Linux Mint: great splash screen...but won't work. Sticking withWindows XP.

[RayLopez99]

Tried Linux Mint today on the Live CD. I had just downloaded this
Live CD and burned it today, so it's the latest version.

First, and foremost it turns out, it had a great, beautiful splash
screen. Nice graphics. I also develop apps for Windows and I can tell
you making a program look good is a big deal. Hat's off to the
graphic artist, whoever he or she was.

Trouble is, nothing else much happened. I am also thankful that the
programmers did not do something stupid like try and automatically
reformat my Windows XP OS HD on my Pentium IV 2.4 GHz with 2 GB RAM
and install Mint without me wanting it. Be thankful for small favors
when in Linux hell I guess.

Just to confirm that I'm not making this up, here are my notes I took
on bootup: initially, a small Mint logo with the words 'from freedom
came elegance' appears, followed by five or so dots that blink; then,
2:45 seconds later (unacceptably long, and longer than Windows XP
takes on my machine) you get a menu, which has icons for 'install
Linux' and system monitor icons. Again, nice artwork. From the lower
left button, you can click and see the logo for Firefox. Right
clicking it, you see "Launch" which is what I did. Firefox did
launch, tried to find the Mint website, and failed. I typed in
Google.com as the URL and it also failed. I checked the system icon
and it did find "Auto etho0" and did recognize my ethernet card, I
could tell from the manufacturer.

Any ideas why I could not access the internet? Upon reboot into
Windows, I found the net no problem as evidenced by this post.

Some speculation: perhaps my ISP, Otenet here in Athens, Greece,
requires some sort of special drivers for Linux. I did load Windows
XP with a driver on a CD that came from them initially, to configure
my SpeedTouch DSL modem, a generic and popular DSL modem. But I
thought I was told Linux LiveCd can allow you to surf right off the
CD? Why the fail then?

Any advice "appreciated". As for now, I'm sticking to Windows and
will recommend Windows to this girl that needs my help setting up her
system, which also is a Pentium IV but with 1 GB RAM.

RL

 

[White Spirit]

As for now, I'm sticking to Windows and
will recommend Windows to this girl that needs my help setting up her
system, which also is a Pentium IV but with 1 GB RAM.

Don't forget to recommend that she use Vista on that machine...

 

[boatman312]

Tried Linux Mint today on the Live CD. I had just downloaded this
Live CD and burned it today, so it's the latest version.

First, and foremost it turns out, it had a great, beautiful splash
screen. Nice graphics. I also develop apps for Windows and I can tell
you making a program look good is a big deal. Hat's off to the
graphic artist, whoever he or she was.

Trouble is, nothing else much happened. I am also thankful that the
programmers did not do something stupid like try and automatically
reformat my Windows XP OS HD on my Pentium IV 2.4 GHz with 2 GB RAM
and install Mint without me wanting it. Be thankful for small favors
when in Linux hell I guess.

Just to confirm that I'm not making this up, here are my notes I took
on bootup: initially, a small Mint logo with the words 'from freedom
came elegance' appears, followed by five or so dots that blink; then,
2:45 seconds later (unacceptably long, and longer than Windows XP
takes on my machine) you get a menu, which has icons for 'install
Linux' and system monitor icons. Again, nice artwork. From the lower
left button, you can click and see the logo for Firefox. Right
clicking it, you see "Launch" which is what I did. Firefox did
launch, tried to find the Mint website, and failed. I typed in
Google.com as the URL and it also failed. I checked the system icon
and it did find "Auto etho0" and did recognize my ethernet card, I
could tell from the manufacturer.

Any ideas why I could not access the internet? Upon reboot into
Windows, I found the net no problem as evidenced by this post.

Some speculation: perhaps my ISP, Otenet here in Athens, Greece,
requires some sort of special drivers for Linux. I did load Windows
XP with a driver on a CD that came from them initially, to configure
my SpeedTouch DSL modem, a generic and popular DSL modem. But I
thought I was told Linux LiveCd can allow you to surf right off the
CD? Why the fail then?

Any advice "appreciated". As for now, I'm sticking to Windows and
will recommend Windows to this girl that needs my help setting up her
system, which also is a Pentium IV but with 1 GB RAM.

