freespire questions

nfl2k2 · 01-03-2007, 07:49 PM

I just installed freespire on my compaq v5000 laptop; 1.8GHz, 512mb, 60GB. I have a dual boot with XP.

I assumed the default installation for all programs and drivers as I've read freespire is one of the few distros that work out of the box with my broadcom wireless device. I have just tried to install a theme I downloaded, here is the output after I .config'd it:

Code:

checking for KDE... configure: error:
in the prefix, you've chosen, are no KDE headers installed. This will fail.
So, check this please and use another prefix!
user@pu:~/krisp-0.1$ make
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found.  Stop.

How do I properly install this theme?

Also, I successfully installed BitchX given these instructions:

Code:

$ wget bitchx.gz
$ tar xvfz ircii-pana-1.1-final.tar.gz
$ cd BitchX
$ ./configure
$ gmake
$ gmake install_local

How do I run the program?

Finally, it seems as though this installation of freespire is sluggish, more sluggish than windows XP. I thought linux was supposed to be a lightweight OS that is very efficient with hardware resources?

thanks..

Simon Bridge · 01-03-2007, 08:39 PM

Quote:

I have just tried to install a theme I downloaded, here is the output after I .config'd it:

Freespire uses CNR - did you try this?

It looks like you have no KDE headers installed. Probably the default installation dosn't contain the development packages or source code. Go to the CNR page and look for header packages.

Quote:

How do I run the program? [xBitch]

For those who don't know: BitchX is an ANSI color ircII client. There are README files in the tarball. There is a faq which is also included in the tarball.

You have installed the binary "BitchX" in your home directory (when you chose "make install_local") So enter "./BitchX" in a terminal which is open to your home directory. (Note, you were supposed to use the --prefix method)

Quote:

Finally, it seems as though this installation of freespire is sluggish, more sluggish than windows XP. I thought linux was supposed to be a lightweight OS that is very efficient with hardware resources?

Unfortunately, you have installed freespire. It used to be linspire, and before that: lindows. It's main claim to fame is being as much like windows as possible.

Linuxes vary considerably from distro to distro - and, like any OS, speed depends on your hardware and on the number of services you are running. Freespire tends to have a great deal of services running - part of making it easy to use - which makes it slow. You'll just have to trim it down yourself.

I see you are compiling software - make sure you take a look at the cnr repository for the programs available to you.

Knoppix has famous HW support, Ubuntu is famously easy to use, Yoper is very very fast (on an i686 only), and gentoo is well optimized.

nfl2k2 · 01-03-2007, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Linuxes vary considerably from distro to distro - and, like any OS, speed depends on your hardware and on the number of services you are running. Freespire tends to have a great deal of services running - part of making it easy to use - which makes it slow. You'll just have to trim it down yourself.

I see you are compiling software - make sure you take a look at the cnr repository for the programs available to you.

Knoppix has famous HW support, Ubuntu is famously easy to use, Yoper is very very fast (on an i686 only), and gentoo is well optimized.

I understand. Let me ask you this, how do I find out if my Broadcom wireless device is compatible with Ubuntu/Gentoo? Where would I search for the drivers and how would they be installed?

I've done it a million times on Windows, I would imagine its not so simple for linux.

Simon Bridge · 01-03-2007, 09:04 PM

I can check for you - tell me the output of "lspci" where it referrs to the wireless card.

In general - you google: use the name of the distro and the name of the card as search terms. Broadcom cards are supported under linux via "ndiswrapper" - so the ndiswrapper project page can help.
Note: broadcom does not support linux, therefore linux must support broadcom

Here is a howto for Ubuntu... and one for gentoo. There are many more.

Aside: people will tell you that your card is supported under windows. This is a lie... what happens is that Broadcom supports Windows (not the other way around).

nfl2k2 · 01-03-2007, 09:30 PM

Code:

user@pu:~/My Documents/pciutils-2.2.4$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 01)
0000:00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5a3f
0000:00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc: Unknown device 5a37
0000:00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
0000:00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller
0000:00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller
0000:00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 11)
0000:00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller ATI
0000:00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge
0000:00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge
0000:00:14.5 Multimedia audio controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 02)
0000:00:14.6 Modem: ATI Technologies Inc ATI SB400 - AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 02)
0000:01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc ATI Radeon XPRESS 200M 5955 (PCIE)
0000:06:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
0000:06:06.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
user@pu:~/My Documents/pciutils-2.2.4$ lspci

I actually installed my first tarball (lspci) successfully just now!

Look forward to your response, thanks.

nfl2k2 · 01-03-2007, 09:33 PM

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=190177

I will have more time to read through this six page thread, but it looks like it is possible. Do you think Ubuntu will be a lot faster than Freespire has been? That is all I'm concerned with at this point, thanks.

Simon Bridge · 01-03-2007, 10:09 PM

Quote:

0000:06:02.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

... that's the one! You found the howto - well done.

Your card is not in the HCL ... when you get it going, you could list it.
There are a number of discussions in LQ about supporting your card.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hlight=BCM4318
... is still active, and relates to ubuntu edgy. But setting up ndiswrapper is pretty much non-distro specific.

http://easylinux.info/wiki/Ubuntu:Edgy
... general ubuntu howto collection.

Quote:

Do you think Ubuntu will be a lot faster than Freespire has been?

I don't know - I have not seen freespire working. However, it was the fastest unoptimized distro I have ever run. (Reputedly, Yoper is the fastest distro...) Considering what freespire is, I'd imagine anything would be faster.