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Yesterday I found out something quite interesting while reading a thread at LinuxQuestions.org. Summary: the flash browser plugin lets flash applications store information persistently on your hard drive. Sorry if this is common knowledge, but I didnt know it and Im quite shocked. That information can (may or may not) be used as browser cookies, as the thread shows. These days many people take their cookies seriously, maybe disabling them or deleting them from time to time or adjusting the browser cookie settings so it considers every cookie a session cookie that should be deleted when the browser is closed. Now, you need to be aware of a new battle front. Under Linux (and probably other Unix systems), these pieces of information are stored under $HOME/.macromedia/. Run find ~/.macromedia -print to get an overview.

I remember one of the reasons people started to care about cookies in the first place was that sites like doubleclick (recently bought by Google) would serve ads for thousands of websites on the net, and those ads would store a cookie in your hard drive identifying you, so they could in theory track what you visited on the net and build a profile. Today the problem would still exist because sometimes ads are served in flash format.

You can, however, configure the flash plugin so it doesnt let anybody store anything in your hard drive. It must be noted that to do so you must visit macromedia.com and adjust the plugin settings from a flash application that is available on their site. Moreover, if you completely disable data storage, you are warned that some sites may stop working. Amazing. So this problem is hard to avoid. My personal recommendation is to use a browser plugin like the typical FlashBlock for Firefox or the Load plugins on demand setting under Konqueror, so every flash application is blocked unless you specify otherwise. And, you may want to delete the $HOME/.macromedia/ directory from time to time, or at least part of its contents (settings are also stored in that directory). Its also worth mentioning that the settings and data are cross-browser, obviously. They are stored by the flash plugins no matter what browser youre running the plugin from.

Its a shame so many websites require flash for basic browsing, as well as the lack of a flash plugin for many platforms. The plugin could also have an option to delete any hard drive data when closing it, similar to the option to treat all cookies as session cookies that many browsers feature.

Because the whole purpose of it is to spy on the kids ... duh! They even admit its one of the big "features."

Get kids used to it now, and they'll vote for it later. Same as the idea behind setting up the Hitler Youth (hey, its not a Godwin if its an appropriate reference :-).

Whoever proposed this is a dickhead. If the kids are smart, they'll bring bootable thumb drives with a bootable copy of peanut linux or some other mini-distro on it.

The biggest problem I've had with various linux installs involves extra internal hard drives. After having my own troubles and starting to fix my own problem, I decided to write a tutorial on how set up fstab to help others:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread .php?t=547302
After several iterations, I was finally getting close to the solution, and then, BAM! fstab does not set all the permissions for extra drives! And even fstab is not documented fully. The project languishes now . . .
Users need to be able to install linux and it ask them how it should deal with extra hard drives. This info needs to be written to an annotated fstab and the info should also set permissions -- with all of this reviewable and configurable via a GUI utility later.
And even then, when one of my "extra" hard drives is mounted incorrectly or has an error, linux stops the bot and I *have to* deal with it at the command prompt. it is tooooo much!
Greg Conquest

...you're yet another Linux zealot who takes everything as an attack.

If I may diffidently suggest, the common participant in every argument you've ever had is... you. If you keep having the same arguments, it's at least conceivable that you have something to do with that.

it was refreshing to find one user who didn't have his head so far up his ass that he couldn't have an honest conversation. I even mentioned to him how he may be able to help spread Linux.

Oh, you mean here? Ah, yes, no one has ever thought of handing out LiveCDs before. Good one!

But let's see what you say in that comment: "I guess that's the catch-22. Linux needs big software to get the user base that it take to make it worth big software's investments to support Linux." And let's see what I had to say: "But there really is a chicken-and-egg problem in the desktop arena, and just saying 'Y'all need to try harder' isn't going to cut it... there still aren't many commercial games for Linux, because there isn't a big market for Linux games, in part because... there aren't many commercial games for Linux. That's a real problem, and that's what I and others are referring to when talking about the trouble of invading a monopoly market."

I guess I will keep thinking that. You certainly seem to, though you don't appear to recognize it when it's not stated in precisely your wording...

If I wanted to sequester my computer in a safe place, I would use a dumb terminal.

For multiple monitors, I would check out the following link.
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Using_multiple _monitors_with_XFree86

It doesn't seem like a very exciting story to most of us.

I've seen the infamous thread in question. I think your real problem is that you should have tried some other place to answer your question.

It's a GRUB error so you should start with the folks who make GRUB.
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/grub-devel

Google turns up some useful links as well:

http://www.mail-archive.com/bug-grub@gnu.org/msg10 991.html
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread .php?t=112412
http://forums.scotsnewsletter.com/index.php?showto pic=12845
http://www.webservertalk.com/archive291-2006-7-157 9685.html

I know the Ubuntu board should have helped with the problem, but the people who participate in that board are likely to be just as new to Ubuntu as you are. In these so called easy to use distros, you'll see this problem a lot. I have a similar problem with fedoraforum.org. Most of my questions go unanswered, get answered wrongly, or it feels like I'm talking to a Comcast customer support script reader. This is because most of the users are not Linux gurus, but inexperienced people. There's nothing you can do about this except look for help else where and if you find the solution post it back to help educated them.

