Debian

Hi all,

I know, it's a highly subjective and speculative question, but can anyone advise a Linux-newbie (haven't even started yet) on what distribution might be right in my case?

- I have for all intents and purposes NO Linux experience.

- I do have some previous IT experience. -- A sales-pitchish description of my skill set is at: http://www.ropersonline.com/cv/onlinecv.html

- The PC I want to install Linux on is a seasoned HP Vectra Pentium "one", 133 MHz, 64 MB, 4GB HDD+1.5GB HDD (2 physical HDDs).

- There is an (ARTEC WRR 52Z) 52x CD writer that's currently crippled to 16x speed under W2000 because the OS is unable to shuffle data fast enough using my current hardware.

- There also is a (HITACHI CDR 7730) 4x CD ROM drive which (at least in conjunction with the current OS/firmware) cannot read CD-RWs, cannot read CDRs and can ONLY read factory manufactured CD ROMs. I could not find a firmware upgrade or anything. The only software that appears to be out there is a driver for the thing for DOS/Win 3.1, giving us some indication of the age of the device.

- There are 2 serial ports: One is occupied by a generic plain 3-button mouse and the other is connected via serial (null modem) cable to an Apple PowerBook 145B (which is a VERY old "68K" Mac laptop, for the uninitiated). I am currently talking and sending files back and forth using simple TTY terminal programs and would like to have the option to access the Linux shell prompt from the Mac. I am considering installing NetBSD on the PowerBook in the future.

- I want to use the bash shell as the main shell in Linux, as that's what I use on my everyday computer, an Apple iBook (running Mac OS X Panther).

- The PC has a Matrox Graphics Millenium PCI display adaptor, but the 15in CRT confines it to 800x600 resolution at 75Hz, as anything higher will only be 60Hz and that's too painful. I have taken the most recent video BIOS update I could find, but it obviously seems to be the monitor that's limiting things here. Nevertheless, I do want to run some kind of GUI, presumably XWindows.

- There is a sound card, apparently SB 16 (or compatible). I want to be able to use that in Linux.

- There is an issue with the 4 GB HDD: It works ok under Windows 2000 and the full capacity is available. When attempting to install Win 98SE however, the install will fail at the very end. Successful Win 98SE installation is possible when setting a jumper on the Maxtor (model 90432D2) HDD that limits the HDD to 4092 Cycles. This however also limits the available HDD capacity to about 2 GB (even when choosing FAT 32 with Win98).
I have taken the most recent (system) BIOS upgrade I could find, w/o improvement. I want to be able to use the full HDD capacity in Linux.

- I would prefer to start off with a dual boot, parallel install. I would prefer to initially only wipe the secondary 1.5 GB HDD.

- There is an ISA 10BaseT Ethernet card that's working with a DSL modem under W2000, using PPPoE. I also sometimes connect the PC to my iBook (using a crossover cable or rebooting the iBook to prod it to recognize that it needs to do its built-in crossover magic) and network these computers using Panther's built in Samba. These things must remain possible.

- I want to run the Windows version of the Encyclopaedia Britannica 2000 Deluxe (speak: I need WINE&crossover or VMware for MSIE and QuickTime support). Otherwise, I have few requirements in terms of the specific software I'd like to run, any decent compatible browser and office suite will do, though running MS Office XP and MSIE would be an advantage for testing purposes.

- The ability to set up a "virtual PostScript printer", able to print to file (thus generating PostScript files I can send to the iBook) would be ideal. I would then be able to print these files on my USB printer. The PC doesn't have USB support. I don't currently have this capability and I have equally not been able to share out the USB printer from the Mac to the PC (which may be a case of user error on my behalf, but there you go).

- The ability to mount Mac (HD) floppies in the PC's floppy drive would be ideal. This could be to either image them or even share them to the iBook across the Ethernet cable.
Alternatively, it could be interesting to share the PowerBook's floppy drive to the PC (across the null modem cable) and then further share that to the iBook.
(The PowerBook doesn't have Ethernet, only old Apple Talk (serial) and null modem capability. The iBook doesn't have serial ports or a floppy drive, only DVD/CDRW, Ethernet (and USB). The PC has a floppy drive, Ethernet and serial ports.)
I do however understand that I would probably have to get some extra software or install NetBSD on the PowerBook to do this.
I can actually currently image floppies on the PowerBook and then send them to the PC via serial link (terminal program) and then to the iBook via Ethernet cable.

