I have been an OS/2 user since version 2.0 and still run my primary mail and web server on OS/2 (Warp 4.5). But a few months ago I bit the bullet and decided to stick my toe into the pool of code known as Linux. Reason was simple, I am doing a lot of web programming for work and I need to be using the tools of the trade. Apps like mySQL and the GIMP were the original attraction.
My desired setup would be a primarily desktop installation with webserver and other goodies that I could enable when doing my coding. It would also have automated update capability because I just don't have enough background to go out hunting for patches. Oh, and it should be free.
Chose SuSE Linux, largely because I saw it advertised on Userfriendly and found it met all my criteria. (Red Hat didn't because it is IMHO more a server product and it doesn't include free updates)
My OS/2 experience said that each OS should be installed on its own small partition with all programs and data stored on a common partition accessible to both OS's. So my original install was to put SuSE 8.1 on a 2GB EXT2 partition and stick all the data and programs on the 80GB vFAT partition shared with the Win98 data. Downloaded the CD image into my Windows loaded machine and burned the install CD. Then booted that CD and set the install via network (ftp.suse.com). Little hickup is that I have a permanent IP address on my DSL modem and I had to disable DHCP and hardcode the address. Took me two tries to get this right.
Then left the computer to download and install the Linux system overnight. Came back next day to complete the final tuning. So far so good.
Well, almost. I use an nVidia card with two monitor connections (aka twinview or dual head). The default SuSE XFree86 drivers wouldn't work with both monitors so I did as the readme stated and downloaded the native drivers from nVidia's website. And then spent the next two days farting around with XF86Config files and guessing what refresh rates my monitors run.
Alright I got it working... but didn't save a spare copy of my XF86Config file. Sure enough, I was installing something else later on and YOU or YAST blew away my nVidia config and replaced it with the default again. Then I putz around for another day trying to remember what I did right the last time.
By a month on I realised that the notion of sharing data between Win98 and Linux wasn't working. When something wants to be stored in one of the Linux 'standard' directories like /usr or /etc... IT MEANS IT. Anytime I tried to do that, the program wouldn't work. Now older and wiser, I think it is a combination of permission problems and config files not set up to handle alternative locations for stuff.
Then there is the fun and joy of locating your recently installed program. I spent many, many (many) [many] hours trying to find where some recently installed program actually ended up. I couldn't read makefiles, so instead would go hunting the directory tree looking for something that looked like what would be the file (using Konqueror or failing that, a shell). What a hope! Most of the stuff ended up broken into bits stored in /etc (nope, no executable in there), /usr/lib (.so looks like an executable in KDE, but doesn't run), and sometimes /home/adoll (with or without a hidden directory). Hunt, hunt, hunt, finally clued in that most stuff that is executable ends up in /usr/share or /usr/local. If I want to run the program from a shell, then typically need to have a symbolic link of the executable in the /usr/bin directory too. Still haven't figured out the difference between running a shell program like this: ~> program versus this: ~> ./program
Openoffice was a huge disappointment at the outset. It would crash the moment I tried to do anything; I would respond by trying to apply a newer copy of the package and installing it over top. What a mess! I ended up with a rats nest of incompatible config files and generally impossible to resolve trouble.
So about 1.5 months after the original Linux install, I decided to take my accumulated experience and reformat and reinstall. Partition Magic helpfully resized my Linux partition to 30GB (leaving the 'common' partition at 50GB). This time downloaded the SuSE8.2 cd image and did the FTP overnight install.
Awesome. Now have a computer that works again -- and Openoffice works too. Well, sort of, the word processor looked like absolute crap. The 'portrait' oriented page actually looks like it is landscape. And to fonts are all squished too. WTF? Fortunately tripped over the answer trying to fix something in my nVidia driver... the XF86Config contains a line that I didn't mess with that dictates the dimensions of my monitors in millimetres (DisplaySize 320 240). Because I'm using nVidia's twinview on my system, the actuall resolution xFree86 is showing is twice as wide as what is given in the config file. I had to double the horizontal dimension in the XF86Config (DisplaySize 640 240) and restart X. Then the page looks right! Fonts aren't squished any more and the preview of portrait actually looks taller than wide!
A lot of program installation problems disappeared when I allocated more drive space to the Linux partition and let the programs install there. This is one thing radically different to OS/2; the new OS doesn't coexist nicely with the old one.
Another way to avoid problems with library mismatches is to use RPMs instead of running makefiles and tar.gz packages. Most problems I've had with library mismatches seem to disappear if I allow YAST to manage things without my text editor interferring with config files. The hardcore Linux people are horrified at the notion, but I need the machine to work (damn it!) and have been burned by stuff that won't MAKE or does and screws something else up.
Since the last install I've found another reason to do all my web coding in Linux... PHP. I'm migrating all my sites to it and have even joined the open source devel team for one PHP tool: yappa-ng (http://sourceforge.net/projects/yappa-ng/)
So, the next big step is to move Linux to my OS/2 server and dual boot it. I want to have the PMMail migrate, if possible, and keep the option of booting OS/2 to run some of my REXX scripts for updating certain legacy websites. I think the way to do this is to buy a new hard drive and install Linux on it. Then let something like grub allow me to switch at boot time between the systems.
-AD
