[DeeInLondon]

And if so what Distro do you like?

I like Knoppix and a lot of the one based on it, but still not found a version of Linux that installs on my PC and works as easily as windows.

[Quadophile]

Use Red Hat 9 and works fine since I first installed in my second rig few weeks back. I am new to Linux but trying to get the hang of it.

[Matt Jason H]

I've used Red Hat and Mandrake. But if it's got that funky Tron game on it, I'm indifferent

[Justin1]

I have an old pentium 233 box with Red Hat 9 on it. Thing runs far better than any winblows system that was previously on it. Still learning the ropes though. I had it set up as a web server for a bit till I had to reset my router settings... now I've been having troubles getting it back online. I still have network and internet access mind you, I've just been having troubles getting the domain name to resolve to the server. This much to be learned still, I want to set up ftp access to it and I want to be able to set up user accounts so I can connect to it from my other windows boxes that are hooked up to the network which has been rather confusing. I have a huge Redhat book but its rather cryptic to a new linux user. Anywho, thats where I'm at with linux.

[Quadophile]

Linux does not like Windoze modems and all the modems that I use at home and in the office do not work with Linux. Linux actually is very much dependant on harware modems as Winmodems are a not really modems which I found out doing a bit of research.

I did find out that one of the modems that works very well with Linux is CNet 5614xe. I just ordered it and will test out the Internet experience for the first time. If all goes well I will post my results hopfully on the weekend when I have some time to spare for experimentation.

These are the modems that I use which failed to work with Linux

US Robotics 56K External Faxmodem model 5630
US Robotics 56 K Internal Voice/Data/Fax Modem model 2884A
Xircom 56k internal modem on IBM thinkpad T21

How about Cable Modems? Can anyone share their experience about using various modems with Linux?

[floppybootstomp]

I have a Zoom external ethernet ADSL Modem connected to a four port hub and it's worked fine in both Mandrake 9.1 & Red Hat 7.0.

Mandrake self configured and within Red Hat I had to enter a few things to make it be recognised.

I still don't know bugger-all about Linux though, not really much at all. Mandrake's easy to use, but I still haven't really mastered many text commands.

Currently building a new box just for Win98 (old games) & Linux. Will probably go for Mandrake 10.0 when it's released in full shortly and when I feel comfortable with some text commands, will go for latest Slackware distro - a 'real' Linux system, so I'm led to believe

[Quadophile]

Flops,

You are absolutely right about Slackware, I have also read about it on some of the Linux forums and thinking of going that route when I have some free time to spare and download the software.

[Justin1]

Just outta curiousity, why is slackware better than any of the other distro's out there? So far I've only messed around with Red Hat so I have nothing to compare it to. Is red hat the best all round way to go?

[floppybootstomp]

Latest Distro of Red Hat you now have to pay for.

Their freebie is now named 'Fedora'. Apparently it's quite OK, but a little limited if you know what you're doing and want the whole shebang.

AFAIK, Red Hat are the first Distro to charge for their full blown version, which seems to me to be totally out of spirit to the original vision of Linux - a free OS.

However, RH is used by many companies and on many servers and the basic Linux OS has been somewhat enhanced by Red Hat, so I'm led to believe.

Bit sad really, but still a helluva lot cheaper than Microsoft.

As for Slackware, from what I've read, it's a 'pure' Linux Distro, although it has a GUI, it's closer in heart to original Linux ideal and more reliant on text commands than other Distros. And, if you know what you're doing, it's very stable and reliable.

So I'm told, anyway, I've never tried it. Frankly, I'm a wuss and if a Distro is heavily reliant on a GUI, that suits me fine

[Justin1]

How about Cable Modems? Can anyone share their experience about using various modems with Linux?

I have a home network with two xp boxes and a linux box connected through a linksys 4 hub router with cable access. Have had no connection problems other than trying to resolve my domain name to apache running on the linux box.