[Ham-Computers] Linux and Firefox

[Ken Sprouse]

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?
>
>Tks,
>Jerry W5KP
>
>
>
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>
>  
>
Question 1:

I had a similar experience.  I started with Red Hat around version 4.0 
and found getting it installed somewhat of a challenge.  My biggest 
problem was I could not get the available drivers for my video card to 
work.  In the end I replaced the video card with one that was known to 
support Linux and that resolved the issue.  I did get it working and 
connected to the Internet via a dial up connection but returned to 
Windows because of things the wife was doing with the computer for her 
home business.

About a year ago I returned to Red Hat this time with version 9.  To my 
pleasant surprise I put the first CD in the drive, rebooted the machine, 
answered a few question and about half an hour latter I was restarting 
the computer with Red Hat 9 installed and everything working.  Well 
almost everything.  I had a few problems getting it to talk to my Palm 
Pilot and due to license problems the Java engine that installs by 
default on a Windows machine was not there.  You had to go out and find 
that on the web on your own and install it afterwards.

The bottom line though was that I had a computer with all the software 
installed to do 95% of what I do with a computer on a day to day basis.  
All of the software was free and I could connect this machine to the 
Internet and not be concerned about worms and viruses in email or on the 
web.  There were some web pages that did not display correctly because 
they had been created with Microsoft Front Page and would work correctly 
ONLY in Microsoft's browser.  That is one that still scalds me and I 
disown anyone who uses Front Page to build their web site.

The only thing missing in the office suite was a database program with a 
GUI front end.  I use Access at work and like to carry it over into my 
home stuff.  After Red Hat discontinued their official support for the 
non paying market going instead with the Fedora Project for those that 
still wanted low cost or no cost software I started looking at other 
distributions.

I narrowed down my choices to SuSe and Mandrake.  I was leaning toward 
Mandrake since they include a lot of ham radio software in with their 
distribution but while reading reviews found out that SuSe 9.1 
Professional included an "Access like" database client.  So I spent the 
$60 and bought the boxed set which includes five CDs two DVDs and a set 
of manuals.  Along with this comes thirty days of install support and 
additional technical support after that time.

I installed this on the same laptop system that I had Red Hat 9 on and 
it has been running now for over three months without ever having to be 
rebooted or turned off.  During that time I have installed and 
uninstalled software, sent and received email, surfed the web and worked 
on a number of office projects.  It is a little sluggish when you get 
several program going at once but not objectionable.  This is with less 
than 256 megs of RAM installed.  I intend over the holidays to build up 
a desktop system with a faster processor and at least 256 megs of memory 
and that will become the main system in the ham shack.

I have broad band DSL into the house feeding a LinkSys router and a hub 
which in turn feeds my wife's desktop and her laptop systems as well as 
my SuSe system in the ham shack and a Dell D600 with XP installed that 
belongs to the company I work for.  They all play quite nicely 
together.  I don't get nearly as much time to spend playing with and 
learning more about Linux as I would like but I am plodding along and 
will eventually get a good handle on it.  I want to add at least two 
more systems at home to act as file servers for storing music, pictures 
and other office related files.  I am also going to put a packet station 
back on the air with a Kiss mode TNC and I want that to either be a port 
on the ham shack main computer or have its own system using Linux.  
Should be fun if I can find the time.

Question 2 :

I have Firefox, Thunderbird and Mozilla installed on my XP laptop and 
without a doubt it is worth the time and energy to convert over from 
Internet Explorer.  Firefox is MUCH faster than IE and once you get used 
to having a browser with "tabs" you will not want to return to the 
Windows version.  I still find a few pages out there on the web that 
look "different" when displayed on IE as opposed to Firefox but it isn't 
anything that I can't live with.  One of the reasons that stuck with 
Netscape for years was that I have to deal with a multitude of systems 
at work and the only way to stay with a common set of book marks and 
email address book on all platforms was Netscape.  When Mozilla became 
available I switched to it from Netscape and never looked back.  Try it 
I think you will like it.  Hope this helps.

-- 
Ken Sprouse / WA3FKG   John 3:16
Blog: http://www.hamblog.com/blog_wa3fkg.php
Member of the American Radio Relay League
Pittsburgh Area Scanner net on Sunday evenings 9:00PM on 147.090 mHz.
Glock - The ultimate point and click user interface. (c)