Getting Started

Getting Started

[Rodney]

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Well I am a serious newby when it comes to Linux.  I have a donor
computer (Pentium 166), it has a network and sound card.  On my other
computers I use Windows 98 SE with JAWS (Eloquence) and a sound card.  I
don't own any hardware synthesizers yet.
 
I am familiar with partitioning and formatting hard drives.  I am not
afraid of working with the hardware.  My research on the internet tells
me that I need to purchase a hardware synthesizer for the donor computer
before I attempt to install Linux on it.
 
Also I am not currently familiar with compiling kernels.  However, I am
a computer professional (developer) so I should be able to pick it up.
 
I'll stop my rambling now and hope someone can point me in the right
direction.
 
My goal is to create  a low cost web server for development and
production work.  So far I heard that Speak Up may be the way to go.
 
Thanks.
Rodney

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RE: Getting Started

[Georgina]

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MessageHi

Well some folks have installed and operate Linux over a serial port so that
might get you started.  Unfortunately, I've never done it that way but I'm
sure that it's a possibility for you.  There must be a howto on that method
of installation.

  -----Original Message-----
  From: speakup-admin@braille.uwo.ca [mailto:speakup-admin@braille.uwo.ca]On
Behalf Of Rodney
  Sent: 21 November 2001 20:44
  To: speakup@braille.uwo.ca
  Subject: Getting Started


  Well I am a serious newby when it comes to Linux.  I have a donor computer
(Pentium 166), it has a network and sound card.  On my other computers I use
Windows 98 SE with JAWS (Eloquence) and a sound card.  I don't own any
hardware synthesizers yet.

  I am familiar with partitioning and formatting hard drives.  I am not
afraid of working with the hardware.  My research on the internet tells me
that I need to purchase a hardware synthesizer for the donor computer before
I attempt to install Linux on it.

  Also I am not currently familiar with compiling kernels.  However, I am a
computer professional (developer) so I should be able to pick it up.

  I'll stop my rambling now and hope someone can point me in the right
direction.

  My goal is to create  a low cost web server for development and production
work.  So far I heard that Speak Up may be the way to go.

  Thanks.
  Rodney

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RE: Getting Started

[Steve Holmes]

Serial information can be found in the serial-HOWTO - I found it to be
very informative on how to setup a terminal connection to a linux host. I
used to do that for several years until I learned about speakup. I sure
don't do that anymore. I love being able to use the main consoles now.

Re: Getting Started

[Thomas Ward]

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MessageHi, Rodney. At the time only hardware synths are supported, and for many reasons they have always been more supirior to software synths anyway.
You can get a Double Talk PC or LT for less than $300.00 which is pretty fare for the proformence you get. Personally, I suggest the Double Talk LT because of it's portability, and can be easily taken from computer to computer.
If memory serves me TVI, www.tvi-web.com, has the best prices on hardware synths.
As for being a web server Linux does that pretty awesome. In fact  I use an internal Linux web server with Apache to test and develope web sites before they are actually posted to whoever's  server they will be going on.
Ok, as for making kernels that isn't as bad as it sounds. In short you just download the latest speakup source, and the latest kernel 2.4.x kernel, and patch it with the install script.
Then, you would run a make config. Basically, it is a series of questions on processor type, hard drive controlers, floppy controlers, network cards, sound cards, and that kind of thing.Once done you can easily type a line like this.

make dep ; make clean ; make modules ; make bzImage 
Then, once compiled you can type,
make modules_install ; make install

Make sure that after installing your new kernel that you have configured your boot loaders conf file to reflect the new kernel version.
If using lilo the file is:
/etc/lilo.conf
If using grub, which I like better, the file is:
/etc/grub.conf



.
Compiling and installing new kernels isn't as terrible as it sounds. In short you run make config, and 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Rodney 
  To: speakup@braille.uwo.ca 
  Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2001 3:43 PM
  Subject: Getting Started


  Well I am a serious newby when it comes to Linux.  I have a donor computer (Pentium 166), it has a network and sound card.  On my other computers I use Windows 98 SE with JAWS (Eloquence) and a sound card.  I don't own any hardware synthesizers yet.

  I am familiar with partitioning and formatting hard drives.  I am not afraid of working with the hardware.  My research on the internet tells me that I need to purchase a hardware synthesizer for the donor computer before I attempt to install Linux on it.

