Re: Linux Answers.......

[Al Hudson <nospam [at] york.ac.uk>]

On Sat, 30 Oct 1999, Ross wrote:

> OK,
> i give up.

I have to say, I've never tried to upgrade libc myself either. Too much
work ;)))) Too dangerous, too much chance I would arse it up completely!
Linux doesn't *have* to be difficult ;)

> i bought LINUX ANSWERS today - rh6.0 (supplied with the mag) with KDE
> desktop was then installed and running in under 30mins. STAR OFFICE is
> now also in place and i have the system i was looking for.

Excellent. At the end of the day, that's all you can ask for. You have
a system that works, you've got it going with no problems.

> i have to say thanks for the advice i was given by the group, it was
> very helpful, and sufficiently accurate but not for someone who hasn't
> seen a proper operating system like LINUX before. (there's no substitute
> for experience.!)

Experience is key with linux. Coming from other backgrounds, such as Win,
Mac, doesn't help you a lot because everything works pretty much
completely differently. And better, IMHO, but I think that's an
open-source thing rather than a UN*X thing - I've just spent an hour
recompiling bash, less, and aterm for SGI IRIX, because the built-in
software is soooo awful and I can't get at the source to change it.

> I'm glad to see you got a mention in the mag and i hope you will
> support it's publication by recommending to anyone interested in LINUX
> or even read it yourselves........

Generally, when stuff is good we recommend it. O'Reilly and Wrox books for
example: they came to our open day, sure, but I wouldn't recommend them if
they weren't good. (BTW: as recommendations go, O'Reilly's Running Linux
(3rd Edition) is a very good bet for learning to use/configure linux, and
I believe Wrox have a good one in develpoment too, the name eludes me for
the moment. And no, they don't pay me to recommend books!!)

> perhaps, now, i may never need to use another Microsoft product again.
> (not that i have anything against Bill Gates you understand..!) just so
> long as i can get my dam modem to work....!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's not a Winmodem is it?? If it's a standard modem, you should have no
problems, if it's a Winmodem you may as well give up now! How can you tell
the difference? Well, if you bought it, and it was less than about 40UKP
for a 56k6, it's a Winmodem. Similarly, if it's internal and has one big
chip that doesn't say 'Rockwell' or 'Hayes' or similar on it, it's a
winmodem. Or if the letters 'DSP' are mentioned ANYWHERE.

Linux just doesn't support them, I'm afraid. Although I remember reading
recently that you could use them as soundcards under linux. . .

If you do have any problems configuring the modem, don't hesitate to ask!

Cheers,

Alex.

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