LINUX LESSONS

THE MAGAZINE FOR COMPUTER APPLICATIONS Circuit Cellar Online offers articles illustrating creative solutions and unique applications through complete projects, practical tutorials, and useful design techniques.

	LINUX LESSONS
by George Martin Start ı Booting Up ı Getting the Best Performance ı Final Deduction ı Sources and PDF Over the past year, Iıve considered installing Linux. However, I havenıt made much progress because Iıve been busy and all my systems seem to be dedicated to a particular task. Iım just too conservative (old-fashioned) to risk doing the installation on a system I depend on to be up and running. I know itıs safe, but I donıt trust myself that much, and Iım too lazy to back everything up, install Linux, test it out, and then reinstall the old software. Well, two things happened recently to change my mind. First, a 100-MHz 486 system made by Hewlett Packard came my way. The HP system has 16 MB of DRAM, a floppy disk, CD-ROM, SVGA, and a 2-GB hard disk drive. Itıs a fairly reasonable system, perhaps three to five years old. It runs WIN95, and I thought this would be a good machine to experiment with and attempt to bring up Linux. That way, there was no chance of destroying my favorite accounting system while testing this new OS. Second, I found Linux virtually for free. Youıve probably seen all the ads, and if you do a web search, youıll be overwhelmed with information. You can download a copy of Linux with the source, but then you need to install it. So, a packaged version was the practical place to start for a rookie like me. It could be that Iım cheap, but for some reason, the $70 price tag kept me from experimenting. I didnıt want the base offering for $29.95. I needed the professional version with all the bells and whistles. What to doıwhat to do? Road trip! Where I live, thereıs a chain of outlet stores called Ocean State Job Lot that buys leftovers and closeouts. To my surprise, the outlet had several versions of 1999 vintage Linux packages, and best of all, it was practically giving them away at $4.99. How could I go wrong? So, I bought the whole stock, which included several copies of each version, and I gave some away to customers and friends. There I sat with my dedicated 486 system and several installation CDs. I have several packages, including one that contains: ı Deluxe Linux Operating System 6.5 ı Linux-Mandrake 6.1 Ret Hat Linux with enhancements ı Compatible with Red Hat 6.0 ı Upgrade to the latest kernel 2.2.1x ı KDE 1.1x ı Star Office 5.1 ı WordPerfect 8 Lite Sounds OK. Another is a 3ı book with a CD-ROM containing: ı Calderaıs OpenLinux 2.2 ı KDE 1.1 ı WordPerfect 8 ı Netscape Communicator 4.51 ı Star Office 5.0 ı Boot Magic, Caldera Edition ı Partition Magic, Caldera Edition The other packages are lesser versions or flavors of Mandrake and Caldera. It looks like the two packages are similar, and as I read more about the installation process, I find that they are installing the same basic versions of Linux and its utilities but present different wrappers and user interfaces. Both packages have different installation specifics but can be installed from WIN95 or WIN98, then launched from Windows, and use the LILO (boot loader) for a dual boot capability. Both packages and both options work. NEXT Circuit Cellar provides up-to-date information for engineers. Visit www.circuitcellar.com for more information and additional articles. For subscription information, call (860) 875-2199, subscribe@circuitcellar.com or subscribe online. ıCircuit Cellar, the Magazine for Computer Applications. Posted with permission.