Batten the Hatches -- It Be Hardware!
Aug. 18th, 2004 10:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenMy computer hardware add-ons arrived today! A wireless router, a USB wireless thingie, and my first ever graphics tablet! Yes, I know it's going to take a lot of effort and frustration to set them up on Linux (I may have to compile a kernel, and I haven't done that in years...) and I shall probably have to completely rearrange my computer desks to set it up so I can use the graphics tablet, but it should be fun when it's working! An actual graphics tablet! (Squee!) And a wireless network! (One consisting of only two computers, but still...) I shall be able to use my laptop anywhere in the house and still sync up! (Squee!)
But I can see it's probably going to be a couple of weekends' work at least...
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Date: 2004-08-18 06:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-18 08:05 am (UTC)Router should be fairly simple to set up; those things are generally OS-independent. Good luck with the network adapter!
(By the way, what flavor of Linux are you using? I've been meaning to experiment a little with Linux at several times over the past few years...)
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Date: 2004-08-18 01:24 pm (UTC)LOL! Thanks.
Good luck with the network adapter!
Well, I got that particular network adapter because it was supposed to have some good Linux drivers for it, which are already packaged for my distribution.
It's the graphics tablet that I may have to recompile the kernel for, because the drivers have to be made from source.
By the way, what flavor of Linux are you using?
I'm using Debian now, but that's after a long while with RedHat until I got disgusted with its increasing error-proneness. Before that, circa 1995, I started off with Slackware because it was the only one I could get hold of.
I've been meaning to experiment a little with Linux at several times over the past few years...
If you want to experiment, you might try Knoppix, or one of the other "Live CD" distributions. Basically it's Linux on a CD, you boot from the CD and run it from there, with no need to repartition your hard drive. However, because it's running from CD, it will be a little slower than it would be if it wasn't. But that should be enough to give you a taste, without having to plunge in headfirst.
As for which distribution is best... there is a bewildering array of choice, and everyone thinks the distro they use is best. The first thing to consider is whether you need hand-holding and fancy user tools, or whether you'd like to be able to get "under the hood". The most hand-holding distros seem to be Suse and Mandrake, followed by RedHat. Then there's Debian, which tends to be adored by more experienced users, and then Slackware is the one that is the least hand-holding of all, much more like a traditional old-fashioned unix system. Another one to consider if you feel like being on the hacker-ish bleeding edge, is Gentoo. That's one I've been pondering whether I will try out sometime...
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Date: 2004-08-18 05:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-18 05:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-08-18 02:06 pm (UTC)Which did you get?
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Date: 2004-08-18 05:14 pm (UTC)I've been wondering about getting one for a while, wondering whether it was justified, whether I would do it justice, until I finally decided to take the plunge.
Which did you get?
A Wacom Graphire 3, the G-630 Sapphire (it's a lovely deep blue colour). I got the larger size because I didn't want to go through the same sort of process I went through with my succession of scanners -- initially getting a dinky little handheld scanner which drove me crazy. So I didn't want to get a dinky little graphics tablet which had the drawing area of a postcard, but one which was closer to the size I'm used to drawing things with.
I couldn't just buy one off the shelf, because I wanted to get something I was sure that I'd be able to use with Linux, because I'm using Linux 99.9% of the time.
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Date: 2004-08-18 06:16 pm (UTC)Hah! I don't believe it! Just after seeing your post, I happened to see Dick Smith had a cheapo one on their site while I was looking for something else. I was tempted but decided to go for quality so I did a web search to see who sold Wacom here (Spacefall had recommended them a while back) and found someone just two blocks away. I'm picking the exact same sapphire blue one up (if yours is a 6x8) on my way home tonight!
You know, I thought it was meant to be, with all those coincidences, but this just proves it. :-D
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Date: 2004-08-18 06:24 pm (UTC)