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Re: Question for Mike Carter Re: Anyone else going to switch to Fedora?
de mike 04/15/2006 11:23
Mark Carter <me@privacy.net> wrote in
news:443f5f58$0$15792$14726298@news.sunsite.dk:
>
> You seem to be in the UK. A convenient way of obtaining distros at
> modest cost is:
> http://www.uselinux.co.uk/
> Typically £1.20 per CD, but cheaper for whole distros. They're
> currently doing a 35 CD bundle for £20. It includes SuSe, a distro
> that I think has merit.
>
The problem is that my failure rate is so high, I've spent a fortune on
this sort of thing, but mostly they wouldn't even run; those that did would
fail on sound, graphics, monitor recogntion or something.
Things are much better now, I only tried again when I got BB, but there's a
much higher success rate - maybe linux is catching up :))
>>
>
> I'm a bit confused. Are you on broadband, or 56k dialup?
>
Both; prepaid broadband, and a dialup number, (just in case), but I have to
dialup as a regular type of call on a moderate ripoff (0845****..) type
number
>My understanding is that, yes, USB modems can be a nightmare.
>
> The good news is that it /can/ work:
> http://www.lack-of.org.uk/viewarticle.php?article=114
>
>
Oh, wow, even with such a friendly guide, I wouldn't dare, even though he's
talking about my very modem. But thanks for the reference, it shows that it
*can* be done.
But life's too short, I'm not smart enough, the usual problem - you have to
know all about it *before* you can start.
(At least with windoze you get started and *then* your trouble begin :)
>> Is there a distro that will get B/B through a USB modem,
>
> Possibly, but I suspect that modem support may be patchy. It may
> depend on which modem, and which distro. You'd need to Google.
>
> I would say that an advantage of the ethernet route is that it cuts
> out a lot of complications. Instead of requiring drivers for USB or
> modems, the problem is reduced to that of obtaining a driver for the
> NIC you install. Support for those is excellent across all distros (at
> least on desktops). In fact, driver support for NICs is far better on
> Linux than on certain other operating systems I could mention ;) .
>
>
> A question that is worth answering: is the laptop a spare machine, or
> is it your main computer?
I've got two desktops, main and reserve (I run a community type website).
I'd like to isntall linux on the spare, I've tried a lot of distros, but
gave up until recently Ubuntu (3rd try) looks as if it would work.
Once I'm fluent on the spare, I'd install on the main one
But as I rely on windows to connect to the net, I can't begin to think of
swapping to linux. I have succeeded with an external 56K modem, but these
days that's not really adequate.
>
> Hope that helps.
It did, thanks; I either think about ethernet, or wait a bit longer to see
what happens. I can at least stop worrying for a bit.
Thank you for the comprehensive answer, and the references; on following
some up I found that many USB modems are like winmodems, as (according to
one writer) the USB connection is so capable that it transfers many
functions into the CPU, instead of the modem being stand alone.
That could explain why there's so little support, but not why it's so hard
to find out, on dialup the first thing they said was "get a proper modem",
so I did.
But you've cleared up a great deal, and when I finally have to move
reluctantly from 98SE, if I can crack the connection problem I may have a
chance with linux, and now I know what to look for.
many thanks
mike