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Yay - working internet connection!
I went to the shop to collect my computer after work yesterday and got them to test the modem, which produced exactly the same error for them as it did for me. I wasn't exactly pleased by this, but it at least made me feel that I was justified in saying 'this isn't working'. They replaced the modem for me and it works!
Went from there to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ewtikins's house where I got to play with screws and bolts and shelves and stuff. And she fed me very nice chilli:-) Saw mstevens for the first time in a while too.
Came home and played with my computer till 2am ish - it now has XiRCON and PuTTY installed.
Cutting for questions to get the geeks arguing:
(a) recommend a mail client
(b) recommend a news reader
(c) remind me how to set up the localhost thing on urchin to get a newsfeed
(d) recommend a web browser
(e) my machine has wireless capabilities. I've no idea how to go about using it. When it comes to wanting to download large files would it be worth my while to find a wireless access point and learn how to use it?
(f) recommend a version of linux - the last time I asked this question someone told me the answer was Debian but to ask again when I actually needed the information
(g) I need to get hold of MySQL - would I be better offering beer tokens in exchange for a CD or doing (e)?
(h) The machine runs XP Pro and has Norton anti-virus software already installed. Is this sufficient or should I get different anti-virus software?
Went from there to
ewtikins's house where I got to play with screws and bolts and shelves and stuff. And she fed me very nice chilli:-) Saw mstevens for the first time in a while too. Came home and played with my computer till 2am ish - it now has XiRCON and PuTTY installed.
Cutting for questions to get the geeks arguing:
(a) recommend a mail client
(b) recommend a news reader
(c) remind me how to set up the localhost thing on urchin to get a newsfeed
(d) recommend a web browser
(e) my machine has wireless capabilities. I've no idea how to go about using it. When it comes to wanting to download large files would it be worth my while to find a wireless access point and learn how to use it?
(f) recommend a version of linux - the last time I asked this question someone told me the answer was Debian but to ask again when I actually needed the information
(g) I need to get hold of MySQL - would I be better offering beer tokens in exchange for a CD or doing (e)?
(h) The machine runs XP Pro and has Norton anti-virus software already installed. Is this sufficient or should I get different anti-virus software?
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(b) Forte Agent
(c) it's all in the wrist action!
(d) Firefox
(e-g) I find home made cake is best for all these.
(h) I'd say that was enough, but I'm not the world expert.
Despite my answers to the later questions I do wholeheartedly recommmend a,b and d.
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b) I don't read news anymore.
c) Don't know.
d) Firefox.
e) I think it's fairly pointy-click on XP but I've not done it.
f) Ubuntu seems popular at the moment. I'm running Debian at work, which is more effort to setup but supposedly more stable. The Ubuntu installer is fairly easy.
You probably want to setup a dual-boot system with XP and Linux. I don't do this so don't know anything about setting it up.
g) It's probably small enough to download on dialup with only moderately large amounts of patience.
h) Make sure you've got the XP firewall turned on, and you're letting Norton update itself.
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WiFi access points are rarely free, BTW. Unless a) someone's been stupid enough to set it up without encryption, or b) you somehow acquire the WEP key. They tend to be gateways to a broadband connection though, so useful for downloading stuff. That said, my Palm Tungsten C is an excellent WiFi sniffer; I trialled an app recently that basically works as a WEP cracker. It's less intrusive to warchalk with a Palm than it is a laptop. The app was useful enough that I'm seriously considering paying full price for it.
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The one at the Oakdale is.
I do (usually) rate-limit it to 256kbit/s though, so the customers can't use all my bandwidth.
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b) XNews
d) Firefox
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For these purposes Ubuntu and Debian are probably similar enough that if you use Ubuntu you can get help from Debian users, so Ubuntu is almost certainly your best choice.
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Personally, I don't think that Ubuntu is sufficiently easier than Debian to compensate for the fact that Debian is much better supported.
