Journal of a newbie Linux user

Forum: User Feedback
Topic: Journal of a newbie Linux user
started by: Lodovik

Posted by Lodovik on Feb. 10 2005,04:55

Like I said in another post, I work as a computer tech. I repair computer, install systems, etc... The real plague now about Windows XP is the flood of spywares / viruses I have to fight everyday. I always kept an eye on Linux and the progress it made over the last few years.

As any tech, I have my own personal toolbox of softwares on CD. On one of these CDs, I keep the most precious of my findings, nicely arranged on a multiboot menu for DOS and also on an autorun menu for Windows apps. With this CD, I can scan for virus in DOS, copy partitions, check the memory, board, hard disks and so on... In Windows, I have all the latest (free) in anti-spyware weapons: Ad-Aware, Spybot, etc... and many more essentials utilities and programs.

A couple of months ago, I had about 100MB of free space left on my CD and was wondering if I could also put a Linux bootable system. I tried a lot of compact Linux distros but, by far, the most impressive was DSL. It really packs the most punch for the byte! I was interested in something that could help me copy / rescue some files when a system couldn't boot and DSL seemed a good choice.

I tought that for 50MB, I would only get a GUI, console and a file manager but I got a lot more! Contrary to most other compact distros, sound is very well supported, and a multimedia player is installed and ready to be used. LAN cards (even my USB-LAN adapter) are almost always detected and configured. The only exception I could find to date are systems based on i915 chipset. On those, neither onboard LAN or audio are detected. I suppose that drivers for i9xx chipsets will some day be included in DSL.

And, with DSL extensions, I added Gcombust (to burn some rescued files on dead systems) and Samba (so I could explore network ressources without altering Windows configuration). I'm also starting to use DSL to test hardware on dead systems. I only need to boot DSL to test a sound card, video board, LAN adapter, etc. Very useful when the hard disk is dead!

DSL also prompted me to buy an external Iogear 40G USB 2.0 hard disk to complement my Apacer 256MB (UBS 2.0 also)Flash key. With that, I could do massive transfers of data when a PC won't start due to a corrupted Windows system. A lot easier than putting the hard disk on another Windows system to save the files. I'm still having difficulties seeing my Iogear HD, tough. Sometimes, it needs to be plugged before booting to work. Some other times, I had to boot to DSL, unplug it and replug and do some fiddling in command-line to access the device. I wonder if the device is always used to its full speed on systems that can support USB 2.0. But, being a Linux newbie, I may not have all the knowledge to fine tweak it.

I still have much to learn about Linux but DSL makes it a quite pleasant experience. Anywhere I go, I have this little 50MB gem with me and can boot it up in an instant. I also have with me a backup of my settings / favorites / email accounts using the very useful and powerful DSL backup and restore option.

Congratulations on the DSL team for putting together this great little system! Keep up the good work!

Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 10 2005,18:12

See this thread about running your USB2 device in high-speed mode:

< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....99;st=0 >

and you can also look here for general information on USB device models and support in linux:

< http://www.qbik.ch/usb/devices/ >

Posted by ke4nt1 on Feb. 10 2005,19:07

also, the USB 2.0 speed issue should be resolved in 0.9.3
tnx cbagger01 for the heads up.

73
ke4nt

Posted by Lodovik on Feb. 18 2005,04:01

Thanks for your help.

One of the things that I wish for in DSL is support for writing to NTFS partitions. I know that you can do that with Capture which uses some sort of emulation to run the real Windows DLLs. This is not a fault of DSL as it is the same in other distros but I wonder why is it so difficult to have write access to NTFS in Linux. Is it because of the complexity of NTFS or because of some security "feature"?

Another problem I faced recently: I wanted to delete a directory on a FAT32 partition. This dir had files in it and had also subdirs with files in them but no system or hidden files. I couldn't delete the directory even as root. I could delete all the files in the dir then I tried to delete a subdir and I got an error message. I then deleted the files in the subdir without problem then deleted the subdir. I used:

rm -fr DOSDIRNAME

I think this problem has to do with removing subdirs within dirs but I remember erasing (volontarily!) an entire C: drive with that command. I am presently searching for an equivalent of the "Deltree /y DIRNAME" DOS command in Linux.

Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 18 2005,18:19

NTFS is complex and undocumented.

Actually, I am being unfair. I am sure that there is great documentation on the NTFS filesystem. But it is kept in a locked vault somewhere at Microsoft's headquarters.

NTFS support is being worked on by a bunch of people who are trying to reverse-engineer an understanding of the file system.

To make things even harder, Microsoft keeps changing the way NTFS works slightly with every new release of MSWindows.

So in other words,

Win NT4.0 NTFS
Win 2000 NTFS
Win XP NTFS
and
Win Server 2003 NTFS

have differences and the developers are trying to hit a moving target.

And of course nobody is getting any help from Microsoft with this problem because it is in Microsoft's best interest to prevent other operating systems from being able to easily interact with a Microsoft Windows operating system partition.

Posted by AwPhuch on Feb. 19 2005,00:54

Quote (cbagger01 @ Feb. 18 2005,13:19)

This is quite true..however there is a project to try and break thru the elusive NTFS problems....

< http://linux-ntfs.sourceforge.net/ >

However as you said...its a moving target!

Brian
AwPhuch

Posted by codestorm on Feb. 19 2005,01:19

Quote (Lodovik @ Feb. 10 2005,15:55)

Like I said in another post, I work as a computer tech. I repair computer, install systems, etc... The real plague now about Windows XP is the flood of spywares / viruses I have to fight everyday.

That just makes me think of this recent < JoyOfTech cartoon > - sorry, couldn't help myself.

Posted by davide on Feb. 19 2005,18:02

This is sad to notice.
I think this blind policy of Microsoft will get people more and more to linux and other Os. Who can sympatize with something/one so suspectfull and so selfish?
certainly I do not.
moreover, NTSf will be won. it's just a matter of time and it's a loss of money for the giant or redmont to try to keep it secret..