  Also I am not currently familiar with compiling kernels.  However, I am a computer professional (developer) so I should be able to pick it up.

  I'll stop my rambling now and hope someone can point me in the right direction.

  My goal is to create  a low cost web server for development and production work.  So far I heard that Speak Up may be the way to go.

  Thanks.
  Rodney

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Re: Getting Started

[Janina Sajka]

On Wed, 21 Nov 2001, Thomas Ward wrote:

> Once done you can easily type a line like this.
> 
> make dep ; make clean ; make modules ; make bzImage 
> Then, once compiled you can type,
> make modules_install ; make install
> 
Actually, you could simply do:

make dep clean bzImage modules modules_install install

The install script (the last part of the command) should take care of 
running lilo for you. Look at the output on screen when it's finished to 
confirm that everything came out OK by looking for lilo output.

RE: Getting Started

[Holmes, Steve]

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When you actually get around to compiling a kernel, read the README file in
the /usr/src/linux directory and read it thuroughly and that will give you a
good start. the README files that come with speakup explain quite well, how
to patch the speakup codeset into the kernel. So all and all, it works out
even for the faint at heart.

-----Original Message-----
From: Rodney [mailto:rodneylist@home.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2001 1:44 PM
To: speakup@braille.uwo.ca
Subject: Getting Started


Well I am a serious newby when it comes to Linux.  I have a donor computer
(Pentium 166), it has a network and sound card.  On my other computers I use
Windows 98 SE with JAWS (Eloquence) and a sound card.  I don't own any
hardware synthesizers yet.
 
I am familiar with partitioning and formatting hard drives.  I am not afraid
of working with the hardware.  My research on the internet tells me that I
need to purchase a hardware synthesizer for the donor computer before I
attempt to install Linux on it.
 
Also I am not currently familiar with compiling kernels.  However, I am a
computer professional (developer) so I should be able to pick it up.
 
I'll stop my rambling now and hope someone can point me in the right
direction.
 
My goal is to create  a low cost web server for development and production
work.  So far I heard that Speak Up may be the way to go.
 
Thanks.
Rodney


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getting started

[Glenn Ervin]

Janina,
The page you referred me to is by far the best I have read so far.  I like
the way everything is there on one page.  I hate it when one must follow
"next"from page to page.
I can save all the needed info in one page for later use.
Now, as I look at RedHat VS debian, would you say that there is as many
utilities for red-hot as there is for debian?
I do want as much as possible from whatever I install.
Also, I must say that the red-hot was the only page that easily gives links
to the full ISO packages.
The other distros I looked at sent me on a crazy multi-page search for the
distros on CD, and I don't want to download stuff in little pieces.  I will
likely download all 6 redhat ISO's, if I go with RedHat.



"Live long and prosper",
O. Glenn Ervin (Lenny)
N0YJV
Northeast Nebraska
e-mail:
glennervin@cableone.net
The above address can also be found on MSM.
or my work e-mail:
gErvin@ncbvi.state.ne.us

Re: getting started

[Janina Sajka]

Hi, Glen:

Thanks for the compliment on our writing.

As to whether Red Hat and Debian offer the same to users--yes, with the
understanding that they do it differently. And, you must also understand
that people can become very passionate about such things. So, don't
expect that we'll always want to revisit this ancient debate just
because someone comes along and says "please talk about it again."

Lastly, please don't follow the hyperlinks to iso images in that HOWTO
document. I need to bring it up to date. The hyperlinks will still work,
but they point to the previous version, and not the current one.

Instead, goto any Red Hat mirror site, if you choose to download Red
Hat, and be sure to download version 8.0. These iso images are still on
the Speakup page at:

http://www.linux-speakup.org/ftp/disks/redhat/8.0/

You really only need the first three disc images, disc1, disc2, and
disc3.

