is a couple of years old (much like windows 2000 is a few years old and the current newest windows is XP). Debian current is 3.1 (Sarge) and old is 3.0 (Woody).

Hope that answered some of your questions. And even though you think dual boot is daunting, but if you just slap a second drive in, you can make it so that Linux never touches windows and if you need it it's there. Although many experts will recommend not dual booting so that you have to jump in head first, I'm more of a slow adopter. Went from using windows all the time, to linux about half time, to linux all the time. The only time I boot up my old Windows box is to play some old games since I've never taken the time to figure out wine.

im amazed at the fast response thanx guys

still nervouse about this suse is my main option as a m8 has it and has never wanted to install it version 10

the upgrade thing well what i want to know is if i put the linux disc in and install it will i lose the data on c drive or will linux incorperate it

dont like the sound of "like windows network but more difficult" that scares me to be honest the hole thing scares me but i figure if it improves the game i gotta go for it

Don't be scared, just cautious. I haven't found networking to be all that challenging. There are lots of good reasources to learn whatever you need. Just understand that you WILL have things to learn. Linux isn't Windows. Know that going in.

As far as upgrades go, distros like SuSE are probably among the hardest to upgrade properly, where the Debian based are among the easiest.

The SuSE installler, if I recall correctly (it's been a while, has tools to help you repartition your drive to make room for SuSE. Just pay attention to what you're doing and the options presented. I'd suggest that you defrag your Windows before doing the installation, as well as back up any important files just in case you make a mistake during the partitioning.

@mrgreaper: linux and windows need other filesystems. So where windows can use ntfs linux needs ext3 or another linux-specific filesystem. This is one of the reasons why linux and windows can't exist on the same partition. The safest option is to use an extra hard-disk for linux and leave your windows disk as it is.
Suse per default will detect your windows and will make it's own partition next the the windows partition and leave your windows alone. The only thing which needs some tweaking now and then is the bootmenu (GRUB per default). Some users need to edit the grub configuration in order to be able to boot to windows.

Before you start: backup all you files and such. That's always a good idea, even when just running windows.

@masonm: i think upgrading is a breeze when using package-managers like YasT.

im gonna take the plunge and risk linux mate droping suse 10 off in about half hour (5DISCS!!!!!!) im hoping to tell it to install to my second hd (which has stuff on but 40 gigs of freespace in which suse can make a partition if she so choses (though i shant install till i get home from work 1230 am tonight GMT depending on the help u guys give me which has been superb)

1 last and very important question this server pc is my download pc and running linux i expect it to carry on this job (i have been told azurus runs on linux though i renember it to be a memory hog that was when it was on windows maybe things are different on linux) but could it write to a ntfs drive?
say i have
hd 1 : c windows drive (ntfs formated partition)

hd 2 : c: linux (ext3 formated partition)
d: "thepit"(the ntfs formated partition)

could azuras (or any linux programe) running in linux`s c:\programme files\ folder save data to d: thepit
from what i understand the answer is no but im hoping im wrong if i am not wrong and it cant write to "thepit" are thiere any programmes that could convert the ntfs dile system to one that linux can handle?

also i would like clarification on one thing as well (sorry but this is a big step and i want to go through it with my eyes wide open)
From what i understand from above if i install linux on my server pc then the programme shamba will intergrate it into my network and i will be able to use the servers harddrives from any pc on my network just like i could on windows so for example in linux on server pc i could share the linux c drive with "allow network users to change my files"(i know the option will be labled different but assume it will be self explanatory) then on my main pc i can download the linux server version of bf1942 and copy the (i believe its a tar file (not sure what a tar is figure its like a zip or rar) file across form main pc to server pc through my network page of my main pc. is that accurate or are thier extra steps?

sorry thought of aother question my router has a very good hardware fire wall and all the ports i need open are done through that is linux going to block ports as well if so how do i tell linux to back off and let my router deal with it?

oh man so many questions i have never felt computer illiturate in my life (spelling illiturate yes thats a dyslxic thing but computer never) that is untill today, linux seems like this big mystery and from what i have read if i crack that mystery my lan games will be so much better off with the linux server

sorry one other question in advance if i decide i really like linux and install it on the other pc`s will this mean i cant play any of the latest games? (that seems to be the theory i gather from googling etc but i may be wrong)

