updated 12/6/22
First of all, why are you shoveling
money into the pocket of Bill Gates by using Internet Explorer,
or any of its derivative products like Microsoft Edge? Get Firefox and use it as your
browser. It's Free, and you can easily protect yourself from popups, cookies, data mining
and other parasitical commercial trash. Use the free ad-on at Firefox that cuts all the advertising off.
It's called AdBlocker Ultimate. It works!
A. Download and install Firefox
B. Go to "Firefox Tools"
C. Select "Add ons and themes"
D. Select AdBlocker Ultimate
E. Allow it to access what you download
Zero ads, including on Youtube should be the result.
Go here to get codes that allow you to
avoid registering for large media websites. If you just want to protect your
online privacy and are intimidated by software and
installing things on your machine,
Now, for the serious stuff:
Guest Commentary from John in Canada:
Warning, this is years old technology and may be superceded. Don't go here unless you are a real techie.Part I is for beginners,
Part II is more complicated.
Study, research and proceed with knowledge.
Part I - Open Source Software and other free programs for Windows:
I became aware of many of the below noted programs some time ago as a
result of continually cleaning up my Windows installation. My daughter
was downloading all sorts of programs and although she did no illegal
downloads, many of these programs brought their own problems to the
computer. I also found that pop up ads, adware and virus threats were
making my computer use a major pain and resulting in a lot of lost
hours. Despite paying for antivirus software and installing a firewall
I still had several hours of work per week keeping the whole mess
running enough to check email and surf the net a bit. At one point I
was prepared to shut down the internet connection completely. At the
time our family had only the single computer and my work along with
important financial data was on it. As you may appreciate this caused a
lot of headaches despite regular complete backups.
The solution started with using Firefox instead of MS Internet Explorer/Edge,
installing two adware destroying programs and changing to the
Thunderbird email program from Outlook Express. This considerably
reduced the amount of computer problems I was having.
There are a number of different licensing arrangements for software
under the general heading "Open Source". One is the GNU general public
license. Linux and thousands of other packages are covered by this
license. With this software you have the following freedoms:
(borrowed from "Why I love the GPL" by Joe Barr in News Forge January
30, 2005).
- The freedom to run the program, for any purpose (freedom 1).
- The freedom to study how the program works, and adapt it to your needs
(freedom 2). Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor
(freedom 3).
- The freedom to improve the program, and release your improvements to
the public, so that the whole community benefits (freedom 4). Access to
the source code is a precondition for this.
(See for more
The "source" in Open Source refers to the original computer code written
to create a particular program. In open source programs the source code is
available to the public so that anyone who wishes (and is sufficiently skilled) may change the code, or examine it Internet Browser and Email:
The first program to install is the internet browser Firefox. It is a replacement for MS Internet Explorer and is generally regarded as much more secure and faster. It will defeat pop up ads, and has settings to prevent adware intrusion on your computer. Firefox can be downloaded
www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
Firefox is available in a number of different languages and is also
available for Windows, Mac and linux. At the time of this writing the
file size is 4.7 MB so it isn't a big file to download. Once it is
downloaded for windows (it will be something like
"FirefoxSetup1.0.1.exe") double click the file icon and it will install
itself. It will ask during the install if you wish to make it the
default internet browser - I would suggest that you do so. Firefox will
give you the option to import favorites from IE. It is easy and
painless and will not effect your IE setup.
I would suggest that you use Firefox as your everyday browser as it is
much more secure than Internet Explorer. Once you are using the browser
you can set it up by going to Edit > Preferences. Take a look at the
default setup and modify it if you wish. This is your oportunity to
increase or decrease the security of the browser and your computer.
Mozilla offers an email program called Thunderbird. It offers
intelligent spam filters, spell check on emails and much more. It is a
small download from www.mozilla.org and is definitely worth trying.
This program offers better security than other common email programs.
It will import mail addresses and emails from Outlook Express during or
after the installation.
Both Firefox and Thunderbird are free downloads and are undergoing rapid
improvement. They are quite easy to update once new versions are
released. Security updates on these programs occur very quickly after a
problem has been detected. Both programs have a multitude of themes and
extensions so that their appearance and functionality may be changed and
improved.
Adware, Spyware and other Scumware:
If you have been browsing the internet with Internet Explorer, Edge, or Opera or Chrome, there is a
very good chance that your computer is infected with adware or spyware.
If you see search bars that you haven't installed such as "MyWebSearch",
your homepage has changed or you are continually seeing pop up ads then
your computer is infected with these parasites. They will slow your
system to a crawl, prevent you from getting proper use of your software
and in some cases they are severe security risks; logging keystrokes or
stealing passwords.
Two programs that I have used are Ad-aware by Lavasoft and Spybot-S&D.
Both scan your system for adware/spyware and once they detect it allow
you to remove it. Both have databases of adware/spyware that are
updated frequently. Each time you use them you should first check for
updates. I use both for a regular check on my windows system as
sometimes one will pickup scumware that the other will miss.