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Duly noted. Is the installer for Debian any better nowadays? It's been an age since I tried it. If it's caught up I'll start recommending Debian to people more often.
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I used to be able to install Debian 3.0 in about 40 minutes; my record for 3.1 is fifteen, though my first attempt was more like 20.
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b) No idea
c) Can't
d) Firefox
e) Depends on the speed of the access point, but almost certainly yes.
f) I hear good things about Ubuntu.
g) I heard that MySQL sucks, and the PostgreSQL is the way to go.
h) Norton will eat up your resources, slow your computer down and, in time, bug you to pay to continue using it. I recommend uninstalling it entirely and replacing it with AVG Anti-Virus which is free for personal use.
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It depends what you are doing. PostgreSQL has always been more feature-complete and correct; MySQL has historically been faster but less safe. The two appear to be converging these days, with MySQL gaining features and PostgreSQL gaining speed.
(The pub's cash register and stock control systems use PostgreSQL as a back end, running on a comparatively slow machine; I've never had any problems with it. I prefer correctness over speed for this application!)
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(d) Firefox
(e) Connecting to someone else's wireless access point will most likely cost you money unless it's someones home one that they've accidentally set it up without encryption. I don't know what commercial ones charge so I'm not sure whether it'd be cheaper than paying for phonecalls or not. If you want to set one up at home you'll need a broadband connection anyway.
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And unfortunately using such a thing is illegal (not just in theory, there's a precedent).
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(b) tin
(c) Why bother?
(d) Lynx. Or firefox if you want shininess.
(e) If you don't have any other broadband access, then possibly. Getting a USB key and dumping stuff on that from a networked machine might be easier than lugging a laptop about just for file transfer.
(f) Whatever is run by the subset of your friends who are both clueful and helpful. I like debian flavour myself, although I understand that ubuntu is like debian but somewhat creamier and smoother.
(g) I'd always prefer to have an install CD somewhere. They're not difficult to find or make, and they're incredibly useful, particularly when things start to break.
(h) Dunno, I don't do windows.
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(d) I can get Lynx on urchin when I need it.
(e) Ahh, yes I'd forgotten about my USB key.
(f) Yes, this was mostly a question about what other people are using.
(g) Point.
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Mozilla Thuderbird
(b) recommend a news reader
Forte Free Agent (v3 was released a few weeks ago)
(c) remind me how to set up the localhost thing on urchin to get a newsfeed
Whats urchin? Agent will now do multiple sources though, so it might not be required.
(d) recommend a web browser
Firefox +Adblocker plugin, among others
(e) my machine has wireless capabilities. I've no idea how to go about using it. When it comes to wanting to download large files would it be worth my while to find a wireless access point and learn how to use it?
(f) recommend a version of linux - the last time I asked this question someone told me the answer was Debian but to ask again when I actually needed the information
Ubuntu is pretty nice, but I prefer KDE, so, Kubuntu. You can get a Live CD, or install CD, or both (but thats a 1.6GB DVD)
(g) I need to get hold of MySQL - would I be better offering beer tokens in exchange for a CD or doing (e)?
It's a 20mb download for the server and admin system. I've got it on my laptop. Remind me on Monday night and I'll be sure to bring some blank CDs and my system and you can fill a CD with stuff.
(h) The machine runs XP Pro and has Norton anti-virus software already installed. Is this sufficient or should I get different anti-virus software?
getting a freebie copy of AVG to run on demand can't do any harm.
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(b) Forte Agent - I think there's a free version that will do enough of this.
(c) An ssh port forward, probably. Ask on IRC.
(d) Firefox
(e) If you can find one that's cheap enough. Setting up the wireless should be fairly trivial, but may be worth getting the basics sorted out without a time limit by visiting someone with a network.
(f) Debian sarge.
(g) Either. Burning and posting you a CD should cost someone very little in either money or time. I could probably do it though I tend to be a bit disorganised about posting things.
(h) Should be fine. You may need to pay for the updates at some point. That said, I don't run any anti-virus software, I just make sure not to read my email in Windows.
