Change to Linux, and now back to Windows

Adz · 5 Aug 2006 at 16:48

Your distro will have already installed SSH for you even under a minimal install. Assuming you already have network connectivity, download Putty onto your windows machine, open it (no installation required) and tap in the IP of your Linux server. Et voila, Linux command line on your Windows desktop. Now ditch the monitor and uninstall VNC

.

The majority of applications for which Linux is actually useful are much easier to achieve without a graphical interface. Just get yourself hooked up and experiment if you really want to learn.

Kol · 5 Aug 2006 at 16:51

Adz said:
Your distro will have already installed SSH for you even under a minimal install. Assuming you already have network connectivity, download Putty onto your windows machine, open it (no installation required) and tap in the IP of your Linux server. Et voila, Linux command line on your Windows desktop. Now ditch the monitor and uninstall VNC .

The majority of applications for which Linux is actually useful are much easier to achieve without a graphical interface. Just get yourself hooked up and experiment if you really want to learn.

Cool, will give it a shot. So long as it's simple to maintain a mail server, I'll be happy... :eek:

Command line... shocker.

Spyhop · 5 Aug 2006 at 16:52

Things like the way fonts are rendered are enough to put me off. It's very hard to get close to the clear and straight niceness of Windows (with all of the cleartype/aa crap turned off)

Adz · 5 Aug 2006 at 17:00

wush said:
Things like the way fonts are rendered are enough to put me off. It's very hard to get close to the clear and straight niceness of Windows (with all of the cleartype/aa crap turned off)

Depends what you're running and what fonts you're using. Install Fedora Core 5 and it'll look just as pretty as Windows (*with* cleartype) straight out of the box

.

Psyk · 5 Aug 2006 at 17:16

Adz said:
Install Openoffice under Fedora/CentOS/any other distro which uses yum

"yum install openoffice"

(hit 'y' for dependencies)

Install Office 2003 under Windows,

Insert CD
Click lots of times
Find license number on packaging
Enter license number
Correct typos in license number entry
Correct more typos in license number entry
Wait 5 hours for it to install
Return package to shop to replace scratched CD
Start again

Well if only it was as simple as typing yum whatever in all cases. I used CentOS for a bit and I found it really hard to get everything to recognise the net connection. Anyway who says you have to use MS Office on Windows? Just download openoffice, double click , click next a few times, done. Linux might sound nice and simple to you but to most people it isn't.

Adz · 5 Aug 2006 at 17:21

Psyk said:
Well if only it was as simple as typing yum whatever in all cases. I used CentOS for a bit and I found it really hard to get everything to recognise the net connection. Anyway who says you have to use MS Office on Windows? Just download openoffice, double click , click next a few times, done. Linux might sound nice and simple to you but to most people it isn't.

Fair enough. I know it's not simple if you're used to Windows, please don't take my posts too seriously.

As for getting it to recognise your internet connection, it depends what you're running. USB modems can be a little flaky but if you've got a broadband router running DHCP and your network card is supported by the distro provided kernel then it should be literally 'plug and play' even for a network novice.

Psyk · 5 Aug 2006 at 17:36

Adz said:
Fair enough. I know it's not simple if you're used to Windows, please don't take my posts too seriously.

As for getting it to recognise your internet connection, it depends what you're running. USB modems can be a little flaky but if you've got a broadband router running DHCP and your network card is supported by the distro provided kernel then it should be literally 'plug and play' even for a network novice.

It was to do with proxies. Had to use one at uni. I think the main problem with linux is it isn't homogenous enough. It isn't standardised enough. When you know how to do something in one program in windows, it'll most likely be the same in something else. But in Linux something as simple as copy and paste is different by default in different programs.

Scythe · 5 Aug 2006 at 17:43

Mikol said:
Only issue I've had with linux (ubuntu/suse this week) have been graphics drivers. It appears only install a basic driver for my server (has an old riva TNT) so I tried following the instructions to install the actual nvidia drivers. Each time, it's screwed up upon reboot and I have no idea how to get back to the desktop - even following the removal advice. Which results in a full reinstall which for some reason takes aaaaaaaaaaaaaaages.

I do love linux though, just because it's fun to play with.

Use automatix to install the drivers or before you install the drivers, when in a working state copy & paste this into terminal:

Code:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.back

then

Code:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx

or if you have a old card:

Code:

sudo apt-get install nvidia-glx-legacy nvidia-xconfig nvidia-settings

then enable the driver in xorg

Code:

sudo nvidia-xconfig

Now do this:

Code:

sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/NVIDIA-Settings.desktop

and insert this into the new file

Code:

[Desktop Entry] 
Name=NVIDIA Settings 
Comment=NVIDIA X Server Settings 
Exec=nvidia-settings 
Icon= StartupNotify=true 
Terminal=false 
Type=Application 
Categories=Application;System;

Now save the edited file and log out.
Press CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE to restart Xorg. If X server fails to start, do this

Code:

sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup /etc/X11/xorg.conf

to restore it

Kol · 5 Aug 2006 at 17:48

Scythe said:
snip

See, the weird thing is, I used the yasp or whatever to install it, via the nvidia ftp... I tried uninstalling but it didn't work. I'll try it again in ten mins. Cheers for the advice