champagnemojo

I used Knoppix for quite a while when I was first learning linux. The reason I chose it originally was because it was the only distro that would easily work with the old HPNA network my dad had set up. It was a fine distro, and the hard-drive install was really quite good. But I think you'll find that Kanotix is an improvement. The development on Knoppix seems to have slowed to a crawl. Also, there's less issues with package conflicts or what not with Kanotix. I'm using Ubuntu now on my desktop...but I have Kanotix on my laptop. If you have a fast internet connection get Kanotix...otherwise, it's not worth the trouble since Knoppix is just about as good.

It looks like you already have it installed and just need to customize it now. You can handle that can't ya?

Perhaps it's a sign that you should never set up a classifieds page.

Seriously? I'm glad my tv is out of reach...that would drive me crazy. Remember on Green Acres how Arnold the pig would turn on the tv and watch it? I can't help but picture you asking your cat to turn down the tv while you have guests over.

Cool...two females too, so you don't have to worry about them gettin pregnant. Alot of cats are skiddish...so it probably doesn't necessarily mean she's been abused. But it sounds like she wasn't taken care of before you took her in, so she may have to get used to humans somewhat. My cat's never been abused (although he abuses me plenty ) but he won't let anybody outside of the family near him. When he hears the doorbell he runs like somebody shot at him. Sounds like Gracie found a nice home.

Maybe you should change your name to beermojo! My problem is I have champagne taste on a beer budget. VI Yeah, nobody would ever buy that I drink champagne anyways. My whole screenname just comes from my cat (color of his fur...his name). I'd like to have champagne taste...I just can't afford it. I have a beer budget and no self-control.

Well, the numbers thing is probably a partially valid rationale for the lack of spyware and adware on linux. Although it would be more difficult for them to hide from linux users too admittedly. But as mentioned, linux is widely used in servers and such...so it's hardly not a tempting target to virus-writing miscreants. My theory is that the virus-writers are largely linux users and don't want to write anything that might impact themselves.

Thanks Don. He's mah boy. You've got some cute kitties too I see.

I've installed Gallery a few times and find it easy to work with. It will do all the things that you want to do. I'm sure coppermine is just as good though. Here is a Gallery album with some pics of my cat Mojo.

I want that thing too...though I'd have to get a bigger house for it. Those are pretty big windows VI...the projection screen will look really cool. I only mentioned the used 21-inchers because I'm such a tightwad and those are cheap. But the projection tv would definitely be more eye-catching. If you don't yet have a dvd-burner, you'll find that those are very cheap nowadays. As are the dvd players of course...so at least part of the equipment is cheap. You're the best person here to decide about the glare issue I'd say. Only you know where the location is and whether there is lots of direct sunlight coming in and such. Something like an awning might be a cool way to control the sunlight too...though I have no idea how much more expensive it would be than that shield you found (it might also add to the charm of the building though...particularly since you're going for an old-fashioned store-front look).

I would think that it would depend alot on the size of the window at the front of your shop. A huge projection tv might be overkill if it's a fairly small window. It'd look cool though admittedly. The cheapest way would be to get a couple of used 21" CRT flat-screen monitors. You could get those very cheap, and then control them with one computer...it wouldn't have to be a powerful computer...just have a decent graphics card. It's a neat idea btw...I hope you take a pic of the setup after you get it done.

I've always used Miranda when in windows...it's another open-source multi-protocol IM program. It's very simple out of the box, but can be made as complex as you want (up to a point). You can never make it as flashy as trillian though. I love Gaim for linux, but I haven't really used it for Windows. Mind you, I never really gave it a fair chance. The first time I installed it I had quite a few issues with gtk, and just sorta decided that I liked the simplicity of Miranda instead. There's no need to install Miranda...you can even put it on a floppy and use it...though it'd be very stripped down. But I still vastly prefer Gaim over anything else when I'm in linux.

I dunno...I'm sure there's no harm in it. Are they saying it will affect the ads you see in google and such here though? It does sound kind of like this info would be available to the folks at google. And they don't tell us much about how they do the indexing and such...so it seems a little off-putting to me. I'm sure it could be useful to many people though.

It's not really hotlinking if they take your image and put it on their own space. Then it's just plain stealing. I'm not sure that you'll ever be able to stop that...but the watermark idea sounds good...at least then if they steal it you get credit. Well...unless you put the watermark on a corner and they cut that part out...

Raul, how noticeable is the performance increase when everything is optimized for your processor? I've always found my debian installs to be pretty fast...but now you have me wondering if I could do better.

Dang...that sucks. Maybe try Kanotix. It has the great hardware detection from knoppix and includes a lot of drivers not included in other distros. And the cheatcodes are great for computers that won't seem to boot other distros such as yours. Also it will basically give you a debian sid install if you install it to harddrive...even upgrades go smoothly. The only downside is you'll have to remove alot of unnecessary stuff. On the plus side it's an insanely easy install. The architecture you brought up has me wondering. Do other distros have full package repositories available for i686? I guess I just figured most of them were created for i386 for compatibility reasons. Going back to Kanotix, I believe everything on it is supposedly i686 optimized. I know the kernel is anyways. It'd be worth a shot...I have it on my laptop and it really is basically indiscernable from my pure Debian installs.

