experiences with linux (november 2003)

experiences with linux

my experience with modern linux distributions

Recently (November 2003), I've tried a few of the major Linux distributions out there (Debian, Gentoo, Mandrake), and have used the following hardware:

Dell Latitude CPx laptop (Pentium III 500 MHz)

Linksys WPC11 (v3) 802.11b wireless network card This is a collection of random thoughts, experiences, advice, etc.

Moving from Windows to Linux

Chances are, you're gonna want to use some of those Windows apps in Linux since there aren't very many pretty alternatives. WINE enables you to run native Windows apps right from Linux. Configuration of WINE is not covered here, so you should read the relevant docs.
Here's a list of many common applications for Linux requested by Windows users:
- AOL Instant Messenger: I don't know if an official Linux version is available, but I don't really care since I use gAIM, a multi-protocol instant messaging client. It supports AIM, ICQ, Jabber, Yahoo, Gada-something, and others. It works great on Windows too.
- Yahoo! Messenger: Again, you can use gAIM, but Yahoo! does have an official client for Unix systems. See the Unix download page, and be sure to check out the ymessenger Group.
- Windows/MSN Messenger: You can try to use gAIM, but I think MSN has had a history of banning unofficial clients from accessing their network. You might want to try running Messenger on Linux using WINE.
- NetMeeting: There is a compatible H.323 video conferencing application called GnomeMeeting, which I haven't tried. Just make sure you have your video capture card or webcam detected and working with Linux.
- Microsoft Office: This office suite has been known to run under WINE (look at the site for screenshots), but true alternatives do exist, such as OpenOffice, which runs on Unix, Mac OS X, and Windows platforms. And yes, it can read and write MS Office files.
- Winamp: If you don't like XMMS, or Zinf, then you can run Winamp under WINE.
If there is some Windows software that you *really* like, but cannot find a suitable substitute on Linux, then you may want to check out WINE, an open-source implementation of almost the whole Windows core operating system (16-bit and 32-bit subsystems). That means it can run many Windows applications and games. It does, however, require a great amount of configuring and tweaking, but it is worth it. Look: KaZaA Lite on WINE. Kazaa is just one of the apps I have successfully ran under Wine. Don't count on it being fast though, since it is running on top of Linux, but I find that if you Hide Kazaa (from the K tray icon in your window manager), the CPU usage drops from 50% to about 10% which is more then sufficient on my PIII 500 MHz laptop with 256 MB RAM.

Wireless Networking

Use WEP (128bit at the leat) encryption, or WPA if you're lucky enough to have a device that supports it. Networks without encryption are easily opened to access with a person with the right tools and little exeperience. Don't be so sure that MAC-based access control will help you, since it's *really* simple to spoof MAC addresses.
If Linux recognizes your network card, but you can't get onto an encrypted network (but you can get on your neighbor's open network), try these commands (obviously you've got to adapt these to have them sync up with your distribution. The important lines are in bold.
```
#!/bin/sh

SSID=virusexperts # duh
NICK=thor # can be anything you like; this is the name of my laptop here
KEY=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX # your 128-bit key (NOT password)
INTERFACE=eth0
IPADDR=192.168.1.200 # i like static ips
BROADCAST=192.168.1.255
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=192.168.1.1 # ip of your access point

/sbin/ifconfig lo up
/sbin/route del default
/sbin/ifconfig $INTERFACE down
/sbin/ifconfig $INTERFACE $IPADDR netmask $NETMASK broadcast $BROADCAST up
/sbin/iwconfig $INTERFACE essid $SSID nick $NICK
/sbin/iwconfig $INTERFACE key $KEY
/sbin/iwconfig $INTERFACE enc restricted
/sbin/route add default gw $GATEWAY

echo "nameserver $GATEWAY" > /etc/resolv.conf
```
My wifi setup (from the laptop) didn't work until I forced the encryption mode to be restricted, that is only allow encrypted packets. By default, encryption mode is set to open, meaning accept encrypted and non-encrypted packets. Obviously, you should set it to open if you'll be using a wifi lan that does not use encryption, in which case you'll also have to change the SSID. In my opinion, ifplugd/dhclient/etc. interfere with this kind of setup, which is why one should stop the network and them manually bring up your wireless interface. If not, just kill the offensive daemons and you'll be on your way. If you have dynamic IP address assignment, you don't need to worry about killing anything, just set your encryption key and poof you're on the net!

Other Annoyances, Bits, and Thoughts

I've always been a fan of open-source, especially Linux. I recommend it especially for servers and embedded systems. But I have to admit that I use Windows XP as my main OS on my desktop and laptop. Of course I have a Linux server with years of uptime sitting by the desktop...

Linux distribution manuals (at least the ones that I have tried) seem to be too technical and vague and expect too much of a new user, but maybe that is the reason many distributions have a no-questions-asked installation option. Configuration with non-standard, weird, stupid, outdated hardware can be more than just a day at the beach for many new users. Until users get smarter, distributions will have to take the difficult decisions. May we one day have a monopoly in the Linux vendor market!

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