It's a wee bit offtopic, but try this: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread .php?t=462105 Insofar as I'm aware, Linksys ones tend to work ok.

"Try Pidgin. I find it much more usable than Gaim, atleast in the UI features."

FYI, Pidgin is the new name for (and version of) Gaim :)

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread .php?t=544498
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/07/04/07/2014230.s html

"Announced on the Gaim mailing lists earlier today, the Gaim project is being renamed. This follows a lengthy and, unfortunately, secret legal process with AOL, which also prevented any code releases except betas. The project will now be known as Pidgin IM."

And BTW, the Democracy Player is going to be renamed to Miro for the 1.0 release:
http://www.getdemocracy.com/news/2007/06/democracy -player-096-released-last-version-ever-before-name -change/

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Insensitive_cl od

1. probably not by much
2. In the long run, the Windows laptop may be more expensive when I have to pay more for add-ons that are on the Linux Hardware Compatibility List. (You know, like buying a wireless card that works.) Even if I end up wiping the system and reinstalling some other Linux distro, I want to know that the hardware works with Linux.
3. Even if the add-on itself is pretty cheap, I've found that often I will end up buying a number of the cheap add-ons before I find one that's Linux compatible, so that effectively I've spent more money than actual list price (of the peripheral) to get it working. For example, I've got some webcams lying around that I ended up giving to the wife for her notebook. (She told me, "I only need one, you know...")
   
4. Most importantly, my time is valuable to me. I don't want to have to spend the time messing around with a Linux distro trying to see which video driver is going to work for me. Hey, don't get me wrong: I like tinkering just as much as the next guy, but in the meantime I want to have a working system. I'd rather tinker to see what I can make even better, rather than tinker to get something working.
   In the past, I have proudly emerged from the entrails of my machine saying, "Yesss! What a breakthrough! Am I a geek or what? After countless hours of Googling, downloading drivers, messing with the hardware, and writing my own script files, my computer now finally works properly!" Meanwhile, my wife's machine has worked from the beginning. Well, been there, done that; now I want to move on. I want it to just work.
5. The above referred to my willingness to pay more to receive a machine that works when I receive it, but I also get a future benefit by joining the critical mass that Dell creates by selling this machine. Specifically, since there is only one notebook (Inspiron E1505) from a major vendor that comes with Linux, I can be pretty sure that when someone comes out with something in the future for a notebook running Linux (say gRoadMaps or something), the author or the community will make sure it runs on that notebook. The same might not be true for some cheaper notebook with some weird chipset.
6. Dell responded to us as a community. We should support them, not just to reward Dell, but to show the rest of the corporate world that, yes, it is worthwhile supporting Linux. I'm not just referring to Dell's competitors, but manufacturers of Linux-INcompatible hardware (WinModems, anyone?).
7. You know we'll set up some Ubuntu system for the relatives so we don't have to do tech support for all their malware complaints? Well, this is the hardware equivalent. My dad's laptop is getting old and is starting not to meet his needs. If I'm happy with this Inspiron/Ubuntu package, I'll get one for my dad. Maybe then finally we can have hassle-free GPG-encrypted email and tunneled VNC for tech support. (Currently I refuse to support his Windows laptop.)
8. As a sibling poster noted, perhaps the Linux notebook is cheaper ($600 vs $699 for Windows?)

There is, as far as I can tell, only one place in the world where GNOME is more popular than KDE, and that is, surprise surprise, on the Ubuntu Forums. Everywhere else, KDE appears to lead my a margin of roughly 2:1. In particular, it is a consistent winner of the LinuxQuestions Members Choice awards. It's also very popular on the desktops of European government, being used on 10.2% of desktops, compared to GNOME's 5.5% (see page 29).

It always saddens me to see the Big Distros rallying around GNOME and pouring funds into it as I've always viewed Open Source as a meritocracy, whereas the decision to back GNOME development is quite clearly not based on its merits (or at least, not its technical ones), nor even, clearly, on what the end users want. It also strikes me as a terrible waste of resources: GNOME's shaky technical base and general bureaucratic attitude means that even though money is thrown at it, nothing ever seems to get done, with GNOME's busiest days barely matching KDE's laziest, while the KDE team are completely shaking up the code and architecture of their massive code-base on a shoestring. A real shame, but - c'est la vie, I guess!

Access 4.0 never existed. It went straight from 2.0 to 7. I'm not an Access user however, but regardless of this if you're even right about this it's the only example you've provided of a 'toy language' that breaks 'every two to three years', and it's debatable.

VB 3.x was released in 1993, 6.x in 1998, and VB.Net is barely in it's infancy. This is not 'every two to three years'. It's pretty much double that. Also, VB is not a toy language to those of us who make our living using it.

I found trivial differences between 97 VBA and XP VBA but YMMV.