Yes you do. It's in the mail.

Yeah, I hear you about the i386. Of course, you can always compile your own kernel. The 14 cds would give you every package there is for Debian...I don't think you need those. Debian does have prelinking available...but I don't know enough about it to tell you if it's used the way you're wanting it to be used or not. I know that I can setup up prelinking on my OpenOffice.org install and all. I also don't know enough to tell you whether or not it has such security features...although I do know that the Debian folks are I AM A SPAMMER about security. With regards to the partitioning...do you mean in the installer or available in general? You can get all kinds of partition editing stuff for Debian. I've always used qtparted myself.

As long as you use the debian repositories you should be very pleased with the package availability. The official stable releases come very few and far between...in fact, the last stable release was like a year ago I think. But they've come up with a new, more intuitive installer that is updated along with the testing packages. So don't install from woody, install using the new sarge installer. It will give you a Debian sarge (i.e. testing) install. My suggestion would be to then add in unstable repositories to your sources.list file and do an apt-get dist-upgrade. That will give you a Debian sid install (unstable). Despite the unstable moniker it will actually be very stable, and will allow you to get the most recent releases whenever you want to by doing an apt-get upgrade. My system never crashes unless I do something stupid to cause it...which I've done a few times. You should also check out the new xfce4. It's come a long way from xfce 3. My guess is that whatever you didn't like has probably been remedied. Here's a quick screenshot...because I like excuses to take screenshots.

My cat can touch his tongue to his nose...can yours?

The stable, testing, and unstable monikers are pretty much just like you say. The notion is that stable is rock-solid and backed by the debian team. Testing and unstable are both actually quite stable though. There's a fourth type of repository they call "experimental" which is where the real bleeding-edge apps are at. I've used experimental packages on occasion, and didn't have any problems...but they are more risky. I think part of why it takes so long for something to move into stable is just because of how bureaucratized the debian system is. But I've used the unstable packages for a year now and have always had a stable system. The only real downside to Debian that I can see is that the people on the support lists and forums for debian have a reputation for not being very friendly much of the time...maybe that's just a linux thing though, I don't know. So I've just always gone to the Knoppix forum with my Debian questions...people there are very friendly and since knoppix is based on debian, much of the same stuff applies. And yep, Gnome 2.8 is in unstable now. Has been since mid-September in fact. I love XFCE4 myself though...you should try it if you haven't yet (or haven't in a while).

That is very impressive actually Raul. I got into linux about a year ago or so, and when I tried to install Slackware back then I failed miserably. I hear Debian used to be quite a feat to install. It's actually quite easy now as long as you have a little linux experience...in fact, you saw the new installer when you installed Ubuntu. Let's face it, installing Debian now can't be too complicated if I can do it. I'll read up on Ubuntu...I've just always used Debian in one form or another, and I guess it's hard for me to see where it should be simplified beyond maybe the installer (which could perhaps still use a bit of simplifying so that those newer to linux could install it, but isn't simplified in Ubuntu from what I can tell). I definitely agree about the greatness of the apt system though. You type three words and you have a new program installed...or you've completely upgraded your system. Let's see windows do that.

Raul, I've heard alot about Ubuntu. I can't figure out what would make it better than a pure Debian install though. Looking at the screenshots, it seems to just be using a slightly modified version of the new Sarge installer...so I don't think it'd be any easier to install. I realize that they will do more frequent releases, but as long as you include unstable sources in your sources.list file Debian packages are kept as up-to-date as any other distro. All you have to run is a dist-upgrade with apt and everything's updated. What am I missing?

Raul, you really should write a book...you already have the first chapter. JiKrantz, listen to the live-cd suggestion. It's a very good recommendation. Knoppix has some great hardware detection, so you have to do far less configuration. I'd recommend that you check out Kanotix. It's a live-cd...a fork of Knoppix in fact. These live-cds can be installed onto your hard-drive after you get comfortable with them. Kano has taken Knoppix and made everything work much more smoothly for those who choose to install it to their hard-drive. It's pretty easy to install...and basically gives you a Debian install. And we all know that Debian is the best linux distro.

I dunno Raul...I kinda like how flawed Windows' security is. The way I see it, the easier it is to break into windows systems, the less likely all the young little "hackers" will bother learning how to break into linux. If ms ever did learn how to do decent security all of these little hooligans might start looking into rootkits and such. On a related note, I do enjoy when I go to a website and it pops up a little box that says something like, "Sorry, your computer is not WIN32 compatible" or some such...in other words, "Sorry, we're unable to load this adware onto your computer".