Here's my standard "Welcome to Linux" speech:

The main reason that Linux will seem so overwhealming at first is that you get about 10 times as much operating system as you used to have. For example, every copy of Windows I ever saw comes with about 4 games (Freecell, Hearts, Minesweeper, and Solitaire). Compare the 15 or so games in each menu of KDE and Gnome. Windows has one desktop and that's all you get. Linux distros typically come with about 5. In Windows, you have to buy programming language development tools. Even the poorest Linux distribution will typically be set up to use at least five programming languages, and if you install everything off of a major distro, you'll end up with something like 10 or 15. And so on...

The factors in play: (1)it's all free/open source, so there's a ton of it to be had, (2) Linux is all about choice, choice, and more choice - you can putter around for years in it and still discover new things every day, (3) Linux inherits the Unix mindset of software design: instead of huge programs that try to do everything and halfway succeed, the focus is on hundreds of tiny programs that do each job remarkably well.

The key to it all is to prepare yourself for a LOT of reading! A typical install of Linux will come with man-pages, info-files, docbook system, and all the HTML files in /usr/doc. Here's my guide to Linux docs. That was the main thing that impressed me when I first started Linux, is that it came with the equivalent of an encyclopedia's worth of reading - and unlike some other systems, Linux documentation is actually *helpful*!

Last but not least, as a special request, you can do yourself a favor by spending some quality time in the console. You sound like a power-user extraordinaire, so you'll really benefit from experience with all the power tools available from the console/terminal. I still take a vacation from my desktop every now and then, as I find that many of the activities I most enjoy (web browsing, reading, programming, some games) are accessible from the console and everything runs faster there anyway.

By the way, there's hundreds of distros out there, and they each have their unique flavor. Don't be shy about shopping around if SuSE doesn't work out for you. I have about 50 free/open source systems burned to disk (some I grab just for the review - I gotta put something in that blog!), mostly live CDs, and I routinely boot into different ones depending on what's on them that I need, rather than trying to install it all on one system.

reading ntfs drives is no problem under linux. Writting works at your own risk and is not advisable. You could loose data. This is because Microsoft's file system is not open and linux has to "guess" how it works. If it guess right, no problem. If it guess wrong, you could be in big troubles. Bad reading is not that bad, but bad writting can trigger data loss. I've not experienced data loss yet, but I do it very rarely and it doesn't mean I won't have.
So you know. Better use ext3 or FAT32, which is better tested and works both for windows and linux with no problem since years.

BTW you may not know, but there are linux distros that you can run for trying without installing. It doesn't touch the hard drive, but has full linux operability (at the cost of speed). You can download knoppix, which is the most famous live CD distro (so we call them).
download here : www.knoppix.net/get.php
A lot of people started with that. This is IMO by far the best way to migrate smoothly to linux.

About your original questions :

1/ Upgrading is a piece of cake with ubuntu (a different newbie-friendly linux than suze). Don't worry about that. When you will have to upgrade, you will find that it goes far smoother than windows "upgrade".

2/ Yes, you can, with the tool called samba.

3/ 120%? Is that possible? Anyway, linux uses more or less CPU than windows, depending on what you install. The lighter distro you use, the less CPU is consumes.

4/ It's true. The nature of linux makes it very hard for virii to spread. I haven't seen any linux virus since I use it (for 5 years). Virii are no issue on linux.

7/ It is different, but not less user friendly. In the linux world, all applications are concentrated in a single place. You don't have to look for one on the internet. You go to the application manager, choose an application, click install and it installs.

