Unix, Linux?

[jerome]

I'm currently in some classes at the moment that are going to be requiring mostly UNIX & networking stuff. Although I don't have any other computers to hook up to, I was wondering if any of you (that still frequent this place) might be able to tell me which version of each to try.

I apologize up front if I don't have this in the right section. I noticed DM said there's no longer a Tech section, so I placed it here.

The Linux I just kind of want to try out.

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help.

[Saffith]

Linux (well, GNU/Linux, strictly speaking) is pretty much a free version of Unix. It doesn't quite follow the Unix specification, but it's close enough that you can take both together.

Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/)'s currently the most popular Linux distribution. Debian (http://www.debian.org/), Fedora (http://fedoraproject.org/), and openSUSE (http://www.opensuse.org/en/) are also popular. I use Linux Mint (http://www.linuxmint.com/), myself. There are countless more, but one of those should be good to start with.

Other free Unix-like systems include OpenSolaris (http://www.opensolaris.com/) and BSD descendants like FreeBSD (http://www.freebsd.org/) and OpenBSD (http://www.openbsd.org/). I believe Solaris is registered as Unix-compliant.

[jerome]

Thanks! I had found one site with free versions as well, but I have never used anything other thn Windows so I didn't know which to try for sure. (Unless you count programming on an Apple IIc as something different.)

[jerome]

I thought I'd say thanks again since I finally got it installed. I got Linux Mint 9. Of course, now I realize, my internet won't work on Linux because I use an aircard. It's still pretty nice anyhow.

[Saffith]

Hm, an aircard should definitely be workable. Try running gnome-ppp (http://packages.ubuntu.com/lucid/i386/gnome-ppp/download), assuming you've got a way to copy it over.

[jerome]

I have an external hard drive, but also I chose the option to have Linux run side by side with Windows, so I can grab files from either side (I think that's what it means, it's all new to me). I'll give it a try.

Does this program just let me run most Windows programs? I should also mention that it's a Sprint aircard and they don't seem to support Linux (at least on the website).

[Saffith]

Sprint may not offer support, but Linux comes with open-source drivers for all sorts of things. See if your card's listed here (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NetworkManager/Hardware/3G). If you can't get it working, the Mint or Ubuntu forums can probably help.

[jerome]

Thanks I'll have to try one of the help forums there.

I read something about SAMBA in class, is that something that would help?

[Saffith]

Samba's just for sharing resources over a network, I believe. I don't think it'll do anything for a system that doesn't already have network access.

Something I forgot to mention before: for file transfers, you should be able to use your Windows partition in Linux. If you go to Places > Computer, it should show up as XX GB hard disk: XX GB filesystem, or something like that. Right-click it and select Mount, and it should be usable. Might be read-only, though.

[jerome]

I noticed while screwing around with it, it has a bunch of built in things that I can download if needed, but I'd need to be able to connect first. I just might have to move this thing to a physical connction to one of the routers around base.

I actually didn't do a seperate partition, Linus Mint 9 let me install it "side-by-side with XP" as it chose to describe it as. Quite handy actually in that regard.

I'm guessing this next answer is a big "No", but is there like a universal WINE player for Linux so I don't have to download individual things for each program? It would probably be like asking to have a universal MAC program player for Windows Anything.

[Saffith]

Yeah, you're missing a lot without an internet connection. Definitely worth it to get that working, one way or another.

If I understand you correctly, Wine is pretty much exactly what you're looking for. Just one big project meant to handle everything. Not everything actually works yet, but it does pretty well. You can check AppDB (http://appdb.winehq.org/) to see if a particular application will work.
You probably want the package named wine1.2 (the latest version) instead of just wine (the stable one). Might wanna get PlayOnLinux, too.