Ad-aware can be downloaded by going to the lavasoft website at:
www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
The page will direct you to Download.com via a link and you can then
download the "aawsepersonal.exe" file. It will install on your computer
once you double click the file icon. Once it is installed double
click the icon to start it and make sure that you instruct it to
download updates. It will do so and you can then direct it to scan the
system. It is quite intuitive to use and an excellent tool. The program
is free for personal use.
Spybot-S&D can be accessed at:
www.safer-networking.org/en/download/
You will find a link there for the download. Installation is the same
as for ad-aware, once the download is complete double click on the file
icon (sypbotsd13.exe or something similar) and it will install itself.
Update it before doing a scan on your system and then prompt it to
delete any spyware it has found. This program is also free although the
author(s) would appreciate a donation.
Please note that ad-ware and SpybotS&D are not open source but they are
valuable tools to keep your Windows system running. If your windows
installation is infected with scumware you may need to do more than
installing and running Ad-aware or SpygotS&D. If they will not install
or do not get rid of all problems then do a search on the net to locate
various tools that are available to detect and destroy adware and
spyware.
Free Office Software for Windows:
In business and elsewhere documents are usually formated in a MS Word
format (with a ".doc" ending). Spreadsheets are usually in an MS Excel
format (with a ".xls" ending). If you have priced a copy of MS Office
recently you will find that it is several hundreds of dollars. It also
provides Powerpoint and Access but most people mainly use the
spreadsheet and word processing parts of the package. Four years ago I
was faced with spending a lot of my hard earned money on MS office
because of a contract that I took on with a government agency. They
required reports in MS Word and MS Excel formats. At that time I bought
EasyOffice (e-press) after a tryout period. I found it did the job and
was reasonably priced.
I have since found an Open Source option.LibreOffice is a complete and
powerful Office suite. It includes a word processor, spreadsheet, draw
program and presentation program. It will read and write in MS formats
(and many others) and in some respects may be better software than MS
LibreOffice is available for Windows and Linux among otheroperating systems. I have used it for the last 8 months on a linux
system and find to be extremely capable software. I have read, created
and modified MS Word and Excel files and no one knew the difference. It
will read and write Powerpoint format.
LibreOffice can be downloaded at:
The link above also includes a set of instructions for downloading and
installing the windows version of the program.
Antivirus:
When I was using Windows I bought Norton Antivirus every year. I found
that Norton Antivirus caused me some difficulties - every now and then
it would not download updates. I have since found that there are
several free antivirus programs available for Windows. You may wish to
take a look at:
www.avast.com/eng/down_home.html free virus scanner for
individual use.
Other Open Source programs available for Windows:
Audacity - available at
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows/ This program is an
audio editor. I use a Linux version to clean up digital files recorded
from vinyl records before recording them to CD. Very intuitive to use.
GIMP - available at http://gimp-win.sourceforge.net A powerful image
manipulation program similar to Adobe Photoshop.
The programs/applications that I have mentioned above have lots of
information on their websites. Most have forums that can be checked for
information and if you wish you may ask questions on those forums. It
is a courtesy to first search the forum and the net for answers before
asking the question.
A search of the net for "windows open source programs" or something
similar will turn up more information that may be of interest.
I would ask that you consider supporting groups or individuals who offer
software that you find useful. Some request cash donations while others
would appreciate your opinion and information on the use of their
software.
It is my hope that the above information is of benefit to you and will
start you towards a Windows free environment. It may be a surprise but
there is a tremendous amount of free software available and much of it
very high quality.
End Part I
I mentioned in Part I of this series of articles that my solution to
internet/computer problems started with using Firefox and Thunderbird.
The two programs helped to make my Windows installation less susceptible
to scumware, popups and other annoyances but did nothing to increase the
stability of the system. I became very frustrated with the "blue screen
of death", the refusal of the system to shut down properly and other
annoyances. I was using Windows 98SE at the time but did not consider
"upgrading" to Windows XP operating system because of the problems that
friends were having with that operating system.
I had Zone Alarm set up as my Windows firewall and noticed that a number
of installed programs were continually trying to access the internet.
Realplayer and other programs tried to access the net each time the
computer was started up even though they were not being used. This
concerned me because I had no way to know what data they were sending
out or requesting from the internet. Were they sending out information
about my system to a website? I suspected that some of these programs
were forwarding data and since I had sensitive personal and business
information on my computer I was quite concerned.
My next step made the most difference towards solving internet problems
and at the same time gaining high stability and getting rid of many
Windows annoyances. It also cost very little and was a learning
experience.
In the course of trying to "fix" Windows, I came across references to
Linux. Linux is an Open Source operating system but is usually
distributed as a package of programs called a distribution. There are
hundreds of linux distributions available and most are free for the
download or a nominal fee for a cd(s). Many of these distributions will
run on older hardware and run well. To get an idea of some of these
distributions take a look at:
Some of the distributions are oriented towards older systems, some for
specialized use as servers or firewalls and some for desktop use.