8/ Linux is free. There are several different "brands" of linux. Compare that to the PC. You have DELL, IBM, HP and so on. Suze is like say HP and Ubuntu like say DELL. They are all linux but different with different component, but mostly compatible (although one has some features that the other lacks and the other way around, just like the DELL has a DVD burner while the HP has a bigger screen). You have to choose a linux flavor that suits your needs or you can build one from scratch just like you can build a PC, but you have to know about the components.
Look at here in order to choose one that suits your needs :
www.distrowatch.com

well i have the suse discs now though im not sure of there legality, im told thier legal and that is how linux works but hey i know nothing, assuming these are legal whch would be better for me ubuntu or susu 10 ? (im now thinking dual booting is an idea so if one does that automaticly then it gets my vote :) )

it is a matter of taste. Both are newbie friendly and both are legal. use distrowatch to see the screenshots and reviews. This can help you to make a choice, but I can't do it for you. Maybe use a dice.

I do a windows/suse dual boot, and am loving it (linux that is) :D
I don't run my windows that much anymore but it's nice to keep it around for a while.
I'd say suse is more newbie-friendly since the ubuntu i tried (with default options) wanted to delete my windows whereas suse leaves it alone (with the default settings).

Nonetheless, there have been holes found and exploits created to take advantage of those holes, the most famous being perhaps the do_brk() and do_remap() exploits. My understanding is that all of them have been fixed in the latest versions of linux. None of those exploits were trivial, considering that it took weeks of effort on the part of a research lab (iSec Security Research) to create the exploit. But then that same research lab turned around and published the exploits with c source code and everything for every cracker and its brother to use. Consequently, you do want to have and use antivirus software on your linux system. Further, with linux you have another option that you never had with windows, namely the ability to fix the source code and recompile the kernel. Being able to do that far and away beats all of the patch upon patch install that you have to do with windows. For example, all of the above exploits were fixed by adding one or at most a few simple test statements to the source code for each of the exploitable functions.

Mrgreaper,

Welcome to LQ!

First, let me assure you that yes, the Suse CDs are legal.

As to which distro you should pick, you're going to find that it's ultimately a matter of taste.

Both Suse and Ubuntu are excellent distros, and you can't go wrong by choosing either of them.

I recommend you install both of them. I don't remember how big Ubuntu's footprint is, but Suse 10 needs 12 Gb if you blindly install all 5 CDs. 40 Gigs should be plenty of room.

Use them, get to know them, then choose the one that's right for you.

(Every distro I've ever used was easy to set up to dual-boot.)

well as we speak im getting ready im converting my hard drives to fat32 (fingers crossed) that way linux should be able to see them hoping i dont need to convert all the hds on my network i shall post agian when all is done or all has failed wish me luck

04:05
im having mild difficulty converting from ntfs to fat 32 so it may not all get done tonight ! depends how long linux takes to install and if partition magic converts thede partitions faster (seems stuck on 31%at mo dare not reset pc) searched for help with partition magic found its often refered to as as partition tragic needles to say im not inspired with hope!

05:58
well i deleted all but the non replacable files most of the demos are easy to get hold of again and tried installing linux it couldnt resize so i resized with partition magic leaving about 260 gigs unallocated (second drive is 300 gigs not 200 gigs as first stated) so far done first cd and then for some reason the damn thing rebooted it seems to have picked up where it left of (i was bleased to see the boot menu had windows listed (grub i think its called) it adds more posibility for me to install on the other pc`s though i am yet to see a linux driver for nvidia cards (im also yet to look hard so no biggie) man i need some sleep soon got to be at work at 20:00 hours for a 12 hour shift! (its only guarding so not that bad)

06:16
for those wondering the instalation will be 3.6 gigs according to suse (i ticked gnome as the gui and then in software packages added kde (and all of kde) games,java(i may use azurues as my torrent programme of choice) and the network option (strange it wasnt ticked before hand i gather linux is mainly a network animal)
In relation to the first time i installed windows its going well though im yet to see under the hood and i must say i love the way linux tells you how long till the next cd etc (though this is proberly a suse only trait)

06:43
now at the point of installation where it gets the latest patches about 200 megs of em now so sleepy but derent leave it no idea if its safe to allow it to be unatteneded before its finished installing one good thing though its got access to the web through the router that means its connected to the network i think

Help!!!

