Re: Experiences and trouble with Knoppix --evaluationg converting from Windows to Linux

From: Matt H (nntp_at_cox.net)
Date: 07/14/03 

Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 19:19:10 GMT

In article <8a58c331.0307140659.274ca439@posting.google.com>, jack turer wrote:
> Re: Experiences and trouble with Knoppix --evaluationg converting from
> Windows to Linux
>
> Hello,
>
> I am evaluating converting (at least some) desktops at the office from
> Windows 2000, to some variety of Linux.
>
> It is a 1.2Ghz AMD Athlon with 128Meg of ram, ATI Wonder Graphics card
> (modern) and an 80Gig harddisk, with 100Mbps Lancard. Reasonably
> modern hardware overall.

You could really use more RAM. KDE and will be much more responsive with
at least 192MB.

> I evaluated the system, and here is my experience, and problems. Maybe
> someone can help.
>
> Generally, I liked Linux/Knoppix. I have used Linux a lot before for
> servers, but never as a workstation/desktop.
>
>
> Version:
> Knoppix: 2003-06-06 English CD
>
> Good: (ie. What I liked)
>
> -CD could boot and Knoppix started
> -All hardware was recognised and set up correctly. Linux has come very
> far in this regard. Video, Sound, Mouse (3rd scroll button too), Lan,
> CDRom, USB Drive, DVD Drive all got recognized and set up correctly by
> Knoppix. Lan used DHCP to get on the network and Konquerer could see
> webpages right away. FTP and ssh to other linux machines on the Lan
> worked fine. Very very good so far.
>
>
>
> Now the issues. Any ideas how to fix these?
>
> Bad:
>
> -The Desktop (KDE) is slow. I mean *really* slow, almost to be
> unusable. Various windows (like File explorer) take forever to open.
> Far slower than MS W2K on the same hardware. This may have been due to
> the fact it was running from a CD though (can anyone say?)

Mostly due to lack of RAM and the fact its running off CD-ROM.

> <SNIP lots of crasshing programs>

I think that a lot of this could be due to running low on memory. Was
swap enabled? If not, then you're definatly running low on memory.

> -Windows Networking
> -No way (I could find) to browse the windows network (this will be
> a
> reality in most offices where Linux is introduced).. ie the SMB
> windows network, that exists in most offices that run MS Windows
> LANs via 'network neighborhood'.

Konqueror should allow you to browse a Windows network. I know it works
here.

> I would like to get the above to work (in Knoppix, it should really).
> If I can great, I will convert over a few machines, otherwise,
> probably I will need to stick to Windows 2K and check again in a
> couple years to see if things have progressed a bit further.

Why don't you evaluate an actual 'Desktop' distribution? KNOPPIX isn't
really meant for day to day use. I would recommmend trying out either
RedHat 9 or Mandrake 9.1. KNOPPIX is not really representative of a
normal distribution.

> Knoppix is a great idea BTW (once the applications work better).