[Ham-Computers] Linux and Firefox

[fkamp at comcast.net]

Jerry K wrote:
> 
> Question 1:
> I tried Red Hat about 3 years ago, but finding software and drivers for
> sound cards, various peripherals, etc. turned into more of an exercise than
> I was willing to put up with at the time. I'd like to give it another try,
> but was wondering if the newer versions of Linux are any easier to deal
> with, and if the available application and driver software has improved.
> Just for info, on a 10-point PC knowledge scale, I'm probably about a 7 or
> 8, but certainly don't qualify as a full geek. I run XP Pro, broadband via
> DHCP satellite, a router, and a local 100MB ethernet with a couple of other
> XP machines on it, one of which is 500' away via a switch installed halfway.
> Main machine is 2.8G Dell with 500MB/80G, network machines are a 1.2G Athlon
> w/296MB/30G/XP Home, and an old Dell PII/366 laptop, also XP Home. I am not
> in a big hurry to switch from XP (all are SP2), because I have fortunately
> had no significant hacker/virus/crash problems with my current setup. XP and
> IE seem to work fine, as long as I remember to reboot about once a week. I
> was just feeling the urge to experiment again with Linux.
> 
> Question 2:
> How about some opinions from XP users who are on Firefox instead of IE? Is
> the switchover really worth it? Will Firefox run ok with Linux?
> 

Jerry,

I have used Slackware, Red Hat, and Mandrake.  Of the three, Mandrake
was the easiest install.  I use Mandrake 9.2.  I have resisted upgrading
to Mandrake 10.1 because it appears to have problems judging from the
bug reports.

My computers are somewhat older than yours and my network is an old,
slow ethernet, but stuff works and does what I need.

A number of my machines run windows 98.  The linux machines will run
windows or linux.  I use removable hard drives and dedicate an entire
10gig hard drive to Mandrake.  Booting Mandrake is a simple matter of
removing the windows hard drive and plugging in the Linux hard drive.

Regards,
Frank Kamp
K5DKZ