DiBona.com

TechTV Frequently Asked Questions

These are questions I often recieve as a result of my appearances on the screen savers tv show on TechTV. If you read these before emailing me, you may be able to save yourself a lot of time.

Index of Faq Topics:

0...Getting Linux Help Via Email.

1...What is that cool see through terminal you used in the earlier segments?

2...Where did you Get that cool background?

3...What linux distribution shound I use?

4...Dual Booting XP/Win2k and Linux

5..."windows" modems (winmodems)

6...Is there a cheap place to pick up Linux? Can I just download it?

7...Where can I find online docs about Linux?

8...What window manager/desktop was that?

9...Firewire and Linux

10...Outlook replacements for linux...

11...Access replacements

12...NTFS Access....

13...CD Burning under Linux

14...Donations

15...Finding User Groups

16...Article/Topic Index (including good books for linux)

0...Email Help

Since I am no longer employed by OSDN specifically to do the TechTV segments, I can no longer help people for free via email. I am currently writing a beginner oriented book and I find I'm spending a lot of time giving free email support to people and this is taking time away from writing, so this is not something I can do anymore. So, if you have a question that cannot be satisfied easily via this faq or by searching google then you will have to donate a minimum of 27$ per question (a la chris pirillo) for me to take the time to help out. I strongly reccomend that you visit your local linux users group if you want help for free. LUGs are very helpful!

If you still want to contact me at tss@dibona.com keep in mind that I don't answer questions about windows installations (see chris's website for that), so there you go, I will touch on some dual-boot topics, but I can't really help when windows blows up on you, as it is it's nature to do so.

Other things to consider: I reccomend the latest version of Red Hat because for new users it is the best. Also, if you want to pay me to answer a question, email me first and I'll tell you if I can help if so, you can pay me and I'll help you with it.

1...What is that cool see through terminal you used in the earlier segments?

That is Eterm! Eterm , written by Michael Jennings can be found at http://eterm.org

2...Where did you Get that cool background?

The backgrounds I use come from Digital Blasphemy, which can be found at digitalblasphemy.com

3...What linux distribution should I use?

I recommend Red Hat as they are very friendly to the new user. I used to use debian for servers, but now I pretty much only use Red Hat's Distribution. I would never recommend Debian to those new to linux, same with Slackware. I won't be able to answer your non-redhat or Debian questions, as there are too many distributions of varying quality out there. Do yourself a favor and start with Red Hat Linux.

If you just want to try out linux, you don't even have to install it, just download the Knoppix CD Distribution reboot and Linux runs beautifully from the CD, making it super easy for you to experience.

4...Dual Booting XP/Win2k and Linux

You can do this, from what I understand, you want to install windows first in the first partition, and then install linux afterwards installing lilo/grub on the linux partition which has been made active, that way windows thinks it's all by itself.

If you want to do this with partition magic, well then back everything important to you up, and the CIA disavows any knowledge of your actions and I personally warn you about this....

5..."windows" modems

They can be supported, but it's hard, check out http://www.linmodems.org/, I have never tried to make these work, so I can't help much there. Addendem: I'm made the one in my laptop work (it is a xircom winmodem) so I can vouch for the drive on linux T20 laptops, anyhow.

6...Is there a cheap place to pick up Linux? Can I just download it?

If you have a burner and a fast connection, you can download the isos for redhat from:

http://mirrors.kernel.org/redhat/redhat/redhat-7.3-en/iso/i386/

Cheapbytes has really terrific prices on distros, sometimes as low as a $1 us a cd. Check em out at http://cheapbytes.com Remember that you get no official support this way the way you would through Red Hat.

7...Where can I find online docs about Linux?

There is a vast amount of documentation available via the linux documentation project, which can be found at: http://www.tldp.org/

8...What window manager/desktop was that?

In earlier shows I was using Enlightenment (enlightenment.org) with EFM (alpha weird softwarE). I reccomend gnome or my current desktop choice kde for a new user.

9...Firewire and Linux

Linux can support 1384 , but it is tricky, and not for the faint of heart...you must compile 1384 support into your kernel, and download the tools to handle the hot-plugging of devices. You can find some info here:

http://linux1394.sourceforge.net/

10...Outlook replacements for linux.

Your best bet is evolution. It's a very well designed mailer/contact/pim/calander for linux. Find it at http://ximian.org If you need exchange connectivity, you can purchase that as an extra for evolution.

Also, don't forget that mozilla comes with a decent mail reader. Evolution comes standard with Red Hat 8.0 and above.

11...Access replacements

I'd probably go the mysql/form creator combination. or Postgres/form creator route. Postgres is a db much more powerful than acces, and mysql slightly less, but 100 times faster than dbs like postgres, oracle and access.

mysql: http://mysql.com postgres: http://postgres.org

It's worth mentioning that both are avaialble on most distribution cds.

For a form creator, I'd check out the data-front ends section of freshmeat:

http://freshmeat.net/browse/68/?topic_id=68

12...NTFS Access.

There is a way of accessing files on an ntfs partition via linux, however you must rebuild a kernel to do it, as ntfs is not built into the stock kernels of most distributions.

13...CD Burning under Linux

There are extensive tools for burning cd roms under linux. One very easy to use one is xcdroast , which is pertty handy. The Freshmeat index of cd writing utilities can be found at this url: http://freshmeat.net/browse/845/?topic_id=845.

14...Donations

Someone actually asked me if they could donate cash for me helping them out with their questions, I've added a donate button to the website for this very reason. Thanks! (also see FAQ Question 0) IF you want to donate...hit this button:

15...Finding User Groups

I can't really provide end all be all help for end users of linux, so I suggest finding a user group in your area! It's fun and groups can help much faster than some loser on tv :-) (me) To find a user group, check out these urls:

US: http://usergroups.linux.com/
US: http://www.ssc.com:8080/glue/groups
US: http://www.linux.org/groups/
UK: http://www.lug.org.uk/

I used to run one my self and it was really terrific.

That said, check out this great beginner guide to linux, Here.

16...Article/Topic Index

Introducing Spamassassin
http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/linux/story/0,24330,3418146,00.html

SpamBayes http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/products/story/0,24330,3515016,00.html

FreeBSD vs Linux http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/linux/story/0,24330,3511343,00.html

BitTorrent http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/story/0,24330,3503186,00.html

NMap http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/howto/story/0,24330,3488986,00.html

Armagetron http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/showtell/story/0,24330,3480195,00.html

The LNX-BBC http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/products/story/0,24330,3462645,00.html

RedHat 9 http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/linux/story/0,24330,3425151,00.html