- Similarly, it may be interesting to share the iBooks bash shell to the PC and from there on to the terminal program on the PowerBook.

- Generally, the Vectra PC is just awfully, dead slow, but I do NOT plan on expanding/upgrading the hardware in any way (hence my interest in Linux).

- I also want to use Linux in order to be able to learn about this platform, which is sadly still conspiciously absent from my IT skill set.

Now given all of the above, can anyone make a recommendation which distribution to choose?

I'm not going to chew your head off if you're unsure or if your recommendation cannot satisfy all these requirements/wishes, but I am looking for more than just religious "mY dIstRo RuLeZ"-chatter. I am seriously looking for a distribution to rise to the challenge detailed above.


Any input extremely welcome

Thanks and regards,
ropers

Any Linux distro will be fine.

We don't really get into 'this is better than than here' (simply the rules).

Try this link for more distro information:

http://www.distrowatch.com/

and perhaps this one:

http://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major


Neo

thanks for the good links -- really informative...
So far I've tried Knoppix now, w/o much success, the sound card and, crucially, the ethernet card are both problematic.

If there's any Knoppix experts out there and happy to help, please give me a shout.


Thanks again,
ropers

The linux kernal is just about the same in all distros..... the kernal is configuration controlled by Linus himself.

If you have special cards, etc. you might have to rebuild the kernal. Most linux users learn to build kernals to support their devices. We do.

First, check the Linux H/W FAQ to see if your H/W is supported.

I'm not a Knoppix expert, but I think it's a little more stripped down - a live filesystem that you can boot up somewhere, like the floppy "tomsrtbt" distribution (with more tools, and features, of course.)

The suggestion above to check your hardware versus the compatibility list is a great one. Also, you may end up having to use something that's "just close enough" to work in a less-than full-featured capacity. If you really want to try some stuff, sometimes you can find a bleeding edge driver that may or may not work well. It can get pretty tricky sometimes, but I've rarely found a time that I couldn't make something work, with the exception of getting a decent resolution on a cheap-o on-board graphics hookup.

As for your specific requirements, without spending a ton of time to research every one, I'm going to make a guess and say you can do most of what you need here, if not all of it with a Linux distribution. I am not taking into consideration drivers or lack thereof, so checking that compatibility list will be beneficial (although you're most likely to find support for older hardware, such as yours).
Running Windows programs via WINE or VMWare is going to be painful. As in painfully slow... Perhaps you might want to look into Open Office,which, while not perfect, is pretty neat.
I can't really comment on the printing issue, but I'm fairly sure it's possible to create a simple postcript file on disk, then shoot it over to another machine (possibly even setting up print services on your OSX laptop.)
Since I'm not within immediate reach of a Linux box at the moment, I don't know if there's filesystem support for HFS+ in the kernel, but if not, you could always format the disk another way (Mac OSX and Linux can both speak FAT32, for example.)

Now, I know you don't want to hear it, but purchasing hardware can be an effective way to get a working system. I bought, a while back, an HP9000 workstation from eBay, which cost under $50 USD, including shipping. It was preinstalled with Debian GNU/Linux, which runs on that chip (pa-risc), although I can also install NetBSD if I choose so (or HP-UX, which the machine is built to run - I have an HP9000 running HP-UX, and I have to say it's quite zippy, considering the age of the box.)

Hope this helps a little - I don't have any real solid answers, but it shouldn't stop you from jumping right in! That's how many of us started.

LivinFree and Neo, again thanks for the good info!

Now, this Linux H/W FAQ, where would I actually find that? Google and a search on this site didn't turn out much?

PS: I didn't actually expect people to do loads of reasearch for me -- but I felt the more accurately I describe my needs, the more to the point any answers will be. (I have, as usual talked far too much, though ;-)

Linux Hardware Howto:

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/index.html

(this was easily found with a search of this forum or a Google search, btw).