Finally switched to linux... what now?

[enorbet2]

There are actually several tiny distros and more all the time since people like to install them on gaming consoles, phones, thumbdrives, floppies, you name it. For example a complete Cisco router clone, called Freesco, allows one to turn an old laptop, desktop (even a 386) into a hardware firewall on just a 1.4MB floppy. Of course there is TinyLniux which is aptly named but my favorite for older PCs and Lappys is Puppy Linux. However you can peep 'em all here

 

The LiveCD List

 

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

[freeztar]

There are actually several tiny distros and more all the time since people like to install them on gaming consoles, phones, thumbdrives, floppies, you name it.

 

Well, I just downgraded my geek status a few notches. I've considered a thumbdrive approach, but I have no clue about phone tech. :steering:

I wouldn't even know where to start.

 

(people still use floppy drives?)

 

For example a complete Cisco router clone, called Freesco, allows one to turn an old laptop, desktop (even a 386) into a hardware firewall on just a 1.4MB floppy.

 

Ummm...ok!

Is it self explanatory or do you have a good link to a tut?

 

Of course there is TinyLniux which is aptly named but my favorite for older PCs and Lappys is Puppy Linux. However you can peep 'em all here

TinyLinux is what I was thinking of. I'll check out the puppy. :steering:

 

The LiveCD List

 

DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD.

 

Thanks for the links. The download for slack just finished so....wish me luck!

[enorbet2]

Well, I'm sold! I'd like to check out slack. I'm guessing it will integrate with grub so I can triple boot, correct? Do I need to do anything special to make this happen? I'm guessing I'll need three more partitions?

 

No problems whatsoever with grub. As I said compatibility is paramount. You only need one partition since numerous distros can share swap space with no probs. After all it is just temporary storage mimicking ram. Naturally it is wise to have swap partitions on the fastest part of the drive, so don;t make that an afterthought.

 

Major Issue - Remember Slack boots to CLI for numerous security and safety reasons. Ideally run "adduser" first to create a non root user since it is unsafe to go online as root especially before you have a firewall configured and running (Firestarter is an easy yet effective one of you don't grok iptables). Then most people can just type "kdm" and you're gui bound. Slack presents you with a little "wizard" to customize interface (you can choose Mac, Unix. Windows, KDE and default) . I find it useful to setup root and user differently so when you launch, say the konqueror filemanager as Super User on the yser desktop you know which one is root immediately by appearance

 

Enjoy

[freeztar]

No problems whatsoever with grub. As I said compatibility is paramount. You only need one partition since numerous distros can share swap space with no probs. After all it is just temporary storage mimicking ram. Naturally it is wise to have swap partitions on the fastest part of the drive, so don;t make that an afterthought.

 

Major Issue - Remember Slack boots to CLI for numerous security and safety reasons. Ideally run "adduser" first to create a non root user since it is unsafe to go online as root especially before you have a firewall configured and running (Firestarter is an easy yet effective one of you don't grok iptables). Then most people can just type "kdm" and you're gui bound. Slack presents you with a little "wizard" to customize interface (you can choose Mac, Unix. Windows, KDE and default) . I find it useful to setup root and user differently so when you launch, say the konqueror filemanager as Super User on the yser desktop you know which one is root immediately by appearance

 

Enjoy

 

Sorry, I'm much to slow and unevolved for that. What is CLI? Why do I need to mess (grok?) with iptables? How do I initiate firestarter once I have slack running?

[enorbet2]

Hey Freeze

HaHa! Thes I do still use floppies and not just because I have a thousand of 'em. Firstly, I do freelance computer building, repairing, performance tweaking, and data recovery and I never know what a client might have. So I have a mixed bag of floppies, thumbdrives, CDs etc. to handle anything from cracking passwords to recovering data from roached partitions and even drives. One powerful too is a little self-powerd enclosure with a 1 TB hard drive and a Plextor 710 SA DVD burner (geez I can never even type "burner" without thinking of Gary Oldham's dreadlocked character in "True Romance") along with an eSATA pci card so I can boot from either the 1 TB drive or a CD/DVD and get into any level of the down PC and back it up first before "surgery".

 

I have lotsa boxes and I still like to "twist 'em" hot-swapping cmos chips, reprogramming bioses with modbn (unhiding, unlocking or adding features) often for extreme overclocking. There isn't a box cheap enough to be expendable yet good enough to bother with that won't boot from a floppy via "bootblock" with a floppy when nothing else will work. Plus old 486 and classic pentium lappys are way cheap and always have floppy drives, important when you don't want to tie up the only 2 USB ports they may have when constructing a Freesco firewall/router.