Another free operating system is BSD. There are several popular
distributions of this operating system available and they are free or
have a small cost involved. The latest version of Mac OS has common
roots to BSD. If you are interested in pursuing more information about
BSD you may wish to view this website:
http://www.bsd.orgLinux is much more secure than MS Windows and has little susceptibility
to virus problems. It is very stable - if an application locks up it
seldom takes the entire system down.
http://www.linux.org
During installation a
root
(administrative) user is created. Only the person with the root user
password is able to install software.
Each user has a separate subdirectory from the /home directory in which
to store files, program settings, photos etc. The user can create
subdirectories from their own directory to organize data. Since all of
the user directories are subdirectories of /home, it is very easy to
back up data because the root user has only to backup /home (and it's
subdirectories) and all user's data will be backed up. It is also easy
for each user because their data is automatically saved into their own
/home/user directory.
For example, a system with two users by the name of "john" and "sally"
will have at least two /home/user subdirectories, /home/john and
/home/sally. Sally will now save all files into /home/sally but may
create a subdirectory called /home/sally/photos to store her digital
photos. She will not normally have access to /home/john or any of
john's "subdirectories".
It is not unusual for a linux system to operate for months without being
rebooted and without any problems. Linux is used as the operating
system on many of the internet's servers. The server software
associated to this is Apache. It is being used more and more by
government departments, businesses and education departments. Many use
it to get away from onerous licencing provisions of Microsoft software
and because it is very high quality software.
When I purchased Microsoftware there were a number of serious restrictions on
it's use. The user agreements (agree or it won't install) were often
onerous and treated the customer like a criminal. You were not allowed
to share, give away, loan or use the software except in a very limited
manner. Some educational institutions, governments and businesses faced
"software audits" by Microsoft and paid enormous "fines" when found to
be using MS software on more hardware than was licenced.
A number of smaller businesses have been subjected to such audits. One
that I am aware of in Canada paid about $30,000 Canadian in "fines" for
software not covered by licences that they had on file. Other cases
have happened in Australia and Europe, not just the USA.
With linux you can use the software as you wish. You can provide copies
to friends, install it on your mom's computer, give it to the local
school to try out. Should you need software for your small or large
business you have every right to install Open Source software on as many
computers as you have available. Ubuntu linux will even give you for
free, 10 sets (or more) of cd's to install on the computer(s) of your
choice (see below for more information).
Note that some linux distributions are sold and may have restrictions on
copying or free distribution. Redhat Enterprise linux is one of these
but I don't know the details of their licencing.
In order to experiment with linux, I bought an old celeron 400 computer
with 256 MB memory and a 6GB hard drive. The computer itself was
surplus from our local City so the price was pretty good.
Not wanting to waste any money I went to our library and found a book
about Redhat Linux 7.0 which included a set of installation cd's. I
installed it and found that it was graphical and not that hard to
install or use and within a couple of hours I was surfing the net. Keep
in mind that I knew almost nothing about linux at that point. I
eventually installed Redhat 9 (from the library again) on the older
computer and then put a new hard drive in my faster computer and
installed Redhat 9 on it as a dual boot with Windows. Each time the
computer was booted a menu appeared showing Windows or Redhat 9. I
found that I was using the two linux installations more and more and
moved my business files to them. Once installed the two installations
were incredibly stable and easy to use. I eventually moved away from
Redhat 9 as it was no longer supported and was somewhat complex to keep
updated. Redhat has recently split it's systems into two. It's
Enterprise distribution is provided with a paid support package. Fedora
is their "experimental" distribution. Programs are first tested in
Fedora and then incorporated into the Redhat enterprise. Fedora is a
free distribution. See http://www.redhat.com
My next step was to install Simply Mepis on the slower computer. The
Mepis installation worked well and one or two hitches were easily solved
by looking through the Mepis website and related forums. I found that
the system was quite intuitive and was similar to MS Windows in it's
function. I was able to do anything that I had done with my Windows
installation and it just kept on working. No lockups, blue screens of
death or other problems. My daughter was able to get onto "chat" within
minutes of being introduced to the system and my wife was on the net in
short order. Cd burning was easy and accurate. By this time I had
installed an older 10 GB hard drive along with the original 6 Gb hard
drive. I found that the total of 16GB was plenty as long as none of us
were doing a lot of audio or video work. The MEPIS software took up
just under 2 GB.
Mepis is a bit slow on the older computer but still very usable. If the
programs included aren't sufficient then it is very easy to download
free programs from the net. I ordered the install/live cd from
SimplyMepis for about $10 US and received it shortly thereafter. More
Ubuntu is quite new but has quickly obtained a large following. A South
African businessman started the project and has promised that Ubuntu
will always be free software. Ubuntu has a number of software
developers working full time on software improvements - both security
and enhancements. The Ubuntu forums are very active and a search of
them will result in solutions to most problems. More information can be
found at:
Because there was room on the two hard drives I eventually installed
three operating systems on my faster computer. Windows, only because of
an accounting program that I occasionally use, one main linux system for
business and everyday use and one linux system for experimenting and learning. Currently I am using
the stable version of Ubuntu Dapper Drake as my main operating
system. I also have the newest version of PCLINUXOS installed
Each time the computer is booted up a menu appears giving the options;
Windows, Ubuntu Dapper Drake and PCLINUXOS. Both of the linux installations are very
fast on the computer even though it is several years old. The system files
and applications for the Ubuntu installation take up just over 2 GB.
