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switch distros???

by Bill Mills-Curran

I have an opportunity to get my wife to consider switching from Windows to linux, but I don't think Fedora is the right distro for her. I'm wondering about Linspire/Freespire (Freespire is to Linspire as Fedora is to RedHat?) or Ubuntu. (I've been using Redhat & Fedora since '98.) I've also been frustrated at some of the compatibility problems (like wireless) with Fedora, so I'm considering switching, too. On the other hand, I like being able to get some of the newest apps, like the newest gnucash, on Fedora. Eric Raymond's recent piece on Slashdot was pretty convincing, too. He argued that it is good for the linux open/free community to get linux in as many places as possible, even if it means mixing the distros with commercial drivers, because linux needs more market share in order to succeed against windows, particularly as 64-bit comes on the scene. The "family license" of Linspire seems pretty attractive, too. A big win would be to get my 17 yr old son off windows. He's forever infecting the windows box with junk from his web surfing. My most-used apps: Open office Tetex/latex ps utils gnucash mutt VPN (compatible with my work, which uses Cisco) wine perl firefox USB devices: scanner, drive, camera code development utils multimedia (not so good on Fedora) gpg My wife would like to use Publisher (windows). She might be able to use Scribus (I haven't used it successfully). Her favorites: AOL (I can't break her loose of this) MS office apps Suggestions? Thanks, Bill

Feb. 17, 2007

Re: [Wlug] linux eye candy / video card recommendation sought

by Chuck Anderson

On Wed, Feb 14, 2007 at 09:58:27AM -0800, Andrew Perry wrote: > My question: In case the Radeon 7500 isn't up to the > task, or for future expansion, are there any > particular low-cost video cards that anyone would > recommend which are very well supported under linux ? > By "very well supported", I mean that it should work > "out of the box" with all of the major distros, at > least if this is possible. For 3D acceleration out-of-the-box (meaning supported by Open Source drivers), you only really have two choices: Intel graphics, or ATI. I believe NVidia support is being worked on, though (nouveau drivers). Unfortunately Intel graphics are only built into their chipsets, so you only find them on motherboard integrated video cards and laptops. I've been using ATI cards in recent years, and have been very happy with the progression of OSS support of their 3D acceleration. My laptop's ATI FireGL (radeon) video "Just Works(TM)" with Compiz, the 3D desktop eye-candy that ships in Fedora Core 6.

Feb. 15, 2007

Re: [Wlug] linux eye candy / video card recommendation sought

by Clint Moyer

I could not get Beryl to work with my Radeon 8500. I think if you look through the online documentation, the minimum recommended ATI card is a Radeon 9200. I ended up buying a used Nvidia GF6600 and it works very well. Enough so that I bought a 2nd one for another box. You can find a brand new GF6200 256M for about $60 online. I should think you can find one used for around $40 or less. These are all 3 or 4 generations old, so hardcore Windows gamers have them to unload. As far as "out of the box" goes, you're not going to find it. A default Linux installation will use an open source driver, but you'll need the closed source drivers from either ATI or Nvidia to make Beryl functional. The ATI driver is a PITA. Nvidia does a better job. That said, you can google detailed instructions to install either on your distro of choice. Clint Andrew Perry wrote: > I heard on the Linux Action Show podcast about the > Beryl project, which seems to offer linux users > both eye candy and improved functionality through > a 3D user interface. > > They say that Beryl will run acceptably with 256 MB > and an ATI Radeon 7500, Geforce 3, or equivalent or > better video card (seems like these are all a few > years old, which is great for my budget.)Since my linux machine has 512 MB RAM but only > on-board video, I found a used $20 Radeon 7500 on ebay > and will try Beryl out. [Side note: I bought an > "afordable performance pc" for linux from madtux.com > for about $200, and am generally satisified but for > the power supply which sounds like a snowblower. Very > minimalist interior. Space for 6 HDD's, for example.] > > My question: In case the Radeon 7500 isn't up to the > task, or for future expansion, are there any > particular low-cost video cards that anyone would > recommend which are very well supported under linux ? > By "very well supported", I mean that it should work > "out of the box" with all of the major distros, at > least if this is possible. > > I'm sure that avid gamers would want only the best in > video cards, but there are probably a lot of folks > like myself who would like a pretty good video card > for linux with no hassles. > > Thanks in advance. > > -Dr. Andrew B. Perry > Dept. of Mathematics, Springfield College > Schoo Hall Room 123 > 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109 > Work Phone (413)748-3193 > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > > >

