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<TITLE>The Answer Guy 35: Linux on Dell Systems</TITLE>
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LINK="#3366FF" VLINK="#A000A0">
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<H4>"The Linux Gazette...<I>making Linux just a little more fun!</I>"</H4>
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<center>
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<H1><A NAME="answer">
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<img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" alt="(?)" border="0" align="middle">
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<font color="#B03060">The Answer Guy</font>
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<img src="../../gx/dennis/bbubble.gif" alt="(!)" border="0" align="middle">
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</A></H1>
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<BR>
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<H4>By James T. Dennis,
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<a href="mailto:linux-questions-only@ssc.com">linux-questions-only@ssc.com</a><BR>
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Starshine Technical Services,
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<A HREF="http://www.starshine.org/">http://www.starshine.org/</A>
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</H4>
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</center>
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<p><hr><p>
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<H3 align="left"><img src="../../gx/dennis/qbubble.gif" height="50" width="60"
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alt="(?) " border="0">Linux on Dell Systems</H3>
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<p><strong>From Mikhail Krichman on Fri, 20 Nov 1998
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</strong></p>
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<!-- begin 33 -->
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<P><STRONG>
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Dear Mr. Dennis,
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</STRONG></P>
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<P><STRONG>
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Sorry for bothering you out of the blue, but you seem to be THE
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person to talk to regarding the problems I have.
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</STRONG></P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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I wouldn't say I'm <EM>THE</EM> person. There are thousands
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of Linux users on the 'net that do the same sorts of
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support that I do. They just don't get all the glory
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of a monthly column in LG
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<IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/smily.gif" ALT=";)" height="24" width="20"
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align="middle">.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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I am thinking of buying a Dell computer system (350Mhz, Pentium II
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desktop). I intend to install Linux on it (to type my dissertation
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in LaTeX), but I also want to have Win98 and related software,
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just in case. IN relation to this I have two burning question:
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</STRONG></P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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Maybe I could ask you a few questions on LaTeX. I'm
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writing my book (Linux Systems Administration) in
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that format because I love the extensibility, the
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cross references and labels, the indexing, and
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the ability to focus on structural markup rather than
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appearance (and to defer many elements of cosmetics
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to later).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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However, it is a pretty complex environment (more
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programming than composition) and I occasionally
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get into some tight spots). I'd love to have a LaTeX
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guru on tap. (Yes, I sometimes post to the comp.text.tex
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newsgroup; but sometimes I prefer the bandwidth of voice
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to the precision of e-mail/news text).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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1) My friends warned me that Dell (just as any other brand name
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computer) may have some proprietary features of the design, which
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would prevent Linux from functioning properly. Have you had any
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related problems reported or dealt with?
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</STRONG></P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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Actually, Dell owes a tremendous degree of its popularity to
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the fact that they <EM>usually</EM> eschew proprietary features and
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traditionally have produced very compatible systems with
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consistent quality.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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They might not always the the "hottest, coolest, fastest,
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and latest" --- but a palette load of Dells will all work
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the same way, probably won't require any special vendor
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drivers and patches, and won't cost as much as the first
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tier IBM's and Compaq's (who can afford to devote that
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extra margin on research and development of cool,
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fast, late-breaking, bleeding edge and <EM>proprietary</EM>
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features).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Many business have standardized on Dell for this reason.
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Some of these have palettes of these systems drop shipped
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to them (hundreds at a time in some cases). They want
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the systems they order next month to work just like the
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ones they deployed last month --- because having your IS and
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help desk staff trying to sort out those new "features" can
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rapidly cost more than the systems themselves.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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So, Dell traditionally was noted for it's lack of
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proprietary frills. However, they've now been the
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"wunderkind" of the stock market for about the last year.
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This may spur them to take on the very same "bad attitudes"
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that provided them with the opportunity to overtake IBM and
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Compaq in the marketplace.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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I should reveal some of my biases and involvement with this
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issue:
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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I wrote an open letter to Dell(*) to lobby for customer choice
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in the bundled software. This was specifically to allow
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Linux and <A HREF="http://www.freebsd.org/">FreeBSD</A> users to order systems without purchasing
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software that we don't want and will never use.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><ul>
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<li>Published in the Linux Weekly News
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<A HREF="http://lwn.net/lwn/980514/dell.html"
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>http://lwn.net/lwn/980514/dell.html</A>
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</ul></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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They'd initially claimed that there was "no customer demand
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for this" (which was an offensive lie).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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It was later revealed that they had been pre-installing
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Linux on systems shipped to some select corporate customers
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in Europe (read: BIG contracts that DEMANDED it) for about
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a year.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Micheal Dell has recently commented on the issue (though not
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in response to me, personally) and characterized the demand
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a "vocal" but not necessarily from a large market segment.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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I responded to that as well.