General Observations about Linux:
I have found that Linux is much more stable and susceptible to far fewer
problems than Windows. I use a virus scanner once a week but it is for
insurance rather than being a necessity. Once the systems were
installed I found that they were fast and just work. At times I have
been bored as there are no crashes, no lockups, and no problems to fix.
The linux file systems are not susceptible to fragmentation so I don't
have to regularly defrag the harddrives. I set up a short automated
backup "script" that I run once a week or so and then I burn the two
resulting files onto a RW cd. I could automate this easily if I wished.
Every few days I execute two or three commands to update all of the
software on each system. It requires an internet connection and takes a
few minutes in the background while I use the computer for other duties.
There are a number of excellent firewall programs available if desired.
On the down side I did find that it took a bit more knowledge to install
linux and setting up multimedia applications was a bit involved. Mepis
is very good in this regard and Ubuntu is getting better. The Ubuntu
website has a number of HOWTOs telling users how to install programs and
setup new systems. These are very detailed and I expect that most
people would be able to follow them through with very little trouble. A
basic knowledge of disk partitions is required in order to install linux
although most distributions will automatically partition the harddrive
during the installation. I did have a bit of difficulty getting my old
parallel port scanner recognized but a bit of searching on the net gave
me the answer to that problem.
There are some accounting programs and CAD programs for the linux
operating system but there is not as much choice as there is for Windows
based systems. In Canada there are no linux based tax programs that I
am aware of and this along with one accounting program is the main
reason that I keep a windows install. It is seldom used except by my
daughter as she likes Windows Media player.
Ubuntu is based on a linux distribution called Debian. They
are very easy to update and it is simple to obtain, install and
uninstall programs (at least as easy to install new programs as Windows,
perhaps easier.) There are thousands of programs available at no cost.
The support forums are excellent for Ubuntu in particular. Common
applications included in Mepis and Ubuntu are those for digital cameras,
pdas, cd burning, scanners, email and web browsing (your choice of
several programs for each), chat, video viewers, publishing, encryption,
graphics and audio.
Linux works on most common (and inexpensive) computer hardware. Most
hardware is automatically detected when the system is installed. I have
found that some distributions are better for hardware support on
particular computers than others. If one does not detect all of the
hardware on a computer try another as it probably will. There are
usually ways to work around hardware detection problems and these can be
found on the forums for the distribution.
There is usually no need to install hardware drivers under linux. I
recently re installed windows 98 and found that I was continually trying
to locate drivers for video, ethernet cards etc. Linux will usually
recognize these and deal with them without any extra software.
Keep in mind that you cannot usually run Windows programs under linux.
There are however, several linux programs (emulators) that will allow
some Windows applications to run. One of these is Wine. It can be found
at:
CrossOver Office is a commercial application that will run more windows
programs than will Wine. It can be found here:
Generally there will be a linux application that will do the same job as
well or better than a windows program and it will be free.
Live CDs:
Linux has a number of "live cd's" that are a very good introduction to
the operating system. A live cd runs a linux operating system and
applications from a single cd. Most will make no changes to the
harddrive and do not effect your computer. (Puppy Linux is an
exception). Some of the applications will be placed in computer memory
but because the computer must read information from the cd it will be
slower than a linux system installed on a harddrive. It does give you
the opportunity to experiment with linux and also to find out if that
particular distribution will work with your hardware.
Most linux cd's are downloaded from the net via an ".iso" image file.
Once the download is complete the ".iso" file can be burned onto a cd
and the cd used to boot into a linux system. If you are going to use a
Windows cd burner applicaton to burn the cd, do a search of the net to
learn how to burn an .iso file to create a cd. A search of "iso image
cd burner_application_name" will turn up directions on how to do this.
(eg. "iso image cd nero"). Another option is to download a small free
program called BurnCDCC. It is a windows program used only for burning
.iso files to cd. It can be found at:
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html
In order to use the live cd you must set up your computer bios to boot
first from the cd drive. This is usually a matter of hitting the "del"
or "F1" key at the first part of the computer boot up and then changing
the bios settings to boot from the cd first and then the harddrive. If
your computer is old enough that it will not boot from cd it can be
booted from a diskette and then from the cd. Download the "sbminst.exe"
file from http://btmgr.webframe.org/. The file is a dos file and should
be put in an easily accessed directory on the windows computer. Go to a
dos prompt, change directories to the one containing "smbinst.exe",
place a blank formatted diskette in the floppy drive and execute
"sbminst -t us -d 0" without the quotes. This will write the boot
manager to the diskette with a US english menu. Place the live cd in
the cdrom and use this diskette to bootup the computer and it should
detect the cdrom drive along with the various harddrives. I tried it
twice before it booted the cdrom but it worked very well.