RL

The problem isn't your ISP. Mint couldn't find a proper driver for your
physical ethernet port.

 

[Alias]

Tried Linux Mint today on the Live CD. I had just downloaded this
Live CD and burned it today, so it's the latest version.

First, and foremost it turns out, it had a great, beautiful splash
screen. Nice graphics. I also develop apps for Windows and I can tell
you making a program look good is a big deal. Hat's off to the
graphic artist, whoever he or she was.

Trouble is, nothing else much happened. I am also thankful that the
programmers did not do something stupid like try and automatically
reformat my Windows XP OS HD on my Pentium IV 2.4 GHz with 2 GB RAM
and install Mint without me wanting it. Be thankful for small favors
when in Linux hell I guess.

Just to confirm that I'm not making this up, here are my notes I took
on bootup: initially, a small Mint logo with the words 'from freedom
came elegance' appears, followed by five or so dots that blink; then,
2:45 seconds later (unacceptably long, and longer than Windows XP
takes on my machine) you get a menu, which has icons for 'install
Linux' and system monitor icons. Again, nice artwork. From the lower
left button, you can click and see the logo for Firefox. Right
clicking it, you see "Launch" which is what I did. Firefox did
launch, tried to find the Mint website, and failed. I typed in
Google.com as the URL and it also failed. I checked the system icon
and it did find "Auto etho0" and did recognize my ethernet card, I
could tell from the manufacturer.

Any ideas why I could not access the internet? Upon reboot into
Windows, I found the net no problem as evidenced by this post.

Some speculation: perhaps my ISP, Otenet here in Athens, Greece,
requires some sort of special drivers for Linux. I did load Windows
XP with a driver on a CD that came from them initially, to configure
my SpeedTouch DSL modem, a generic and popular DSL modem. But I
thought I was told Linux LiveCd can allow you to surf right off the
CD? Why the fail then?

Any advice "appreciated". As for now, I'm sticking to Windows and
will recommend Windows to this girl that needs my help setting up her
system, which also is a Pentium IV but with 1 GB RAM.

RL

You expect a live CD to be the same as a real install? Did you download
the CD or the DVD? What type of NIC do you have? I notice you are not
asking these questions in a Mint newsgroup. Why not? I have added the
Mint newsgroup to this message where people who use Mint may have the
solution for you.

Mint will not install unless you tell it to. Why do you think it would?

 

[RayLopez99]

The problem isn't your ISP.  Mint couldn't find a proper driver for your
physical ethernet port.

Why? It's a generic via rhine ii ethernet driver card.

RL

 

[RayLopez99]

You expect a live CD to be the same as a real install? Did you download
the CD or the DVD? What type of NIC do you have? I notice you are not
asking these questions in a Mint newsgroup. Why not? I have added the
Mint newsgroup to this message where people who use Mint may have the
solution for you.

Mint will not install unless you tell it to. Why do you think it would?

Thank you ass whole. Here is the info you requested. Now get to it
pronto and make my system work. Because this is Linux and it's free
and we all are in the same boat together or some such happy horse sh
it.

CD--not DVD, as I said originally if you knew how to reed.

NIC: a generic via rhine ii ethernet driver card.

Any other questions and I would be "happy" to answer.

PS--Google Groups does not currently support posting to the following
usenet groups: "alt.os.linux.mint"

Ray "Sunny" Lopez

 

[Alias]

Thank you ass whole.

**** off Windroid troll.

 

[White Spirit]

Assuming that's the case here, Mint is perfectly capable of supporting a
PPPoE connection - but you have to tell it to use it and give it the
user name and password, just like in windows or with a NAT router setup.

That's exactly what I was thinking. BT have the a similar set-up here
in order that they can charge you extra for using a wireless router...

Of course, the OP is a known troll on COLA.

 

[Alias]

Your inability to help the OP is noted,

Um, I don't help lying trolls.

better *you* fsck off and die
now, you lintard trolling moron!

It's spelled F-U-C-K. And you can just **** off and live with yourself.
I'm sure no one else would want to.

 

[Clogwog]

Um, I don't help lying trolls.