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I don't know much of anything else, except I'd say XP Pro and Norton make a decent combination. Check how long your license is for - my computer came with 3 months of Norton, then I had to either buy a license or get something else (since my university provides free Sophos and Ben's university provides free McAfee, I went with the latter option).
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b) Thunderbird
c) No idea
d) Firefox
e) Probably. There seem to be a lot of freely available ones around, check Consume for more info.
f) Debian 3.1 ("Sarge")
g) Depends how much hassle is involved in finding a free wireless access point. A pint for a CD-R seems reasonable.
h) I haven't had a problem with Norton, just make sure you keep it up to date.
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b) It's been too long - I use google groups when I need to look at text and a program I don't remember to snaffle binaries. I used to use Agent, but I'm aware things have moved on.
c) Pass.
d) Firefox, with Tabbrowser Extensions (but you may not have a hundred plus tabs open at a time...)
e) Only if you can find a free one, IMV.
f) Depends on what you want it for. For general use, Ubuntu (Debian for the masses). If you want to run Windows software, another based-on-Debian but with emulation built in, Xandros (costs money).
g) Step one, what platform? Probably don't even have to offer money, CD-R blanks are so cheap.
h) Make sure you keep up to date, with both XP patches and Norton definitions. I love Sophos for anti-virus, but it's not worth paying £100 a year for if you've already got a decent checker. You need a spyware detector more.
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f) I am shocked that there seems to be such (near-?)unanimity on Linux distro of choice these days. In a good way.
h) Karen, consider suggestions from this article and this one. For me, Windows XP SP 2 firewall, ZoneAlarm (installed before getting online!), AVG Free Edition, AdAware and Spybot Search and Destroy do the trick, but I am worried in that there seem to be several entire classes of software, per the latter article, that I am avoiding altogether.
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It seems to things that the "recommended" alternatives didn't, like have tab scrolling (although I miss having a proper scroll bar). I also miss the tab groups and the 'save tab sessions'.
Hmmm, I wonder if it's compatible with the alternative tab colourer I tried once.
I'm not surprised, as Ubuntu is an awful lot less of a hassle than any other free distro I've tried.
(from a non-geek)
(d) Firefox. Deffinitely. But have a copy of IE for sites that aren't up on the good web browsers. Oxfam's BigNoiseMusic.com download service doesn't like anything other than IE for example.
(e) It's great in my own home, but I've not tried a public one.
(h) Norton seems to be pretty good actually, but turn on the personal firewall. If you don't want to use that, try AVG and ZoneAlarm for a firewall (although I had problems with ZA blocking such unsavoury sites as Google!)
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I use Pegasus Mail, and would recommend it. Other clients are available.
(b) recommend a news reader
I use Xnews, and would loosely recommend it, but more from inertia than anything else.
(d) recommend a web browser
Firefox is as good as any, especially now that you've missed Opera's one-day giveaway.
(h) The machine runs XP Pro and has Norton anti-virus software already installed. Is this sufficient or should I get different anti-virus software?
I've never found Norton to be particularly stable, and its firewall doesn't work at all well with the Windows one. AVG and the Symantec Personal firewall do me just about fine.
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I use Pegasus Mail as well, and have done so ever since first using it at work (since it worked very well in a Novell environment such as the one we had back then in 1997). I'm not sure whether it's for everyone, but I rather like it.
I'm a bit annoyed at the fact that it can't "do" UTF-8 (at least, not the version I have - 4.12a) but if you send and receive mail only in English this is likely not to matter much.
I also use Forte Agent (used to use Free Agent, then bought Agent a bit later) on the odd occasion when I still look into Usenet; it seems to work well enough for me. I haven't tried the new version yet, though; it's supposed to be similar on the outside but completely different under the hood.
Firefox is as good as any, especially now that you've missed Opera's one-day giveaway.
I still have Opera codes somewhere, though, if you want some.