The best known of the live cd's is Knoppix. It is about 650 mb so will
fill a cd with enough software to experiment for hours. It can be found
at:
Simply Mepis is also a live cd. Once you have it up and running you can
install it to a harddrive or just leave it running as a live cd.
Ubuntu has a live cd and an install cd. The developers will actually
supply anyone who asks with a kit containing one of each of the cd's in
an attractive case. There is no charge for the software or shipping and
the default number of the sets is 10. They take a while to get sent out
so a download from the Ubuntu website may be the better way to go. See
http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org/ for more information.
Damn Small Linux is another small live cd. It will fit on a 50 MB
business card type cd and yet has many programs on it. It may work
better on older slower hardware as it includes very compact software.
It can be found at:
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
Feather Linux is a small distribution with an amazing amount of
software. Well worth a look. It takes up about 115 MB of space and can
be found at:
http://featherlinux.berlios.de
Puppy Linux is a small distribution (about 55 mb) that is incredibly
fast. I have used this as a live cd on both my computers. If the
computer has 128 mb or more of memory it will load all of the
applications into memory and allow you to remove the live cd so that
your cd drive can be used for burning or playing audio cd's. It is very
fast when loaded into memory and it looks very much like windows 98 once
it is booted up. My daughter took one look at it and decided that she
wanted it. I would recommend that you try this one. This distribution
does write one file to a harddrive. The settings that you specify on
the first boot up are written to this file so that there is no need to
re apply the settings each time you boot the computer. Any files that
you create, bookmarks (in the web browser), emails etc. are stored in
the file on the harddrive. Puppy can be located at:
Note: There is an extra step if you wish puppy to write to a file on a
NTFS (Windows XP,NT etc) system. You have to download a small file and
istall it on the harddrive first. The FAQ on the Puppy website has more
information on this.
Some of the small distributions, Puppy and Damn Small can be used as an
operating system on a usb pen drive. In this way one can carry the
entire operating system and a lot of data in a pocket. Plug it into the
usb port on most modern computers and boot it up.
Note regarding connecting the the internet behind a router:
If you are running a live cd you will have to go into the network
settings (or internet settings) to set up your connection. Before doing
this run "ipconfig" in windows to get the settings for the internet
connection. It is fairly easy to do this but you may have to experiment
a bit before getting on line. If you connect directly through a modem
the setup under the "internet" menu on the live cd should allow you to
connect very easily. If all else fails do a search on the net for
assistance or check the forums for the distribution that you are using.
Other uses for Linux:
Knoppix and a number of other live cd's can be used to recover data from
harddrives whose operating system is trashed. They will read MS Windows
file systems and are excellent recovery tools. Please note that reading
and writing NTFS file systems (eg. Windows XP and others) is still
experimental. Here is one website outlining how it is done:
http://www.shockfamily.net/cedric/knoppix/
There are other small distributions used for backing up and repairing
operating system problems. These may be of interest:
http://www.inside-security.de/insert_en.html
Data recovery is not something to be done carelessly and proper backups
should always be done before any attempt is made to recover the data.
Do your research before using any tools for data backup and recovery.
If you are interested in experimenting with linux, take a look at the
links provided for further information. A search of the internet for
any of the distributions mentioned above will turn up more information
than you will ever need.
Check your local library for books on linux. Most will include the
installation disks. I have ordered older (a year or two old) new
computer books with cd sets included and paid very little for them. In
Canada we have Half Price Computer Books
( http://www.halfpricecomputerbooks.ca/ ) or you may also wish to search
http://www.abebooks.com for other sources.
There are a number of Linux User's Groups in most bigger cities. They
may provide you with information and software and even assist you in
doing an installation. A check with used computer stores might get you
some information in this regard. I have found that some of the younger
techs in these stores work with Windows all day and then relax with
linux or BSD at night.
I will cover some of the aspects of installing a couple of linux systems
in Part III of this series of articles. Meantime order or download one
or two live cd's and try them out. I am sure you will be impressed.
End Part II.
Open Source Software Part III
Before going into installation of linux software I would like to cover a
couple of important areas. I will try to stay as non technical as
possible and refer you to a few websites for more details. Keep in mind
that we are getting into a more complex area and you must do some
research if you do not want to come to grief.
If you are starting from a newbie knowledge of linux consider picking
up an older computer and using that as an experimental platform. It
gives you the freedom to make mistakes without any real consequences,
other than your time. I would recommend that you try to get a 400
celeron or higher processor, at least 128 mb ram, and a hard drive of at
least 4 GB. If you already have a older system however, give it a try
rather than putting money into something newer.
Before installing linux be prepared to do some searching on the net.
There are dozens of good articles and many forums with excellent
information on how to perform linux installations.
