patnliz Posted May 4, 2005 Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 Hi Gentlemen and Ladies, I am about to part with some cash (a couple of quid) to buy Linux CDs and install it on my Dell Dimension XPS D233 desktop. I have oodles of memory and a 4G disc. I have sourced a wireless router (SpeedTouch 716g) to network my new Dell Dimension 3000 and laptop and have been informed that Mandrake should be the Linux version I use because of its ease of installation. What is its support for USB devices like? What is its support for wireless technology like? If a wireless device is too hard to install/configure on the best version of Mandrake for my machine, what kind of a wired ethernet card can I put in it or will any do? Has my Dell Dimension XPS D233 machine enough grunt to run a server version of Mandrake? What is the best version for me to install to achieve this? Thanks in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adolfix Posted May 4, 2005 Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 To verify the compatibility of your hardware I recommend you to look at this link : http://www1.mandrivalinux.com/en/hardware.php3 I recommend you to buy the PowerPack+ (version 10.1 Expert) if you want to save time installing Mandrakelinux. It's well documented and you have 1 DVD and CD's for the installation. To install it with all options (servers...) you require 3 Gb and 64 Mb of RAM. Bye Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 What is its support for USB devices like?What is its support for wireless technology like? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That would depend what the devices are, the only things I have experience of are mice, keyboards, digital cameras and USB storage devices. All of these have worked OK for me, generally with very little needed to set them up. If there are no drivers for your wireless card in the linux kernel you can usually get it going with a copy of the windows drivers and a program called ndiswrapper (usually installed by mandrake). If that can't do it then driverloader by linuxant (costs $20) is the best bet. P.S. Welcome to the board! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
durvish Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 try a live cd first to make sure everything is koser and then part with your cash --- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patnliz Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Hi Grant, Thanks for the reply. What I had in mind was a USB wireless ethernet card. If you had said it was likely to be very easy to set up then I'd probably go ahead with it but I feel sure a wired ethernet card would do the same job with less configuration. Once I get it running I may have a look at wireless again in the future. I would like to host a website on the box that I can host EJBs on. Just as an excercise. Is there a webserver packaged with PowerPack+ (version 10.1 Expert) (suggested by another poster on this thread) and a Java development environment? Will my lamentably slow and weedy 233 Mhz chip be up to hosting this? Will I need to set some kernel parameters during the install and are they well documented? Thanks for the help again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamw Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Yes to webserver (Apache / ADVX), not sure to Java DE (it does come with Eclipse, I think, is that what you're looking for?), possibly to 233MHz, no to kernel parameters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted May 6, 2005 Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 A USB wirless adapter is more of a challenge than "normal" wireless cards and USB put together, although you might get lucky. Before you dive in and buy a powerpack of 10.1, if you've got the bandwidth you should probably try Mandrvia 2005 LE (free download). It's more up to date and will contain pretty much all the software you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patnliz Posted May 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 Thanks again Grant, I trawled around for 10.1 Powerpack but its more than a couple of quid. Good suggestion to download Mandrvia 2005 LE. Will certainly try this first. I have but a 4 Gig disk, will this be an issue. Will any wired ethernet card do or is Linux at all picky? Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted May 6, 2005 Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 The disk space won't be an issue as long as you don't try to install everything thats on the discs (there's a lot of optional stuff on there). Most wired cards are supported but it may be wise to avoid anything that uses a broadcom chip. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patnliz Posted May 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 10, 2005 Hi again Grant, I downloaded the 3 i586 ISO images for 10.2 LE and it installed fairly gracefully, although I had to change the resolution in /etc/X11/Xorg.conf (I think!) as it didnt like 1280x1024. I now have a KDE running. How can I find out what packages I installed as I can't remember?. Can I pick and choose to install extra stuff now from the CDs? Also I see photoworks on this board upgraded to 10.2 and now his network cards aren't recognised anymore. Is this a known issue? https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=25133 I think I'll get a Belkin N/W 10Base-T , 100Base-Tx PCI card which I hope will fit in my machine. Tanks again Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaraeez Posted May 10, 2005 Report Share Posted May 10, 2005 Hi, just my 2 pence. I have Mandriva 2005 (upgraded) & a USR pci wireless card (chipset Texas Instruments ACX 111) All works flawlessly. I d/led Driverloader a rpm package from this website & the install is very easy indeed. The catch is that they charge for their driver UNLESS you own a ACX 111 chipset, in which case the driver is free... worth a thought maybe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted May 11, 2005 Report Share Posted May 11, 2005 How can I find out what packages I installed as I can't remember?. Can I pick and choose to install extra stuff now from the CDs? You can use the software maanager in mcc (Mandrake Control Centre) to both check what's installed and what you can install from the discs. You can also use easy-urpmi (link at the top of this page) to configure software manager with extra web-repos of packages. Also I see photoworks on this board upgraded to 10.2 and now his network cards aren't recognised anymore. Is this a known issue? <{POST_SNAPBACK}> This is the first I've heard of it, it could just be a broken upgrade (it's usually better to do a clean install rather than upgrade, YMMV). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patnliz Posted May 12, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2005 Thanks again for the reply. Thank for the info about mcc I have another question. I have sourced an internal wired ethernet card that will fit in the Dell Dimension XPS D233 I have. Its an old card for an old box now running Mandriva 10.2 (2005) LE. I spoke with Dell who said it was a 3Com Boomerang 3c905 PCI 10/100 XT only network card. They still stock them, but before I cough up for it, where can I find if there are any known issues with it, with respect to 10.2? Is it likely there is a driver for it on the install? How can I find out? Is it likely to auto-detect when I stick in the card? Thanks in advance again Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qchem Posted May 13, 2005 Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 I just did a quick google for 3com boomerang linux and got loads of hits. It seems like there are drivers for the card in the kernel, so with a bit of luck you'll be able to plug it in and all you'll need to do is configure the IP address etc (using the wizards in mcc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patnliz Posted May 13, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2005 Hi Grant, I did the same myself before I posted and got the same results. Had a look at one or two and they looked old but I figured the older the device the more likely it is to have drivers pre-installed. Still thought I'd ask the question though and thanks again for the helpful and prompt reply. Pat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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