The Linux Thread

[Albert smith 11]

So are you now booting into puppy and singing along to:

 

Its mint now:hihi:

[swarfendor437 14]

What a shame the old Pentium M (?) can't run 64-bit:

 

[Albert smith 11]

Tried it out tonight and the old Dell is running like a spring chicken , no problems ,good work Aspire.

[swarfendor437 14]

Glad to hear your happy with the freedom GNU/Linux has brought to your d505.

[Albert smith 11]

Glad to hear your happy with the freedom GNU/Linux has brought to your d505.

Do I need to add any online security to my linux mint ,

[swarfendor437 14]

Hi Albert, the pieces of security kit I would install are:

 

GUFW (Gnome Uncompiicated Fire Wall) - check to see if it is present - you generally have to launch it in a terminal window as root (su/sudo) and set it to 'home' network. If not present it should be in the repos but been a while since I played with Mint. To check if a file sent to you contains a virus and you don't want to inadvertently pass it on to a Windows user, install Clam TK - Search for Clam in the repository. Lastly, use a Root Kit Hunter (rkhunter) to check that your machine is not infected. When any anti-rootkit security app in GNU/Linux is run, it uses the base kernel install at time of install. When you receive a kernel update it might throw up a spurious message because it will be lookkng to compare the files that were installed at first run in respect of the kernel so any system updates might provide some false positives.

Now whilst not affected by viruses as such, there are some devious coders out there that might want to wipe your hard drive - a few years ago, gnome-look.org hosted a theme called Ubundows 8.0 - admins for the site never bothered to check the contents and an unsuspecting downloader on extracting the tar ball (= zip file) launched a 'nix command to wipe the drive of all it's contents. If downloading tar balls (.tar.gz, .tar.bz2) you should inspect them before extracting - how to here:

 

https://zoringroup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12462&p=55425&hilit=Blackwolf#p55425

 

With acknowledgement to BlackWolf from a forum that sadly no longer present on the web due to lack of funds.

[swarfendor437 14]

Well have just visited an old GNU/Linux OS  including my troublesome SoundBlaster card works out of the box - Elive 3.0.6 - but only wireless would work in terms of internet access. The complete solution I found was with Sparky Linux 5.7. From my recent experience I have found Ubuntu and its derivatives to be sadly lacking - Debian and its derivatives have worked out of the box - both Elive and Sparky are forks of Debian. I may have to leave Zorin behind! 

[swarfendor437 14]

Well Zorin and Soundblaster are almost working together! Seems to work every other boot but guess it was own fault for buying SoundBlaster! Anyhow, I am now pleased to learn that Zorin is now available as a build option of Notebooks from StarLabs in the UK and Nova Custom of the Netherlands - my personal preference would be for a Nova as they offer traditional SATA drives in their builds - I don't require instant boot.

More information here: https://zorinos.com/computers/

 

I have advised Zorin users via the Unofficial Manual for Zorin 15 to check out reviews before making a purchase of any GNU/Linux Hardware. You'd only do the same if it was any other OS wouldn't you?

[swarfendor437 14]

Well had an interesting result with the latest FerenOS - managed to install the KDE (Feren OS Classic) to replace Windows 7 Ultimate and migrate themes and sounds too. I was dreading the install as it warned that 64-bit Calamares had a habit of failing. I put my first failed attempt down to not seeing the drop-down options on partition naming - went without a hitch second time around.

 

 

 

Installing the Canon TS8051 was a breeze (connected wirelessly), picked it up instantly. Also of interest was that the Power Settings on the System Tray indicated the charge on the Logitech K750 Solar powered keyboard - cool! The blank tile of Thunderbird was reminiscent of what happens at work with Google Chrome being blank on the Start Menu! However today it is showing as it should. Feren OS comes with a neat Compositor to reduce tearing as I experienced before going to Advanced Settings | Compositor - here the default is set to OpenGL 2, xrender, OpenGL 3.1 - selecting xrender stopped the tearing pretty much immediately. Reduced animation effects to zero, display setting set to 'smooth' (as opposed to 'crisp'). It has a Screen Capture application called 'Spectacle' with extensive options before and after screen capture. I've added SoftMaker Office 2018 as it looks nicer than LibreOffice and easier on the eye than MSOffice 2016/2019. Comes with built in 'Red Shift' for night time viewing. Considering it is a 64-bit distro, the fact that I was able to install this rolling release distro was refreshing!

[swarfendor437 14]

Error - Feren OS not Feren OS Classic - the latter uses Cinammon DE, FerenOS usse the KDE desktop (Kubuntu). And this on a motherboard from 2006!

[Pyrotequila 401]

Could you recommend a super light version for use on an old Dell 430 laptop; https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/latit/en/spec_latit_d430_en.pdf

 

I just want it as a back up laptop, and had possibly planned on using it as something to play Spotify through plugged into an external speaker.

[altus 537]

37 minutes ago, Pyrotequila said:

Could you recommend a super light version for use on an old Dell 430 laptop; https://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/latit/en/spec_latit_d430_en.pdf

 

I just want it as a back up laptop, and had possibly planned on using it as something to play Spotify through plugged into an external speaker.

lubuntu is good for low powered systems. It's basically Ubuntu with a lightweight desktop and applications.