Partitioning:
Partitioning refers to creating spaces on a hard drive. It is often
used to make two or more hard drives out of a big one. If you are
familiar with a MS Windows system you might have come across a system
that appears to have two drives (eg. C and D drives) when in fact you
know that it actually has only one physical hard drive. What you are
seeing is two partitions on the single drive.
Partitioning is particularly important with linux. Most linux systems
require a minimum of two partitions. I generally use three but more on
that a little later. A linux system requires at least a swap partition
and a system partition. The swap partition is a small portion of the
hard drive used to augment system memory. Usually twice the system
memory (RAM) will be alloted for a swap drive but this is always an
estimate. The swap space is used to supplement the system memory in
case there is insufficient memory for a particular application. With
low memory systems you may find that the hard drive is quite active as
the swap partition is accessed frequently.
The other partition required is a system partition. This will contain
all of the linux kernel files and applications files along with all of
the user data. If there is sufficient room it is advisable to create a
third partition, the /home partition to contain all of the user's
files and data. This makes matters easier when upgrading software or
backing up data. I generally use the following setup on a system with a
small hard drive (under 5 GB):
a swap partition with up to 256 MB of space.
a / partition which contains all of the linux system and application
files and all of the user's data.
On a system with a bigger hard drive I use the following partitioning
setup:
a swap partition with up to 500 MB of space.
a / partition of 3 to 4 GB
a /home partition that uses the remaining space available.
If you search the net you will find other suggestions of up to 5 or 6
partitions. I don't see a need for this on a home computer and have had
good luck with the above.
It is very common to have a computer set up to dual boot with Windows
and linux. This is possible in two different ways. The first and
easiest method is to have Windows already installed on a hard drive. A
second hard drive is then installed on the system, partitioned and
formated for linux and then the linux system is installed on it. Almost
always this is set up so that the Windows hard drive is the primary
master drive and the linux drive is either the primary slave, secondary
master or secondary slave. Most computers will have the ability to plug
in 4 hard drives and CD/DVD drives total. They are attached by wide
ribbon cables to the mother board and the manner in which they are
attached and the settings of the DIP switches on the back of each hard
drive or CD drive determines if they are on the primary or secondary
channel and if they are the master or slave drive. If your computer
currently has one hard drive and one CD drive (reader or burner) it is
very likely that the hard drive is the primary master drive and the
cdrom is the secondary master drive. Watch the screen as the system
boots up and you will can see it as it detects the four drives. They
will be in order and the system will give a description of each drive as
follows:
primary master (known in linux as hda)
primary slave (known in linux as hdb)
secondary master (known in linux as hdc)
secondary slave (known in linux as hdd)
The second method of dual booting windows and linux is to split the
single hard drive into several partitions, the first one for Windows and
the second for the other operating system. For an existing installation
of Windows there are several considerations as follows:
is there room on the hard drive for both systems. Generally speaking
the hard drive should be at least 20 GB and possibly bigger. Check the
hard drive under My Computer to see how much room is used by the
Windows installation.
can an accurate backup be made of the Windows system so that it can be
easily restored in case of a problem. ( I use Norton Ghost to create an
image on CD's of my Windows 98 installation it has saved me a number
of times). Ensure that you are very familiar with the restoration
process before depending upon it. Older versions of Ghost are not
compatible with newer Windows file systems (NTFS) so be careful.
can the hard drive be fully defragmented and then split into two
partitions. Most windows programs have a defragmentation program and
others are available.
Freeing Space on a Hard drive:
Partition Magic, a commercial program, will split a hard drive into two
or more partitions and may be useful in this case. See
http://www.powerquest.com
Fips is a dos based program (free) that will perform similar duties.
See (http://www.igd.fhg.de/~aschaefe/fips/).
Qtparted is another open source program that will allow you to shrink
a a partition so that there is room for Linux on your harddrive. See
http://qtparted.sourceforge.net/. It works for most filesystem types.
- Partimage is an open source program (a Norton Ghost clone) used to
make images of partitions. It can be used to image Windows partitions.
It is fairly easy to use but study it some before depending upon it.
NOTE: SystemRescue is a live CD that provides Qtparted, partimage and
numerous other open source software tools. It is provided as an .iso
file download and must be burned to a CD as an image. The website has
documentation and is well worth a look. It and can be downloaded at:
http://www.sysresccd.org
The Ubuntu installer now has an option that will reduce a NTFS or FAT
partition size. It will first reduce the size of the NTFS partition and
then allow the new free space to be set up as one or more partitions.
This is a great tool because it allows a user to take a big hard drive
installed with Windows XP and shrink the XP partition to allow room to
install linux. Once again PLEASE BACKUP THE WINDOWS PARTITION(S) and
DEFRAGMENT THEM before using this tool.
Once the hard drive is split with Windows in the first partition, then
the second partition may be split into further partitions by one of
several linux applications. Usually the installation of a linux
distribution will prompt you for further partitioning of the second part
of the hard drive so there is no need to do it before the install.
