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  • From: James Miller <jamtat AT mailsnare.net>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] new comer
  • Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 09:09:12 -0600 (CST)

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.










  • [BL] new comer, Walter Webber, 12/18/2005
    • Re: [BL] new comer, James Miller, 12/19/2005

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