OLE 2.0 was released in 1993. I'll repeat that one: 1993. Please note that nobody can just sit on something for 14 years. Are you seriously suggesting that Microsoft should have retained all backwards compatibility for that long? Sometimes things have to break to move forward. Take every kernel upgrade to Linux that breaks one thing or another in a distribution. Shit happens, but you fix it. I don't know about you, but that's my job.

Have you got any others? Those examples wouldn't cut the mustard even if you looked at them generously.

I've been keeping my eye out for a program that will compute a check-sum (CRC, MD5, etc.) for my files so that when I rerun the program it will let me know if any data has changed so that I can recover files from an alternate backup.

I'm a slack user since 7, IIRC.

>>> "... you have to write your own iptables firewall script."

This simply isn't true. And in my poll (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthrea d.php?t=530208&highlight=firewall) of just over 100 slackers (not statistically significant but hey) there were slightly more using script generators than writing their own scripts.

I like firestarter (http://www.fs-security.com/) and it seems others do too.

FWIW.

Oh and re the car analogy - having driven a stick shift since 17 at 26 I learnt and passed my test on a full geared motorbike, the first time I got on the fully-automatic twist-and-go scooter I crashed. My first proper crash. This pretty much mirrors my use of "easier" linux distros, which I find harder to use.

I dont have one magic answer.
Forums are good for getting and sharing information on specific problems as long as the "google it yourself" crowd havent invaded. (how else would you have found the forum?). http://www.linuxquestions.org/ is a good start.
There are varias wiki's specific to certian subjects.
And I dont mean to sound rude with this, but please read the man page first. Weather or not you understand it at the time.

On a side note the best way I have found to learn about something is to break it first. but maybe thats just me.

Yes Linux has come a long way in desktop features and the other things that make up a desktop environment, but I just don't understand how Linux desktop UIs still can't manage to get spacing, font/text placement and alignment, shading, and all the other details that make OS X so instantly appealing to so many people, regardless if they want to are able to pay for Macs of their own to use.

Just compare:

http://shots.linuxquestions.org/scaled/Ubuntu%207. 04/11.gif

vs

http://images.apple.com/macosx/leopard/images/inde xdesktop20060807.jpg

I just don't understand how there can remain such a huge gap in the attention to detail and refinement with Linux desktops and apps. Have Linux developers never used Interface builder and it's alignment spacing tools or ever really sat down with a Mac and gone over the various OS X UI parts to understand how and why the feel and work so well?

But there is a conspiracy here. If you open chessonly's article (why does he exclude the superior but less popular game of Go) in Opera 9.20

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread .php?p=2705017#post2705017

Hover over the double underlined link to security in the second blockquote and the text goes all fubar so you can't read it anymore. Works fine in IE and Firefox.

Oh noes! it must be a conspiracy against the superior but less popular Opera browser by those Firefox bastards.

Or it could just be that they only test their website on IE and Firefox, because Opera has bugger all market share...

From what I can tell, there's a bug with the user's laptop and some "USB-to-serial thing" according to his forum post. Whatever it did, it managed to get the BIOS to set a password. The user decides this is because they installed Linux, and the BIOS is "only for Windows Vista" and therefore locks out non-Windows OSes.

He then links to another post as "proof" which you'll not never mentions any non-Windows OS. My guess is that it's the "USB-to-serial thing" that's causing some bug in the BIOS that corrupts parts of the CMOS, causing a password to be set. (As an added bonus, if it's truly random data, it could be an untypable password.)

So, nothing to do with running Linux, and everything to do with the "USB-to-serial" thing that the user used. At least, that's my guess.

See also 'Phoenix BIOS only for Windows Vista'.

Is this new?

Yes. It's the latest release candidate, released a few days ago.

Is it based on Ubuntu?

No, it's Mandrake, which pre-dates Ubuntu. The name was changed from Mandrake to Mandriva after MandrakeSoft went bankrupt and merged with Connectiva in 2005.

See here for more information.

Then why can't I find a DL DVD RW for my Lnux box?

Beats me. You must not be looking in the right place.

I've spent many hours searching my distro's website, Linux Questions, Google, and other websites along with asking linux users irl.

I've had a Cyberdog DL DVD RW (it reports itself as a NEC DVD_RW ND-2510A)

Thanks, I'll check it out. Actually that's part of why I posted what I did, so I could get recommendations.

I've also got a Samsung Writemaster that similarly works just fine with Linux, picked up from Microcenter in OEM packaging for about $40.

Microcenter was one of the places I went to asking about Linux compatible dl dvd rws. They didn't have any Cyberdog drive I saw but one guy there recommended Maddog drives and said most should be compatible.

Oh! Can't forget about http://linuxquestions.org/ ! I have yet to see an RTFM on there, but more like, here are some websites where you can learn how to do X.