Bootloaders:
Computers start by performing tasks in a particular order. When the
power switch is turned on it first looks in the circuitry for
instructions. These instructions lead it through the boot up procedure
which eventually leads it to look on a hard drive for further
instructions. The computer looks on the Master Boot Record (MBR) of the
primary master hard drive for these instructions. The MBR is a small
area (the first 512 bytes) of the disk that contains a bootloader. If
you have installed windows in the past then it automatically installed a
bootloader. Linux will do the same but usually prompts you as to where
you wish to install it. The installation will usually detect the
windows operating system and everything will work out ok. In the case
of two or more operating systems installed on a computer with a
bootloader, you will face a menu within a short time of turning the
computer on. The menu will allow you to boot the computer into one of
the operating systems available. Here is a brief representation of how
this works:
Computer turned on > looks in circuitry for boot info > looks at MBR
for further info > bootloader in MBR refers it to a menu file on
another area of a hard drive > reads menu file and presents list of
options on screen > user chooses an Operating System > computer loads
that operating system
If you wish to use Windows XP bootloader to load xp and linux then see
these articles:
http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/02/15/2023237&tid=130
http://www.littlewhitedog.com/content-52.html
Article on Boot loaders:
http://hacks.oreilly.com/pub/h/2337
It is not unusual to install a boot loader and find that one or more of
the operating systems that should be available are not. Panic sets in
and we start to think of reinstalling one or both operating systems. If
the existing Windows system won't boot up then the novice sends out an
email to a linux forum with a message something like linux destroyed my
windows install. I have been through the panic stage but didn't send
out any emails. By that time I wasn't really too concerned about
destroying windows it had already self destructed a number of times.
Don't worry as there is almost always a way to recover the situation
without re installation.
File systems:
When a hard drive is formatted a file system is created on the disk.
Windows 98 uses a FAT format, Windows NT, Windows 2000 and XP use a NTFS
format. Linux has a choice of several formats such as ext2, ext3, and
reiserfs. Windows does not recognize the linux formats but linux will
recognize and read the windows formats (not totally compatible with NTFS
but there are ways around this). I use the ext3 file system for linux
as it works and is well proven.
If you are planning to use a Windows/Linux dual boot and you have room
on your system it may be worth allotting a small partition as a shared
data partition. If you format it to FAT32 then both Windows and Linux
can read and write files to that partition. It will not be secure
however as any files in this area will be available to all users.
Debian dual boot info:
http://www.aboutdebian.com/dualboot.htm
Part III A:
Zenwalk Linux:
Zenwalk is based on Slackware, a mainstream version of linux. Zenwalk
is very fast and the developers have tried to provide one application
for each task done on the computer. I have used it on a 400 celeron
computer and found it to be very fast and competent. It uses the XFCE
desktop environment which is quite efficient of system resources.
The home page can be found at http://www.zenwalk.org/. There are links
from that page to a download page and also to Zenwalk Manual. The
manual is excellent and gives step by step instructions on obtaining a
zenwalk iso file, burning it to cd and then installing zenwalk on the
computer.
Zenwalk uses the netpkg tool to update software and install and
uninstall software packages. I am not that familiar with it but it does
seem to work very well. There are detailed instructions in the manual
as to how to use this tool.
I have had trouble with computer logins with an older version of Zenwalk
but the newer versions seem to work well for me. It is perhaps the
easiest to install and the fastest small distribution that I have
tried.
Vector Linux:
I have looked at at least 10 different linux distributions to find
something that will install on older hardware and work well. I have
tried to find a distribution that is easy to install and easy to use
with enough software to enable word processing, web browsing, email,
some games, the ability to create a number of users and a decent command
line. In doing so I have come back to Vector Linux. It is available by
download or by purchase and there is good support on the forum including
a very detailed manual on installing it. Keep in mind that this is a
fast and fairly lightweight version of linux but that it is also quite
capable. It works quite well on older systems (my 400 celeron with 256
MB ram for example) and is very fast on a newer system.
I had little trouble setting up my internet connection, and digital
camera connection. It offers Firefox web browser, Thunderbird email and
Abiword word processor. It does not offer a spreadsheet and there is no
way to easily download one. It offers a large number of other programs
but is still a quick and light weight distribution. It is also based on
Slackware Linux.
The Vector linux website is located at
http://www.vectorlinux.com/index.php. It offers links to the forum,
documentation and downloads among other areas.
To start to install Vector you must do the following:
BACKUP ANY IMPORTANT FILES assume that you will have to reinstall
everything. Assume the worst and plan for a disaster. If you plan to
shrink an existing partition then DEFRAGMENT it first.
download the latest version (Vector 5.1 at this writing) go to
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/vectorlinux/veclinux-5.0/iso/
and click on the file VL-5.1-std.iso. This should start a download of
about 390 MB. Also download the file VL-5.1-std.md5sum.txt.
See the installation instructions for information as to how to do an
md5sum check, burn the .iso file to a cd and prepare the computer for
installation. The instructions are found here:
ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/vectorlinux/docs/vl50/manuals/vl5_installation_guide_en.html
These instructions include detail about burning .iso files to cd both
from Windows and from Linux. Follow these and you should not go wrong.