 

There are rabid sites about and for Freesco! (only odd to non-geeks) for lots of addons but most can be found through the main site here:

 

 

FREESCO Project

 

How much one needs to know is inversely proportional to how new the box is. ISA machines w/ non plug 'n play nics require knowing IRQ and memory addy of such NICs at a minumum. Newer units w/ PNP make things mmuch easier where one can just follow the Q&A type setup. Just follow your nose.

[enorbet2]

CLI = Command Line Interface

iptables = the program that controls function of networking. Any graphic frontend such as Firestarter basically minimizes your need to know switches that tell iptables what ports are open or closed, under what rule set, etc etc etc by giving you a scaled down menu, radio buttons and/or checkboxes.

 

I build Firestarter from the source tar for when I'm feeling lazy, but IpKungFu is shaping up as an awesome alternative midway between lazy and deep competing with fwbuilder. Since there us everything you need already in Slack except Firestarter (no unmet dependencies) building it is a great way to get over the fear that it's hard and see just how cool being able to roll yer own can be. - Or - you can contact me through email and I'll send you a package

 

Download Firestarter soutce

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/System/Networking/Firestarter-334.shtm

 

some more useful links

 

Slackware 12 Bob's Firewall modules needed or not in installation? - LinuxQuestions.org

ipkungfu | freshmeat.net

[freeztar]

Hey Freeze

HaHa! Thes I do still use floppies and not just because I have a thousand of 'em. Firstly, I do freelance computer building, repairing, performance tweaking, and data recovery and I never know what a client might have.

 

Cool! I do comp repair as well. I only do Windoze sys so part of learning Linux is so I can "roll my own" as well as others. :smart:

 

So I have a mixed bag of floppies, thumbdrives, CDs etc. to handle anything from cracking passwords to recovering data from roached partitions and even drives.

 

Well, I have in my kit several HDD enclosures/adaptors as well as an external DVD and numerous thumbdrives. Never once have I needed a FDD. If the situation presents itself, I will buy one. Otherwise, eck pleck spewy! Sorry, I was just thinking about the days of 5 1/4 disks and I almost vomited. :shrug:

 

One powerful too is a little self-powerd enclosure with a 1 TB hard drive and a Plextor 710 SA DVD burner (geez I can never even type "burner" without thinking of Gary Oldham's dreadlocked character in "True Romance") along with an eSATA pci card so I can boot from either the 1 TB drive or a CD/DVD and get into any level of the down PC and back it up first before "surgery".

 

I *just* finished working on a friend's (read client's) computer and I found that the best tool was UBCD. Specifically, the Copier program saved my ***. I thought it might be a dead drive (SMART was reporting imminent failure!) but I was able to salvage about 99% of the data. :steering:

 

I have lotsa boxes and I still like to "twist 'em" hot-swapping cmos chips,

 

What is the purpose of "hot swapping" CMOS chips?

 

reprogramming bioses with modbn (unhiding, unlocking or adding features) often for extreme overclocking. There isn't a box cheap enough to be expendable yet good enough to bother with that won't boot from a floppy via "bootblock" with a floppy when nothing else will work.

 

Well, I disagree here. If the data and power are inadequate to run a CD drive, then it's really a lost cause. :hyper: (or it at least needs a new PSU and cables)

 

Plus old 486 and classic pentium lappys are way cheap and always have floppy drives, important when you don't want to tie up the only 2 USB ports they may have when constructing a Freesco firewall/router.

 

There are rabid sites about and for Freesco! (only odd to non-geeks) for lots of addons but most can be found through the main site here:

 

 

FREESCO Project

 

How much one needs to know is inversely proportional to how new the box is. ISA machines w/ non plug 'n play nics require knowing IRQ and memory addy of such NICs at a minumum. Newer units w/ PNP make things mmuch easier where one can just follow the Q&A type setup. Just follow your nose.

 

I'm not an IRQ virgin so this sounds like a great idea. The biggest set back is dealing with unsupported parts, etc. (especially with a 386!)

 

I'm def going to check out Freesco! Thanks for the heads up! :steering:

 

BTW, I'm typing this from Konqueror inside Slack!

[arkain101]

Dis is a 9.04 thing :smart:

 

there's a lot on my comp that I've lost permission to access since my upgrade (won't even let me in root!)....which was one of the numerous reasons I advised above to wait until 9.10 release....9.04 is extremely buggy (for Ubu. anyways).....I'm still F####ng around with dependency issues, permission issues, and sever resource consumption (I'm using 512Meg. just idling!!!!) do yourself a favor ditch 9.04 for Gutsy, Hardy, or Intrepid....and sit tight till Jaunty 9.10 by then they should have the bugs swatted.

