Decision time – which Distro?

Which Distro should I use?

Gnoppix is still downloading, the coffee is getting cold and I am still puzzling over the next steps with Laptop 1.

I like the GNOME Desktop, it seems to be cleaner than the KDE one although I have no doubt that either could be configured to be exactly what I would like to see, so that is one stage further forward. I want something with GNOME.

I also like the Software Update feature and I don’t know how many modern distros include this feature in one form or another. I notice that Ubuntu uses .deb packages and derives from the Debian distro, so maybe I should find out more about Debian.

Another thought. Possibly the best choice would be the most popular Linux distribution because that would have the most choice of applications for it, possibly the best support and be well established and less picky as Ubuntu. So, start surfing and do some market research.

It seems that there is not one single answer to this question. Different sites have different opinions as to the relative market leaders. However, there does seem to be some agreement on the top runners. Ubuntu (d’oh!), Debian, Suse and Red Hat.

Debian

A brief look at their website is quite encouraging. Their system is free, unlike SUSE and Red Hat. It also is going to use the .deb installation system that I’ve had a bit of practice with in Ubuntu. Having a look at the download pages, it comes on 21 CDs (yikes!) or 3 DVDs. Time to add downloads to the queue again then – ho-hum.

Red Hat

Red Hat uses the .rpm package manager system and so, I would hope that some sort of automatic install will be available for updates and downloaded packages. You have to buy a subscription in order to download it though. It is hard to figure out without spending some serious time on their site but the price seems to range from between $199 to $2,499! The free version seems to be Fedora – maybe that would be worth a try?

SUSE Linux

Again, it is very hard to find a price for the SUSE system and/or Novell’s services. Some time ago though, I did buy a SUSE Linux box set from a Computer Bookshop so installing that becomes a possibility. The latest version is only 1 DVD to download as well. It looks like it’s only $50 though, so that’s not too bad and it does include Support. Again, SUSE uses the .rpm package manager system. OK, I have just found the 10.2 installation on Amazon for £3.49! As I also have an earlier Suse manual with the version I bought before, that makes Suse the initial choice.

Decision Made

OK, we start with Suse.  Just got to wait for it now…..

 

Time to install Laptop 1

Knoppix Test

This worked well and enabled me to clear off the hard drive.

Having had brilliant success with Ubuntu Desktop on the File Server, this was my first thought. Unfortunately, this was not going to be my day! The installation froze when it was going to switch to a graphical screen. So, beginning to despair, I went back to the Windows Disk, cleaned and formatted the hard drive and tried again. This made no difference. Another option was required.

Xubuntu

Back to the Ubuntu website and I noticed a cut down version of the Ubuntu install specifically made for low-spec machines. Ah-ha I thought, perhaps this will solve the laptop problem. Another download, another iso, another CD and after another very pretty booting screen – the same result. Nothing. Nada. Dead, frozen, mammoth-like laptop.

Alternate Install CD

Once more back to the Ubuntu website. Now you may be wondering at this point why I hadn’t given up and tried another distribution of Linux to fix the problem, after all, Knoppix had told me the laptop would be able to run Linux well. I figured that if I could standardise across the LAN it was going to be a lot easier to maintain. Anyway, the expanded list of download locations on the download page of the Ubuntu site lead me here. Here I could see an Alternate Install CD for machines with 256 Mb or less of RAM. Now that has got to worth a try.

Sadly, I was mistaken. I still don’t have enough knowledge to get Ubuntu in any form working on Laptop 1.

Think again…..

 

Knoppix or Gnoppix

Live CD Linux

I have just found this brilliant iso called Knoppix which is a Linux distribution that boots from a CD! Cool, huh? That means I can test my machine and see whether the hardware is detected, format the hard disks without having to install Windows and generally have a fun time

I have tried it on both Laptops and they boot well. It does, however, use the KDE desktop which is similar but most definitely not te same to the GNOME desktop that Ubuntu uses. I have also found Gnoppix, which does the same thing but uses the GNOME desktop. Currently downloading and will let you know how that works later.

 

A quick note

Something to try. I found this on another blog and it looks like it is definitely worth a try when trying to work the other way round, i.e. mapping network drives on the linux machine. The Places>Network menu opens up a browser like Network Neighbourhood but mapping a share permanently sounds really cool. I’m definitely off for that coffee, but here is the link…

Ranthology

Good stuff.

Let’s try the Ubuntu Desktop

Ubuntu Desktop 7.04

So the next step is to try the other installation disk for Ubuntu.