Intel have a Game Compatibility List on their website. Not sure what your situation is, but my lappie use i945. DOOM III is fine, but Quake IV isn't. If Intel want to really penetrate the graphics market, obviously their next list will have to be all green spots. "Intel: The way it's meant to be played!" ;-)

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intel945gm/s b/CS-021400.htm

Serious gamers bitch that the 9XX series is low end. Maybe it is. But it whips my nVidia 5700 and that's good enough for me!

Here's a list of supported Linuxes. Bizarrely Ubuntu isn't mentioned, but some folks seem to have it running. Mandriva works out of the box. Google is your friend. You may be able to find more up to date information than these: Good Luck!

http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/reseller/asmo-na/e ng/products/linux/feature/279817.htm
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=20287 83
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread .php?t=435050

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/coffee-lounge/643 3-sex-call-wow-sounds-wrong.html?highlight=call+po ll http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/coffee-lounge/524 63-gender-poll-2006-a.html http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/coffee-lounge/805 53-gender-poll-2007-a.html http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/poll.php?d o=showresults&pollid=1099 http://www.gridter.com/cgi-bin/survey/survey.cgi?s urvey_name=survey http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=287852&hi ghlight=gender+poll http://forums.suselinuxsupport.de/index.php?showto pic=8935&hl=gender+poll By the way, some females might be tetrachromats http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy [wikipedia.org] I demand a program so I can be one too !!!

My two favorite versions of Linux are Ubuntu and Kubunutu. Kubunutu is actually just a version of Ubuntu that uses the KDE desktop environment instead of the Gnome desktop environment. A person can install either one and then just use the Synaptic package manager to download and install the other one too. After that you can choose to use either KDE or Gnome when you are booting up by clicking on the session button on the login screen and choosing either KDE or Gnome. If someone has already installed Ubuntu and has a high-speed Internet connection they can use the Synaptic package manager to also install the kubuntu-desktop package. If someone started by installing Kubuntu they can add the Gnome stuff by using Adept (or Synaptic if it is already installed) to download and install the gnome-desktop-environment. I have both installed on my computer at home and use KDE most of the time.

Either KDE or Gnome would be a good choice although I have a slight preference for KDE. Most Ubuntu books and on-line instructions assume that your are using Ubuntu with Gnome instead of Kubuntu with KDE so when starting out it is easier to follow the directions when using Ubuntu and Gnome.

There is an on-line discussion forum for Ubuntu users here:

Ubuntu Forum

There are also books about using Ubuntu Linux such as these:

• Ubuntu Unleashed
• Moving to Ubuntu Linux
• The Official Ubuntu Book
• Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks

One of my favorite features that the Linux desktop has which Windows lacks is the multiple virtual desktops. What is that? Well, sometimes I have several programs open at once and I want a fresh clean screen to fill up with more stuff but don't want to close any programs or even minimize them. I click on one of the rectangles in the row of rectangles on the taskbar and suddenly, I have another fresh clean empty screen to open more programs in. To return to the other desktop with my other stuff, I just click on the appropriate rectangle. In KDE, each virtual desktop can have its own wallpaper too. Windows doesn't have that, perhaps a barely computer literate Windows user might be confused by a useful feature like that. Sometimes, I have about a dozen programs open at once, all scattered across about 4 or 5 virtual desktops. When using Windows, everything feels much more cramped for space and cluttered without the multiple virtual desktops.

When using a Debian derived Linux distribution such as Ubunutu, Kubunu or Mepis have fun downloading some free new programs from the hundreds of available free programs that are listed for you by the Synaptic package manager. Windows doesn't offer a comparable program that does point-and-click installations of free GPL licensed software programs from the on-line Ubuntu repositories.

https://www.scientificlinux.org/

http://www.newegg.com/

http://www.tigerdirect.com/

http://www.linuxquestions.org/

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/

The first Linux distro I started with was Slackware 9.0. It took me 3 weeks to get it up & running, with the help of a lot of people from LinuxQuestions.org; But as they say: "Once a slacker, always a slacker"

I tried other distros, but none give me the freedom to manipulate my system like Slackware.

In short: If you like (not mind, but like) reading manuals and changelogs before using a new utility and program, then you'll be able to pull it off with Slackware. Otherwise, go with Kubuntu (It's Ubuntu but with KDE as its Desktop Environment instead of GNOME).

The Fedora Core project has a life cycle of 6 months and is a test ground for RedHat; What ever is new, is thrown there for tests; Once stable, it's moved to the Enterprise & Advanced server editions (not free).
And it's really sluggish and you'll face some weird conflicts with some applications.

I recommend KUbuntu, as a free distro. If you want a commercial one where support is ready for you whenever you want, go with Suze, Mandrake or Linspire.

If you'd like to work with both Linux & Windows at the same time, without rebooting each time, consider using Windows as a virtual machine (VMware).

===========

For your all-in-one needs for programming & web-design, I strongly suggest Eclipse. You can use it for Java, PHP, C++, HTML, CSS, ...etc.

Good luck.

