Linux Rocks! But It Can Be Frustrating At Times.

Let’s talk about Linux.

Firstly what is it?

According to Wikipedia Linux is a family of free and open-source software operating systems built around the Linux kernal. It’s packaged in Linux distrobution’s (distros). Linux is used for both primary operating systems, and server applications alike. The component that identifies an operating system as Linux is of course the kernal itself.

The first Linux kernal was introduced by Linus Torvalds on September 17th 1991.

This is a basic explanation of Linux, per Wikipedia, and not exactly verbatim as to avoid the bots identifying this as plagiarism.

Why am I talking about Linux?

Well, for one, I am a Linux enthusiast, and two, it’s a major project in my life right now. In fact, I am typing this on a laptop clunker that I bought from a friend for 50 dollars. He was fed up with the lack of functionality Window’s presented him with. I said “no problem!” “futuremind will have it running faster than when it was shipped from the factory.” He didn’t seem to believe this too much, and I have yet to prove it to him, but it certainly is running extremely fast. I took Window’s off of it immediately and installed my favorite OS, Linux Mint!

Problem solved! Hardly! Lol
The Laptop I am working with is an old Dell, running the dreaded broadcom Wifi adapter. Linux Mint was not able to recognize the hardware. This wouldn’t be a problem for most, because all that is needed is a wired connection, and downloded drivers, but of course futuremind does not have one! So what to do now?

I was not sure what to do, but a friend of mine, @Lilacse (Who is quite knowledgeable in Linux) knew a solution to the problem! He introduced me to an OS that I had limited exposure to in the past called Xenialpup 7.5 (branded as Puppy Linux). Puppy Linux was able to recognize the broadcom Wifi adapter, thus solving my connectivity issues. Great! A step in the right direction for sure. My restoration of this old clunker laptop was almost complete.

I had decided that because Puppy operated on an up to date kernal, I would just perform a full install, and work with my favorite OS through a VM (virtual machine) Sounds easy enough right? And it really is not too difficult to do all this once you have passed the basic learning curve of Linux. (Unless you are using a slim line version like Arch) Or trying to learn on a system lacking a GUI (graphical user interface) ,you really shouldn’t have too many issues if you know how to use Google.

So I went ahead and performed a full installation, utilizing the basic, preset parameters. Generally Linux installs on just about any machine with virtually no issues if you have the hard drive partitioned correctly with the proper flags , and formatting. So I was not concerned at all. I was wrong in my assessment however, and a problem occurred with the bootloader. Puppy Linux utilizes the Grub4dos bootloader application, and I imagine, on most machines this doesn’t present itself as an issue, but on this clunkin junkin Dell it certainly was an issue.

The current state of my Dell is still a conundrum for me. I have spent countless hours fiddling around with the menu.lst file, and moving around the vmlinuz and initrd.gz file in order to properly boot into a system that isn’t a live environment, and still I’ve managed to get nowhere. It’s become somewhat of an obsession. An obsession that is robbing me of my time, and thoughts towards other projects. I spent the entire day yesterday trying to figure this out, and I still was not able to get the system to load from the internal hard drive.

It’s really not too much of an issue booting up from my drive droid application on my spare rooted device (which loads into ram) and running the OS as normal with a save file, but it’s just this looming thought of failure that is ever present, like I am working with an incomplete project. Sure I am typing on it right now, and can install programs, and work on the OS as if it was fully installed with no bootloader issues, and many would say this is a pretty good achievement for someone lacking a wired connection. If there is a will, there is a way, and I have been in similar jams many other times, so I can quickly reorder the boot sequence on any computers bios, load up an iso with no USB thumb drive, and make magic happen without any wired connection whatsoever. Pretty awesome!

But still, I do not like to fail, and thus far, I feel this is a fail. futuremind will certainly solve this problem one way or another. I think I need to go into some deep relaxation to reorder my thoughts and prepare for this journey. A seasoned Linux user probably would have solved this problem on the first day of installation. Hell, there are probably some Linux gurus reading this just having a good ol’ hoot of a laugh at my infantile understanding of Linux, but thats ok. I have not been using Linux my entire life. In fact, I’ve only been using Linux for about 3 years now, due to hackers getting into my Window’s 10 OS and stealing my debit card information. I really felt violated and undereducated in the computer world, so I decided to delve, head first into Linux. It hasn’t been easy, but my computing experience is much better. I actually understand what my computer is doing now, I know how to check to see if my computer is being accessed by someone else, and I know how to properly set a simple firewall as well as modify its tables to secure it even more. I can SSH from another machine to access my files..ect.

There is so much more that you can do once you understand Linux computing, and once you get passed the learning curve frustrations, you will be thankful for it. Your computer will not only be much more secure, but also, much more responsive. Thank you all for reading. Have a wonderful day. @futuremind.