[amigatec]

I have Linux running on 2 ½ boxes.

First is a P150 running IPCop Firewall (http://www.ipcop.org/cgi-bin/twiki/view/IPCop/WebHome) Uses very minimal hareware. This box is almost 100% maintenance free. It is almost hands off.


Second is a Pentium Pro 200 running as a mandrake server. I use it mostly as an Internet DNS server, my ISP’s DNS server is slow.

Third is a Dualboot W2k and Mandrake 9 box.

I use Openoffice on all my computers and have very good luck with it. In fact I downloaded some Powerpoint files last summer and viewed them with Openoffice on Linux.

I use a JetDirect 300 as a Print server and it is easier to set up with Linux then with Windows!!!

I would suggest anybody with an older Pentium box to give Mandrake a try. If you can install Windows you can install mandrake.

[amigatec]

One more point I will add for you Modem users, Linux may not work with your internal modem. If you have a “Winmodem” don’t expect it to work (see http://www.linmodems.org/ for more info).
Winmodems are a piece of junk. I have used both internal and external modems and externals are faster. I bought an external no-name 56k, V92 from COMPUSA for about $50.

I use Samba and LinNeighborhood to network Windows and Linux, Windows doesn’t even the other boxes are using Linux.

I use X-CDRoast to burn CD’s

One more point I will add concerning the JetDirect. I had to download 2 different pieces of software from HP to get it to work with W2k but with Linux I installed CUPS and with about 5 clicks I had both the JetDirect and my HP932 printer running.

[jimt]

I would suggest anybody with an older Pentium box to give Mandrake a try. If you can install Windows you can install mandrake.

You've had much better luck than I.

I bought all the hype about how Linux doesn't need much in the way of resources, how it had better performance than Windows, yada, yada.

Five distros later, including a newly purchased Mandrake and a newly purchased Red Hat, I say baloney.

Before someone points out that I should have read more, I read four books on Linux, including Linux for Dummies. I also read (and printed) several Internet articles about Linux installations on the very same machine. I'm savvy enough to get the same computer triple booting DOS 6.2, Windows 95 (the OEM OS) and Windows NT, with nary a problem.

But Linux was another matter. Regardless of the brand or type of installation, performance was VERY slow. X-Windows NEVER installed successfully, which on a plain jane 1024 X 768 display is ridiculous. But running command line only (terminal) interface, I was still left highly unimpressed with the glacial performance and the silly unix convolutions and mindset.

This was on a 150 mhz Toshiba Pentium laptop. Toshibas are noted for ruggedness and compatibility.

Granted, I got disgusted after a day or so of playing with each distribution. But I think that any installation program that can handle 800 X 600 perfectly should be able to handle 1024 X 768. They couldn't.