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Monday, 25 October 2010

  • Are You Ready for Lesson 4? Check List



    Hey friends, Linux newbees...

    Lesson 4 is coming soon.

    This is what you need to have ready:

    1. Your downloaded .iso image of the Linux distribution file, lupu5.1.1
    2. Your image-burning software, such as ImgBurn
    3. Your completed live-boot disk of your .iso image onto a cd-r(w)
    4. Your bios set from quick boot to full boot, if you have that option
    5. Your bios set to boot order: 1) cd/dvd optical (disk) drive; 2) hdd (hard-drive); 3) other
    Okay, that's your checklist.

    Everybody get ready.

    We will soon be installing Linux on your machine, and banning Bill Gates from those 3 a.m. visits where he changes all your settings while you're asleep

    No Fear! There's a brave new world beyond Windows, and it doesn't have to cost as much as a Mac!

Friday, 22 October 2010

  • Girls are Braver than Guys?



    Of all the friends following along in my Linux class, about seven or eight people, only one brave soul is a guy (Kevthemoron). All the rest are girls; clearly brave and fearless young ladies, all of them.

    Head of the class is my friend Jennie, who I believe has downloaded ImgBurn and by now probably created her boot disk. I haven't heard back where everybody else is at, so chime in if you're coming along and ready.

    Are girls braver than guys? More willing to try new things? More excited about learning? Do girls gaze into a new world like Linux and say, "I can make this into a lovely home?" Do guys gaze into a new world and say, "Where are the dangers I can't see? Where are the 'Jobs' I'll work? Where are the 'Gates' of safety?"

    I don't know... You tell me.

    By the way, my 91 year old grandfather just bought a laptop from me the other day... if he can learn Linux, what's up with the guys out there? Wussy whimps

    Guys, don't you feel silly knowing that, metaphorically speaking, girls have bigger gonads than you?


Thursday, 21 October 2010

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

  • Little Linux Class: Lesson 3







    Good Morning class .

    If you have an apple, just put it on my desk .

    Today we are going to look at your bios. Your bios are contained within your physical memory, i.e. chips and ram sticks, as apposed to virtual memory, which is contained in the form of files on your hard-drive.

    Your bios are like an interpreter. They facilitate the communication between your hardware and your operating system. Without your bios, your operating system could not communicate with the hardware devices of your computer. Having said that, they are relatively small, and most bios versions out there are capable of fitting on an old 1.44m floppy disk.

    There are a couple changes we need to make to your bios settings. We need to tell your bios to run by default on full boot rather than quick boot so that your Linux distro will have access to all devices. This will not affect the speed of your computer's boot-up under Linux... in fact, Puppy Linux is usually fully loaded in 30 to 60 seconds, unlike Windows, which often takes more than a couple minutes even under quick boot, let alone full boot.

    We also need to change the boot order of your devices from hdd or floppy as the first boot device to the cd/dvd-rom as the first boot device, followed by the hard-drive (hdd) as the second.

    Let's get started, shall we?

    Most new versions of bios open on boot by pressing the F2 key when you see the prompt to do so on start-up. If you have an older version of your bios, it may be the F10 or F12 key, and on older laptops, it may be the F1 key. F8 may also give you an option to enter the bios, but usually F8 is just for booting options like safe-mode. This varies, so you'll have to figure out what your computer calls for. Reboot your computer and see if you are prompted for the F2 command, or other.

    Once you are into your bios, you need to look through each page carefully. Typically you navigate the bios pages by key commands that are listed on each page. For example, on the pictures of my bios below, the Alt-P command moves you to the next page, but some older versions have a highlighted page box on top and the arrows are used.

    Just look the commands over carefully; they are typically very simple.
    .






















    In some newer versions, the boot speed is automated, such as my current laptop where I took the pictures you see. This means that in some newer versions, there is no option for quick boot verses full boot. No problem; that's less work for you.

    If you do find a setting that allows for something like a 'quick' or 'frugal' boot, change that setting to 'full' or 'complete' boot. The terms used may vary, but you get the idea.

    Next, find your 'devices boot order' setting. In some new versions, the order may already be set correctly. The order you're looking for is:

    1: cd/dvd optical (disk) drive
    2: HDD (hard-drive)
    3: nothing, other, floppy, who cares

    Some of the new versions have this order already, because even though bios are not very big, some have grown larger than the size of a 1.44m floppy disk, and also, some computers now come with a recovery disk that has both the bios and operating system on a boot-cd.

    If you have an older version of your bios, your first boot device is probably 'A' or 'Floppy.' Go to the first boot device device and make it cd/dvd optical or disk.

    Next, go to the second boot device and make it HDD, the Hard-drive. After that I would leave it as nothing or floppy for the third.

    That's it. Now you have to save and exit. Newer versions of bios you simply hit the escape key, and you will be asked if you want to save any changes you made. If you made any changes, select yes, then enter. If you did not make changes, select no then enter. On older versions of bios, you may have a command key like F10 or F12 for the command 'Save and Exit.'

    Once you exit, you're computer will boot up as always. You will want your cd/dvd optical drive to be empty in some older bios cases on boot-up, but most of the newer versions understand that your music cd or movie is not a bootable disk, and will simply skip it and move on to the hard-drive in search of an operating system to load.

    Okay, that's it for Lesson 3. Easy, right?

    Any questions or problems, post a reply and we'll figure it out.

    Get ready, 'cause in our next lesson, we are going to load the Linux Platform

    Don't get nervous :) Everything's going to be okay.

    Have a great day.

Monday, 18 October 2010

  • Coming soon: Lesson 3 (get your boot disk ready) :P



    Hey friends, students... been really busy.

    I'll be ready to post Lesson 3 soon. Do you all have your boot disks ready? If not, back-track to lessons 1 and 2, burn your disks, and keep 'em safe and warm.

    Give me a day or two to help my kid with his algebra and to catch up on work.

    After that, we're going to get into your computer's bios. That's right, getting naked with your machine, so to speak, that stuff hidden from sight.

    Everyone get ready


JosephParsons

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    • Name: JosephParsons
    • Birthday: 7/9/1969
    • Gender: Male
    • Member Since: 4/9/2009

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  • In passionate pursuit of a writing career. Very married, father of one. Full of faith and believing after greater things. I would rather be drinking a brown ale on a black beach in Tahiti.

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  • JosephParsons
    @malikimran - Thanks for the positive word. I friended you.
  • malikimran
    All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives. Dalai Lama
  • JosephParsons
    @imasilentheart - Alright. we'll take it up again tomorrow. Sleep tight
  • imasilentheart
    meh, no its not there. I probably have to shut the computer down completely for it to show and i will do that in the morning. I need to get to sleep.
  • JosephParsons
    @imasilentheart - should be top right of the browser page, a stop sign that says ABP, either red or gray.
  • imasilentheart
    I'm sorry but where would the adblock icon be?
  • JosephParsons
    @imasilentheart - Go to the adblock icon, right click, and make sure 'enable' is checked.
  • imasilentheart
    No it didn't ask me anything.
  • JosephParsons
    @imasilentheart - Okay, step 3. did it prompt you for a library (filter)? Try to open it, it should prompt you for a filter, choose the firefox filter and select to save or install it (it will open a new page that actually shows you the filter, but the install or select button is on the previous pag
  • imasilentheart
    ahaha I had forgotten that was the point of all this. xD Thanks again, I did the add on. :)