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LedFTed

Linux, an other OS, operating systems

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i start this, because i think its important. linux is a free operating system. actually it is many free operating systems. plus, unlike windows, it has free support. i cant say for Mac=Apple.

i aint partial to much. but what i like, i keep, including friends. anyway, this is for linux users. get out of the box... freedom

those that use linux, say so. i am  not the only one. [on the side, if this needs some editing, or, removal, feel free]

most still think as linux, is the same as unix, not to be understood.

Edited by LedFTed

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I use to be a die hard Slackware user back in the day. Enjoyed customizing it to my liking and tinkering with it. I used it a lot for programing because the tool chains were simple and free. Then life got busy, I ditched the desktops and servers, and now just use a Windows laptop exclusively. I use the suite of Office programs a considerable amount for work, so that has always been my anchor to Windows.

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22 minutes ago, KoolBreeze said:

I use to be a die hard Slackware user back in the day. Enjoyed customizing it to my liking and tinkering with it. I used it a lot for programing because the tool chains were simple and free. Then life got busy, I ditched the desktops and servers, and now just use a Windows laptop exclusively. I use the suite of Office programs a considerable amount for work, so that has always been my anchor to Windows.

i cant, an wont, knock you for your choices. i will ask a question, is Libra office, harder to use than Windows office., or has less funtion.  i had Apache office, i dont need any of them, so i got no reference, to rate any of them..

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Yea have been using Linux for 7-8 years.  I like experimenting and decided one day to download a distro and try it.  I had tried prolly 10-12 different ones and usually dual boot with a Windows OS.  Even my wife uses it for simplicity and not having to worry much about anti virus or malware.  Right now she is using Linux Mint and I have Kubuntu.  They have alot in common with Windows but also takes some play time to get used to it.  I have always liked the KDE versions.

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Whenever I need to boot up a Windows version nowadays (rarely, maybe 2-3 times a year?), I run Windows inside a window... Bill Gates remains jailed inside VirtualBox VMs on my Linux laptops.

 

I've been using Linux for my desktops exclusively for 20+ years now, but began using Redhat Linux for servers a few years (1996 I think? I'll have to check the version on that CD to be sure) earlier. I began running the Redhat Linux distro on my desktop in 1999, then switched to Debian for several years for my desktop while continuing to run Redhat Enterprise Linux on servers. About 8 or 9 years ago I switched my desktop distro to Linux Mint KDE, which is based on Ubuntu packages (KUbuntu, Ubuntu was derived from Debian sources), so I have been using a Debian Linux derivative for almost 20 years on the desktop. I still use RHEL or CentOS (those two are identical, CentOS is compiled from RHEL sources) for all of my server needs. This forum is running on CentOS Linux.

 

I have 7 MS Windows VMs. They are:

  • MSDOS 6.x, Windows for Workgroups 3.11 with various programming apps and networking scripts -- This used to be my 16 bit programming computer back in the early-mid 90s. I saved the hard disk to a VM image before I threw the computer away.
  • WindowsXP Pro SP3, MS Visual Studio 6 Enterprise + $1000s of dollars worth of other programming apps, debuggers and addons. This was my software authoring computer when I retired. I saved the hard disks to a VMWare VM then converted to a VirtualBox image several years ago. For some odd reason I can't allow myself to throw this away yet.
  • WinXP Pro SP3, This was my Android phones hacking VM. I don't know why I still have it, its obsolete tech now.
  • WinXP Pro SP3, Mitchell OnDemand 5, Hollander Interchange, Various software dynos and old mechanical engineering & design apps. I need to throw this one away too, the complex math still makes my head hurt.
  • WinXP Pro SP3 -- This is a catchall VM. Its what I boot up when I want to test something on Windows, or fix something that is Windows specific, or dump code from some old and useless gadget to learn how it worked.
  • Windows 7 Ultimate -- Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate -- I put this VM together to help a young man that was struggling in his 1st year of college. Via emails, text messages and photos I taught him all about C language structures, C syntax, classes, functions, declaration scopes, etc. I basically helped to train him to think and write structured code, logically ordered, over a 6 weeks period to help get him ready for his next semester classes. This is another one that I need to throw away.
  • Windows 7 Ultimate -- This VM is loaded with Mach3 & Mach4 CNC Plasma cutting apps. I put it together to help a friend who built his own custom CNC plasma cutting table. He has improved his machine so much recently that this software will probably be obsolete soon, as well.

None of those MS Windows have ever been allowed to be connected to the Internet. While every Linux OS that I have ever used is fully networked.