Feb. 15, 2007

Re: [Wlug] linux eye candy / video card recommendation sought

by John Stoffel

Andrew> Since my linux machine has 512 MB RAM but only on-board video, Andrew> I found a used $20 Radeon 7500 on ebay and will try Beryl Andrew> out. [Side note: I bought an "afordable performance pc" for Andrew> linux from madtux.com for about $200, and am generally Andrew> satisified but for the power supply which sounds like a Andrew> snowblower. Very minimalist interior. Space for 6 HDD's, for Andrew> example.] This is a neat and interesting site, though I think Dell's clearance store to also be full of good deals as well. I wonder why you didn't get more RAM on that box as well, since 1Gb would make a big improvement here I'm sure. But the Knoppix PC is tempting for my kid at home, though I think I can find a used Dell/Random PC which will do fine. He just wants to find and print pictures of whales at this point. *grin* Andrew> My question: In case the Radeon 7500 isn't up to the task, or Andrew> for future expansion, are there any particular low-cost video Andrew> cards that anyone would recommend which are very well Andrew> supported under linux ? By "very well supported", I mean that Andrew> it should work "out of the box" with all of the major distros, Andrew> at least if this is possible. I still like my Matrox G450, it's got great 2-d performance, and a nice crisp display. I'm right now at work using a Dell P4 box with i865 graphics on a Samsuny SyncMaster 204B LCD and it's just fine too. I could care less about 3-d at this point. The bigger issue I have is that dual PIII Xeon 550mhz CPUs on my home machine just don't cut it as well for photo editing and such. Poor me. :] John

Feb. 14, 2007

linux eye candy / video card recommendation sought

by Andrew Perry

I heard on the Linux Action Show podcast about the Beryl project, which seems to offer linux users both eye candy and improved functionality through a 3D user interface. They say that Beryl will run acceptably with 256 MB and an ATI Radeon 7500, Geforce 3, or equivalent or better video card (seems like these are all a few years old, which is great for my budget.) Since my linux machine has 512 MB RAM but only on-board video, I found a used $20 Radeon 7500 on ebay and will try Beryl out. [Side note: I bought an "afordable performance pc" for linux from madtux.com for about $200, and am generally satisified but for the power supply which sounds like a snowblower. Very minimalist interior. Space for 6 HDD's, for example.] My question: In case the Radeon 7500 isn't up to the task, or for future expansion, are there any particular low-cost video cards that anyone would recommend which are very well supported under linux ? By "very well supported", I mean that it should work "out of the box" with all of the major distros, at least if this is possible. I'm sure that avid gamers would want only the best in video cards, but there are probably a lot of folks like myself who would like a pretty good video card for linux with no hassles. Thanks in advance. -Dr. Andrew B. Perry Dept. of Mathematics, Springfield College Schoo Hall Room 123 263 Alden St., Springfield MA 01109 Work Phone (413)748-3193

Feb. 14, 2007

Linux kernel expert needed

by John Spencer

Our client in northern MA is looking for a Linux kernel expert for a 6+ mth project. Must have experience with Linux kernel 2.4, any experience with 2.6 is a plus. Also any experience with security and MIPS is a plus as well. If you are interested in more details, please contact me via the phone # or email below. Regards, John John Spencer (978) 256-1113 ext 7608 jspencer(a)optimaleng.com OPTIMAL ENGINEERING PARTNERS "Your Optimal partner for full-lifecycle engineering services in embedded and real-time, systems and application development" www.optimalengineering.com <http://www.optimalengineering.com/>