One download later, I have another iso to cut to disk. Not knowing how to reformat the disks for a clean install under Linux, I re-install Windows XP and boot into the installation CD. I do like the pretty loading screen. Silly I know but the black screen with the Ubuntu logo and the sliding progress bar makes me feel somewhat at home. I’m used to this sort of presentation with Windows and it gives me a degree of confidence that this installation knows what it is doing.

As with the server, the next most complicated decision I have to make during the installation process is how to format the Hard Drives. I don’t understand all of the options it gives me and I know I don’t want Windows to retain a partition on the machine so I opt for the Guided Entire Disc option. It takes about 25 minutes to install all of its packages and ask me to remove the CD prior to re-booting. All seems good so far.

Oh yes! It boots into a clean graphical screen with a login prompt. I enter the username and password that I have chosen and am presented with a very clear and clean desktop. This looks very good. A calm relaxing beige desktop with a taskbar, which I later discover is called a panel, at the bottom of the screen and another at the top. All of the hardware seems to have been detected, even the sound card. A quick browse amongst the buttons and options and I feel as though a have a full function PC at my control again. I’m very impressed.

Back to the article in Micro Mart and it talks about configuring something called Samba. You need Samba so that the Linux operating system knows how to access Windows shares and that is going to be essential if I want to use this machine as a File Server.

Samba Configuration

The instructions here are pretty simple.

1. Go to System>Administration>Network and re-enter the password. I have a wired network so I leave the first tab alone and go to the next one ‘General’. Here I can enter a hostname for the system and I choose ‘Server’ which seems to describe the machine pretty well. I notice that it has successfullyassigned an IP to the machine using DHCP supplied by my router, so all still looks good. Click Close and come out of this program.

2. Go to System>Administration>Shared Folders. At this point a little message has flashed up n the top Panel telling me system updates are needed. Now that’s more like it – the system has recognised that more software is needed and will install it for me, and in a Windows Update fashion, will keep my system up to date. Feeling better and better all the time. This all works beautifully and I can continue by going to the ‘General Properties’ tab on the Shared Folders program. This Administration menu seems more and more like Control Panel – so I’ve got some idea of what I’m doing – not much though

3. Here I can enter the Workgroup name I use for my Windows machines (MSHOME – not very original) and click on close.

 

4. Now it gets a bit scary – I have to edit the Samba configuration file! So, I go to Applications>Accessories>Terminal and up pops a Notepad like text editor. All it says is ‘gary@server:-$’ – mmmm….. Well, gary is my username, Server is the hostname so I guess I can understand this prompt and it looks like an MS-DOS command line. I then have to type ’sudo gedit /rtc/samba/smb.conf’ here. It has asked me for a password again – the magazine didn’t say anything asbout this. OK, I’ll use the only one I know which is the one set up during the install process as the magazine says that sudo means the command is run as an administrator and not as a user. The ‘gedit’ bit is the actual Notepad like editor it is going to start and all the rest is the path and document I am going to be editing.

5. It works! I get a full screen text editor which has a huge configuration file loaded. I have to search through the file to find the ‘Home Directories’ bit and change the value browseable to yes (it was no original). I also have to un-comment the line. I also have to change ‘writeable’, a few lines down, to yes. So far so good. I can close the editor, saving the file.

6. Back at the Terminal screen, I have to set a Samba password which I can do by typing ’sudo smbpasswd -a <username>’ where <username> is my username, i.e. ‘gary’. This is so that other machines on the network get a password to access the shared folders. Why do I have to do this? I’m on a secure home network – puzzlement. Still… it’s done.

7. OK, So I close the Terminal window now and go to Places>Home Folder. I right click amongst the folders displayed and create a new fold called ‘Share’. Right click again, and choose ‘Share Folder’. I select ‘Windows Network(SMB) and give it a share name of ‘Share’ – I understand this bit – it’s the same as the Windows way of doing things. A share can have a different name to the actual folder that is shared. I un-check ‘Read only’ as I want to be able to store stuff here and go to my Windows machine to test out the share. Apparently it should all work now.

 8.    Well, a new network place has popped up called ‘ share on Server server (Samba, Ubuntu) (Server)’. Looks good although how many times do I need to read the word ’server’? I double-click on this and a Connect to Server password dialog box comes up. The username is set to SERVER/gary which all looks good and I have to type in my assigned Samba password. Ok, let’s do it. I also put a check in the ‘Remember my password’ box, that should stop me having to re-enter the password everytime!

9.        Success!!!!!   It works. I can create folders here and dump stuff over onto the file server to be retrieved at a later date. Definitely time for a coffee to celebrate.