| Newbie Linux Questions |
by Marc Holt (September, 2002)
Mark Holt discusses his migration to Linux and answers some Linux 'newbie' questions in this article for DesktopLinux.com . . .
Ever since my company migrated to Linux a year ago I've had a number of questions about the changeover. I'll answer some of them today, but before I do I should answer one statement that many people make every time I mention Linux. "You must hate Microsoft if you've changed to Linux."
The answer to that is a categorical 'No'. It's difficult to forget the tremendous contributions Bill Gates and Microsoft have made to the computer industry. When I started in this business more than 30 years ago I worked on huge computers using punched cards, and on small machines programmed by flipping switches. It wasn't much fun, and the machines were brain dead compared to the PCs we are so used to today.
When Bill brought out DOS (Disk Operating System) he revolutionized not only the computer industry but our lives as well. For the first time, it became possible for ordinary users to do an amazing variety of tasks: Word processing (remember WordStar?), accounting able to perform lightning fast calculations using a spreadsheet, communication by modem, and more. Suddenly, we had a whole new world opening up for us.
When Bill decided to give us a GUI (Graphical User Interface), he built it on top of DOS. And that's where our problems started. DOS was just not designed for the task. It was not designed to handle memory efficiently. After all, no one envisaged we would need so much memory in those days. It uses a File Allocation Table (FAT) to keep track of where data is stored on the hard disk, which often loses track and scrambles our data instead. And it offers no worthwhile security. Even today, with all the advances in Windows technology, the same underlying problems lie in wait for users.
My decision to change over to Linux came after suffering a series of computer crashes and virus attacks. I spent days reinstalling Windows and all my programs and that's when I started looking for a better alternative. I'd heard about Linux, so I headed for my local pirate mall and found three flavors of Linux on the shelves, RedHat V6.2, Mandrake Linux for Windows, and Corel Linux.
RedHat was so complicated to install that we gave up trying after 3 days. There was no GUI and even though we followed the installation instructions, we couldn't get it to work. It didn't have the drivers needed for my hardware. (I have since tried RedHat 7 and found it excellent, especially KDE3)
The other two programs were worse. We couldn't even get through the first stage of the installation.
Then I got lucky and found Mandrake Linux V8.0 being given away free with the Mr Linux magazine. I bought it, put the installation disk in my CD, and within 20 minutes I had Linux working on my computer. I had to buy an external 'hardware' modem, but that was the only hardware change I needed. After I installed Star Office, I had all the programs I needed to do my office work. Mandrake supplied everything on the two CD set.
Soon after that, I bought LAN cards and installed Mandrake on all the computers in the office and connected them up. Everything worked perfectly, even to sharing the internet connection from the server, and printing to a central printer.
Since then I've had many questions directed at me about using Linux in an office environment.
Mark answers some 'Questions about Linux' below:
Q. Can I install Linux on my hard disk with Windows?
A. Yes, you can. But before you start you should defragment your hard disk and run Scandisk to do a thorough check of your whole disk. If there are any bad sectors Scandisk will find and mark them so that they can't be used again. You will need about 7 MB to install Linux, so make sure you have enough disk space beforehand.
If you are considering changing to Linux, I recommend you back up all your data and then completely reformat your hard disk and install only Linux. About the only time I get questions from people having problems with Linux is when they have installed both operating systems at the same time. It is possible to start Linux and then access the entire Windows partition. But as it is possible to read any Microsoft Office document using Star Office it makes sense to make the complete changeover to Linux and avoid any complications.
Q. Are drivers available for all the hardware available on the market today?
A.If you had asked this question even one year ago I would have had to answer no. But these days there are so many people using Linux that drivers for most hardware are available now. However, it is a good idea to visit the website of the Linux distribution you want to use and check. Mandrake Linux users can go to http://www.linux-mandrake.com/en/hardware.php3 to check.
Q. I have a lot of documents created with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint presentations, and Excel spreadsheets. Can I read them in Linux?
A. Yes, Star Office and Pla Dao (the Thai office suite), both read and write in several formats, including Microsoft Office.
Q. Is it possible to install Microsoft fonts in Linux so that I don't lose the formatting in my documents?
A. Yes. To install them in Mandrake Linux, copy the fonts to a directory under your /home/user/ directory and then start DrakFont by pressing Alt-F2 and typing 'drakfont'. If you are logged in as a user, you will be asked to enter the Root (administrator) user's password. Click on OK, and this will take you to the DrakFont dialog box. Click on Add Fonts and select the directory where you copied the fonts. Click on "Install all", or select only some fonts and click on "Install selected fonts". When you are finished, right click your mouse and select "Log out". When you see the user name and password dialog box, press Alt-E to restart the X-server, and then log in again. Your fonts will be ready for immediate use.
Q. How do I set up a print server so that everyone on the LAN can print to a specific printer?
A. If you are installing Mandrake Linux on the computer you plan to use as the print server select "Local printer" and tell Linux the type of printer you are installing. Then go to all the other computers on the LAN and start up the "Mandrake Control Center" program and click on Hardware/Printer. Click on the "Configure" button and then select "Add printer". Click on "Ok". Tell Linux to use the "Printer on remote CUPS server" and click on "Ok". Then reboot the X-server, and you will be ready to print from any computer you have configured.
Q. What monitor resolution should I select when installing Linux?
A. Linux offers you a range of resolutions. I prefer high resolution (1024x768), but you can choose a lower or higher resolution to suit your needs. One word of caution: Make sure you select no more than 16 million colors (24 bits).
 About the author: Marc Holt has been contributing articles about Linux and open source for the Bangkok Post, among other publicatons worldwide. Marc is managing director of Holt Worldwide based in Thailand.
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