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(<A HREF="http://www.lwn.net/1998/1112/backpage.phtml"
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>http://www.lwn.net/1998/1112/backpage.phtml</A>).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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So, obviously I'm biased. More importantly I've pointed
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to alternatives. There are a large number of hardware
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vendors that will respond to their customer's needs.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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You can find a list of vendors who will pre-install
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Linux at: <A HREF="http://www.linux.org/vendors/systems.html"
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>http://www.linux.org/vendors/systems.html</A>
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Naturally these are small companies that "nobody" as
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ever heard of. However, Dell was also an obscure
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company as little as five or six years ago. So, there's
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a real chance that one of these vendors will become the
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next Dell.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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I think that Dell will soon "see the light." Although
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I've lobbied for it and think it would be best of the
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Linux community as a whole; I have mixed feelings from
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another tack. I'd really rather see one of the "little
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guys" (from the Linux vendors list for example) grow
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into a new powerhouse on Wall Street.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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(My superficial impression is that VA Research has the
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best current head start on this market. However, VA
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Research focuses entirely on PC's --- and so far refuses
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to consider Alpha, PowerPC, StrongARM, or other platforms
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that represent some interesting new options for the Linux
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user. There's a part of me that is getting <EM>REALLY</EM> tired
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of PC's. Linux gives of the choice --- all of the core
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software that most of use for most of our work is portable
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and has already been ported to almost a dozen architectures.
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WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE IT ANY MORE!).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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2) I really would like to have a DVD-ROM on my machine (III
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</STRONG></P>
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<P><STRONG>
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generation, but I don't know which brand they are offering). Are
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there DVD-drivers supported by Linux, or, alternatively, will the
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CD-ROM drivers available with Linux make the DVD-ROM work at least
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as a CD-ROM?
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</STRONG></P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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Quite by chance I noticed that PenguinComputing
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(<A HREF="http://www.penguincomputing.com">http://www.penguincomputing.com</A> --- founded by my
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friend and fellow SVLUG member, Sam Ockman) now offers
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DVD Drives on his systems. (*)
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><ul>
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<li><A HREF="http://www.penguincomputing.com/dvd-cd.html"
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>http://www.penguincomputing.com/dvd-cd.html</A>
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</ul></BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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I note that there isn't currently any available software
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to view DVD movies under Linux. However, there's apparently
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no problem using these drives to read CD discs, including
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CD-R and CD-RW media.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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... He also offers those cool case LCDProc displays
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there were all the rage at SlashDot
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(<A HREF="http://www.slashdot.org">http://www.slashdot.org</A>) earlier this year. These
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are little backlit LCD panels that you can install
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in place of a couple of 5.25" drive blankup covers in
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any normal PC case. You can drive this to provide
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various types of process status displays.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<BLOCKQUOTE>
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Anyways, you might want to consider getting the whole
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system from him. (Editorial disclaimer: I did mention
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that he's a friend of mine, didn't I? I'm not, however
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involved in any business with Sam, nor with VA Research
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--- which is also operated by friends and aquaintances
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and where Sam used to work, in fact).
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<P><STRONG><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/qbub.gif" ALT="(?)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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Sincerely,
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Mikhail KRichman
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</STRONG></P>
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<BLOCKQUOTE><IMG SRC="../../gx/dennis/bbub.gif" alt="(!)"
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HEIGHT="28" WIDTH="50" BORDER="0"
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>
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Hope this all Helped.
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</BLOCKQUOTE>
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<!-- end 33 -->
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<!--startcut ======================================================= -->
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<H5 align="center"><a href="http://www.linuxgazette.com/copying.html"
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>Copyright ©</a> 1998, James T. Dennis
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<BR>Published in <I>The Linux Gazette</I> Issue 35 December 1998</H5>
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<P> <hr> <P>
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<TD><A HREF="egg.html">modutil</A></TD>
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<TD><A HREF="libc.html">libc</A></TD>
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