 

So as you can see, Windows is still pretty useless for doing any real work, its no better (and no different product) than it was in the 90s. While Linux runs steady for many years never needing a reboot and never crashing or freezing up, doing all of the heavy lifting for the planet... plus can run multiple Windows inside its own windows. Linux is not bloatware either, so 6 GB of memory & a dual-core processor are more capable desktop hardware than most users will ever need. And its free... same as getting free beer.  🙂

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i like the reference to bill gates, he stole his stuff from linux, so to speak, in the movie, or mac. same place., and formed Windows. it grates me that he wants protection, from that which he took. maybe i am wrong. that was in the days of Capt.Crunch whistle, free long distance. ya still had to have good pitch. ya might be able to make a call still, by a whistle, or record some number sounds. how to find the free ones is a different matter. doubt that is possible. might be. windows can KMA. though i might be new to linux, only 4 or 5 years, maybe more, still aint quite got all the hang of it. when xp changed to 7, i give up on windows. i like my linux. lubuntu. its free, so is the support.

Edited by LedFTed
just because

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17 hours ago, LedFTed said:

i cant, an wont, knock you for your choices. i will ask a question, is Libra office, harder to use than Windows office., or has less function.  i had Apache office, i dont need any of them, so i got no reference, to rate any of them..

 

My wife uses Libra office on a couple of her work computers and it does ok for what they need it for. But the company I work for supplies Microsoft office and all of their files use it, so I don't have much choice but too use it.

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14 hours ago, LedFTed said:

i like the reference to bill gates, he stole his stuff from linux, so to speak, in the movie, or mac. same place., and formed Windows.

 

Actually he stole from an alcoholic coder (Bill promised to buy from him, got the source code, then refused to pay him, knowing that the man was too poor to defend himself in court) that had copied much of the CP/M code back then to create his own 8-bit character-mode disk I/O program, which was nicknamed DOS. Windows was a shell GUI that run on top of 8-bit DOS in enhanced/virtual memory mode via 16-bit memory extensions. Later those 16-bit extensions were expanded to handle 32-bit memory addressing, and then extended again for 64-bit addressing. So Windows was never a real and true computer operating system, and still isn't an OS today neither. Bill is a 2-bit criminal govcorp puppet, while Windows is simply a virtualized shell program. The GUI shell idea was pioneered by Apple, but no part of that code was ever used to create Windows.

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On 12/22/2019 at 3:48 AM, bcsman said:

Yea have been using Linux for 7-8 years.  I like experimenting and decided one day to download a distro and try it.  I had tried prolly 10-12 different ones and usually dual boot with a Windows OS.  Even my wife uses it for simplicity and not having to worry much about anti virus or malware.  Right now she is using Linux Mint and I have Kubuntu.  They have alot in common with Windows but also takes some play time to get used to it.  I have always liked the KDE versions.

what ya told me about the battery in the motherboard, this time when i got into the BIOS, and paid more attention to the errors. it says the battery is weak. i had just cleared out the old errors. a couple or weeks ago, i should have been paying more attention, to the top of the screen, in error reporting.. it mentions CMOS.. hope i spelled it right..

Lots of sharp linux users here. i leave myself out of this statement with good reason.. breaking from windows, i got no regrets..

Edited by LedFTed

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Change the battery no matter what, as old as the PC is.  Then we know where we stand with the BIOS.

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On 12/26/2019 at 9:01 AM, bcsman said:

Change the battery no matter what, as old as the PC is.  Then we know where we stand with the BIOS.

i got a battery off a motherboard, that was newer. its not installed on anything, as yet. i got a newer motherboard, so my nephew, could game online.then dont ya know, he got a PC that year. i never had much call to use it, so i took it back out and used the old motherboard.

windows xp, see's the sata drives, not the ROM drives.

fairly much with the linux thumb drive, though 1 Rom drive is missing. i think i will put an older rw, drive in. DVD RW. i just want to make sure the adapter, i had to buy, for the newer dvdrw-rom is working. was from epray. got 2, only 1 worked.

i know the power works, to the dvd drives. nothing else. i think the adapter gave out, and i just got power.

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So your computer sees the Sata drives and the thumb drive?  If so can boot off either sata drive?  Or can you boot the thumb drive which you said has a linux distro on it?  If you can then you should be able to install linux from the thumb drive to a sata drive.....