It's spelled F-U-C-K. And you can just **** off and live with yourself.
I'm sure no one else would want to.

Yes, F-U-C-K is OK and legal!
http://books.google.com/books?id=AO...JA. Commissioner of Police v Anderson&f=false
A NSW Court Of Appeal Judgement found that the words ****** and ****** or
their derivatives cannot be considered offensive;

"The evidence discloses that Sergeant Anderson habitually used the word
****** or its derivatives; that everyone else did also; that Constable
Cowin herself did so regularly. It was, so a witness said, part of what
oxymoronically is called 'police culture'. Likewise, the word ******
(is) used from time to time, although Sergeant Anderson never used this
word to Constable Cowin. There was no evidence that persons in the
public area were ever offended, nor that the public area was frequented
by gentle old ladies or convent schoolgirls. Bearing in mind that we
are living in a post-Chatterley, post-Wolfenden age, taking into account
all circumstances, and judging the matter from the point of view of
reasonable contemporary standards, I cannot believe that Sergeant
Anderson's language was legally 'offensive'".

Meagher JA.
Commissioner of Police v Anderson
CA NSW unrep, 21 Oct 1996

This information applies to Internet content and newsgroup posts.

In the view of the author, the material is likely to be considered
unsuitable for children according to the Australian National Classification
Code, though not Prohibited or Potential Prohibited content.

Placing content on the Internet may entail legal responsibilities under
applicable State, Territory or Commonwealth law; You have a right to make
complaints to the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) about Prohibited
Content or Potential Prohibited Content; and you have the right to know
about the procedures by which such complaints to the ABA can be made.

The Internet Industry Association (IIA) registered Codes of Conduct for
Internet Content Hosts are voluntary, until and unless an Internet Content
Host is directed to comply by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA).
The following information is provided voluntarily by the author for the
specific purposes of helping to protect our children;

The following categories of Internet content are prohibited: Content
which is (or would be) classified RC or X by the Classification Board. Such
content includes: material containing detailed instruction in crime,
violence or drug use; child pornography; bestiality; excessively violent or
sexually violent material. real depictions of actual sexual activity; and
Content hosted in Australia which is classified R and not subject to a
restricted access system which complies with criteria determined by the ABA.

To make a complaint about the content, please visit the ABA website,
read their procedures and use the appropriate forms. The ABA will not
investigate a complaint about something a person disagrees with or simply
does not like, if it is not otherwise prohibited content. Such complaints
should be directed to the authors of the content, who can be reached via
e-mail at webmaster AT rainx.cjb.net

Other information on the ABA complaints process is available from
NetAlert.

If you need information about supervising and controlling children's
access to the content, what procedures you or others responsible for
children can implement to control access to the content, including the
availability, use and appropriate application of Internet Content filtering
software;

Read Google search results for Supervising and controlling children's
access to Internet content.

Visit the Australian Internet Safety Advisory Body's (IIA) NetAlert
website.

If you are a gentle old lady or a convent schoolgirl, do not read any
further.

A NSW Court Of Appeal Judgement found that the words **** and **** or
their derivatives cannot be considered offensive;

"The evidence discloses that Sergeant Anderson habitually used the word
****** or its derivatives; that everyone else did also; that Constable
Cowin herself did so regularly. It was, so a witness said, part of what
oxymoronically is called 'police culture'. Likewise, the word '****'
(is) used from time to time, although Sergeant Anderson never used this
word to Constable Cowin. There was no evidence that persons in the
public area were ever offended, nor that the public area was frequented
by gentle old ladies or convent schoolgirls. Bearing in mind that we
are living in a post-Chatterley, post-Wolfenden age, taking into account
all circumstances, and judging the matter from the point of view of
reasonable contemporary standards, I cannot believe that Sergeant
Anderson's language was legally 'offensive'".

Meagher JA.
Commissioner of Police v Anderson
CA NSW unrep, 21 Oct 1996

 

[Wizard Of Oz]

On 10-11-24 08:25 AM, Alias wrote:

I'll try to answer some of the concerns of the OP.

Yes and no. There are a bunch of updates which can be installed. Think
of it this way, you install XP and without applying updates expect
things from SP3 to be installed.