Feb. 13, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Public net access

by Clint Moyer

There's Victory Cigar Bar at the end of Shrewsbury St. Comfy couches, but no pool tables. Of course, it may not be the ideal environment if you're afraid of lung cancer. ---- Aaron Haviland <orion(a)parsed.net> wrote: ============= I've been living in the Boston area for a few years, but recently moved back to Webster, and I'm searching to fill an addiction I developed in Somerville. I'm curious to know if there are any good cafe's with free wireless in the southern Worcester county area. Bonus points if they have pool tables and comfy couches. The only cafe I know of is Java Hut (I think it's called), but I haven't had a chance to get up there to check it out. Also, as my laptop has a tendancy to not work (I think it's a bad connection in the video component of the mobo), and I'm relatively broke at the moment, are there any places with public terminals available? -- Aaron Haviland _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug

Feb. 13, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Public net access

by Desdinova

On 2/12/07, Aaron Haviland <orion(a)parsed.net> wrote: <SNIP> > I'm curious to know if there are any good cafe's with free wireless in > the southern Worcester county area. Bonus points if they have pool > tables and comfy couches. This is woostah county, we don't take kindly to no comfort. :P > The only cafe I know of is Java Hut (I think it's called), but I haven't > had a chance to get up there to check it out. The hut does have tables, two couches, electrical outlets and fair coffee. However, it's a bit of a "scene" place with musicians and poets. During the day, it's generally dead and quiet; unemployed artists and college students are still in bed! Most evenings, though, are loud, have an event planned, or both. The help sometimes isn't. There's also panera bread on rte 9 in shrewsbury. Interestingly enough, Arby's in auburn has comfy booths, delicious seasoned curlies and free wifi! There's only one or two booths with a plug near them but it's generally quiet and I've stayed until a little before closing a few times with no trouble. > Also, as my laptop has a tendancy to not work (I think it's a bad > connection in the video component of the mobo), and I'm relatively broke > at the moment, are there any places with public terminals available? All the local libraries I've been to, southbridge, oxford, auburn have public terminals available for an hour or two's use per day. I haven't run into any trouble bringing putty in on a floppy or cd. I have been asked what I was doing, but then left alone. > -- > Aaron Haviland Take care, James

Feb. 13, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Public net access

by Richard Klein

Aaron Haviland wrote: > >>> Also, as my laptop has a tendancy to not work (I think it's a bad >>> connection in the video component of the mobo), and I'm relatively broke >>> at the moment, are there any places with public terminals available? >> Many public libraries have terminals available. > > Ah, sorry about my lack of specificity. Public terminals that allow ssh, > and in a somewhat noisy environment (because I honestly can't get *any* > coding done without a certain amount of background noise) The main branch of the Worcester Public Library has wireless and allows ssh (at least if you're using your own laptop). It was fairly quiet while I was there, but was distinctly lacking in coffee. I think the Starbucks at Grove & W. Boylston has wireless access, but Andre's link will probably say if it does. Oh, the library also has electrical outlets on the floor under the tables. -- Rich

Feb. 13, 2007

Re: [Wlug] Public net access

by Aaron Haviland

Andre Lehovich wrote, on Feb 12, 2007 at 23:29 EST: > --- Aaron Haviland <orion(a)parsed.net> wrote: > > I'm curious to know if there are any good cafe's with free wireless in > > the southern Worcester county area. Bonus points if they have pool > > tables and comfy couches. > > A small list of free wifi spots in Worcester: > http://www.worcesteractivist.org/wiki/Free_Wi-Fi_Hotspots Excellent! Thank you. > > Also, as my laptop has a tendancy to not work (I think it's a bad > > connection in the video component of the mobo), and I'm relatively broke > > at the moment, are there any places with public terminals available? > > Many public libraries have terminals available. Ah, sorry about my lack of specificity. Public terminals that allow ssh, and in a somewhat noisy environment (because I honestly can't get *any* coding done without a certain amount of background noise) -- Aaron

Feb. 13, 2007