I actually did install Ubuntu on my fastest PC (AMD 64 3500+) which also has a partition dedicated to Fedora 8 - so now its a "triple boot". The UBUNTU version was touted as being installed from Windows. I took it to mean that it would switch back and forth between one and the other - but not so. Not without a reboot. Also - although it seemed really 'eager and able' to resolve driver problems I had with my DVD player - it was not successful, no more so than Fedora. Maybe I shouldn't have gone for such a cheap ($40) motherboard - I'm thinking maybe the chipset is my problem - (though it does all work with Windows XP pro) Another problem with UBUNTU - I dont get it - there seems to not be a way to access the thing as root! As it won't allow me to access the largest data partition on my second hard drive because I'm not root... no mp3s - which there are about 100 gig worth on that hard drive. During setup, there was no mention of root or supervisory password. Maybe it just "flashed by" I'm mysterio'd by that. I did load a "root command console" utility - I haven't yet tried that out. Weird as well is the way you mount that big data partition when running Fedora and Ubuntu - its WAYYY non intuitive - the old process of mounting a /dev/hdb5 (for example) partition that you'd track down in fdisk and setup with fstab is not "valid". Instead - you go to a "home" window select "media" and you'd find those unmounted partitions in there. I dunno - it looks like Linux is being muddled by making it more "user friendly". I don't think "df -aH" gives me a clear picture of hard drive usage anymore. I dont see how I'd do it in a non-graphic mode now. One more thing I'd like to find that did work on *Red Hat Linux 9* - was a television card support utility for my 12 year old Hauppage PC TV card. It found me - I didnt have to find it! I havent exactly made an exhaustive search for one - Usually I'd rather be running an environment that runs all my stuff at once - rather than trying to make it do so....
I should probably get an even newer machine to hack on - to develop as my ideal environment (yet for most of the time - I'm SO enjoying watching streaming video of "The Office" and "Lost" on the 'fast desktop') - but other investments have priority. -WaV In the time of Chimpanzees I was a Monkey On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 8:38 AM, Charles Goldsmith <wo...@justfamily.org> wrote: > Don, that was just an excuse, sure there have been a varying amount of > exploits that utilized buffer overflows, but those get fixed rather > quickly. The linux kernel is an evolving animal, with changes and > fixes coming out almost daily. I monitor several security mailing > lists, that cover linux, windows and mac. I haven't seen a kernel > exploit in years come across the list, and you won't find any real > geek shying away from the best tool for its job, which is linux a lot > of the time. > > I'm not aware of any good BSD live cd's, but I haven't looked for one > either. There are 3 main flavors of the BSD derived opensource, > FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD. FreeBSD is the bigger of them and has > the most development and install base. However, it is not really > suited for a desktop machine. While it has the functionality, only > the more proficient UNIX users can make it work the way they want. I > ran it as my desktop at work for about 3 years. This mailing list is > hosted on a FreeBSD server, but it doesn't use xwindows for the > server. > > For a UNIX desktop, I prefer Ubuntu, and since I like KDE over Gnome > (just a personal preference), I use Kubuntu. While its not BSD, but > true Linux, it is probably the easiest desktop Linux to get going, it > has a large install base, lots of development going on and they > religiously release major updates every 6 months. They are currently > on release 8.04 (year and month released, April 2008) and you'll > likely see 8.10 hit in October. The install cd for ubuntu is a live > cd, but it has limited functionality, if you want a fully featured > live cd, try out http://knoppix.net/ > > Astute readers will notice that knoppix is based on Debian, and so is > Ubuntu. Knoppix is one of those tools that many geeks carry around > for troubleshooting windows computers :) You can also setup Knoppix > as your desktop, and carry around a usb stick with your knoppix cd > with your personal preferences and settings. That way you can use > almost anyones computer, and have your desktop come with you. > > I've never done this, but its one of its selling points. I've used > knoppix on half a dozen different computers and it has always detected > everything that I needed, mainly video (so that you didn't get stuck > with 640x480 resolution) and the network card so that internet access > was available. > > Hit me with any questions from all of this rambling :) > Charles > > On Thu, May 29, 2008 at 1:27 AM, Don Cooper <wavyca...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Charles - > > Is the 'buffer overflow' vulnerability still an issue or is that ancient > > history? I never quite understood how it could be exploited - I cannot > > imagine how such an attack could make it past a firewall or even a router > > anyhow... > > It was one of my former IT bosses big excuse for not using implementing > > Linux anywhere. > > > > And can you guide me to an up-to-date ISO image for a "live BSD Unix"? > [The > > BSD logo is the little demon (my guess - a visual acronym for > 'daemon')?] > > The only repositories I could find were at least two years old. > > I think it would be cool to eventually make a PC work "just like a Mac". > > (It brings to mind an image of the stuffy PC guy in the Mac commercial > being > > moved around like a puppet by the Mac guy). > > -WaV > > > > On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:18 PM, Charles Goldsmith < > wo...@justfamily.org> > > wrote: > >> > >> As Quitna stated, her new computer came with Vista, and most computer > >> manufacturers aren't developing XP drivers anymore. So with some > >> computers (especially laptops), you can't even downgrade to XP. > >> > >> Work gave me a laptop with Vista, I haven't had any problems with it, > >> just having to learn where things are. Wireless support (for my job) > >> is a pain, I've been fighting the security for its wireless all week. > >> > >> I have a mac here at home, I love it. I also have an XP box too, but > >> I use my mac more. I love not having to worry about spyware, rootkits > >> and anti-virus for the mac. It's possible that we'll get that stuff > >> in the future, but I doubt it. Mac OSX is based on BSD UNIX, and > >> using the UNIX file security, it should be pretty virus proof. > >> > >> Charles > >> > >> On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 11:10 PM, Don Cooper <wavyca...@gmail.com> > wrote: > >> > Hmmm - maybe you should try Apple OS X.. > >> > -WaV > >> > > >> > On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 4:58 PM, <qui...@clearwire.net> wrote: > >> >> > >> >> Vista was loaded on a computer I bought ( the old clunker died) and I > >> >> was > >> >> not sure I would like it but I would not go back to XP now. > >> >> Quinta > >> > > > > > >
