Tag: Linux

So here I am on the Linux PC.

I’m growing increasingly frustrated at the various flavours of Linux, and the subtle differences between them. So much so that I can’t even find a simple command line to restart the samba server.

the IMAP server seems to be fickle. I can’t get Squirrelmail to show me the inbox. It could possibly be due to the vast number of emails that I have copied in. Yet, I thought that’s the whole point of IMAP – to work speedily across a network? Hmm.

fetchmail and fetchmailconf caught me out a couple of times today. The final moment was when the fetchmail daemon wasn’t downloading my emails. I realised that I had configured fetchmail as my user, rather than the root. So I had to copy the data from /home/user/.fetchmailrc to /etc/fetchmailrc. Once that was done, the mails seemed to drop in correctly.

Openoffice read my rotas that I put together in word correctly. I saved the latest version as an rtf and htm for distribution, rather than doc.

Worryingly, file access seems to be stalled. Accessing the root folder or simple tasks like deleting file seem to take an unnecessarily long time.

I also managed to get the HP Laserjet 1100 through the Intel Netport Express working by using a hybrid of editing the hosts file and printing directly via IP to the print server.

It’s been a long day, but I’m gradually getting things sorted. There’s plenty more ahead though 🙁

I had Steve around my place today to help me set up the Linux box and ensure that the platform material is working correctly.

The major tasks today involved configuring Apache with PHP 5 and mySQL.

Thankfully, SUSE 9.3 comes with mySQL 4.1, saving a great deal of aggravation. The catch is that SUSE 9.3 seems to come with PHP4. So the task to set to was to effectively install some elements well. A key program to install is apt-get, which I found through FalkoTimme.com’s guide to The Perfect Setup – SUSE 9.3.

Once apt-get is installed, you can download the appropriate updates by following the instructions. This has enabled us to have a system working as well (if not better), than the previous Windows system.

Next move was to install remote support over a number of alternate sessions. This is possible in Windows XP SP2 with the appropriate BETA hack.

There’s still a great deal to do. The first step is to convert my Outlook 2003 data, and get all my PIM stuff working on Linux…

As if Windows sniffed out my intentions, it refused to boot this morning. Only 1 day after I thought I’d give the Linux platform a proper go.

So now I’m running SUSE 9.3 which installed from the DVD a burned a few days ago fairly easy.

I’ve cheated somewhat though – I’m using a friendly KDE inteface for all my woes. And YaST is doing most of the configuration.

Which really should be how it is.

My first trouble was getting onto the internet. I like my work PC to have a manual IP address on my network for remote access purposes. In Windows, all the IP settings that I need are in a single friendly tab. YaST sees them dotted around in 3 different menus.

Not incredibly intuitive to begin with. And there have been other issues, but it’s almost midnight and I have another computer to build before tomorrow. I’d better get cracking.