[TriLUG] A Newbie's question about changing hardware on my Linux machine.

[Tanner Lovelace]

On Wed, 2002-12-11 at 12:21, al johson wrote:
> O.K. after the last installfest at NCSU the Trilug helpers got just about
> all of my hardware to finally work on Mandrake. Unfortunately, I'm going to
> swap out my CD-RW drive (which is presently 4x) for one of the newer models
> which is around 40x. (and there probably won't be another Installfest any
> time soon, esp. with everyone recovering from the storm) So I'm wondering
> before I do this (and might live to regret it!)  how do I tell Mandrake 8.1
> that there is a faster, newer CD-RW in the box?? Intrex is going to install
> the new CD-RW, but they "don't do Linux" (at least the guy I talked to at
> the Cary store doesn't--they used to have a guy who did).

Well, it will either just work, or, the Mandrake Hardware "wizard" (I'm
not sure that's the word they use, but it suffices for now) will detect
that your hardware is changed and give you the option to configure it 
when you reboot after the switch.  Mandrake is one of the better 
distributions for handling things like this.  Most things just work.


> I have two hard drives in drawers which allow me to put them in and take
> them out of  the box because there are lockable cases for them to reside in.
> This allows me to experiment with Linux at will without disturbing anything
> in the surly MS 98 OS. I'm looking forward to the day when I can finally
> tell MS to kiss my @#$#!! Unfortunately there are some amateur radio
> programs from Japanese companies (they manufacture just about all the ham
> radio gear at present) which are probably going to always require MS to
> work. I realize that it takes a while for Linux to obtain drivers for new
> hardware. So if I could just be reassured that the newer CD-RW will probably
> continue to work anyway (albeit at a lower speed), it would be good news
> indeed. But the CD-RW is such an important piece of hardware because it's
> just about the only way now to save a large quantity of data.
> As you can tell I'm still a rank newbie with LINUX. If you prefer to discuss
> this subject off the list my email address is alfjon at mindspring.com. Happy
> Holidays Everyone.----Al Johnson.

Just out of curiosity, which particular programs are you referring to?
Programs to control your ham rigs?  What brand of rig?  I've been
tossing around the idea of seeing if I could reverse engineer the 
protocol to my Icom handheld and was just wondering what your
experience is.

Cheers,
Tanner
-- 
Tanner Lovelace | lovelace(at)wayfarer.org | http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
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