[Malvern] Is there life in BT Broadband?

[Andy Morris]

Oh, and I just found out that if you have 512Mb or more installed, Debian
doesn't want/need a swap partition. Must bung another 256Mb in my son's
machine ...

Andy

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Andy Morris" <zaglabod at onetel.com>
To: "MLUG" <malvern at mailman.lug.org.uk>
Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 10:54 AM
Subject: Re: [Malvern] Is there life in BT Broadband?


> Knoppix (Live-on-a-CD) is stripped-down Debian after you load it to HD. I
> just upped to 3.6 (3.7 is out) after I found out how to fix the CUPS
printer
> system (it was seriously bollixed in 3.4 and still is). The Knoppix HD
> installer is still under serious development, but it has not presented me
> with any problems on several installs - plus it comes with Open Office
1.1.2
> (latest). Loads KDE by default, but the cheat codes list gives an option
to
> go GNOME (never tried it - prefer KDE)..
>
> Debian "apt-get" works, although you must first run "apt-get update" to
> revise the package lists. With broadband available, it's a matter of
running
> the "upgrade" and "kernel upgrade" options and you have a bang-up-to-date
> Debian system. (Not recommended on dial-up, unless you have a few days to
> spare). Check the Knoppix forums on www.knoppix.net for latest details on
> the HD install and post-install tweaks.
>
> My only comment is do not log in as a user after installation, until you
> have first logged in as root and set up the "master" system setup.
>
> I've tried Wine for some games apps - doesn't do Train Simulator (yet),
but
> handles many others - emulates W95/W98/W98-2, but not W2000 or XP, so the
> age of your game counts.   There's a compatibility list on the Wine
website
> (www.winehq.com).
>
> Andy
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Chris Eilbeck" <chris at yordas.demon.co.uk>
> To: <malvern at mailman.lug.org.uk>
> Sent: Monday, October 04, 2004 12:03 AM
> Subject: Re: [Malvern] Is there life in BT Broadband?
>
>
> > On Sat, Oct 02, 2004 at 12:37:28PM +0100, Guy Inchbald wrote:
> > >
> > > I've been playing with a few distros/toys to come up with my ideal
> > > system. The arrival of BT "Broadband" 3 miles from Upton, subject to
an
> > > engineer's visit, makes this a timely moment to ask for advice:
> > >
> > > I'll need to sign up with BT Broadband, otherwise the engineer is
> > > unlikely to call for free.
> >
> > Why do you need an engineers' visit?  I live quite a way from Malvern
> > exchange and didn't need it.  Do the test yourself.  Pick up a phone,
> > type 17040 and follow the prompts to do a test.  I think the correct
> > sequence is 3, 1, 2.  Put the phone down and the exchange will call you
> > back with the results.
> >
> > You shouldn't have to go with BT Broadband anyway.  BT provide the line.
> > BT Broadband or Openworld or whatever they're calling themselves
nowadays
> > are a separate company.
> >
> > > I'd like to have a firewall between my home network (mostly Windows -
> > > one will be used extensively for online gaming) and the "always on
> > > = always vulnerable" broadband. IMHO a firewall on a Windows PC is a
> > > contradiction in terms. Is it better to use a modem with inbuilt
> firewall
> > > (means buying one), or to use my planned Linux machine as a
> gateway/firewall
> > > for the others (so I can use the freebie BT modem which apparently has
> 3rd
> > > party Linux support)?
> >
> > Get a modem/router/firewall box.  They're dead easy to set up, pretty
> > cheap and you don't get into the situation of not being able to reboot
or
> > power off one machine because someone is doing something else on
another.
> >
> > > How techy is it to set up and maintain a gateway and a firewall?
> >
> > Piece of piss.
> >
> > > Presumably, there are some games to play with IP addressing between
the
> > > "intranet" and the wide world.
> >
> > You can run Network Address Translation or non-NAT.  NAT hides a private
> > class C network behind a single IP address provided by your ISP.  I'd
> > recommend going with someone like Zen (who I've been with for about 8
> > months now) and getting 8 static IP addresses so you can have some
> > machines NATed and firewalled and some machines (if you want) accessible
> > from the net for running servers.
> >
> > > Are there any issues over online gaming which need thinking through?
> >
> > No idea, sorry.
> >
> > > Now to Linux. My ideal system:
> > >   Pure freedom for all main tools (GPL or better, even for commercial
> use).
> > >   Installer able to cope with most hardware and X GUI without deeply
> techy
> > >   scripting.
> > >   GNOME only (no KDE). Don't know why, but GNOME apps tend to feel
> nicer.
> > >   Easy update / uninstall.
> > >
> > > Debian looks close, but I am unsure whether even the latest 1.0
> Installer
> > > will be easy enough for setting up X, or how Debian manages
> uninstalling.
> >
> > Debian is easy to get going but the current installer doesn't install X.
> > That's still pretty simple to do.
> >
> > > Do any Debain-based distros come closer?
> >
> > Debian Sarge is pretty good.
> >
> > > Has anybody got a copy of Debian with the 1.0 installer they would be
> > > willing to burn to CD, for a small compensation?
> >
> > Let me know what you want tomorrow and I'll see what I can do for the
> > meeting at Phil's place on Tuesday.
> >
> > Chris
>
>
>