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5 hours ago, bcsman said:

So your computer sees the Sata drives and the thumb drive?  If so can boot off either sata drive?  Or can you boot the thumb drive which you said has a linux distro on it?  If you can then you should be able to install linux from the thumb drive to a sata drive.....

i know so, but, when i deleted the linux drive, sda1, [at the time linux drive was sda0],   i also deleted, the MBR, sda1,.go figure.. soo,  i cant use the rom dvd to use either, boot repair, or grub2. both are on dvds. i know its complicated, i dont, nor can explain well.

 the PC sees both drives, SATA, including linux drive,, sda0:  i can see every partition, on the linux drive... to get it back, where the drive is boot-able, ya need to see the pictures. the thumb drive wont allow me to to install, on sda., nor any partition, in sda0.

i can boot in the windows drive, after i installed, a newer battery on the motherboard. 3022 is the part number, #3022, just in case, ya got to replace a battery on the motherboard. at the moment, i am temporally stranded. it wont last long in the scheme of things.

is the connection to dvd-rom drives, linear, aka, in series?   that might explain a lot.. with an adapter, on one ROM DVD-RW drive.

neither windows, nor linux, will see much, if at all, if the first, in the chain,  DVD-ROM wise, is interrupted..

 

i dont want to use the windows drive, i just gotta make the linux drive, back to where it was..

Edited by LedFTed

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Holy crap you got me completely confused Ted, I have to try to decipher....

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Gotta ask again, you say your 2 sata hard drives are recognized, that's good.  Are your DVD drives also sata or IDE makes a big difference.  If sata are there enough connectors on your MB to hook them up?  If IDE is your ribbon cable good or hooked to a good IDE connector on the MB?  Hard to imagine all your DVD drives are bad so to me they aren't hooked up correctly if not being recognized.  After that I am totally confused.....

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You should be able to use a decent USB thumb drive distro to manually fix the issues with drives. It’s been a long time since I’ve played with Linux much so I don’t recall the exact procedures or tools you’d need. I always liked the distro Slax for stuff like this because it’s module based and you can add whatever tools/programs you need to complete the task. 

 

I’m sure you already know this, but you may have to manually mount the various drives to actually read the data on them. Some distros do it automatically while others don’t. At least that use to be the case. 

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I haven't seen any of the newer distros that didn't recognize the drives, think he has Kubuntu or Linux Mint loaded on the thumb drive..I have never used a thumb drive to install an OS but would think if it saw both the sata drives it would install on one of them...lotsa questions that I can't figure out there...

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I can't tell what happened either. But if you can see the drives then you probably know what you need to do to fix it. This small distro has every tool ya need to move/make a partition bootable and set up the MBR & GRUB:

http://www.system-rescue-cd.org/

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i got Lubuntu 18.04 LTS; i was going to reinstall lubuntu. instead of letting the install do it, i erased the partition it was on, formatted it ext4. that deleted the grub and the mbr.. then the coin battery went bad on the motherboard, and the adapter on the sata DVD ROM quit too. when it rains, it pours...

i got a battery off another board for now, replaced the sata DVD, with one that uses the ribbon. im ready to make a partition bootable, setup the MBR & GRUB. im gonna download system-rescue, first, just in case the command line dont work. thanks fellas..

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13 hours ago, LedFTed said:

i got a battery off another board for now, replaced the sata DVD, with one that uses the ribbon. im ready to make a partition bootable, setup the MBR & GRUB. im gonna download system-rescue, first, just in case the command line dont work. thanks fellas..

 

Since you got your DVD drive working again, ya may as well just do a fresh Lubuntu install? That install will set up your boot partition and install GRUB automatically.... no muss, no fuss...

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On 12/27/2019 at 8:41 PM, bcsman said:

So your computer sees the Sata drives and the thumb drive?  If so can boot off either sata drive?  Or can you boot the thumb drive which you said has a linux distro on it?  If you can then you should be able to install linux from the thumb drive to a sata drive.....

after some time, i did use the thumb drive, to install lubuntu to the sata disk. i ran into more problems, over the past few weeks, then is worth explaining.

i am still not sure the cmos, is yet working correctly, it still wont keep time, in windows, sdb drive,

i think i am back in the blue screen phase of windows, only its linux, and when i mess it up, i can still do a good job of it..

least i got 2 HDD drives working again.

i did use the thumb drive to install lubuntu. the dvd disk failed, mid-stream., and i had to turn the PC off.

long story short, i deleted the linux drive, went from there. i unplugged the windows drive just to make sure, i didnt i didnt change it. got by this time. still got a lot of tweaking to do.

 happy new year, and i will say more on the other side of the decade.

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Hey you have made progress thats a good thing.  And yes I would still buy a new CMOS battery and replace it now you know how to. 

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Glad you're making progress.

 

Many years ago we use to install Linux on headless servers (no monitor, keyboard, or mouse) using a serial terminal with the files hosted on a networked NTP server. Now that was fun. Also did the Linux From Scratch thing a few times. It was a lot of fun but that was back when I had more time than sense. Haha! Anyway, point is Linux is fun to play with for someone that likes to get their hands dirty, dig in and see what makes it tick. You have total control over the OS, which can be good & bad.

 

I need to install a modern distro just see how it compares to Windows these days.

Edited by KoolBreeze
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The new distros are pretty nice, plug and play most everything they see....

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