As I recall they said most of the differences between Mint 9 and Mint
10 are mostly superficial and updates of older software.

That's what a Live CD is all about. It runs off the CD/DVD in RAM. It
doesn't touch the hard drive unless you tell it to.

Remember you are loading an ENTIRE OPERATING SYSTEM from CD/DVD and not
your hard drive. Considering you are loading from optical media not a
hard drive the load time was pretty good. To restate it differently...
CDs and DVDs are slower than hard drives. If you want it to load faster
than find a spare machine and install it to the hard drive.

As you state later you are using DSL. I'm not a DSL expert so this is
only a guess... I think the network drivers for DSL would be installed
when you actually install the OS. The live CD works fine for DHCP. If
you have a router between your computer and your DSL modem (always a
good idea) and it served up dynamic addresses your machine would be able
to connect easily.

You have the drivers installed in Windows. Remember the CD your ISP
gave you...

Again it's a driver issue. Pick up a router and configure it for your
ISP. Configure your computer to accept DHCP addresses. It'll be fine. On
the Windows side you'll even see a very slight increase in speed.
Alternatively do an installation. I don't know if it will install the
appropriate software for DSL but I would presume so. Most people HERE
who connect to our local DSL provider with Linux have less problems than
those who connect with other operating systems. However the vast
majority of internet users here also connect through a home router.

I volunteer for an educational charity where we set up computer systems
for low income people. The majority of machines coming back for repairs
are XP machines where people go to porn or gambling sites. Limewire and
IM/chat programs don't help any either. We've found most complaints
about Linux are from people who can't access porn or gambling sites.
Mainly because some of them install software (often virus programs). To
be fair it is only 20% of the machines we give out which come back this
way. Most people are careful.

As it is, unless someone is doing something OS specific, it really
doesn't matter what platform is being used. There are generic bits of
software for given tasks (eg. word processors) on all platforms.

Further advice... Grab a copy of a program called "Virtual Box". As
long as you have the hard drive space you can experiment with an actual
install of Linux (or any other x86 OS) without messing up your computer.
Remember you are going to take a significant hit in speed when running a
virtual machine. As an estimate, take it down by 50% compared to a
straight install.

You expect a live CD to be the same as a real install? Did you download
the CD or the DVD? What type of NIC do you have? I notice you are not
asking these questions in a Mint newsgroup. Why not? I have added the
Mint newsgroup to this message where people who use Mint may have the
solution for you.

I am presuming the OP is not a troll but someone who is in actual need
of advice. Posting to a Micro$oft group is only "preaching to the
choir", The majority response is likely to be "forget Linux and stick
with Windows". The same as posting to a Linux group is likely to
generate a "forget Windows and go with Linux" response.

The logical thing would be to take a look at the circumstances
presented by the client of the OP. What is her income level? What does
she want to do? Who is she going to call for help? Does she have any
previous computer experience? Does she have a preferred platform or is
she just asking?

Related to this last question, one of the most insulting experiences I
had was just under 10 years ago. I was in a computer store and wanted a
copy of Red Hat Linux (there were two packages in the back and none on
the shelves). I spent half an hour arguing with the sales person who
said it (the OS) would never work even though I had a degree in Computer
Science (I have since moved on to other things) and had been using
previous versions for years. I was after the year of tech support which
came with the commercial package. In the end I left the store and
downloaded the free version directly from Red Hat and ran it with no
problem. The sales drone had removed the two packages on his own
initiative and made it a point to NOT sell them.

Mint will not install unless you tell it to. Why do you think it would?

There are very few (if any) live CDs/DVDs in the M$ world. He probably
doesn't have experience with them. Let's just leave it there.

Later
Mike

 

[ray]

Why does this NOT surprise me? The resident troll, NoBallsLopez, known to
be a real numbnuts - can't even run a Live CD.

 

[RayLopez99]

Please don't feed the  RayDopez troll.

Submission noted. You cannot rebut my arguments except by using the
lame troll label. So anybody who has a problem with Linux
automatically becomes a Linux troll?

Your surrender accepted. Anybody else?

RL

 

[RayLopez99]

You do realise you were booting from a CD, not a hard disk?






