Need help formatting a W2k computer

[Zoid]

There's almost no need for any security programs for Linux since noone bothers to write viruses for it. And even if they would it's such a secure system viruses would have very little to do... You have to enter the root password to do any changes on your system for example. Ubuntu and Linux in general aren't invincible, but as long as you're surfing with just a hint of caution you don't really need to worry...

Software is also easily fetched for Ubuntu. A lot of things come bundled, and there's much more to choose from if you go to Install/Remove Applications.

[Q Classic]

For email and browsing, there's always Thunderbird and Firefox; for chat, look to Pidgin, which is interoperable with all major protocols. Zoid's right in that AV software might not be a necessity, but if you absolutely must have one, look to ClamAV.

What software do you need replaced?

[Alinestra Covelia]

I had Paint Shop Pro 5 (the old, old 1996 graphics software I used to use).

I'm also wondering whether my subscription to McAfee will work on a Linux box.

There were a fair number of games I was hoping to get running on a repaired W2k computer. Would they be able to work at all on Linux?

[Zoid]

If you want to try to run Windows programs (games in particular) in Linux you must use either Wine or WMware but this can be a bit fiddly an don't always work. There's equally good Linux variants of almost every Windows program. Gimp for graphics and ClamAV for antivirus (as Q Cubed mentioned above) for example. This site has a list of games and applications that runs in Ubuntu using Wine: http://frankscorner.org/ It mentions PSP 4.14 and 7, so it should run PSP 5 as well...

[Alinestra Covelia]

One slightly troubling thing is that my Linux copy of Firefox slows waaaaaaaay down when I browse to Gmail. First it takes a minute to report there's an unresponsive script, and even if I stop the script, the Gmail functions are very slow.

Any ideas why, or how I can remedy this? This computer used to be able to view Gmail without this problem under W2k.

[snoopy369]

Are you using FF2? Perhaps it's a javascript problem (as well established in the FF3 beta thread, FF2 handles javascript not so well). Consider getting the FF3 beta instead.

[Q Classic]

There's also Opera for Linux, or you could look into updating the version of Firefox you have--beta 3 is possible, but also newer versions of 2.

What games were you hoping to run? Older ones would probably work just fine with Wine, but if they require DirectX, you may want to look into Cedega, which, tragically, isn't free--unless you want to do the daring thing of compiling it yourself from the next-newest version.

[Zoid]

Cedega sucks. I payed for and it didn't work, and I didn't even get my money back

[Q Classic]

Yeah, which is why you compile from sources for free.

Much harder, but it does work.

[Alinestra Covelia]

Okay, the OS appears to be undergoing a few teething problems for me, the illiterate Linuxer:

1. My browser doesn't play flash, etc., and I need to download the plug in. This brings up a command console where I need to type stuff in and it confuses me. What do I do?

2. The screen resolution was fine yesterday morning at about 1280 x 800. But then suddenly it switched to a basic 800 x 600. The colors are all still high quality but the screen resolution is tiny. A friend told me I may need to re download the drivers for my video card. How do I find out what my video card is on a Linux machine, and then once I download the drivers for it, how do I get them to work on a Linux machine?

[Zoid]

Unfortunately my Linux machine is packed away so I can't really help you here. Sorry... You could try www.ubuntuforums.org, or maybe Q Cubed has a solution...

[Q Classic]

Ali, I tend to use Gentoo instead of Ubuntu, so my assistance will be a little bit by proxy.

But: this might help with the flash.

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/flashubuntu

If you're having trouble with the Firefox bit installing it automagically, try the steps outlined about halfway down with the Synaptic Package Installation System--which is what you probably want to use for any installations.



As far as the screen resolution--have you installed/uninstalled anything, or tweaked any settings?

[Alinestra Covelia]

Okay, I found help to get this fixed. In the interests of posterity, I'm posting the solution:

1) Kill the GUI with:-
Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop

After you kill the GUI, move to a tty by pressing Alt+Ctrl+F2, then enter the commands.

2) Reconfigure the X-Server with:-
Code:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

Select the options that best suit your PC.

3) Restart the GUI with:-
Code:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm start

This indeed allowed the computer to recognize screen resolutions above 600x400.

[Zoid]

That's some hardcore tweaking...

[Alinestra Covelia]

Question about getting stuff to work with my new Ubuntu rig:

I have speakers that used to work fine with this computer. Now, when I plug them in, there's a weird sort of screeching static that comes through and nothing else.

I've tested the speakers on other computers and they work fine, so I know the speakers are not at fault here.

Do I need to get new drivers for the speakers?