linux illiterate to the xtreme

SiinsoftheFuture · 04-10-2007, 05:57 AM

okay, i have been contemplating installing linux(slackware 11 was the one i was contemplating) on my main machine, but have several questions ontop of scratching my head at most of the installation instructions. First of all, my computer is an AMD Athlon 2700, 120 gig hard drive 512DDR, with onboard sound and a GeForce 5500, crapass standard mouse, USB keyboard. first question, i am connected to the internet through a 2wire 802.11g USB adapter, will linux support this device or will i be required to upgrade or switch to wireless, if it is supported, how? second question is, i play WoW, counterstrike, ijji Gunz and a few other games as well as have gained famiar with certain programs such as trilian and winamp, is there a way these programs can be ran in linux with full features or will they be hindered. and lastly, i read the instruction posted on the slackware website and part of the instructions more than confused me...is there a website that could simplify the instructions or can someone contact me explaining how to install this in less complicated terms. many thanks to all who respond and aide my defection from microsoft.

akudewan · 04-10-2007, 07:44 AM

Hello, and welcome to the linux world

To answer a few of your questions, your configuration seems OK, though you *might* have trouble with the USB keyboard if its not supported by the bios. I can't comment on your Internet device, don't know anything about it.

For games, you can use Wine or cedega. Have a look at this website for detailed how-tos: http://frankscorner.org/

For music, instead of Winamp there are a number of apps for linux like XMMS, amarok, rhythmbox that you can use.

And if you're finding slackware difficult to install, maybe you could try a simpler distro like Ubuntu, which is more newbie-friendly.

H_TeXMeX_H · 04-10-2007, 09:26 AM

WoW and counterstrike will run just fine in wine. Dunno about ijji Gunz ... never heard of it.

Not sure about the wireless USB adapter. Check here:
http://linux-wless.passys.nl/

onebuck · 04-10-2007, 10:47 AM

Hi,

Welcome to Slackware and LQ!

Check my sig out for some good online reference.

GamerX · 04-13-2007, 06:23 PM

As far as trillian and winamp, Gaim or now it's called "Pidgin" for instant messaging and Amarok for music are great replacements. Actually I use Gaim on my windows installation instead of trillian which used to be my main IM program, but give it a shot! Both apps are packaged in slackware. Using native linux applications is a MUCH higher recommended option.

As for the wireless device... possibly! The linux kernel does come with support for USB network adapters, which is good!
I'll speculate that your device will, if at all, most likely be supported by the "Multi-purpose USB Networking Framework" driver.

Code:

< > USB CATC NetMate-based Ethernet device support (EXPERIMENTAL)                                            
< > USB KLSI KL5USB101-based ethernet device support                                                         
< > USB Pegasus/Pegasus-II based ethernet device support                                                     
< > USB RTL8150 based ethernet device support (EXPERIMENTAL)                                                 
< > Multi-purpose USB Networking Framework                                                                   
< >   ASIX AX88xxx Based USB 2.0 Ethernet Adapters (NEW)                                                     
---   CDC Ethernet support (smart devices such as cable modems)                                              
< >   GeneSys GL620USB-A based cables (NEW)                                                                  
< >   NetChip 1080 based cables (Laplink, ...) (NEW)                                                         
< >   Prolific PL-2301/2302 based cables (NEW)                                                               
< >   Host for RNDIS devices (EXPERIMENTAL) (NEW)                                                            
< >   Simple USB Network Links (CDC Ethernet subset) (NEW)
< >   Sharp Zaurus (stock ROMs) and compatible (NEW)

The way this driver is included into the kernel:
1. Compile it into the kernel (not the likely option for new users)
2. Load the corresponding kernel module (pretty straight forward, just 1 command)

But the only sure way is to actually try it =) I use a PCI wireless card myself and it's quite transparent ...once you have it setup heh.

Also a word on the games, when you run games in wine there are usually considerable performance penalties, especially on older hardware.

Lastly, (rest of you, please don't throw stuff at me!) if it feels like you are banging your head against the wall with slackware (good times!) consider trying a distribution called Ubuntu it takes the edge off the installation process and hardware support, and then you can graduate to slackware!

And you have plenty of people rooting (no pun intended) for you here!

H_TeXMeX_H · 04-13-2007, 06:47 PM

Ohhh ... just saw this ... 'Linspire 5.1.427'

I would say that is a very bad idea. Indeed, if you can't use Slackware, try Ubuntu, try Mepis, try Mandriva, try anything BUT Lin$pire ... yes, it's crappy enough that is deserves an $ in its name.

Actually Lin$pire was my first distro ... and I'm very glad that I soon realized that it is not really what Linux is like. It's a very twisted form of Linux. It's like taking M$ and putting it in a blender with Linux ... uggghh. Please try another distro, just NOT Lin$pire.