I don't know anything about Otenet, and I don't read Greek so it's
difficult to find out.  But my guess is that they are using PPPoE for
their DSL connection - it's a relic from the dial-up modem days that is
unfortunately not uncommon with poor-quality ISP's.  Most people use a
NAT router with such a connection, since it makes connections much
easier and far safer, and lets them connect more than one machine to the
net.  But there are a few people left who don't understand networking,
and haven't asked others who /do/ understand, and thus they connect
directly from a PC via PPPoE, using the (usually hideous) software
provided by their ISP because windows doesn't support PPPoE by itself.

Assuming that's the case here, Mint is perfectly capable of supporting a
PPPoE connection - but you have to tell it to use it and give it the
user name and password, just like in windows or with a NAT router setup.
  In the main menu, find System | Preferences (it's like the control
panel in windows) and Network connections.  Click the DSL tab and add a
new DSL connection with the user name and password.

If your ISP has a particularly weird setup, it's possible there are
problems.  You can run the "pppoeconf" program in a terminal - it gives
you plenty of choices.

I can't give you any more help - most of the ISP's I've used sensibly
provide direct Ethernet connections, and those that don't have a proper
firewall and NAT router.

Thank you David Brown. This is the kind of knowledge that brings me
back to Usenet. No need to reply to the other thread, as I've seen
your answer here. I think you are onto something. Indeed I think
PPPoE is being used by OteNet--it sounds very very third world and
therefore very Greek. The OTENET ISP people don't advertise it as
such, as their adverts all say "DSL" or "ADSL" but you're probably
right. If I ask the 'technicians' here they are very lame and likely
will not give me any sort of answer, to the extent they even know what
they are talking about. Therefore, it seems that my failure to
connect to the Net is--perhaps, see also next paragraph-- not a Linux
problem as much as an ISP problem. Since this might be the case, I
will reserve judgement on Linux until I get back to the USA (where the
target machine is anyway) and try a LiveCD bootup from there. If that
fails, I'll try and find this thread and post again. Once again,
thanks for the tip. What you say sounds very plausible.

If there's a way in Windows (for you Windows gurus reading this far)
to find out whether your internet connection is 'straight Ethernet' or
"PPPoE" please let me know and I can check to see if indeed I am
running PPPoE. BTW, I don't know if this helps in your analysis, but
about two months ago (as COLA members know) I did install Puppy Linux
onto a Pentium II (yes a two!) with very limited RAM (124 MB?
something very ridiculously small) and it worked. Then--and people at
COLA know this--from inside Puppy Linux I used Firefox to post to the
net using the very SpeedTouch modem that failed today. (I used a Asus
hub/switch to link the two computers, one the Linux the other the
present Windows XP, to the same Speedtouch DSL modem). So--I ask you
now--if using Puppy I was able to connect to the internet, why not
with Mint LiveCD? The only thing I can think of is that when I
configured Puppy to connect--I don't know what it was exactly but I do
remember some dialog box came up--that somehow I must have clicked on
"PPPoE" (if that was an option) and thus my Pentium II allowed me to
connect. Just a thought. Because otherwise Linux Mint is at fault,
and not my ISP provider.

Thanks again. And what other spiders have eight eyes? ;-) BTW I saw
a spider that was mimicking a black carpenter ant--this was in
Virginia--and looking it up on the internet I found it is common,
forget the Latin name now.

RL

 

[The Natural Philosopher]

Tried Linux Mint today on the Live CD. I had just downloaded this
Live CD and burned it today, so it's the latest version.

First, and foremost it turns out, it had a great, beautiful splash
screen. Nice graphics. I also develop apps for Windows and I can tell
you making a program look good is a big deal. Hat's off to the
graphic artist, whoever he or she was.

Trouble is, nothing else much happened.

Oh Ray, you are a card. Time stopped and the end of time! what a great
story.

 

[RayLopez99]

Live CD's are obsolete media!, something of the past.
Slooooooooooow!
Slooooooooooow!
Fscking slooooooooooow!
Only Linux retards promote their Live CD's
Try to mount the iso from a virtual drive manager!

