Im a complete noob to linux. I used windows all my life and decided to try linux. Im regretin that now.
I’ve installed opensuse 11 from livecd, but the wireless doesnt work. So rebooted to windows, got the drivers (after hours on forums). Great! now the make, gcc, kernel-source header and stuff r not installed apparently.
every forum i’ve read assumes u’v got internet. How do i install these “repositories” after i have downloaded them on windoes? where do i donwload from?
Sorry if this is not the rite section but am too frustrated to care. Spent the last 10 hours tryin to get this fixed among other troubles with darn bloody brilliant all powerful linux. >:(
Setting up wireless on Linux, as a newbie, can be painful WITH a wired connection. Without a wired connection, as a newbie, it is doubly painful.
Experienced Linux users will likely breeze thru MOST (not all wireless) device installs in the same (or less) time it takes to install a wireless device with MS-Windows. For example, in my case, installing the driver’s for my wife’s Dlink card on openSUSE took about 1/2 the time to setup and get working than it did for my wife’s WinXP. And I’m no wireless expert. But I have been using Linux for 10 years and I did carefully research wireless devices for Linux compatibility BEFORE I purchased a specific DLink wireless card (of a specific chipset/revision). Care in purchasing hardware under Linux goes a LONG WAYS into making the installation SIGNIFICANTLY easier.
My view is less experienced users may struggle setting up wireless. Wireless is one of the areas where Linux user friendliness is lagging.
Coming here for help is a good idea. We have a wireless section here: Wireless - openSUSE Forums
and you should look at the “stickies” at the top of the page, to see the sort of info you need to provide.
Or else simply reply/bump to my post, and one of the wireless guru’s (of which I am not one) will likely chime in and help.
Did you install opensuse from a CD or DVD? If so you should be able to
add gcc/kernel-source/etc. from that as they come on those media (or at
least on the full DVD… maybe the Live media are different). If you
don’t have Internet access there may be some difficulty but worst-case
scenario you download the RPMs in windows, burn to CD/DVD or put on USB
drive, boot into Linux and do the following:
su #become root
cd /path/to/your/downloaded/RPM/files
rpm -Uvh ./*.rpm
exit
That will install all the RPMs you downloaded. This won’t take care of
dependencies nicely but if you get network access working then Yast will
take care of all of that for you.
One of the great things about Linux is the software is easy to install
if you net network access. One of the downsides of Linux is that the
software is easiest to install if you have Internet. One of the great
things is that it’s always possible… no technical, legal issues. One
of the downsides is that Linux hasn’t always been as mainstream as it
is, but it’s definitely improving. Wireless can be something that works
out of the box or, with a Broadcom card, can require a bit of work.
Good luck.
aaan wrote:
> Im a complete noob to linux. I used windows all my life and decided to
> try linux. Im regretin that now.
>
> I’ve installed opensuse 11 from livecd, but the wireless doesnt work.
> So rebooted to windows, got the drivers (after hours on forums). Great!
> now the make, gcc, kernel-source header and stuff r not installed
> apparently.
>
> every forum i’ve read assumes u’v got internet. How do i install these
> “repositories” after i have downloaded them on windoes? where do i
> donwload from?
>
> Sorry if this is not the rite section but am too frustrated to care.
> Spent the last 10 hours tryin to get this fixed among other troubles
> with darn bloody brilliant all powerful linux. >:(
>
>
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And I forgot… one of the best things about Linux (and open source
software in general) is that the forums are great. Ask a question and
provide the details you need and the problem will most-likely be solved
with a little elbow grease… or finger grease.
Good luck.
ab@novell.com wrote:
> Did you install opensuse from a CD or DVD? If so you should be able to
> add gcc/kernel-source/etc. from that as they come on those media (or at
> least on the full DVD… maybe the Live media are different). If you
> don’t have Internet access there may be some difficulty but worst-case
> scenario you download the RPMs in windows, burn to CD/DVD or put on USB
> drive, boot into Linux and do the following:
>
> su #become root
> cd /path/to/your/downloaded/RPM/files
> rpm -Uvh ./*.rpm
> exit
>
> That will install all the RPMs you downloaded. This won’t take care of
> dependencies nicely but if you get network access working then Yast will
> take care of all of that for you.