One of the best things about linux is the community... http://www.linuxquestions.org/ is all I've needed to solve many problems. My favorite distribution is Gentoo. It just takes a lot of time and effort put into it to get it running, and then it's smooth sailing. That's not to say that it's difficult--it just takes time, at first. I recommend trying a bunch of distributions (LiveCDs come in handy here) and just choosing one that you like.

Yes, it's unfortunate that many of the more common distros are shipping Gnome as the default DE now. I think this is due to the perception that Gnome is "simpler" and thus more suitable for the "average" user. Even Kubuntu completely lobotomizes the default KDE install by removing the majority of entries from the K menu, replacing the control center with a dumbed down version, etc.

Despite the number of distros shipping with Gnome as the default DE, polls suggest that KDE is still the most used DE, for now anyways. I suspect we'll see Gnome absorb many users migrating from Windows, but I don't see many KDE users changing over to Gnome.

Yeah they can, when the songs are on the hard drive. Just don't try plugging in your USB flash drive unless you love the command line.

I'm new to the linux world. Just started using it about 4 or 5 months ago. I'm not in the I.T. business. I'm that annoying marketing guy on the phone you guys mention from time to time, but I've been a "closet case" computer geek sense I got my first Apple II. I've known about linux for a long time and I finally had some extra scratch so I decided to pick up an box and experiment with an OS I've been wanting to dive into.

I shopped around for distributions. I used Debian, Ubuntu, and Mandriva. Those all left me wanting more, I guess you could say they just didn't do it for me. I found slackware, read up about and really liked it's history, the community, and the KISS system just made a whole lot of sense. So here I am now a few months later, I have my second computer up and running with slackware 10.2, my sound works, my video works. I can print, I can play mp3s, write documents using the provided software. Hell I even have a Samba server going so I can swap files between my systems. Some might call me crazy for saying this but it's been easy with Slackware!

Between google, http://www.linuxpackages.net/, and the fellas at http://www.linuxquestions.org/ any obstactle I've bumped into has been easily over come. I really don't see why Slackware is classified as a hardcore linux or not for beginners. With all the excellent documentation it has been easy for me to do the things I want to do. Pretty much everything I do with my windows system I can do on my slackware system. Infact these days I use it more often because I rarely have to shut it down!

I'll be ordering up slackware 11 asap. It's definitely an OS that I will use for a long time. Thanks Pat V, for creating and maintaining an excellent OS even a non techie noob can use productively :-).

I read that as you are saying the lack of Linux adoption is because there is no GUI? And hardware vendors don't write drivers for their products on this platform because there is no GUI?

No, read it once more. I say there is lack of Linux adoption (insignificant market share) because the applications available on Linux have no useful GUI (mind useful) and hardware vendors don't provide drivers or even information because there's no significant market share. This can easily proved right by reading the OSDL survey (http://www.osdl.org/dtl/DTL_Survey_Report_Nov2005 .pdf) or looking into this LinuxQuestions thread (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthrea d.php?t=105955) or acknowledge that 60% of the Linux users still use Windows applications (http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/survey/survey .cgi?view=archive&id=0821200617613).

O. Wyss

I always understood the underlying meaning, but I never caught the origin until now: ^H Explained.

I call BS...

Honestly, I've had nothing but trouble with MS keyboards/mice.

They cannot be used in my office, since they don't last very long. We don't have similar problems with Kensington, or Logitech (by far the most reliable brand).

MS Wireless Keyboard/Mouse sets tend to last no more than 1-2 years before either the keyboard or mouse fails, which basically requires you to replace the set. I've never had a Logitech wireless set go bad, with the partial exception of one old, old wirless logitech (mechanical) mouse I have that tends to squeak a little bit when you right click.

As for use with any operating system, get real. Their hardware is the only type out there that doesn't "just work". It requires funky drivers that ignore certain outputs, and generally just sucks. One's listed here. I've never experienced a problem like that with a Logitech.

It's a couple extra dollars, but the Logitech stuff works better (vastly better), and lasts. Microsoft's crap breaks down (mechanically), or remains funky without software fixes. If you like, I'll send you a pile of broken, newish MS keyboards/mice.

To the contrary, the 'freedom to tinker' has been one of the driving principles behind the GPL from day one.

you have that freedom now.

You can't define for me what MY hardware can do, even if it was once yours. I paid for it, it's mine now, what it can do is limited only by it's actual capabilities, and my ingenuity, NOT your idea as to what it was 'intended' to do.

You see, when you buy hardware you are buying hardware. When you buy appliances like the tivo, you are buying an appliance that a manufacturer made for a specific reason to do a specific funtion. Reguardless of them using the GPL with software or not, you still purchased hardware that had limits. It is in no way the GPL's position curently to force manufacturers to sell hardware other then what they intended to sell for the purposes they are selling it for. I don't understand the idea of buying a caculator and beeing pissed because you cannot use it as a word proccesr even though the PI solving algorith is GPLed. This is like buying a car, Installing a different carburator and then being pissed because it won't pass an emisions test now and you cannot license it or drive it on the road. You own the hardeware and have the right to do anything you want with it, but the manufactuer has no obligation to support your changing it or make it easy for you to do so. They have no obligation other then ensuring that it performs as they exected it and warrented the sale for. If this means they make it dificult for you to change then so be it.

