[ Monday, August 11, 2003 ]
Ok, I just installed Linux. Here's the story, in the hope it will help others take the same step.
I decided to install Linux for a simple reason - Windows died. I had been running Win95 on my 6 year old Pentium 166MMX. One day, it stopped booting up. The startup disk also wouldn't boot. Not even to DOS. It would get as far as "Checking DMZ data" (or something) and then the screen would go blank, as if the computer had switched itself off. Strangely enough, I *could* boot from my Linux installer CD's. However, RH8 refused to use the graphical installer, and Mandrake 8 said something like "your memory is so low that I am completely unstable" before crashing after a few commands. Well, perhaps I was naive to expect better than that from 32Mb RAM.
No way I could upgrade the RAM. I had an extra slot, but I'd been trying for years to find RAM to fit it, and couldn't. Anyway, there wasn't enough hard disk space to install Linux - I didn't want to lose my old data either. Still, using Red Hat 8's "Linux Rescue" I got a shell, mounted the hard disk and the floppy and "rescued" a few of the most important files.
So I needed to buy:
* A new hard disk
* New CPU/RAM/Motherboard.
We walked into a computer shop, and I told the salesman what I needed and said "For me, price is important and RAM is important." Having suffered for years with only 32Mb, I'm willing to fork out a little extra to survive future bloatware. The salesman tried to sell be a 2.2GHz Celeron with 256Mb RAM. I said "thank you, I'll let you know" and left.
The next salesman offered me what I wanted. High RAM, low price. I bought an Athlon 1.53GHz, 512Mb RAM (expandable to 1Gb). Oh, I also had to buy a new modem, keyboard, mouse, casing. The motherboard comes with a COM port, 4 USB ports, and an ethernet port. Total price: MYR 1050 (about USD 275).
So home we go, and I happily prepare to install Linux. I try Mandrake first - my brother said it';s easier to install. So it may be, but it bombed out, saying "You either have hardware problems, or this is a kernel fault". Not a nice message, but at least it doesn't automatically blame my hardware. My brand new hardware that cost me enough money for a year's worth of breakfasts!
On to red hat 8. After an hour or two, I at last had a beautiful Gnome login screen. I logged in as my wife, and proceeded to connect to the net.
To *try* to connect.
Another hour later, I was a frustrated tired guy, with a frustrated bored wife and a modem that wouldn't even lift off the hook. I went to bed.
The next morning, from work, I sent a message to a newsgroup, asking "where can I find a step by step guide to get my modem working under Linux?" I got no replies. Knowing what I now know, that is no surprise. There is no such guide. That week, I learned what a winmodem was. Worse, I learned that I had one. Worst of all, no Linux support for my modem is expected for a looong time.
A winmodem is a modem which is not fully a modem. Some of the functionality of the modem is transferred to software. This is, apparently, a good engineering practice. It reduces the cost of the modem, and makes upgrades easier. However, it is very irritating for Linux users, since the modem needs a "driver" to work, and many modem makers do not produce Linux drivers. In particular, the maker of my modem has only one Linux programmer - and he's working on drivers for a different modem from mine.
I called the salesman and said "the modem you sold me can't be used with Linux" He told me what other modems they had in the store. I identified one that *should* work. I could do that, because I'd found some wonderful lists of modems at http://start.at/modem (or is it modems?) (see also http://www.linmodem(s?).org) showing what modems can and cannot be used with Linux.
So, come the weekend, I lugged my box back to the store, so I could "try before I buy". Unfortunately, the modem we had identified also couldn't be used. Not sure why, since I had downloaded and installed the drivers for it. And, I couldn't get my money back for the previous one. Ah well.
A nearby store had a different USB modem, which said on the box "plug and play - Linux compatible". So I plugged, and played. Kudzu (the red hat "plug and play" hardware manager) detected a new "unknown device", and installed the drivers for it. Don't ask me how it knew what drivers to install for an unknown device, but somehow, it seemed to know. However, the same problem recurred. The modem didn't respond at all. Desperate, I bought a "bootleg" Windows XP installer CD for MYR 10. Tell Bill Gates I'm not using it, so it's ok.
I went home, and tried to install WinXP. After a short time of spinning the disk, it complained that a particular file could not be found, and said "you must restart". As if I could restart.
So I expressed my woes to a friend, who knows more Linux than I. He offered me his sister's old modem, which he said would "definately" work with Linux, as long as "proper COM support was installed". He also gave me another WinXP installer CD. I went back to the bootleg shop, returned WinXP, exchanging it for a Windows ME installer. For the rest of the afternoon, I washed the car and slept while attempting to install XP again. It failed, because certain files came off the CD corrupted. I started Windows ME installing, then went out to dinner with my wife.
In the car, I spoke to God, asking why I had all these troubles. I received a feeling of assurance - The Windows ME install would fail, but the modem would work with Linux. This struck me as the best outcome, since I don't believe God wants me to use illegal software. Why was I willing to compromise? Desperation (my wife is not working, and the internet allows her to connect with other stay-at-home mums), and the fact that my conviction about "pirate" software is not very strong. And, I can't afford a legal version of Windows at Bill Gates' prices.
When we got home, the WinME install was waiting for me to click "Next". A few "Nexts" later, it complained that the boot partition was not a DOS partition (I'd formatted it as NTFS when trying to install WinXP, and WinME didn't seem to offer me a chance to reformat) so the install couldn't proceed.
So I pulled out the chunky old modem. It's an ugly black box with big red LED's in the front, and one loose leg on the power plug. I plugged it all in, and pulled out the red hat CD again.
To cut a long story short, I installed "Everything" on the CD's, logged in as root, and ran the internet connection wizard. Finally, I clicked "Activate" and heard the sweetest sound I've heard in some time... the "gweee byonk bidong bidong" that has become so familiar to us who have lived through the Dialup Decade, 1995 - 2005.
My 2 year old son and I went to bed, leaving my wife to catch up on a month of lost surfing....
Lessons learned:
* If you have heard of Linux, buy a Linux compatible modem. You never know, maybe you'll want to dump windows one day.
* When you really need Him to, God will pull through. I'd been hoping for years someone would give me some RAM for my old PC. But that was just for convenience. When I *needed* a gift modem, however, God sent just the right person... :-)
Mike [7:55 PM]
