Out with Ichthux and IN with Fedora on laptop

Ok, for now I am done with the Ichthux distro on the Toshiba laptop. I learned , much to may chagrin, that I was not able to remove the Linux partitions (GRUB boot loader) without trashing my ability to boot to Windoze. I had four partitions, one of them NTFS where Windoze resided of course. The active partition was on partition 1 where the GRUB boot loader resides. Windoze does NOT like it when it does not have control over the MBR (Master Boot Record). So, when I used 98 Fdisk version to remove the partitions and changed the Active partition to the one that had NTFS it would no longer boot up. I tried to boot to an XP install cd and select R for repair but it wanted the Administrator password. The last time I recovered my laptop with the recovery cd I forgot to set a password for Administrator. That means NO repair of the MBR, atleast not with keeping the existing install of XP. So, since I am going to have to do the recovery cd AGAIN one of my buddies at work told me to try Fedora Core on my laptop and see how well that works. Since I am in rebuild mode anyway, I say why not!!!!! It will be interesting to see if I can get the wireless functionality to work with Linux. That will be the ultimate in success if I can make that work. I sure am glad that I have all my data on cd and USB jump drives so I can restore it if need be.

Ichthux saga continues

After bowling last night I settled down into my cozy recliner, my laptop and the airdesk that it sits on. I logged on to console and managed to use the sudo adduser command and added the user jcmoffitt thinking that maybe the james account was just hosed up. Of course I can not do anything that requires su or root privileges so I guess the jcmoffitt account was just a plain user account. I figured at that point if I could get past the gui and at least logon then that would be ok until I can reset the root password. I was foiled again and I still can not logon. I got the Ichthux cd that is version 6.09 and tried to install that on the same partition. The install process got almost to the end then the installer crashed. GRRRRRRRRR I am starting to think that running Linux on my Toshiba laptop is not going to happen. I am starting to wonder if the hassle of it all is even worth it. LOL... I am not giving up yet.... My programmer friend at work is wondering if this might be a font issue vs a logon issue. I dunno to be honest with you... Perhaps I should try to load a different version of Linux on the laptop. Any suggestions from someone that has a Toshiba Laptop and a successful install? I have installed 6.09 Ichthux on two of my desktop computers on my network at home with absolutely no problems. Laptops may be a tad bit more finicky with regards to drivers etc.

Ichthux Version 6.10 update

I got home from bowling last night and was eager to mess up my laptop one more time. LOL... Ok, I was NOT eager to mess up my laptop however I knew that my adventuresome spirit might get me into trouble again. When it comes to technology I guess that I dont worry about things getting messed up because when that happens you have to LEARN in order to fix the mess. I plugged the laptop in and thanks to something I found on a user group yesterday afternoon I knew to plug in the laptop to the hardwired network. Once that was done I started the install process and it worked like a charm. For whatever reasons Ichthux likes for you to be connected to the Internet so that it can go out to the data repositories and get the latest and greatest code. The install process took all of 15 minutes. I rebooted my laptop and was greeted with the new boot manager screen which gave me a choice between Linux and XP Pro. I chose Linux, it booted up to a nice pretty blue screen. Version 6.10 looks a little bit different than 6.09 but not anything major. I put in my user id and password that I had set up during the install procedure and guess what? I could not log on to save my life. Go figure sports fans. Now I have a new OS on my laptop that I want to tinker with and I can not log on. LOL... Luckily for me the laptop works fine with XP Pro so I am not crippled too badly. I have joined several Linux support groups and left a message to see if someone can help.

Linux registered user 441766

I have been playing around with Ichthux which is a Linux distribution for Christians. I am on a steep learning curve since it has been ages since I missed around with RedHat years and years ago. I guess I am dating myself a bit huh? So, anyway, without further ado I am officially a registered Linux user. I am not sure what that really gives me other than association with the Linux user group but I think that is cool in and of itself. I have a cool graphic that I can add to my web pages as well which I will start to use. Neat stuff if you ask me. I am running the 6.09 distribution kernel and have it installed on two computers at home. My main Gateway machine is dual booting XP SP2 and Linux and my kids computer has ONLY Ichthux installed. I am not winning any popularity contests having done this so I guess I need to figure a way to get a spare computer other than theirs to play with Linux on. I can not get Linux to run on my Toshiba laptop and I wont be trying that install process any time in the near future. It really is a pain in the keister to have to install everything from scratch when you blow up a hard drive partition with Windoze loaded on it.

My next learning task will be to learn how to connect to Windows Network shares and a network printer. Wish me luck!!

