[ale] Looking For Constructive Help

[Kyle Beckman]

>This setup is currently a PII 450 w 128 mb's.  Will that be
>enough to run vmware successfully or should this be upgraded to 256
>mb's?  Hard drives are not an issue.

I'd have to agree with the consensus so far that you will want to upgrade to 
256 MB of RAM.  I've used VMWare on Linux, Windows NT, and Windows 2000.  As 
soon as you alot RAM to VMWare, it takes it and any idle processes that your 
system has and gives them to your virtual host.  The more RAM you have, the 
better.


>     My next question is this.  I have a copy of RH 5.2  I saw in the
>stores that RH 7.x is out now.  Has anyone had any experience with
>version 7?  Unfortunately, I only have modem access to the Internet, so
>to d/l the images is out of the question.

Geez... everyone is getting so negative about RH 7.0.  Actually, considering 
the fact that you are a newbie, I would say that 7.0 would be a better fit 
for you than any of the older versions of RH.  The new Red Hat Network would 
make it easier for you to keep your system up to date.  Also, since you're 
using a modem, you would benefit from the new wizard for configuring dial-up 
Internet access that comes with RH 7.0.  I've used it a few times just to 
experiment and it has picked up four different supported modems with no 
problems for me.  Another benefit you're going to get whether you buy 7.0 or 
6.2 from the store (retail version, not the two or three dollar CD's off the 
web) is installation support directly from Red Hat.  The type and length 
depends on which boxed set you get, so make sure that if you want phone 
support that you buy the package that includes phone and e-mail support, not 
the box that includes just e-mail support.

Oh yeah, despite what was said in an earlier post, the compiler that comes 
on the default installation of RH 7.0 *IS* *NOT* the 2.96 version that 
everyone is griping about.  (I don't understand what the big deal is anyway! 
  RH isn't cramming kernel 2.4 or 2.96 of the compiler down your throat, 
you've got to install it to have it on your system.) I've heard a lot of 
people making this mistake and telling other users not to use RH because of 
it.  The fact is that the compiler won't install unless you've got the 2.4 
kernel installed and there isn't a 2.2 kernel on your system.  Otherwise, 
you have to force the installation of the 2.96 compiler.


>     I read the how-to's at ldp as well as redhat but they don't seem to
>be current.
>     I wouldn't mind some pointers to 'newbie' sites or other helpful
>links.  Doing the research doesn't bother me, I just don't where to
>start.  This seems to become overwhelming at times.

There is a really good book on securing and optimizing Linux that 
concentrates on RH 6.x.  Most of the stuff in the book would very easily 
apply to RH 7.0.  Best of all... you can get the 486 page book for free!  It 
is available as a PDF download from http://www.openna.com/books/book.htm.

As for HOWTO's and other sites... most of the stuff out there is horribly 
dated.  The best thing to do is hit USENET or find a good message board like 
Virtual DR (http://www.virtualdr.com) and just watch the discussions for a 
while.  People tend to ask the same questions over and over on most of the 
message boards, so try searching the message board before asking your 
question.  Another thing to remember if/when you post any problems is to be 
as thorough as possible about everything.  Give the exact error messages, 
hardware configuration that applies, software configuration, distribution 
and version, and any errors that are in your logs.  The biggest problem in 
helping people is not having enough information from them.

~~Kyle


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