You can still change things, use it differently then it was intended for and a host of other things but GPLed code or not, Nothing in the Current GPL forces them to help you, make it easy for you or even allow you to operate it in any way other then they intended it to be sold as.

What manufacturer, specifically? Nvidia claims that writing drivers is just too complex for anyone outside their team. Utter absurd BS, but nowhere near the level of what you are implying.

It has been said if they released the entire driver, Details of the hardware interfaces for graphics chips are the "family jewels...and expose how the chip itself works," he said. "Nvidia doesn't want ATI to know that, and vice versa." as quoted from John Peddie in an interview. Or more percisley, nvidia made the claim too much licensed ip is in thier products to opensource them entirley. Numerous other venders have made simular claims too.

Bottom line, usage of GPL software to cut business cost is intended, and has always been intended, to be conditional on those business respecting their customers basic liberty. If they aren't willing to do that, they should be writing their own software, or licensing proprietary offerings. No one can take those options away from them, nor is anyone trying to. But they shouldn't be able to have their cake and eat it too.

No, no, no, that isn't the bottom line. Hardware manufactuers aren't using opensource code to cut business costs. They are doing it so the drivers and devices can be included into different operating systems, or to let people play around with the hardware or experience the full capabilities of it. Nvidia's driver model will be pretty mutch kissed goodbuy on any preinstalled computers/distros. It is as if we are saying to all the newbies and people trying to make linux competitive and user friendly, "you cannot have your cake and eat it too, You should be using your own software".

This is a big ball of confusions, let me try to unravel it a little for you.

You can do what you want if you write your own code. It won't be illegal to do what you're describing, it might be problematic to do what you're describing and also use GPL v3 code.

It will also be problematic if i write my own code, and

You'd be surprised how well LinuxQuestions.org does answer questions... at least the ones I've posted. As a Linux user of 8 years, I like to think my questions are reasonably difficult.

http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/Linux_software _equivalent_to_Windows_software should help nicely.

for gui ftp clients: Kasablanca, GFTP, KBear, FireFTP Konqueror

for IfranView: XnView, GQView

for a Mavis-esque typing program: KTouch and GNU Typist

I like google groups better than the google linux search, but I don't think either are the best sites. IMHO any site that purports to have all answers to all linux questions isn't going to do very well with any semi-complex question. They just can't have the know-how.

IRC channels are good, but it is kind of like IM - if the devs aren't on you're out of luck.

I think it really depends on the distro. For Ubuntu, there is Ubuntu forums for SuSE there are SuSE forums. The same goes for Gentoo, Mepis, Debian, Redhat, Fedora or any other distro out there. The larger projects also have their own forums.

Getting as specific a location as you can will help (e.g. the google group on Debian is better than the one on Linux users for Debian problems). That is why IRC is great when you have a reasonably well-researched and specific question. Before you ask a dev (who may be working on fixing the problem, or may have already fixed it, or may be plagued by the same question over and over again) please read how to ask a question properly. That way you are maximizing the chance that you get the right answer, people won't get mad at you, and you won't be wasting anyone else's time.

I know Linux Questions just started out with an job market place.
BTW: I haven't used it myself.

For everyone who has problems with Linux, whether your using/installing SuSE, FC4, Ubuntu, Slackware, etc. Go to http://www.linuxquestions.org/. You won't get RTFM responses. No I'm not affliated with the web site and have no vested interest.

Slashdot, while being a great forum, is not the place to get Linux help,

Enjoy,

I have no idea what *nix-based operating systems you use at work, and, thusly, I have no idea which sorts of *nix you'd really like to learn; please do keep that in mind.

Pick a Linux distribution that doesn't hold your hand with graphical installers and graphical system administration tools, and preferably one without a crutch like apt-get or rpm. I would recommend Slackware, because it's one of the best distributions for learning how to run a Linux system. Google is your friend, alongside forums like Linux Questions. You might give a basic book like O'Rielly's Running Linux a look, as well, but the actual learning is going to come from your experience.

Next, pick a BSD distribution and do the same thing. FreeBSD is pretty popular, but you might also want to try OpenBSD.

Going to conferences and symposia probably wont teach you very much, unless they're intensive introduction to Linux/BSD/*nix flavour events.

1. Get this book: Invaluable. Read it, from start to finish. It's that good.
2. Get this other book: also very good.
3. Check out your local Linux/BSD/UNIX user group: google is your friend for this. For instance, NYCBUG is very good if you live in New York City. Also Linux International has got a lot of conference-related announcements.
4. Pick a Linux distribution, any Linux distribution really, and try to find forums and User's group in your area. Then, do the same for another distro. And another. Lather, rinse, repeat.
5. For complete newbies, Linux Questions and The Linux Documentation Project are invaluable places to start. For more advanced advice, check out Unix Guru universe, or the O'Reilly web site.
6. Finally, do check the local university and/or community college to see if they offer some sort of training
   

Pioneer DVR-111D

Great IDE Dual-Layer burner, Mac compatible (works with Toast out-of-the-box, I used Patchburn to make it "Apple Supported/Shipped"), apparently Linux compatible, and dirt cheap ($35.99).