>
> One of the great things about Linux is the software is easy to install
> if you net network access. One of the downsides of Linux is that the
> software is easiest to install if you have Internet. One of the great
> things is that it’s always possible… no technical, legal issues. One
> of the downsides is that Linux hasn’t always been as mainstream as it
> is, but it’s definitely improving. Wireless can be something that works
> out of the box or, with a Broadcom card, can require a bit of work.
>
> Good luck.
>
>
>
>
>
> aaan wrote:
>> Im a complete noob to linux. I used windows all my life and decided to
>> try linux. Im regretin that now.
>
>> I’ve installed opensuse 11 from livecd, but the wireless doesnt work.
>> So rebooted to windows, got the drivers (after hours on forums). Great!
>> now the make, gcc, kernel-source header and stuff r not installed
>> apparently.
>
>> every forum i’ve read assumes u’v got internet. How do i install these
>> “repositories” after i have downloaded them on windoes? where do i
>> donwload from?
>
>> Sorry if this is not the rite section but am too frustrated to care.
>> Spent the last 10 hours tryin to get this fixed among other troubles
>> with darn bloody brilliant all powerful linux. >:(
>
>
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Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org
The main thing to remember is Linux is not Winodws. It’s nothing like Windows. Not even related. You can’t do things the way you did in Windows and expect them to work.
For some people Windows might be a better option. To say Linux is better than Windows is to say Ford is better than Chevy. Linux is better for me.
Things I find more useful than Windows:
No viruses
No spyware
No DRM
No Windows activation
No Windows Genuine Advantage
No Big Brother Bill looking over my shoulder
Stable
Strong user community support
Better application design
Strong command-line
Configurable
Offers me the ability to change things
Choice
Free software
Faster patches
I suppose I could spend all day making a list. The point is, you have to choose for yourself which OS works best for you. I don’t like Windows, I don’t like Microsoft, but that’s me.
i’ve got an intel 5300 wireless card. Apparently the only way to make this work is either use compat-wireless driver or upgrade kernel to 2.6.27
I’m tryin to do the compat wireless but need to make use of make and gcc and kernel-header and stuff. Where do i download these so called “rps”?
I searched opensuse get software page n downloaded some, but they were all some kinda text files not these repos. When i tried to get yast to open these (from my pen drive) it kept tryin to connect to the internet.
Wud appreciate if someone could gimme links to these repos and xplain how to get yast to search da pen drive.
> Sorry if this is not the rite section but am too frustrated to care.
> Spent the last 10 hours tryin to get this fixed among other troubles
> with darn bloody brilliant all powerful linux. >:(
“Soapbox” would have been better, but we’ll try to talk you into solving problems, so we’ll be back on-topic
My first advice: If you have a wired connection, plug it in. Play with Linux for a while, get familiar with it, then let’s solve the wireless problem when you feel better. We need to know which wireless hardware exactly.
downloaded the compat-wireless rpm from that link. When i click it in suse, yast opens up, stays there for a while and disappears. Dont know wat happened but wireless is not working.
Can anyone tell me how to install the gcc and make utilities downloaded from webpin?
gcc and make
Are in the OSS repo or the DVD, you don’t need to download them.
As to the other question:
Convince me that linux is better than windows.
It sounds like you already made up your mind. Try and imagine you never used Windows in your life before! Do you think it would be much different than your current experience with Linux? Be realistic!
Trying to convince somebody of the beauty of free software is just like trying to convince somebody of the beauty of a sunset. Either they see it or they don’t – there’s no use “convincing”.
Of course – reading the excellent essays of Richard Stallman might help.