Even if you decide to use another distribution of linux READ THESE PAGES
they are excellent.
Another thing I like about Vector Linux is that it gives you the
opportunity to create a boot floppy in order to boot Vector. If you do
this during the installation you won't take any risks that your windows
installation will no longer boot. After using the floppy to boot Vector
for a while you can always set it up to boot directly from the hard
drive. The installer will give you this option towards the end of the
installation or you can use the VASM system tool later once Vector is
installed. Vector uses a boot program called LILO.
If you have problems take a look at the Vector Linux forum for help. A
search through the postings will likely find the answers.
Simply Mepis:
The home website for Mepis is at http://www.mepis.org/. The
distribution is a full fledged linux desktop with more applications and
tools than most people will ever use. It uses the KDE menu system and
is based upon Debian. Due to it's size and the weight of the
applications a newer computer and at least 256 mb ram will be required
for any reasonable performance. I found that it worked on a 400 Celeron
with 256 mb ram but it was very slow. This is a live cd with an
installation option so it gives the user a chance to try it out before
committing to an installation. Keep in mind that it will be much slower
running as a live cd compared to running from a hard drive installation.
To obtain a Mepis .iso file follow the download entry on the menu on
the left to an internet mirror near to you. Choose the .iso, download
it and the corresponding md5sum.txt file. You may also buy a CD for a
small charge.
See the Mepis User guide at
http://www.mepis.org/files/MEPIS%20User%20Guide.pdf for full details on
downloading the files, burning the .iso to cd and doing an install of
Mepis. It goes into a lot of detail about installing and configuring
the system after the installation and should be of great help in getting
your system up and running. The Mepis Live CD includes Qtparted for
shrinking existing partitions.
Mepis is based upon Debian so it is quite easy to add, remove and update
software. Mepis and Ubuntu use the GRUB boot loader.
Don't forget to check out the Mepis Lover's forum for a vast store of
valuable information.
http://www.mepis.org/node/2598
Ubuntu:
I have been using Ubuntu for most of the last year starting with the
Warty Warthog release. The newest release is Dapper Drake. Can't help
but like the names.
The Ubuntu home page is located at http://www.ubuntulinux.org/. There
is a huge store of information available through that website and other
related ones. The forum is probably the most active of any linux
distribution and the Ubuntu distribution is now the most popular linux
distribution. It is based upon Debian so is quite easy to update and
install new software. A full fledged installation will require a
reasonably new computer and 256 mb of ram. There is however information
describing how to use the software on an older system. See this site
for further information
http://www.binonabiso.com/en/Ubuntu-miniRAM-HOWTO.html.
Ubuntu operates with the Gnome menu system, which has less eye candy
than KDE. There is now a branch called Kubuntu that installs Ubuntu
with KDE as the menu system. The website is at http://www.kubuntu.org/.
It is related to Ubuntu and does offer the user a choice as to which
desktop menu they wish to install.
Ubuntu and Kubuntu area available as live cd's and include and
installation option. They allow the user to try the system out before
installing it. Each of the Ubuntu and Kubuntu websites have download
areas on the main menu that will lead you to the latest .iso files.
Ubuntu is unique in that they will forward sets of CD's to you free of
charge. See
https://shipit.ubuntu.com.
Documentation relating to installing and modifying the ubuntu system can
be found at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserDocumentation#head-fc4efe81d8dce86c866507d57b1b1dffc867ec1a
Ubuntu/Kubuntu has some very nice features. The developers have
committed to putting out a new release every 6 months. They do however
provide support for the older releases for some time. It is fairly easy
to upgrade from the older release to the newer one especially if you
have a separate /home partition. Ubuntu now has an automatic updater
for software. If your system is on the net the updater will notify you
of package(s) for which there are updates and with a prompt will
download and update the applications automatically. Very occasionally
this can lead to breakage of some parts of the software but you do not
have to install the updates unless you wish to.
I have recently installed a small Ubuntu system on several older
computers. This takes some time as I first did a minimal (server)
installation and then added packages to make it into a small desktop
system with the XFCE desktop menu system. Ubuntu has now released
Xubuntu based on XFCE and designed for older computers.
Pclinuxos:
Another full fledged distribution that I have just installed and am
very impressed with is PCLINUXOS. Details including download
information can be found at http://www.pclinuxos.com/news.php.
The developers have put together some excellent training resources to
assist in using the live cd, installing it to a hard drive and using the
software. It does require a reasonably new computer and at least 256 mb
of memory. Once installed it required about 90 MB of downloads to
update the software so you will require a fast internet connection. I
understand that they are currently developing a set of cd's for the
updates so that a fast internet connection is not required.
In ending this series of articles I would encourage the use of Open
Source Software. Depending upon how much you use there will be a
learning curve but the end result will be software that just works.
If you do use the software please support the developers. An occasional
donation of a few dollars to one or more of the foundations will help a
lot towards keeping this software available and up to date.
End guest Commentary:
updated 12/6/22