Kicks ass, no coasters, does just about every format. 'nuff said.

This forum says that Broadcom 4318s works natively with Ubuntu Dapper.

If you have problems, the Broadcom 4318 based wireless card should also work with a program called ndiswrapper. Build the latest version (for some reason it needs gcc 3.4, not 4.0) and use the Windows drivers that go with the card.

Wow. What did you do? It took me all of two minutes the first time I used ndiswrapper. Seriously, it was two or three lines of commands that I copied and pasted, and I was done. Did you get instructions for the wrong distro or something?

Bully for you. I think you'll find some people do hit the odd snag when using NDIS Wrapper. Those are just the top three hits when I serached btw. I have no doubt that if I were to read all those threads throught to their conclusions, then yes the people involved got it working. But please accept that any hardware install requiring thirty four posts to a forum thread to get working is, in fact, a bitch.

Ah, so why didn't you just say that you have problems unmounting. Also, that's not a Linux problem, that's a bug in your distro or your music player

Well, I wasn't being specific about things in my original post, since I was just illustrating a point. I probably should have given a little more detail. for the record, I can say for sure it's not the music player, since it has the same problem whether the player is running or not, and I turned off auto play just to check. I expect you're right and it is peculiar to this distro (FC5), but really, I don't draw much distinction. I mean, if you're DVD drive didn;t work in XP Home, I doubt you'd be all too happy if MS told you "thats just a fault with the home distro, try pro instead". Besides, if someone tells me linux has superb hardware support, I don't want to hear ten minutes later "except that distro".

I researched it, and as I understand is at some point DVD-R technology changed and most most manufacturers made firmware upgrades to follow this change. The manufacturer of my burner however, did not. So my burner would no longer work with any new DVD-Rs

Now thats a new one on me. I've never heard of this before, might google it later (nothing to do at work atm). Just one thing I'm curious about though. If the problem is with the firmware, why would changing OS make any difference? I mean it's the same firmware.

Yes, I have generally found Linuxs OOTB hardware suppor to tbe superb, easily the best of any modern OS. I have also found several bits of kit down the years which have either been totally unsurported, or required hours of tweaking and arcane hacks to get working. ATM I have four bits of hardware that do not work properly. That's amazingly good, considering the lack of help from vendors. My tally of unsurported hardware in windows is nil.

Please do understand that I am NOT bashing Linux. It's my desktop OS of choice. I just think that there are places where it still hasn't caught up with Windows, and hardware support is the single largest one, mainly due to the attitudes of vendors.

Wow. What did you do? It took me all of two minutes the first time I used ndiswrapper. Seriously, it was two or three lines of commands that I copied and pasted, and I was done. Did you get instructions for the wrong distro or something?

Bully for you. I think you'll find some people do hit the odd snag when using NDIS Wrapper. Those are just the top three hits when I serached btw. I have no doubt that if I were to read all those threads throught to their conclusions, then yes the people involved got it working. But please accept that any hardware install requiring thirty four posts to a forum thread to get working is, in fact, a bitch.

Ah, so why didn't you just say that you have problems unmounting. Also, that's not a Linux problem, that's a bug in your distro or your music player

Well, I wasn't being specific about things in my original post, since I was just illustrating a point. I probably should have given a little more detail. for the record, I can say for sure it's not the music player, since it has the same problem whether the player is running or not, and I turned off auto play just to check. I expect you're right and it is peculiar to this distro (FC5), but really, I don't draw much distinction. I mean, if you're DVD drive didn;t work in XP Home, I doubt you'd be all too happy if MS told you "thats just a fault with the home distro, try pro instead". Besides, if someone tells me linux has superb hardware support, I don't want to hear ten minutes later "except that distro".

I researched it, and as I understand is at some point DVD-R technology changed and most most manufacturers made firmware upgrades to follow this change. The manufacturer of my burner however, did not. So my burner would no longer work with any new DVD-Rs

Now thats a new one on me. I've never heard of this before, might google it later (nothing to do at work atm). Just one thing I'm curious about though. If the problem is with the firmware, why would changing OS make any difference? I mean it's the same firmware.

Yes, I have generally found Linuxs OOTB hardware suppor to tbe superb, easily the best of any modern OS. I have also found several bits of kit down the years which have either been totally unsurported, or required hours of tweaking and arcane hacks to get working. ATM I have four bits of hardware that do not work properly. That's amazingly good, considering the lack of help from vendors. My tally of unsurported hardware in windows is nil.

Please do understand that I am NOT bashing Linux. It's my desktop OS of choice. I just think that there are places where it still hasn't caught up with Windows, and hardware support is the single largest one, mainly due to the attitudes of vendors.