If you ask me, the single person who contributed the most to the popularity of GNU/Linux is, not surprisingly, Bill Gates. With the Vista product. And mind you, I’d been a faithful Windows user for – let’s see – over 14 years (from Windows for Wourkgroups 3.11, to be precise)! When Vista came out I was just shopping around for a new laptop, expecting it to come preinstalled with Vista and looking forward to finally lay my hands on this much hyped-about OS. Alas, upon hearing of all the problems with Vista and particularly about the increasing DRM menace, my indignation over the ever-tightening grip of the big corporations over my tiny personal freedom reached its peak: all of a sudden I decided I’d never install a single copy of Windows on any of my machines again. It was an almost mystical experience: an unbelievable sense of relief overwhelmed me. It was as if I’d been bound in chains and those chains broke all at once!
So I simply went out and bought a laptop with a free OS preinstalled. It’s not just that I’ve never regretted it since – it’s that I’m more delighted with my choice with each new day.
Let’s face it: what’s arguably the single biggest problem with GNU/Linux? Many a user would agree that it’s the lack of hardware drivers which have to be “reinvented” from scratch by volunteer programmers because almost no hardware vendors make them. Well, that’s just a plain consequence of our own stupidity as consumers. If we used free software instead of (frequently pirated) non-free software, we’d force all hardware vendors to make GNU/Linux drivers – and then the Redmond guys would be the ones struggling to write drivers for undocumented hardware. Id like to see them cope with that! Would people still say Windows is “better” than GNU/Linux?
Anyway, for me it was never about GNU/Linux being better (you just have to read my signature to see that), it was never about technology – technologically the free and the non-free software are on a par – it’s always been about personal stance: I don’t like anybody telling me what I may and what I may not do with the music or movies or software (or hardware) I buy, regardless of the fact whether their OS is gratis or not. It’s not about freebies – it’s about freedom. And last, but not least: if I think about the two strains of programmers - the affluent Redmond bunch vs. the nameless, unpayed volunteer hacker struggling day in day out contributing to the free software community - which of the two do you think deserves all my sympathy, all my gratitude and all my respect?
I know it’s lame & working this issue out would be a good experience to get your first glimpse at the inner workings of Linux…
but: Why don’t you hang on with that wireless bit and wait for openSUSE 11.1? - If I’m correct the needed wireless driver should be ‘built in’ and it should spare you many headaches getting it to work. You could have a first try once the RC’s are out (in three weeks from now)…
As reply to you’re opening post:
I’ve been using Linux full time for the last two years… Fighting it to get things to work in the first month or so (back then with an old 3Com PCMCIA card)… After having got the first basics Linux has kept amazing me over and over. It still does as now I can say I understand how it works, where to look and what it’s about - still learning new things every day.
I still use Windows in my everyday work - it has it’s value and it’s faults, just like Linux. Linux just gives me more drive to build and explore new possible solutions… where as Windows is just Windows. I guess that’s the difference for me.
OP@ if you are hoping that Linux will initially give you a better experience than Windows, you will be disappointed. It takes time to get used to a different way of working. But when you have appreciated it, you will find Windows limiting.
Take baby steps and stay clear of difficult areas like wireless at the beginning. Feel free to ask for help in these forums in your learning experience.
the heading of the post is the frustration talking. I dont really need any convincing. but u just lose it wen u struggle with unfamiliar code fo 10 hours tryin to go online, switching from os to os and dont get nowhere.
my laptop is <2month old, top notch hardware, and its frustrating as hell wen u cant even go online and none of the opinion from xperts help.
i first tried ubuntu, which failed to even install (8 burned cds, no cd errors, md5 checksum intact). jes keep popping up errors wen even tryin livecd. even ubuntu 8.1 beta which has the needed kernel.
The only way to install ubuntu seems to be under vista - :sarcastic:
so i turn to suse. atleast it installed. but thats it. The wireless still isnt working. im still at sqaur zero (not 1).
i also repeat, how to i use yast to install the gcc and make from webpin. these are not rpms. I dont know wat kind of files they are.
Also, when I configure wireless on my laptop I plug into my router first so I can get together everything I need. Not having an Internet connection when trying to configure wireless makes it much more difficult than it needs to be.
