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Linux distro for older hardware
by Joel Desrochers Aug. 17, 2004

Aug. 17, 2004

I second the vote for Slackware. Text based install and overall performance make it my favorite for older hardware. Unfortunately I prefer 128 MB RAM minimum for console only and around 256MB for X. Memory is cheap though. I am still quite happy with my P300/384MB RAM with Slack. Before Slackware, I toyed with a few minimalist distros (Peanut and Grey Cat Linux but found most of them lacking in either reliability or application packages/support). Two other tips on trying Linux and picking a distributionto try: 1) Don't rule out Knoppix, the popular CD-ROM bootable distro. You can use it on another box (possibly your current Windows 9X or XP) without modifying anything on the hard disk. Also makes a great PC diagnostic tool. http://www.knoppix.com/ 2) Consider reading up on the many distros on one of the many websites that list information. These are my two favorites and I am sure there are many more. http://www.linux.org/dist/index.html http://www.distrowatch.com Joel _________________________________________________________________ Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/

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linux for older computers
by Andrew Perry Aug. 15, 2004

Aug. 15, 2004

Hi everyone. I have some older computers, the newest of the bunch being Celeron-566 MHz-64 MB RAM, the oldest a 486-25 MHz- maybe 16 MB RAM and wonder if anyone could either a) recommend linux distributions for them or b) point me to a site with minimum hardware requirements for linux distributions Primarily my goal is to learn more about linux. I would prefer something sold for a nominal cost on CD's. Cheapbytes.com sells Pink Tie 7.3,Mandrake 8.2, Debian 2.2 and some others for around $1 only, but offer no guidance as to the hardware requirements. Thanks, Andrew ===== -Dr. Andrew B. Perry Assistant Prof. of Mathematics, Springfield College 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109

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Does anyone know of any phones have the ability to sync with linux?
by Arturo Aug. 15, 2004

Aug. 15, 2004

Hi All, I've been searching for a cell phone and I wanted to know if anyone knows of one that has the ability to synchronize with linux. More specifically, I need the ability to synchronize the address book. Synchronization of the calendar as well would be really slick. A dream come true would be if anyone knows of a program that can sync Nokia 6800 or the Motorolla v300 with evolution or kmail? Any thoughts? Arturo

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Question on privoxy
by Andrew Robert Aug. 13, 2004

Aug. 13, 2004

Hi Everyone, I just installed the privoxy proxy server and configured my Opera browser v7.54 to use 127.0.0.1 under Fedora Core2. It works great but the "blocked by" messages are somewhat annoying. Does anyone know a quick way to eliminate seeing these? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated. -- Thank you, Andrew Robert Systems Architect TS&S Infrastructure Support - OpenVMS Massachusetts Financial Services Phone: (617) 954-5882 Pager: (781) 764-7321 Linux user : #201204

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has anyone work with xwindows and svideo out display (tv)
by Sonny Nguyen Aug. 13, 2004

Aug. 13, 2004

just asking...and testing...I have been trying to post stuff and keep getting email bounces. Sonny Nguyen

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fedora core 1 or 2 with lirc remote control program
by Sonny Nguyen Aug. 13, 2004

Aug. 13, 2004

Any anyone done anything with lirc? Sonny Nguyen

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Fedora core 1 or 2 with Lirc remote control program
by Sonny Nguyen Aug. 13, 2004

Aug. 13, 2004

Has anyone work with the lirc program with Fedora core 1 or 2. If you have seen this more than once.Please ignore the previous. Thanks. Sonny Nguyen

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New currency(?)
by Andy Stewart Aug. 12, 2004

Aug. 12, 2004

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 http://www.danamania.com/temp/scodollar.jpg - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFBG+kNHl0iXDssISsRAu5VAJ9ObHEV0IPGDorp6rDn3th0XK/urQCfZAfk ipKrKo7j69a4qUWqfumgmQs= =3T76 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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C gurus
by Chuck Haines Aug. 11, 2004