ok its installed and with a bit of looking scratching head etc i was able to do the following
1) get into the local windows partitions c: (fat32) d: (ntfs)
2) browse the network
3) copy files from the network to my folder (provided the share had full access on the windows machine if it had read only then when i tried to copy from it im told it cannot read the source file must be a way around that)
4) run an .rpm file (vnc-E4_2_2-x86_linux.rpm (realvnc))though it conflicts with tightvnc and some others so i chose not to install it
5) browse the web and download the needed bf1942 server files

however i need help with the following;
1) **URGENT** the bf1942 server file is a .run file when i double click it it loads up gedit and says it cant determin the language coding (not the exact wording but i think the error is becouse gedit apears to be a text editor!) i have downloaded it 3 times now and same error what am i doing wrong?
2) i was told that suse includes a version of wine but every time i double click a windows exe file in suse it says it cant display it not sure what to do about that (i did find this http://frankscorner.org/index.php?p=cedegacvs i might try that when i have more time)
3) i cant find this tightvnc when i was installing i had the option to enable it so i could access my pc through a browser and i choose disable(i was half awake) how do i enable it? or can anyone suggest a free vnc program i could connect to my linux pc with my windows pc?
4)how do you share a folder? in windows all i have to do is right click a folder and choose sharing but i cant find the option here i need to make two shares one for music(so the network can access the music files) one for torrent files(so any pc can drop trrent files into this folder that the linux computer will load up automaticly and start downloading (providing i can get a torrent programme that does that) both folders need to have read and write permisions and both need to be on the linux hard drive as its the biggest now

im sorry for all these questions im so use to windows its taking me a while to get my head round all this

steps i have taken so far
i use a server manager for bf1942 a very good one and it has a linux ported so i looked at its hel files and found this http://www.blackbagops.com/files/bfsm20ug.pdf (so i loaded gnome terminial)i already have the files so i skiped the wget bit when i tried to run i got a permisson denied
ahh i thought and loaded up the super user terminial entered my woot pass word and browsed to my user folder executed the same command ...permission denied what am i doing wrong ?

step 1 is now solved i followed this guide http://bf1942.lightcubed.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7921
i`d love to know how to do this in the gui though! and what the command chmod 744 does (dont like doing stuff and not knowing why lol)

1) Not sure what a .run file is, but it's probably a script file. when you downloaded it, there should be a file called README that will tell you what to do. If it is a script, you have to make sure it is executable before you can run it.

2) You'll have to google for how to use Wine. I'm no expert, but I think you generally have to run .exe files from the command line with something like wine blah blah blah. Try this link...

3) Look in your package manager (I believe Suse uses Yast) and install TightVNC (or vncserver, whichever is available). It should help walk you through the setup. Again, I'm not an expert on Suse, but setting up vncserver on Debian was pretty easy.

4) Here's a guide to setting up file sharing on Suse 9.3. Should be pretty similar for whichever version you installed.

As for permission denied, you might need to either be root while you install the file or change the permissions so that it is executable (note that the file should be on your linux drive somewhere, not on your windows drive). chmod is the way you change permissions on linux. You can also usually do it by right clicking on the file in the gui and changing permissions that way.

Please take the time to read some of these tutorials for beginning linux users. They will help you understand the basics of how to work with the command line and also explain things like permissions (which aren't generally used much in Windows).

yet more problems sorry guys
ok followd the links provided i can now see the shared folders on the linux pc on any windows machine but when i try to access it asks me for user name and password (i tried the same user nam and password i use for linux and username root ) but it wont let me in i have also browsed the network from linux and it needs a password to get into its own folders that way to, also i now cant access any network folders from linux it tells me thier desktop profile files!!!
its clear i have made a bobo a pretty major one but there doesnt apear to be a system restore does this mean i have to format and reinstall or is thier a way wound this?

also tightvnc is installed already just unable to locate its exe file (or run file) i downloaded the windows version and tried to connect no go. i redownloaded the RPM file for it on the linux pc and triied to reinstall it came up with a conflict with needing sbin service ? i looked in services in yast but couldnt see it any ideas?

i feel useless at moment so many things are unknown (i discovered after moving 4 mods and around 400 maps linux does not like capitials it seems to see lowercse different to uppercase so i have to go through them all and change them to lower case that will have to wait till the linux is up and running proberly first)

is it a case of im just two windows minded to be able to adapt to linux?
oh well 12 hours at work will give me a break from it. i think at the moment it looks like windows but where i expect it to bark it meows if that makes sense

Did you remember to add samba users? In a root console type smbpasswd –a username, and it should prompt you for a password. That should be the username you'll have to use for accessing your linux shares.

