SUSE

It's been awhile since I've written anything for blogspot. Over the past few weeks I've been very busy with non-computer related issues. I'm very glad to report that I now have my Microsoft MN-720 wireless adapter working with SuSE 9.2 without any crashes during the module load, or when I shut down my system.

The key is NOT using the Microsoft mn720-50.inf driver, but a homebrew driver created by the good folks at Ankhcraft, a web development business. The driver is located at: http://ankhcraft.com/drivers/mn720-ankh.zip.

I have more computers than I have monitors. At the moment the only monitor I have available to me is a Hyundai 14” monitor that doesn't seem to want to do any graphics other than EGA quality. Normally, this would be a big problem, how to do any work with a useless monitor?

SuSE Linux version 9.2 is one of the most Windows-like distributions around. Most of the system administration is done from a central administration tool, YaST. But there's one area of SuSE that's a bit tricky for new Linux users, adding new software.

I've been working on a system at The Working Centre called pitviper to replace the compaq deskpro I was using as the basement inventory server. Though the deskpro was more powerful, PII 450MHz versus the 200MHz pitviper uses, pitviper has 5 hard drives and a CD-ROM. Setup is as follows:

SCSI ID #0: IBM DCAS-34330
SCSI ID #2: (removed a 2.1GB Quantum for a 9.1GB SCSI IBM drive)
SCSI ID #3: IBM DCAS-34330
SCSI ID #4: TOSHIBA CDROM XM-37017A
SCSI ID #5: IBM DCAS-34330
SCSI ID #7: AHA-2940 Ultra/Ultra W

I low level formatted each of the SCSI drives.

Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux distribution that is available in both a Live CD and installable CD. I installed Ubuntu on a PIII 667MHz box with 256MB of RAM and a 12GB hard drive. Installation went flawlessly, though the one thing I wish I had more control over was the partitioning of hard drives.

One of the more unusual things about Ubuntu is that the root account is disabled by default. If you want to run a command as root you have to use the sudo command and enter in your user password. For example: If I wanted to do an apt-get update, I'd type:

sudo apt-get update

Phex is a peer to peer file sharing client that looks a lot like Shareza on Windows, but with a few features that make it even nicer. Phex is java based, so it can be run on multiple platforms. SuSE Pro comes with a java virtual machine, so starting phex is simply a matter of typing in:

java -jar phex.jar

If you haven't run a java program before, the -jar prefix is used to run phex.

Phex can be downloaded from:

http://phex.kouk.de/download.php

I talked to a few people after the recent Linux Expo which took place in Toronto between April 18th and 20th, and the general consensus was that the expo was dull/boring and overly commercialised. The main complaint was that the expo was a big sales pitch, rather than a venue for new and exciting technology. Others complained about the fact that the amount of freebies has diminished since the original expo.

The other day I was sitting in Matter of Taste, a cafe with Kitchener's best coffee and a wide open wireless connection, chatting in XChat when I came up with the notion that it would be great to be able to listen to the chat conversations going on in Internet Relay Chat instead of having to switch between my text editor (C code) and X-Chat.

I suppose I understand some of the frustration people use to Windows feel when moving to Linux, after all, old habits really do die hard. But if you don't try new things you never know when you might be missing out on something terrific.

If you haven't explored FireFox within SuSE Professional or Novell Linux Desktop you're missing out on a quick way to get some cool Linux solutions from Novell.

To access the solutions open FireFox, click on SUSE LINUX in the Bookmarks Toolbar, a menu of links will drop down, select SUSE LINUX Professional Cool Solutions, or simply click on the link I just provided.