[AuckLUG] RE: Installing Linux

[Fuad Tabba]

Hi Richard,

I was a Woosh Wireless user for over a year. imho, it's better than nothing,
but it ain't great. Latency is quiet hight, so forget about using it for
voip, online games, or anything where latency can be an issue. The quality
of the signal really depends on where you live - and so does the speed. It
also gets really bad when it's raining.

In practice, I would get download speeds of about 30 kbytes/sec, which isn't
that bad.

Now I am a Woosh DSL customer and that is way better. If that's your only
option, then yeah go for it. If you can then I'd strongly recommend doing
otherwise.

Cheers,
/Fuad

On 5/4/07, Richard Innes <unclerichard at clear.net.nz> wrote:
>
> I am sorry I have posted my progress.  I make this post in the hope that
> it might help some else with a similar problem.
>
> My problem was that having installed Unbuntu 6.10 I discovered that it
> did not support dial up connections to the net. But my difficulties
> started earlier, with the install process.
>
> There appears to be a glitch/fault with the partitioner. When installing
> there are three options offered for formatting your hard drive.. The
> first one is to use the entire hard drive and wipe off whatever OS
> exists. This was not an option with one  hard drive and wanting to dual
> boot. The next two options involves Ubuntu automatically creating a
> partition out of the free space on your hard drive (option 2) out of the
> current partition. The last option, option offers a slider to partition
> the hard drive to your specifications. This the option that brings
> trouble. What I believe happens is that in option two Ubuntu formats the
> second partition out the free space into two partitions (the usual
> approach with Linux), the smaller of the two being the swap partition..
> If however you specify a partition size or already have a second
> partition formated (or just empty) them you have to  create the swap
> partition yourself a process not made clear during the installation. I
> found it easier when using option three to first let the installer
> (G'parter) format the second partition, halt the install, start again
> and on the second sweep create the swap partition out of the second
> partition I think it would better to use a proper hard drive manager
> such as Partition Magic, Acronis, or G' parter on a separate disc when
> using option three.
>
> There are other parts of the installation process I found a awkward. I
> would have preferred to create both a super user/administrator and a
> user during the install not the use of sudo after the installation. I
> know there have been arguments on both side and I guess in time I'll
> come to accept the Ubuntu approach. I also would have preferred a
> customized option. I appreciate that Ubuntu is trying to make it easy
> for people to install the OS and the 'one fit for all' approach is the
> price paid. In addition, I feel there needs to be an option for 'probe
> of devs', where one could see what devices had been detected and whether
> correctly or not. This would give a starting point for configuration
> once the installation is complete. I guess the 'one fit for all' again
> applies.
>
> Now to the solution to my problem. For whatever reason Ubuntu does not
> support dial up modems. I got as far as configuring the pppd but failed
> to discover how to connect,activate/ turn on the demon. Someone
> suggested adding it as an applet which I tried without success.  The on
> line help is useless in these kind of situation sand I agree with the
> recent comparison of Ubuntu with Vista that the help provided in Linux
> is written by geeks who have no concept of how non geeks view their
> programs. Fortunately I stumbled on a site, Ubuntu Geek through Google
> (I Googled 'dial up' in Ubuntu), where not only was there a concise,
> easy to follow directions on how to configure ppp (which I had already
> managed) but which went to the next step and told one how to
> connect/activate or this case turn ppp on and off. These simple commands
> - pon, poff - were followed with examples of how to add the provider
> command and thus get the thing working. Now why couldn't that be covered
> in the help file? Though the wording given wasn't quite compatible with
> my set up it took just a few minutes of experimenting and viola! I had a
> working internet connection. After declining the updates (over 83mb) I
> immediately set about down loading, installing, and configuring Gnome
> ppp, which, since Ubuntu is supposed to be a Gnome based distro, should
> have been included in the installation.
>
> I know dial up is rapidly going the way of the old trusty floppy drive,
> but there still will be circumstances when such a connection maybe the
> only way into the internet.
>
> Two things I like about Ubuntu is firstly the way Grub accommodated my
> XP and enabled easy dual booting into whichever OS I desired. I can
> remember in my previous LInux lives often having to floppy boot Linux so
> as not to wipe out my Windows OS. Secondly, I as say I download Gnome
> ppp and installed it. Again, I can remember such undertakings previously
> were fraught with hair-tearing dependency hell and broken links. This
> though was simple and uncomplicated and something to be marveled at. In
> this respect it maybe LInux has at last come close to matching Windows
> (not that Windows doesn't have its own downloading and installing hells).
>
> I intend to explore Ubuntu further and its particular 'brand' (Debian)
> of Linux. I also hope to investigate other distros such as those based
> on Slackware and Gentoo. I don't want at this stage to enter the debate
> about the relative merits of each, no doubt I'll discover that for
> myself in due course.
>
> Someone also suggested I go to the Install Fest about which there has
> been some controversy. I'm not entirely convinced such a approach is
> fruitful for Linux. The adage ' Give a man a fish and he can eat for a
> day, teach a man to fish and  he'll feed himself all year' is relevant.
> By offering install fests is not the Linux community implying that
> installations are for Linux Geeks and not mortal beings. It implies
> Linux is complicated and that you better not break it or you'll be left
> with a unusable computer? Would it not be better to show people how to
> install Linux? This would require the much more clearer, step by step,
> instructions that Linux seems to fear embracing. I think we ought to
> make it plain that Linux is no more difficult to install and maintain
> than Windows (indeed as many suspect it's easier). Give non-Linux people
> encouragement to explore and make their own mistakes knowing there is a
> body of people and material readily at hand to help them.
>
> Finally I decided to embrace the world of broadband. Is there some
> brave/foolhardy soul out there who has successfully entered the
> broadband world through Woosh - the wireless version. Woosh is hopeless
> when it comes to technical support, they have simply taken on too much
> and haven't enough technical staff. I can't get a signal. I have a
> booster antenna, but I suspect I live in a black hole which all
> radiation avoids. I would be grateful for any tips.
>
> Richard Innes
>
>
>
>
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