NTFS Access

As it turns out, NTFS support is built in to the operating system, and it just takes a few small tweaks to make it work. For instance, I could log in to Root and mount the drive, but i forgot to set the permissions for my user account to have read access. Once that was done, I could easily go through my windows drives.

That is why I like Linux, it actually supports other file systems besides its own natively. The same is true with OSX. Windows, however, requires that you go and find drivers, like with all of its hardware.

I also managed to transfer files over the network to a windows machine. That too, took a mere tweak in the options to accomplish. I was helping someone with a computer problem, and did not want to reboot and wait the many minutes it takes for Windows to boot.

I am, however, having issues finding things within the directory structure of Linux, but it is just a matter of learning the different structure. I have not tooled around much with the console yet. Once I learn the structures in graphical mode, I will be more comfortable with the console.

Foray into the Linux world

Switching to Linux from Windows is not for the faint-of-heart. Linux is a completely different world, but with my experience of playing with Linux for a few minutes, removing XP/2000 passwords with a Linux disk, and installing OSX (based on a flavor of Linux) on my Dell notebook, I thought I was ready. Sure, I did it on a whim, having gotten tired of the adware, spyware, and viruses that were targeted at my Windows machine, but I had forgotten how different the Linux command shell is from the old DOS I grew up with.

First, I downloaded Freespire, a stripped down version of Linspire, which was supposed to be very easy for beginners. Well, I burned the ISO to disk, popped it into my CD-ROM with great anticipation, and rebooted.

After several tries, all I could get was a solid underscore, no matter which option I selected from the boot menu. For some reason, it must not have been compatible with my system. Oh well, two hours of downloading for nothing. Once I am set on idea, however, I do not give up. A little more research, and I decided to download Ubuntu. This time, the software ran.

I resized the partition on one of my windows drives, and created the Linux EXT3 and SWAP partitions. If you do not know what you are doing at this step, you can end up with a system in chaos, but I am well-versed in partitioning. So far, so good.

I installed the OS, and, to my amazement, was online in no time. With Windows, you almost always have to install an Ethernet driver, in order to connect to the internet and get the rest of the drivers for your system. Unfortunately, I could not get Ubuntu to run the way I wanted to in an hour of tinkering, and not knowing the commands of the shell certainly helped in that regard. So, I decided that this was not good enough for me, or much less, the average computer user.

So, I booted back into Windows, and 1.5 hours later, I had a copy of Mandriva Linux. After burning it to disc and rebooting, a few minutes later, I had a working Operating System. This time, no drivers were needed. My 2 video cards were detected and supported, as well as my sound card, TV card and other peripherals. Upon first boot, my Ethernet card kept connecting and disconnecting, though could still could go online by refreshing the page several times. Upon reboot, the connection was solid.

Mandrivia has an overly-colorful, gaudy look to it, at least the free version. But a few changes in the settings fixed that. At this time, TV-out on my ATI 9550 is not working correctly, and neither is my Hauppauge PVR-150 TV Card. But, I think I can Solve that with a little tinkering. After all, that is what the Linux OS is all about, tinkering until it fits your liking. From then on, you are running one of the most stable and secure systems on this planet.

Next up- Configuring Mandriva for NTFS access, installing music-creation programs, fixing bugs, and much more.

--Later, Dave, the Linux Wanna-be