Wow. What did you do? It took me all of two minutes the first time I used ndiswrapper. Seriously, it was two or three lines of commands that I copied and pasted, and I was done. Did you get instructions for the wrong distro or something?

Bully for you. I think you'll find some people do hit the odd snag when using NDIS Wrapper. Those are just the top three hits when I serached btw. I have no doubt that if I were to read all those threads throught to their conclusions, then yes the people involved got it working. But please accept that any hardware install requiring thirty four posts to a forum thread to get working is, in fact, a bitch.

Ah, so why didn't you just say that you have problems unmounting. Also, that's not a Linux problem, that's a bug in your distro or your music player

Well, I wasn't being specific about things in my original post, since I was just illustrating a point. I probably should have given a little more detail. for the record, I can say for sure it's not the music player, since it has the same problem whether the player is running or not, and I turned off auto play just to check. I expect you're right and it is peculiar to this distro (FC5), but really, I don't draw much distinction. I mean, if you're DVD drive didn;t work in XP Home, I doubt you'd be all too happy if MS told you "thats just a fault with the home distro, try pro instead". Besides, if someone tells me linux has superb hardware support, I don't want to hear ten minutes later "except that distro".

I researched it, and as I understand is at some point DVD-R technology changed and most most manufacturers made firmware upgrades to follow this change. The manufacturer of my burner however, did not. So my burner would no longer work with any new DVD-Rs

Now thats a new one on me. I've never heard of this before, might google it later (nothing to do at work atm). Just one thing I'm curious about though. If the problem is with the firmware, why would changing OS make any difference? I mean it's the same firmware.

Yes, I have generally found Linuxs OOTB hardware suppor to tbe superb, easily the best of any modern OS. I have also found several bits of kit down the years which have either been totally unsurported, or required hours of tweaking and arcane hacks to get working. ATM I have four bits of hardware that do not work properly. That's amazingly good, considering the lack of help from vendors. My tally of unsurported hardware in windows is nil.

Please do understand that I am NOT bashing Linux. It's my desktop OS of choice. I just think that there are places where it still hasn't caught up with Windows, and hardware support is the single largest one, mainly due to the attitudes of vendors.

Next time, take a step back from your leetness and look at it as someone who wants a alternative to Windows but doesn't have a CIS degree.

I wasn't being leet. If you understand how a computer works then installing Linux isn't any harder than installing Windows. In both cases you need to know what components you have. I'm pretty sure the mom and pop computer stores around you will sell you a white box computer with Linux installed.

Hmmm....you have been working on Linux for 16 years huh? Maybe you have not had a problem BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN WORKING ON IT FOR 16 years!
I also don't have any problems with Windows or OS/2 or Apple or Atari or Amigas. I enjoy personal computers. I've been enjoying them since 1982. I make my living on knowing how all computers work.

No RPM hell? You must either not use it, or work arou d it constantly. If you try todo the best thing (stay within your package mannager be it apt or yum or whatever), EVEN THEN there's been RPM hell. I had to actually remove packages and re-install them with yum because the dependencies were all screwed up. RPM hell happens.

With SuSE 9, they did an apt-get for rpm. Try synaptic sometime. I'm sure RedHat has a solution as well. What would be your solution to dependencies? Programs under Windows still have the same problem (DLL HELL). Microsoft provides a half-ass solution by backing up all the libraries/DLLs in a recovery folder.

Finally, why is there so many dependencies on some things?? I have had some packages with dependencies that don't make a lick of sense.

I dunno, but /. is not the forum for it. Ask over at linux questions.org http://www.linuxquestions.org/

Enjoy,

You could try the LinuxQuestions.org Awards - I think it's the closest thing to a proper annual survey of the free desktop users' community there is. OK, it's self-selecting and the users who vote in the polls obviously care a bit more about their desktop than most, or else they wouldn't be at the site voting. Still, it's the best there is so far.

And the result for the 2005 poll (taken late 2005/early 2006)? KDE: 64.86%, Gnome: 25.67%.

It's been this way for several years, and indeed, KDE has been consistently increasing its lead each year. Note that the voters aren't rabidly pro-KDE: Gnome-related apps do quite well in the individual app categories, e.g. Gaim gets more than double the vote of the second-placed Kopete in the messaging app category.

Just to put forward my own anecdote, where I work 4 out of 4 Linux/BSD desktops (as yet it's only the sysadmins who have migrated, the developers are still resolutely sticking with XP and it'll be years before we're ready to migrate the non-technical users) use KDE, including one used by a guy who used to post pro-Gnome trolls on Slashdot... he switched shortly after KDE 3.4 was released.

I'd like to give Linux a spin so I downloaded the Ubuntu (breezy) dvd install. Installed on my external firewire drive but 75% of the way through it told me it couldn't install the boot loader. Did some googling and it seems you have to jump through some hoops to get it to work right.

If all you want to do is give Linux a spin then download and try one of the Live CDs. http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php

If you make a decision to install, then ask your firewire question here: http://www.linuxquestions.org/

Enjoy,