Linux for Christians

http://www.ichthux.com/

I spoke with a friend of mine in Switzerland yesterday afternoon around 1 pm and he told me that he uses Linux. We were trying to figure out why he was not able to access our ministry chat room from his computer. We discovered that he needed to upgrade his version of Macromedia Flash he was running under Linux. Well, he was actually running it ON top of Linux but you know what I mean. Once we figured this out he was able to get in to the chat channel without any problems. We got to talking about Linux and he told me that he despises Mickeysoft and that he can do everything on the Internet that I can under Windows XP. I have dabbled with Linux RedHat on occasion over the last 10 years and I know what kind of a pain that this OS can be for the computer professional much less a novice. I think that the last time I installed Red Hat it took me several hours and I had to pull the computer apart and write down chipset information for all the major hardware pieces.
Since then Linux has come a long way and now a novice can pop in a cdrom and answer some questions and the install process takes off much like a Windows install. I played around with something called Knoppix several months ago but got bored with it because I could not save any data to the hard drive. With Ichthux you can either run it as an active cd user and save data to your USB Jump drive or you can actually install it to your local hard drive.

During the install process Ichthux loads up a partition appliction that gives you several choices as to how you want to install the OS. You can tell it to wipe the hard drive and format it and do a clean install or you can point it over to a second hard drive and leave your boot drive alone. Ichthux partition manager also allows you to do a dual boot configuration on hda0 and you can dual boot XP and Linux at the same time. That is the configuration that I went with on my Gateway PC today. I actually dual boot both XP and Linux. XP stays on C drive on had0 and I put Linux on D drive of my ide slave hard disk.

I attempted to dual boot Linux and XP on my Toshiba laptop and wound up hosing the original OS to the point of no return. Once again I had wished that I had made a ghost image of my hard drive BEFORE I allowed my adventuresome spirit to get the best of me. Ichthux would NOT successfully install on my laptop no matter what configuration I tried. I figure there must be a chip set of some sort that would not work right. I spent most of last night and today rebuilding my laptop with XP SP2 and all of its associated apps and while I did that I installed Ichthux on my Gateway system.

I need to get back on the Linux bandwagon and learn it so that I can use something other than Windoze and so I can list this OS on my skills sheet or resume as something I am proficient in. I am sure it will take a little bit of time for me to learn it but I am more than willing.

Christmas Eve

This is Christmas Eve 2006 and before you know it the new year of 2007 will be upon us. I have been off of work since last Wednesday and I can tell that I will probably be ready to go back to work this coming up Wednesday. I am not used to having this much free time on my hands and quite frankly my family is probably not used to having this much quality time with dad.

Last night I exchanged gifts with one of my best friends who just happens to be a propellerhead just like myself. My propellerhead friend always manages to come up with the most surprising cool gizmos to give me for Christmas. Last night I got the following cool toys...

A. AirDesk laptop stand for my laptop. This is one of the coolest toys of all. Before I got this neat gizmo I was using a utility table for my laptop when I am in the living room. The problem with the utility table is that it was big and bulky and always in the way of someone else wanting to watch the tv. It also was not the right height to be used while reclining. The Airdesk laptop stand solves all of those problems with its unique patented design. I know, this is starting to sound like a commercial but I can not help but be excited about the new ability to use my laptop in exactly the position I need it and then when I need to get up I can just swivel it out of my way.

B. Emergency escape hammer. This gizmo is designed to break out my window in case I find my Durango suddenly turned into a submarine and I want to breath real air vs water. Everyone should have one of these.

C. Keychain glow stick and flash light. Both of these gizmos will help me to find my keys in the dark as well as stay out of the dark.

D. Power Center. This cool gizmo allows me to organize all of my messy wires associated with all of my electronic gizmos like my pocket pc or cellular telephones. It allows you to hide the actual ac adapter and wires in a plastic housing and then leave the business end of the charger hanging outside while you clamp your device on top of the charger housing. For now I am using this for our cell phones.

E. Special rubber duckie radio antenna for the Durango. In September we bought a 2006 Durango and we love everything about our new SUV. One of the things that I had to give up however was the OnStar antenna that was on the Pontiac. This particular antenna connected me to OnStar and it also allowed me to put my carmate M and M dudes on the end of it. The antenna on the Durango was so slim and tall that the M and M dude kept bending the antenna over and slapping the side of the truck. This new antenna bends but it is much thicker at the base and therefore the M and M Dude rides just nicely.

F. Utility knife that allows me to open packages much easier

G. Gorilla tripod that allows you to attach your digital camera and stand it or attach it to other objects.

I am very pleased with all of the very functional goodies that Santa has brought me this year. Thanks Santa!!!

Cardiac Cowboys beat NY 23 to 20

I can hardly breathe after that close call. I also can not believe that the cardiac cowboys actually pulled this off. In my opinion both teams played a sloppy penalty riddled game from start to finish. Being a die hard Cowboy fan I am happy that they won but I am not looking forward to the game between the Cowboys and the New Orlean Saints. I do not think that they (Cowboys) can afford another performance like the one tonight. The advantage that Dallas has next Sunday is that they have the home field advantage. I also hope that these wins whether close or not are not going to their heads and pumping their egos out of perspective. I really believe that if Dallas had missed the field goal in the last 2 seconds of regulation play and NY had won the toss during overtime that Dallas would most certainly have lost that game. Then again, that is all speculation on my part. Luckily for Dallas the game clock ran out and Dallas comes up with a win. GO DALLAS.....