That needs more horsepower than my Pentium IV can muster, but thanks.
Actually with cloud computing (by Microsoft), which I'm learning via
Azure programming now, even Windows OS on your HD may be obsolete
media. For all we know 10 years from now every user will have a dumb
terminal from which to connect to Redmond's servers.

RL

 

[RayLopez99]

Your inability to help the OP is noted, better *you* fsck off and die now,
you lintard trolling moron!
Linux bugs:
Bug #291017 in linux (Ubuntu): "VIA VT6102 Rhine II ethernet
Bug #267779 in linux (Ubuntu): "via-rhine network adapater
Bug 129304 - VT6102 / via-rhine very slow throughput
Bug 377721 - Via Rhine II (VT6102) NIC intermittent failures

Very interesting! Thank you very much. Indeed the more I look into
this problem the more I think it might be Linux not my ISP at fault.
I don't think I have PPPoE after all...I'm double checking now.

RL

 

[RayLopez99]

You never mentioned that before. Funny how you'd choose a computer that
just happens to have a Ethernet card which Mint/Ubuntu still has
unresolved bugs.

This is why you were continuing to actively seek "advice" here, because
you knew it would ultimately fail. I bet you've downloaded Ubuntu,
Fedora, Debian and Mint CDs and made sure that the card didn't work with
the computer so that you could smugly claim that things never work.

The "generic" Rhine II ethernet NIC appears to have given people problems
with XP as well:http://tinyurl.com/278kdqn

OK, then give me a distro--from the 1000s out there (ouch!)--that does
not have a problem with this NIC? Then if I can run LiveCD from that
distro problem solved?!

As I mentioned just now to Brown, I have run Linux from a HD from a
Pentium II, but perhaps it had a different NIC than a Rhine II? That
would explain why I was able to connect to the internet--but then
again, against this, it was a full hard drive installation of Puppy,
not a LiveCD from Mint.

RL

 

[RayLopez99]

        As you state later you are using DSL. I'm not a DSL expert so this is
only a guess... I think the network drivers for DSL would be installed
when you actually install the OS. The live CD works fine for DHCP. If
you have a router between your computer and your DSL modem (always a
good idea) and it served up dynamic addresses your machine would be able
to connect easily.

Holy shit! Mike I think you may have found a workaround. The only
difference in setup between now and back a few months ago when I
connected to the net via Linux was this: an Asus hub. Back then,
with a Pentium II as the second PC (in addition to the present Pentium
IV), I had Puppy Linux on the Pent II (and I was able to connect via
my Greek ISP to the net) on the hard drive. Now, on a Pentium IV
only, I got rid of the Asus hub/switch that connected both PCs to my
SpeedTouch DSL modem. But I still have the Asus hub in my closet. So
here is what I will do: I will connect the Asus back to the
SpeedTouch, then connect the Pent 4 (hope you're following this), then
perhaps I'll have a "dynamic address" that will avoid the driver
problem when I boot from my LiveCD in the Pent IV? Don't know if that
would help...but I'll perhaps try it tomorrow.

Thanks for the tip!

RL

 

[RayLopez99]

I don't know if this helps in your analysis, but
about two months ago (as COLA members know) I did install Puppy Linux
onto a Pentium II (yes a two!) with very limited RAM (124 MB?
something very ridiculously small) and it worked.  Then--and people at
COLA know this--from inside Puppy Linux I used Firefox to post to the
net using the very SpeedTouch modem that failed today.  (I used a Asus
hub/switch to link the two computers, one the Linux the other the
present Windows XP, to the same Speedtouch DSL modem).  So--I ask you
now--if using Puppy I was able to connect to the internet, why not
with Mint LiveCD?  The only thing I can think of is that when I
configured Puppy to connect--I don't know what it was exactly but I do
remember some dialog box came up--that somehow I must have clicked on
"PPPoE" (if that was an option) and thus my Pentium II allowed me to
connect.  Just a thought.  Because otherwise Linux Mint is at fault,
and not my ISP provider.

I will also add, as I mentioned to the Wizard Of Oz, that back then I
had an Asus hub inbetween my PCs and the SpeedTouch DSL modem. So
tomorrow morning I will re-add that hub again and see if that makes a
difference with the Mint LiveCD boot.

RL