Aug. 11, 2004

For all you C gurus out there. I'm working on a little program that when an event occurs, it dials out a Verizon Wireless AirCard, does it's thing and then when all events are done, the last event close the card. To close the ppp connection you send it a Ctrl-C, which I'm doing, however it is never working. The code I'm using is as follows: void *sound_alarm ( void * rd_struct ) { RADSPY_STRUCT *ptr_rd_struct; ptr_rd_struct = ( RADSPY_STRUCT * ) rd_struct; /* lock the modem_in_use variable to check to dial modem */ pthread_mutex_lock ( &modem_mutex ); if ( modem_in_use++ == 0 ) { /* we need to dial out the modem */ printf ( "Dialing the modem: %d\n", modem_in_use ); modem_pid = fork(); if ( 0 == modem_pid ) { int ret; /* we are the child so dial out the modem */ ret = execl ( "/usr/sbin/pppd", "pppd", "call", "ac555qnc", NULL ); if ( -1 == ret ) printf ( "Problem dialing modem: %s\n", strerror ( errno ) ); printf ( "Got here.\n" ); exit ( 0 ); } /* hack to wait enough time to let the modem dial */ sleep ( 10 ); } pthread_mutex_unlock ( &modem_mutex ); /* perform the sending of the data */ printf ( "Sounding the alarm: %d.\n", modem_in_use ); sleep ( 1 ); /* code to send away alarms will go here, sleep for now */ /* release the modem in use */ pthread_mutex_lock ( &modem_mutex ); if ( --modem_in_use == 0 ) { /* we need to hangup the modem */ printf ("Hanging up the modem: %d\n", modem_in_use ); kill ( SIGINT, modem_pid ); } pthread_mutex_unlock ( &modem_mutex ); pthread_exit ( (void *) 0 ); } This function is a thread that is spawned by the main loop when an event occurs. This event can occur multiple times, which is why I have the shared variable of how many events are currently occuring (modem_in_use). When I run this program, I'm always getting an error about the modem being locked by pid XXX, so it's never being closed. Anyone have any experience with this kinda thing? Chuck -- Chuck Haines chaines(a)gmail.com ------------------------------------------- Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity WPI Class of 2005 ------------------------------------------- AIM: CyberGrex YIM: CyberGrex_27 ICQ: 3707881 -------------------------------------------

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Multiple platform blues...
by Stephen C. Daukas Aug. 11, 2004

Aug. 11, 2004

I'm sure my experience with platform-dependent apps as an impediment to moving entirely to Linux is not unique. I have spent plenty of time playing with Linux at home, but have always had to deal with platform-specific needs of employers, etc., so I have never been able to completely immerse myself in Linux. I'd still like to use Linux as my primary platform, but I have to deal with having to run quite specific apps in different environments. So, I'm looking to begin a discussion about how to set-up a home environment that is as much Linux-based as is possible while providing for the realities of platform-specific requirements. Of course, this is as much a discussion of applications as it is about platforms. I have 3 systems and 1 laptop at home, all of which are Pentium IIIs, one as fast as 800MHz (imagine that!), that are available for use in my home network. I must be able to run Internet Explorer 6.x (required for several web-enabled apps I must use on a regular basis), Word, and PowerPoint. My wife has a Pentium III laptop that must run XP because of her work, but it would be nice to have her access a linux file server for backup and such. (She also likes Linux games!) Also, I have a couple of laser printers and an ink jet that I would rather hang off of one print server. With an eye toward a home network that must include Microsoft and access to Macs at work, here are some questions to start this discussion off: Q1 - OpenOffice versus MS Office: I will need to be reading/editing/creating Word and Powerpoint files (as most of the world do). I will be getting files to edit, and be creating others from scratch. I teach, so the results are intended for display on an ActiveBoard with the expectation of touching the board (or clicking from the console) to follow a link embedded in a powerpoint slide yielding a movie clip, or web page, or whatever. I'm told I have control over the department's files, but not to the extent of choosing something other than MS, so I'd like to use OpenOffice as my primary environment and then generate MS files for use at the school. I assume OpenOffice can do what PowerPoint can do (within reason), but I can't afford the time to "fix" generated MS Office files to work in a Mac or XP environment. Are the any OpenOffice users out there that can comment on this? Q2 - Heterogeneous access: I want to be able to access any file created in any of the three environments. I'd like to move files between the Macs at work and one or more of my machines at home without using Email (I want to avoid any constraints like size limitations on attachments). I want to be able to pull and push those files to whatever platform is needed for whatever needs to be done with them. I assume VNC is available on the Mac, and that I would probably need to run SAMBA, but what are the options these days? I suppose I could set up a FTP server... I'd also like to drop the static IP because of cost, and have already moved the web site to a commercial provider... Q3 - Email: Of primary concern is moving existing email from the MS environment (laptop) to Linux. I am trying to find a way to export all of my email from Mozilla 1.6 to a file or files that can then be moved to a Linux box and imported/read by a mail reader there, but I can't seem to find a way to do this... There is no export function in Mozilla 1.6 and the mail files are not consistently ASCII (at least from what I've seen). I have even tried to use other mailers' ability to import from their competitors, in the hopes that one of them can do the export, but I have had no luck with any of them knowing about Mozilla. Does anyone know of a way to get email out of Mozilla into an ASCII file-based structure (or something equally vanilla) that can be read by a standard Linux reader? Beyond that specific issue, what would be the best way to handle email? Right now I limit myself to using one platform and POP only from it. This is because I can travel with the laptop and not all the servers I access allow IMAP. I retrieve mail from 7 different accounts and forwarding is not allowed (nor do I want to have to keep track of that). I don't mind having to do this, but I'm wondering about other options... Thanks for your sage advice! Steve

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