Windows to Linux Transition questions
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Hello all,
I'm back with some questions. I'm working on testing my hardware (some older stuff) and working on the transition to Linux. I will still have one foot in the Windows world. To clarify, I'm looking for employment and preparing to return to school (undergrad), and will most likely find work in a Windows IT environment before I will be ready to work in a Linux only or mixed Linux + other IT shop. The older equipment I'm testing are some older Adaptec SCSI cards (2940UW and better), SCSI CDROMs (Plextor), SCSI hard drives (2x 18GB LVD drives), some 2.2GB Castlewood Orb drives (IDE), some 1GB Jaz drives (SCSI) and an Artec flatbed USB scanner which I believe will work with Linux. The test PC, from here forth referred to as the "beige box", will be my target location for the test equipment. It will have a P4 1.8Ghz CPU, 512MB RAM, and an AGP 2X video card (Trident 3DImage9850). Does anyone see a potential problem with the above equipment and Linux? Will the CPU, RAM and video be enough to run a GUI and have the PC as a file, print, web, and database server for personal use and learning? I was considering Slackware for the beige box since a full install is less than 10GB (I believe) and has many of the server packages I would want. Is Slackware a good choice? Is there a specific GUI I should load? As far as my desktop environement transition goes: - I would like to be able to transfer music to/from my Dell Digital DJ MP3 player if possible. - I need to transfer/convert some large MS Outlook PST files (200MB to 1.2Gig in size) to a desktop Linux environment and pick an email client for POP mail... preferably something close to Outlook's UI. I have a large set of windows shortcuts (*.url files) that point to websites. The files are organized into folders. Is there a way to dynamically generate a cascading menu from a folder and it's subfolders? I'm also a toolbar junkie. I hate the look of the Windows 7 start menu and thus don't like the KDE menu for similar reasons. In windows 7 I have several rows of icon toolbars that convienently auto hide when not needed. Is this difficult to recreated in the various Linux GUIs (Gnome 2.x, KDE, Fluxbox, Openbox, <whatever>box, etc.)? How about a simplified, cascading menu like the classic Win98 or Win XP start menu? See attached pics. - There is VLC for Linux (yay). - There is 7zip for Linux (yay again). - I'm using MS Virtual PC 2007 but I see there is virtual box (yay again) for Linux. - I'll have to setup and learn WINE for windows gaming unless there is another option (Diablo2, Torchlight, Starcraft-2, etc). - Linux Teamspeak client and server options (grin). - Ventrilo client in development (boo... Vent boyz are slacking...). I'm not sure if the windows client will behave in WINE. |
Not totally sure which bits are the questions, but...
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Assuming that 512M is a constant and not a variable, XFCE/LXDE/Enlightenment/anything with a 'box' in its name are waiting for you to try them out and find one that is to your taste. Not sure about that Trident card; I assume that it must be possible to get it working, but with an undetermined amount of hassle to get there (probably not all that much, but you never know). Quote:
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Thanks for the reply Salasi... sorry for my long delay in replying... been taking care of a sick relative.
I don't want to alter my main PC that is shared with my wife and son. They need access to a stable PC so I would rather not experiment with that box. The Beige Box is like Frankenstein, it will be built from old bits and pieces of hardware, thus its cash free. However, I've been unable to get more than 512MB RAM for it and I don't want to invest money into it. I realize Slack isn't the most newbie friendly distro. However, with Slack a full (everything) install is less than 10GB, has many of the servers I want to experiment with (web, dns, database, email, samba, NFS, LDAP, etc.), and there are several GUIs to choose from on the install image (no separate install). With the full install being less than 10GB it leaves plenty of space on a single HD for experimentation. Should I consider another server oriented distro. that is more newbie friendly? I'm not ready for Gentoo yet, but I will be soon enough. The PST conversion seems to be a big concern among newbie Linux converts. I'll have to spend some time with Thunderbird. I'm surprised that someone hasn't come up with a one-click solution to PST conversion and that the solution be well documented. The *.url files are text files that are browser neutral bookmarks. Since they are text files I'm sure there is a way to convert them to a Linux useable format. I have a shortcut (url file) for this website. The file contents are the following: Code:
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Everyone has given you pretty good info. If Slackware is your first Linux experience the learning curve can be a bit steep in the beginning. But if you stick with it you will learn a lot about Linux. I would suggest checking out http://www.slackware.com/~alien and http://www.slackbuilds.org for some good information and software for Slackware.
Also for a vent client you can use Mangler. It's open source and can connect to Vent 3.x servers. They even have an Android version out. |
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Anyway, don't underestimate the learning curve. Probably have a look at couple of 'live' distros, so you don't have to install, and go with what you like. |
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As far as the Beige Box goes, I wouldn't bother trying to do serious work on it other than setting up and managing the services on it. The light weight GUI is just for convenience. I'm hoping the P4 2.4Ghz box with 1GB of RAM will be enough to do end-user stuff such as email, web-browse, programming, word processing, listen to music, watch a movie, etc. I was expecting to use RSH or telnet to connected to the Beige Box. |
I don't agree fully with the Gnome needs more than 512 MB RAM idea. My old Acer laptop, currently running Ubuntu 10.04 has 256-512MB RAM and runs perfectly ok. It also runs Debian Squeeze perfectly ok and has run Wheezy and Sid/Experimental perfectly ok.
Gnome 3, on the other hand, is a completely different matter but it also needs better graphics so it's not going to run on some older hardware anyway. Ubuntu has a separate server disk so is no need to install a GUI to get a server up and running. Debian is similar in that you can easily install a server without installing a GUI. I agree with looking at a LiveCD or DVD first. Debian has a good set of LiveDVDs available and you can even build your own. Ubuntu and LinuxMint also are known for their LiveCDs. Fedora is another quality distro. |
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Slightly more worrying is if stuff that you know you don't want is installed by default: if you go round uninstalling stuff, and you don't know what you are doing, you'll break something, eventually, so this takes a bit more care (but still isn't really technically difficult to carry out, necessarily, just a bit worrying). Some other distros, even the 'user friendly' ones allow you more control at installation time, and while that feels more closely aligned with what you want, adding extra packages really shouldn't really be significant to you, unless, maybe, you are on a dial-up connection, or something. |
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