Glenn Ervin writes:
> From: "Glenn Ervin" <glennervin@cableone.net>
> 
> Janina,
> The page you referred me to is by far the best I have read so far.  I like
> the way everything is there on one page.  I hate it when one must follow
> "next"from page to page.
> I can save all the needed info in one page for later use.
> Now, as I look at RedHat VS debian, would you say that there is as many
> utilities for red-hot as there is for debian?
> I do want as much as possible from whatever I install.
> Also, I must say that the red-hot was the only page that easily gives links
> to the full ISO packages.
> The other distros I looked at sent me on a crazy multi-page search for the
> distros on CD, and I don't want to download stuff in little pieces.  I will
> likely download all 6 redhat ISO's, if I go with RedHat.
> 
> 
> 
> "Live long and prosper",
> O. Glenn Ervin (Lenny)
> N0YJV
> Northeast Nebraska
> e-mail:
> glennervin@cableone.net
> The above address can also be found on MSM.
> or my work e-mail:
> gErvin@ncbvi.state.ne.us
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Speakup mailing list
> Speakup@braille.uwo.ca
> http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup

-- 
	
				Janina Sajka, Director
				Technology Research and Development
				Governmental Relations Group
				American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Email: janina@afb.net		Phone: (202) 408-8175

Re: getting started

[Gregory Nowak]

One thing to note here is that you don't want to download the isos via http, do it via ftp instead.

Greg


On Sun, Nov 24, 2002 at 06:23:18PM -0500, Janina Sajka wrote:
> Hi, Glen:
> 
> Thanks for the compliment on our writing.
> 
> As to whether Red Hat and Debian offer the same to users--yes, with the
> understanding that they do it differently. And, you must also understand
> that people can become very passionate about such things. So, don't
> expect that we'll always want to revisit this ancient debate just
> because someone comes along and says "please talk about it again."
> 
> Lastly, please don't follow the hyperlinks to iso images in that HOWTO
> document. I need to bring it up to date. The hyperlinks will still work,
> but they point to the previous version, and not the current one.
> 
> Instead, goto any Red Hat mirror site, if you choose to download Red
> Hat, and be sure to download version 8.0. These iso images are still on
> the Speakup page at:
> 
> http://www.linux-speakup.org/ftp/disks/redhat/8.0/
> 
> You really only need the first three disc images, disc1, disc2, and
> disc3.
> 

Re: getting started

[Janina Sajka]

Gregory Nowak writes:
> 
> One thing to note here is that you don't want to download the isos via http, do it via ftp instead.
> 
This is certainly good advice. It may not, however, be familiar to all users, and the point of this excercise is the installation of Linux, not the
vagaries of transport protocol. The HOWTO advises:



"Whether you use an ftp client, or whether you download them using the links provided here is unimportant. Because each of these files is very large it
will take some time to download them, even over a fast network connection--so that achieving a successful download can seem like a major accomplishment
on its own. You are very strongly advised, therefore, to use a download method which will resume from the place it was interrupted should your network
connection be interrupted for any reason."

Our HOWTO then continues to explain ftp, and even points people to a Windows ncftp client. But, I stand by our advice. The getting is more important
than the how.

Re: getting started

[jwantz]

The nice thing about WINDOWS ncftp is from a DOS box it is virtually the 
same as the Linux version.  Learn it on WINDOWS and you will have learned 
how to run it on linux.  However, to my knowledge there is no lftp program 
for WINDOWS.

     Jim Wantz WB0TFK

re: getting started

[dashielljt]

A tip for anyone starting up with Linux.  Plan for backups and either find
a useable backup utility for your distribution and download and install it
and study it or write your own shell script to do the job.  If you can
learn how to use it for both backup and restores you'll have learned one
of the system administrator's basic tasks.  Yes that's right, if you
install Linux on a machine and yourself are root, you're a system
administrator.  Allbeit a very new one at first.  For anyone interested in
discussing sys-admin type topics, you can send email to
majordomo@vger.kernel.org with subscribe linux-admin in body of message.
You'll be sent back a confirmation request along with an authorization
code you need to use to start your subscription.  There's also
linux-newbie on the same server.  For the slackware beginners, you've got
linux-slackware-subscribe@yahoogroups.com too.

Jude <dashielljt(at)gmpexpress-dot-net>

re: getting started

[dashielljt]

If the backup script I've been working on works as well as expected I'll
offer it up to the list with comments in the script file that document its
operation.  The script will run on any of the popular flavors of linux
since other than tar it uses basic linux commands common across the board.
That way beginners will have a little something on offer they can use to
get themselves a little farther and do it a little quicker.

Jude <dashielljt(at)gmpexpress-dot-net>