 

Maybe by the time I download a previous version of ubuntu like 8.10? ...... 9.10 will come be released!! Remember I have a max download speed of 3KB/Sec (on my 28.8bps connection 56k dial up)

 

I think it took me 70+ hours to download 9.04.... Maybe I will just compensate by using ethernet and inernet connectino sharing untill an update is released.

 

 

I don't wanna spend 500hours downloading 3 versions of ubuntu... :steering::lol::steering::lol:

 

I could buy it... but it just isnt important enough for me right now... windows xp is serving all my needs and more.

 

But who knows I am always looking for something to download with my unlimited dialup package.

[enorbet2]

BTW, I'm typing this from Konqueror inside Slack!

 

AWESOME! I am typing this from my virgin install of Slack v12.2 rather than my upgrade install because I wanted to walk through the firewall so I gave you accurate walkthrough. So I first owe you something of an apology and I'm doing it here because I think this will be instructive as per the thread ie what now?

 

I had forgotten that some Gnome files, specifically GConf 2 is required for Firestarter so I messed up some expecting you to install it from scratch since there is a special project called Dropline Gnome for those who want gnome stuff. As soon as the approprate version becomes available I install it because I use lots of Gnome apps even though I'm not fond of the Desktop. I couldn't do without GKrellM!

 

Anyway the really instructive thing is that once a system is setup the way you want it, you can forget about it because it will be seamlessly incorporated into your subsequent upgrades! So there is a reverse avalanche effect where less and less is required to have what you want with utterly no loss of the stability and speed you have gained from your labors. So, Yes, Slack is more labor intensive at first but it pays back forever That's a good investment in my book.

 

In any case another advantage to running a serious distro like Slack is that there is lots of help and it's all pretty well pro level and not guesses or "shotgun approach". In just a few seconds I found GuardDog and great help here

 

Error Installing Firestarter on Slackware Linux @ ./configure - LinuxQuestions.org

 

and here:

SlackBuilds.org - guarddog

 

(BTW Dontcha just love it that when you swipe-highlight text in Linux there is no need to rt-clk and hit "Copy" or "Paste" or whatever? You just highlight at source and hit middle button at target - done and done!)

 

Anyway Slackbuilds is a repository of scripts that automate the build process. Being raw text they are easily customizable should you be so inclined. So see, despite the lack of worry over dependencies there are workarounds that don't put the system at large at risk.

 

I'm planning on building GuardDog for this virgin install after I get Checkinstall in so I should be able to send you a package tomorrow if you run into any trouble. I am very security conscious, bordering on objective paranoia, so I have multiple layers of uhhh obstacles, one being the OpSys's software firewall. Assuming you are running some sort of router between your cable or dsl modem, you already have one layer. You are safe from at least 70% of hackers already on a Linux box because few doze hackers know enough to get in a Linux box, the Russian Mafia though monstrously familiar with Linux goes for the low-hanging fruit - Windows boxen. Of the remaining 30% or so that maybe could, few of them care about your little box. So software firewall isn't a must but it certainly is a "you just oughta".

 

BTW dontcha also love how when you mouseover a jpeg up jumps a thumbnail pic? Haven't seen that? Well jump into kfmclient! The FileManager in KDE has been uber tweaked for Slack. The user version is the house icon at lower left. The Super User version is found in the popup menu extreme lower left under "System>More Apps" and launching it will bring up the root login....no messing with st00pid sudo.

 

Can you feel the SOLID!?!

 

PS Freeze I'll answer the other stuff tomorrow

[freeztar]

Ok, here's the problem though...

I can boot into Slack no problem. I'm in it right now.

But...How do I install it? I found a faq on it, but it does not agree with what I'm seeing. Perhaps I messed up. I followed your instructions and used "adduser" when I got to the prompt. Apparently, I should have installed first at the prompt. Upon reboot, I go straight to the desktop. No chance to do any command line work. I assume that it's easy enough to install from the desktop (or Konsole). What am I missing?

