Errata: "Peter van der Linden's Guide to Linux" first printing Version: Oct 20 2005. There are 4 sections here. Keep reading until you run out of interest. 1. SIGNIFICANT CORRECTIONS 2. ADDITIONAL INFO 3. GRAMMAR, SPELLING, LAYOUT, MORE INFO, ETC 4. ADDITIONAL RANDOM TIPS ========================================================================== 1. SIGNIFICANT CORRECTIONS p.111 Figure 4-8 correctly labels the broadband modem as plugging into the broadband outlet, but the diagram wrongly shows a power outlet! ========================================================================== 2. ADDITIONAL INFO p.75 The tip on using the KDE world clock as your desktop background. On the Background tab, make sure the "no picture" checkbox is checked, then proceed with the tip. (at first mention of shell - look for where that is) The command line (also known as the shell) appears in an otherwise empty window that comes up when you click Launch, Run Programs, Utilities, Terminal Program (Konsole). It has a prompt that is the name of the PC, followed by the current working directory, followed by a #. You type the command, press enter at the end, and it executes the command then comes back with another prompt. p.437 On Oct 20 2005, Microsoft CEO Steve Balmer announced that Microsoft plans a cluster edition of Windows Server. p.489 On Linspire, directories in /root such as "My Computer" contain links to directories that may already be included in your backup. To prevent unnecessary duplication, you may want to exclude these directories from your backup: /root/My Computer /root/Network Shares /root/System /Network ========================================================================== 3. GRAMMAR, SPELLING, LAYOUT, MORE INFO, ETC p.8, second last paragraph. "MIcrosoft" should be "Microsoft" "Windows 2005" should be "Windows Server 2003" p.57 Somewhere on page, add the sentence Konqueror is open source code, and Apple re-used it as the basis of their Safari browser. p.77 middle of page, "You ca add" should be "You can add". p.81 First line on page, "Control Panel" should be "Control Center" p.113 Add the following at the start of section "Wireless Hardware" ---------------- Is wireless twitchy? The answer is yes/no/maybe. 1. If you use a wifi adapter that is on the Linspire Hardware Compatibility List, wireless is usually rock solid. See http://www.linspire.com/linspire_hardware_compatibility.php?category_id=14 However, manufacturers often change the chip in a card without changing the model number. The changed chip might not be Linux-compatible, even though the old one was! Until the Linspire hardware compatibility list includes unique wifi identifying info, like the FCC id, buying a card that's on the list doesn't guarantee compatibility. So buy from stores with a good return policy. 2. If you want to use any old adapter, Linspire might or might not come with a driver for it. Try it. If it doesn't come with a driver, you'll have to download your own and install it. Or try reusing the Windows driver via the Ndiswrapper software built into Linspire. Some people find that simple; others have problems they don't know how to solve and end up frustrated. 3. My experience has been that some wifi USB adapters are twitchy on some PCs. Others have reported good experiences with them on other PCs. Unless you're an expert, USB wifi is best avoided. An integrated wifi chip (as in a laptop) might be in category 1 or in category 2. Since wifi cards are available for $25 (EBay), route 1 is the way to go, unless you're a software pro or just like tinkering. ---------------- p.177 Before heading "Making Email Open Links with Firefox" add: There's something funny about the mozilla products - they don't respect the KDE conventions for file associations. They have their own protocol for instructing them "this file type uses that application". I suppose it's because they don't want to write the extra code to sniff which desktop environment they are running in. The file types are known as MIME types, because they are silent and annoying (just kidding). You set the MIME type/helper application in Mozilla by clicking Edit, Preferences, Downloads, and then highlight a filetype and click Change Action. This is actually a nice interface. It just doesn't conform to KDE's conventions. p.236 At foot of page, add: There's a bug in the CNR install process for gcc. If you hit it, apply this workaround. Create a symbolic link as follows (do it as root): ln -s /usr/bin/gcc-3.3 /usr/bin/gcc Then you will be able to compile programs. p.378 At end of first para after heading "Setting up Print Servers" add: Generally HP and Epson printers work well with Linux, while Lexmark and Dell-rebranded Lexmarks do not work well with Linux. So choose your printers accordingly. p.490 "a series of 600 MB" should be "a series of 650 MB" p.492 At the end of the section headed "Alternative 3:" add, CNR has some Backup tools for Linspire, including one called Konserve. None of them work like Norton Ghost. But check out Ghost for Unix at http://www.feyrer.de/g4u/ p.574 Delete the entire inset section headed "The Desktop Folder is..." ========================================================================== 4. ADDITIONAL RANDOM TIPS One way to get started with dialup easily and cheaply: 1. Go to www.Netzero.com and sign up for the free hours of internet Usage. 2. After it's all setup for the 10 hours free per month, boot up Linspire, click on Netzero for your dialup service, and enter your username and password. 3. If your modem works with Linux, you will connect to the internet. 4. Sign up for the free CNR trial and install any programs that you need, including wvdial that will help you connect using any other ISP. By default when you login, any applications running when you logged out are restarted. There is an option to turn off this behavior at Control Panel > KDE Components > Session Manager. Under the "On Login" option, change the selection to "Start with an empty session." Buy Linux preinstalled systems online from Outpost.com, Walmart, Tigerdirect, Sub300.com, or MicroCenter.com How to end a program that's hung. Hold down the Ctrl key and press the Esc key. That brings up a window with the System Guard program, showing a line for every program running. Terminate a program by highlighting its line in that window and pressing the button marked "Kill". For a list of KDE shortcuts, refer to the webpage at http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/tip/2289.html I'll believe MS is serious about anti viruses when their tools remove outlook and IE. p.299 You cannot create symbolic links or hard links on files in a FAT32 filesystem. This is because the semantics are not there in the underlying filesystem - it just does not have the data structures to support it, no matter how the filesystem is mounted. There is a similar limitation to changing file modes (permissions) of files in a FAT32 filesystem - you cannot change group permissions, for example. This limitation exists regardless of how you mount it, or the account that you use to try to make the change. It cannot be done.