Any Computer Geeks in Da House?

[Caleb]

you mean "sudo apt-get" right?

[K. Darien Freeheart]

I think he means sudo aptitude but apt-get will do the same thing (with some minor, mostly irrelevant) differences. Aptitude marks dependencies in a way that they can later be removed if/when you decided to remove the meta package. Though as I said, irrelevant, since apt-get itself now has that ability in a less direct way.

You could also use Synaptic or Adept to do the same thing or the Add/Remove programs applet. It all has the same effect.

[error]

Why are you using ndiswrapper? What sort of piece of $#!+ wireless card do you have?

[Caleb]

Trendnet TEW-423 PI

Piece of shit? That thing set me back $17 

[mackler]

is ubuntu better than debian?

[SethCohn]

is ubuntu better than debian?

Long time Debian user who uses Ubuntu now...  Yes, it is.  Ubuntu solves the biggest problems of Debian: distance between releases, user friendliness, metapackaging.

Ubuntu is really just Debian with some better clothing.  If you are used to Debian, you'll be more than happy with Ubuntu... it's Debian underneath, so there is no learning curve at all if you use Debian now.  If you don't, it's easy enough to hand to someone who isn't a unix geek, like a mom or dad.

[error]

Trendnet TEW-423 PI

Piece of shit? That thing set me back $17 

I generally expect to pay between $30-$50 for a decent wireless card, though you can usually manage to find a deal on a decent card.

There's no native Linux support for that particular card; you have to use ndiswrapper and pray. If you're an atheist, it's guaranteed not to work.

Of course, ndiswrapper is flaky at its best, which is why I only buy wireless cards known to work natively in Linux. I personally recommend cards with an Atheros chipset; Intel cards work pretty well too, but the Atheros has better range and sensitivity to lock in weaker, farther away signals.

[Dan]

Trendnet TEW-423 PI

Piece of shit? That thing set me back $17 

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=493958

It's a mess, but it works.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

is ubuntu better than debian?

Long time Debian user who uses Ubuntu now...  Yes, it is.

As a fair objection... I'm a Debian user who has used Ubuntu and returned to Debian. I'd not have done that if I felt Debian was inferior. The answer to "Is distro X better than distro Y" is always "If distro X meets YOUR needs best".

For me, the single reason I use Debian is it's adherence to the Debian Free Software Guidelines.  I've also got the experience level to build package from source if there's a broken dependancy in the Debian repositories, so the shifting nature of Sid/Experimental doesn't impact me one bit. For that reason, I often have a system that's MORE CURRENT than Ubuntu's latest release. I run my system that I built to run fully using only software that I have source to so ANY distro, including the "ultra-conservative" gNewSense, runs just fine on it. If, however, the ONLY distro that gets your wireless card working is SimplyMepis, that would win hands down for you.

Of course, ndiswrapper is flaky at its best, which is why I only buy wireless cards known to work natively in Linux. I personally recommend cards with an Atheros chipset; Intel cards work pretty well too, but the Atheros has better range and sensitivity to lock in weaker, farther away signals.

Which could really only be said recently. The Atheros driver (at least for some atheros chipsets) came from OpenBSD and they're known for having pretty good wifi support. So I'd agree pretty strongly there, Atheros is a good bet both from compatibility AND functionality. Intel has the drawback (or benefit, if that's how you see it) to being bound to Intel systems, much like their 3D drivers which are fully functional using only free software. Ralink is a third contender for honest-to-goodness plug-and-playability because they were one of the first to license their drivers permissively. Two years ago, you had to hunt for a card that worked on GNU/Linux. Today, you have to try pretty hard to find one that works poorly.

There's no native Linux support for that particular card; you have to use ndiswrapper and pray. If you're an atheist, it's guaranteed not to work. Smiley

Welcome the my "Big Book Of Geek Quotes".

[error]

When I ordered my new laptop, the choices I was offered for wireless cards were Intel or Broadcom. Since Broadcom is one of those aforementioned pieces of shit, I went with Intel. But I still carry with me an Atheros-based PCMCIA card and it finally paid off this week when the only wireless signal I could get was very weak and the Intel card couldn't hang on to it. The Atheros card had no problems with it.

Sooner or later I'll replace the internal Intel card with an internal Atheros card, but that will most likely be later.

[Caleb]

So at the risk of offending the linux purists  ...

I finally got sick of no internet connectivity, so I installed XP. Don't worry, it's only temporary. Just long enough for me to play around and find a version of linux that will work for me, or else until I get a compatible card.  Even with XP, this new system is blazing. I can't keep up with it, it loads everything faster than my eyes and ears and fingers can adjust to them. 

I'm downloading Hardy as we speak. If that doesn't work, we'll try Mepis. Then Freespire ... then ... then ... then ...

[error]

Sheesh.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

So at the risk of offending the linux purists...

I'm so offended! 

The best distro is the one that meets your needs. I'm just glad you're not using Vista.

I finally got sick of no internet connectivity, so I installed XP. Don't worry, it's only temporary. Just long enough for me to play around and find a version of linux that will work for me, or else until I get a compatible card.

Every distro, given the skills of the user, is equal. No distro will work exceptionally well with a device unsupported by Linux (i.e. common to ALL distros). That said, there's another option, learn more about your system. This is something a lot of people don't want to do, and that's fine too, but you'll find that you're able to get more done on any distro if you learn more about it.

I'm downloading Hardy as we speak. If that doesn't work, we'll try Mepis. Then Freespire ... then ... then ... then ...

I recall that you're a KDE user by choice, no? If so, I would also suggest Sidux. I'm a HUGE fan of Debian and Sidux is based on Debian with additional things based around KDE.

[Caleb]

Thanks. I'm not really a KDE guy. Gnome has not treated me poorly. Neither has KDE. I like them both. The only one that I don't like at all is X-fce.

The reason that I like KDE (at least on a startup disk) is because the KPPP dialer works better with my EVDO device than the GPPP dialer does. The GPPP dialer usually can't even connect, and if it does, it promptly drops the connection. KPPP is very stable for me. I actually have ran KPPP in Gnome, it's not a problem, but since I don't have internet connectivity on this computer (at least, I won't when it's running linux), then I need to download the dialer off the CD, so .... that, in a nutshell, is the reason I prefer a KDE version on startup disk. I do think that KDE is visually more appealing.

[41mag]

Caeb, I'm considering building a system myself.  I haven't done that before, and haven't kept current with the state of hardware lately.  Do you have any suggestions for someone doing this the first time?  I'd be mostly just on the internet (occasionally some media apps) so I don't need cutting edge.