Hi mrgreaper, first of all I want to congratulate you for trying Linux, this is the first step and in most cases the most important.

1. You didn't mention how the installation went, for future reference you can give us some feedback about your experience, I mean it will be useful if you can share some first impressions. Did SuSE recognize all your hardware?, how about your internet connection?, The first thing to do is cover these basics steps and learn where to go if you have some problems in the future.

2. You have to realize that Linux is different, don't expect that something works the same as in Windows. Therefore you have to spend some time getting used to the new environment, play around with the software installed, you can use both GNOME and KDE (Desktop environments, most known GUIs for Linux). I'm aware that you want to have the same or more productivity that you have with Windows as fast as it can be, but this requires first that you get acquainted with Linux.

3. Coming from other background means that at the begining you'll feel very frustrated, one thing I can tell you is that after this adaptation process you'll be more productive and you'll have the absolute control of your system, then you can tweak it as you wish. Keep in mind that you have to learn to "walk" before attempting to "run", grasp the basics of Linux: the filesystem, file permissions, the CLI (Command Line Interface), now that you're in SuSE, learn how to install/upgrade/remove software using YaST and from the console, get amaroK or other multimedia package working, and giving the fact that you need to work in a network environment, learn the basics of Samba, NFS, probably you'll need to use Apache web server also.

4. Please notice that when you work with Linux you don't have to reinstall it everytime that you think the system is not working properly, most of the problems can be solved without using this drastic option.

5. Once you have covered the basic steps you can safely start using Linux for your main objectives, if you have some problems you can start a new thread with a specific problem here or in the SuSE forum, you'll find a lot of helpful people that will try to guide you.

Because of these facts, I suggest you to continue your business as usual in Windows, but whenever you have time boot in Linux and keep learning and tweaking it until you think you can safely use Linux for your main objectives. At that moment you'll feel the unmistaken sensation of having the control of your system.

Congratulations again and Welcome to the Linux world.

ok im just home so these are brief points as my beds calling
1a) the instalation went well (a lot better then i expected) and although this is a hardware deprived machine linux detected everything including the sound card windows insists doesnt exist! during the install it connected to the net through my router and downloaded the updates perfectly
1b) first impressions ....well you say i need to walk before i can run i feel at the moment i can bearly crawl, the main objective was to create a better bf1942 server and i installed it fine till i moved the config files and custom maps/mods across and discovered linux`s inabilitie to deal with uppercase and lower case charecters (i still need a linux application that can go through the bf1942 folder and change all uppercase charecters to lower case)
1c) first impressions of this forum(ok you didnt ask for that but hey its relevent) if it wasnt for you guys the linux partition would of been deleted or shrunk and left forgotten by now its just so ... alien but you guys have helped immensly and for that im truely grateful

2) true
3)the cli reminds me of my good old dos days when i couldnt afford windows 95 and it seems second nature to use it though the commands are new and different it almost seems like an old friend
4) that network problem is a major hicup (all windows shares showing up in the linux pc but say they are desktop config files if double clicked) a system restore would be the easiest approach but i cant find the option (does it exist in linux)
5) i must admit im a dive in the middle type persion (once i know some of the things i find you cant find more questions till you have tried even if it means failing, nothing helps us humans to learn more then trial an error (even if its the little red switch on back of the power pack make the computer go bang (i still renember my old IT tutor saying to the student who did that "which way did the flash go"))

@pljvaldez
i shall try that l8er when more awake thank you

pljvaldez it worked perfectly
also the network proble fixed itself before i tried that so now both linux and windows can see and share each other (is linux self repairing?)
i still need to find both a upper case to lowercase converter (it would take hours to do it all by hand) and a fix to the tightvnc problem stated above)

right im off to snooze not got long before im off to work again (ok 10 hours but hey i got to get some sleep in between that to)

You need a script or a one-liner for renaming to lowercase.
http://www.northernjourney.com/opens...s/newb016.html
Or something like:
(although i don't know if the last one is recursive)
You might need 'find' to do it recursively.
Instead of tr [:upper:] [:lower:] you can also use tr 'A-Z' 'a-z'

chmod changes the access rights of a file/directory. The number there is a representation of the rights for different groups- see http://www.linuxcommand.org/lts0070.php#chmod for a full explanation of the number and it's effect.

