Baslinux mailing list

[James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>]

Hi Walter:

Linux is a bit of a tough row to hoe.  Newer Linux versions--ones that 
require newer, higher-powered hardware--tend to make things simpler and be 
more like Windows.  But the Linux talked about on this list (BasicLinux or 
BL) is for older hardware, and you'll have to get into some technical 
detail to set it up and use it.  But BL is about as simple as older 
versions of Linux can get, and BL seems to have a group of participants 
that do well at helping newbies learn.  If you are trying to use older 
hardware (say, Pentium 2 and older), BL might be a good choice for you. 
You'll have to decide for yourself whether you're up to the learning 
challenge it presents.

Apple hardware is not set up to run Linux or any other operating system 
but the Mac OS.  Macs use much different hardware, including a different 
CPU.  There are specialized Linuxes that run on Mac hardware, but it would 
probably be even more of a challenge installing and running Linux on a Mac 
than learning to install and run BL on PC older hardware.  If your Mac 
laptop is new enough (I have no idea when the Powerbook 180 came out), you 
might look at one of the Linux distributions made for Macs.  Yellowdog 
Linux is one I know of.  But you won't be able to get any help with that 
here.  No one here (that I know of, anyway) is trying to run Linux on Mac 
hardware, and certainly BL is not meant to run on Macs.

For question about running Linux on Macs, you'll have to find some group 
dedicated to that.  Or maybe Yellowdog has some online forum where you 
could post questions.  For general Linux questions, you could try 
the linux-newbie list.

> The problem with the laptop sounds like the problem I had with the 
> desktop, slower and slower all around. How is Linux with the ills of the 
> internet, spyware viruses, ect. ?

There is no spyware available for Linux, and no viruses exist "in the 
wild" either (people have made proof-of-concept viruses, but they exist 
only in the labs where they were created).  There are some worms that have 
affected some unpatched Linux systems.  But generally, at least for now, 
all those kinds of security headaches one has with Windows do not exist 
for Linux.  I've never had a virus or gotten any spyware in the 4 or 5 
years I've been using Linux.  The main problems people have with Linux 
usually have to do with difficulties in understanding how the system works 
and how to do things with it.  It's just different than Windows.

If you decide to try out BL, people here can help you with installing and 
running it.  But I can assure you it won't install and run on your 
Powerbook.

James

On Sun, 18 Dec 2005, Walter  Webber wrote:

> I am Walter or  Skipwebb7 .  For some time I have known about Linux but have 
> inherited computers that have had Windows already installed. I always wanted 
> to put together a computer. Having some electronic experience I thought I 
> could do it. I had a little help along the way and completed the job about a 
> year ago. Then came the question of what OS should I install? My stepson 
> strongly recommended WindowsXPprofessional. Which I did. Every thing was fine 
> at first then went down hill. Now I want to learn Linux.
>
> Last summer I picked up an apple laptop, PowerBook 180. I have tried all the 
> tricks I know to get into the BIOS but nothing works. The delete key, 
> ctrl+alt+s, there is no alt key on this machine and the stuck key does not 
> bring up the BIOS. Any suggestions? What I would like to do is to remove the 
> OS and install BL on the hard drive. How do I format the hard drive to take 
> out the MacOS?
>
> I went to ibiblio>distribution>basic Linux. The window shows two possible 
> downloads. I wanted to create the two floppy disks. It states that I will need two 
> floppies. I start the download an a little over 50% a box comes up that there is 
> not enough space on the floppy. I formatted the floppy and the summery states that 
> it has 1.457+ MB. What am I doing wrong?
>
> Reading some of the posts on the mailing lists makes me think there may be 
> another place to post my questions? I may be in over my head in the Linux 
> Lake. I think it is time to get my feet wet and start learning.