[enorbet2]

Freeze, the short answer is "I don't know yet" The longer version involves that I don;t know exactly what you've done but I can guess until you tell me. So 1st, are we talking about "Slax" or "Slackware 12.2"? If Slax is the answer, although it is installable these days (wasn't originally but demand must've worked on the author) it is a LiveCD although built into the iso, iirc. are the instructions to NOT close the CD so some modding/customization can be written to the disk. I suspect this is what's happened and I'd recommend downloading/burning/installing the full Slackware instead, at least for now, if only because I've never installed Slax to hdd and I'd be slow and clumsy helping you. I'm still willing though.

 

If it is indeed the Slackware DVD (or multiple CDs- what is it now, 6?) it too can operate as a Live CD useful for recovery work as in if you mess up boot managing. I recommend installing LiLo to the root partition of Slackware and then pointing Grub, or whatever, to that partition, but as I said I'm paranoid and like multiple layers. I can boot any partition from any other partition on a 5-way multi-boot box....helpful if one goes down.

 

Anyway the Install DVD should very quickly take you to a prompt. READ the messages above the prompt. Initially the prompt is there for flexibility such as for adding things, install over network, or booting a different partition even. If you wish to install you should commonly just hit "enter" (CR^) and it will take you to a menued list of steps and help files. If you didn't see "Choose Linux Partition" and "Configure Lilo" or stuff like that (seems to me the background for the list is in Red window on a Blue field, very simple graphics called "ncurses" similar to VESA mode) if you didn't see that you're not installed.

 

Also, are you booting still from grub and selecting Slack or what?

[freeztar]

If you didn't see "Choose Linux Partition" and "Configure Lilo" or stuff like that (seems to me the background for the list is in Red window on a Blue field, very simple graphics called "ncurses" similar to VESA mode) if you didn't see that you're not installed.

Well, it's certainly not installed and I never reached the VESA/ANSI-esque screens. :)

Also, are you booting still from grub and selecting Slack or what?

 

I'm selecting my external DVD drive with the slack cd inside. It runs fine. I'm in it right now, but I'm about to reboot after I re-download slackware12.2. Hopefully that works.

[enorbet2]

Hey Freeze

I'm some confused but that probably has more to do with it being 4:30 AM than you. So forgive me for any clumsiness here and let me try to be more concise. Do NOT type "adduser" or anything else at the DVD prompt. That is for your very first hard drive boot after the system is installed there. Odds are extreme that all you need to do at that very first DVD prompt, besides read, is hit "enter".

 

There are install tutorials complete with screenshots online and I'll try to find you one before I crash. The only reason I mention this is because I want to be certain you are familiar with how llinux labels partitions. They are not lettered as in doze. If you have one hard drive it is likely something like "/dev/hda1" or "/dev/hda5" It is probably "/dev/sdawhatevernumber" if your hard drive is SATA (serial) rather than the older EIDE (parallel).

 

If you prepared your drive before you began the Install will recognize that you have Linux partitions available (ext2, ext3,reiser, etc as well as swap)

 

BE CERTAIN YOU KNOW WHICH IS WHICH ! You probably don't want to install over the top of your Ubuntu system.

 

If you haven't prepared the drive ahead of time by creating an empty Linux partition while you can do it from the Install CD/DVD I would feel a lot more comfortable if you have walked through the tutorial w/ screenshots so you know what to expect before you get there.

 

There are good instructions at the Slackware site and also on the install CD/DVD as README's but I think it would be smart to see the walkthrough amd for you to email me so I can give you more detailed, more thought out instructions rather than the forum process. Online chat would be cool too. My hours are weird but I am in EST so it might be good for you to inform me as to your availability as well, particularly for realtime such as Chat. That way we're on the same page of music instead of fumbling wondering where the other is. Let's jam properly.

[enorbet2]

Install Tutorials

Install Slackware 12 Linux Desktop | Linux For EveryOne

 

and

 

How to Install Slackware 12.0 - Got Slack? - Softpedia

 

I don't mean to confuse you with two very similar tutorials but you may just prefer one over the other or find something addressed in one that suits your box or situation better. This should help immensely as per the 6 "P" rule.

[freeztar]

Well, those links would have been good * before* I ran slack from cd. I went through the config windows, but I didn't realize that meant I could not install anymore. :)

 

Surely, there's a way to install via CLI (Konsole)?

[enorbet2]

OK Freeze I've revived a little but this is slow and possibly drifting off topic so if you have AIM, or in Linux GAIM, please add "enorbet" to your buddies and let's get efficient in real time, K? I'm apparently too new, too tired, or too dense to figure out how to IM you through the forum if that is even possible. So if it's coo wit yoo, let's do aim/gaim.

[freeztar]

Ok, but I can't get Kompete to work right in slack so I'm going home to gnome. :)