That's the spirit! ;) And congratulations on your success so far.

This one is recursive for moving uppercase files to lowercase files:
(it's not the most efficient one-liner but it works :D )

I always just somehow sensed that bash was a full blown programming language.

i confess i cheated i shared the folder and used a windows renamer to do the work for me (bulk rename utility was its name very useful programme)

the chmod guide was useful thank you now if i can just find a torrent programme i can control remotely (other then the extremely hard to install torrentflux) id be happy i did try try azurus (under great protest) but its well it comes in pieces i kinda need an rpm file for one i can get on well with rpm files and now .run files but im not at the stage where im comfortable with loads of cli commands
its a shame about torrentflux (havent quite given up on that yet but finding it hard)

so far it seems linux is not very user friendly (i think suse 10 personly hates me :) )

Sounds like you've made good progress. "User friendly" is kind of a personal preference type of thing. I personally find linux very user friendly because everything seems to make sense where as with Windows sometimes I have no idea at all what the machine is doing...

Basically your difficulty is that Linux and Windows are different and you have to unlearn some Windows things to start getting comfortable in linux. But that happens with any sort of major change, you have to get calibrated to the new environment. Stick with it though and you'll have a lot of power at your fingertips.

You might get more answers to your torrent program question if you start a new thread Under the Linux - Software forum. Mention whatever windows torrent program you were using and what features you're interested in.

Good Luck!

yeah i still havent given up with torrentflux
so far i have an apache webserver sorted out for (sort off) and was quite pleased when i put my local ip into my windows pc and saw the apache webserver screen (now i just have to get torrentflux to work) if i give up on torrentflux (though im a stubborn old sod) then i will take your advice and post in that forum (i have done many many many google searches for a linux torrent programme and this seems by far the closest to what i need)

i still have to use windows on my two main pc`s and laptop s thier gamming machines something linux sadly is not cut out for (well thats proberly the wrong phrase linux strikes me as it could run the games better then windows if developers supported it)

The bf1942 server (after many many teething problems worked a treat) for reference;
problem = solution
it wouldnt start proberly = had to change every file to lower case including extensions and folders
linux server would load any dcx map (desert combat extended mod) and run it happly but any windows client machine crashed on map load 100% = now this should not of worked but did i lowered all case on the windows machines deleted the mod folder desertcombat extended and copyied from the linux machine
but now some of hud icons are missing and the weapon select screen looks glitchy but its still very playable = aint fixed that YET


ps while typing this i have also been working on torrentflux it it seems *touch wood to be working*

ok heres one for you not sure if this is possible;
i want to be able to type a single word into the console as the root user that will
load up bfsd -daemon (starts it as a background service) +statusmonitor 1 (shows in the cli screen the server stataus) -priority 1 (i believe thats the highest priority i can give it?)
then i want it to turn off all the gui parts of gnome (to effectively log off but to leave that cli window open)
then if that cli window is closed it would bring up the log in screen

umm is that even remotely posible?

Not sure, but someone else might know if you make a new thread. Long threads like this tend to get ignored when they reach a certain length because people figure it just turned into a BS session...

Just FYI, re case sensitivity: Linux (Unix) is case sensitive by default, but it will handle any combination of case, whereas MS is not case sensitive...
Not sure why you felt you had to change the names, but also FYI, most Linux shell cmds do not handle spaces as part of a filename without some extra fiddling, so try to use underscore or something instead if you have filenames like that.
In any case, keep up the effort, you'll benefit eventually :)
You can alias a cmd to one word like this

alias mycmd="usualcmd +param1 +param2 etc"

then export the cmd alias

export mycmd

and run it by invoking

mycmd

HTH