Amazing Feats Performed with Linux [Archive]

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 06:17 AM

briancurtin

January 14th, 2006, 06:22 AM

What amazing things have you done with your Linux?

I turn on my computer, boot into Ubuntu, on open up XMMS, tune into an online radio station... then I take out my harddrive and plug it into another computer(in the next room) and boot from it!
8 hours later my tunes are still rockin on my hard drive less Linux box. You can't do that with Windows (I've tried).
can you explain this magic?

you take the hard drive out of a running computer, put it another one, and claim that the computer with no hard drive runs linux and plays online music? maybe its just me, but i claim that a computer with no hard drive will do nothing of worth.

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 06:26 AM

well it sounds crazy but it works, try it.

alinuxfan

January 14th, 2006, 06:30 AM

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 06:32 AM

can you explain this magic?

you take the hard drive out of a running computer, put it another one, and claim that the computer with no hard drive runs linux and plays online music? maybe its just me, but i claim that a computer with no hard drive will do nothing of worth.

you might also keep in mind that XMMS is a pretty simple program that requires very little memory obviously I wouldn't be able to surf the web or even open other applications without plugging the hard drive back in.

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 06:34 AM

so it's kinda like turning your install of ubuntu into the livecd...that is neat...speaking of old harddrives I need to work and try to get my info off one that crashed on me...maybe that's what i'll do instead of playing runescape :p

I wouldn't reccomend that really your best bet is to just use a liveCD and mount the old broken drive then either mount a second hard drive with a partition you can write to or use a Samba configured computer (on your network) and copy the files over to it. I've saved many a broken drive this way.

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 06:42 AM

I've also started a live CD (BSD) and started XMMS playing then removed the CD and it worked fine and kept playing in the same fashion without any major problems. Pretty handy if you wanna turn a nearby computer into a music playing drone at some point (or play a joke on your friends who use OSX/Windows)

AMD64_N_Linux

January 14th, 2006, 06:47 AM

can you explain this magic?
maybe its just me, but i claim that a computer with no hard drive will do nothing of worth.
[-X Wait just a minute.

I have a computer, with a PSU, a MB, a 486 dx 66 CPU, 16 MB RAM, 2 network Cards, and a floppy drive. That is it.

It is a firewall box, doing IP Maquarading, IP forwarding, and DNS services. It is the gateway for 6 computers, I can configure it thru my browser, because it has a tiny http server locally running CGI scripts so that I can configure from any of my local computers. I can do VNC, it does its own IP forwarding with port specific forwarding, a Intrusion detection system, and at time of a detected detection it will email me, send a script to one computer that can page my pager, it also has acts as a print server having an old HP Deskjet printer hooked up to it, we can print from any of the other computers. It runs an SSH deamon for local use only...

There are other things it wlll do as well, but those are the things it is doing right now.

And it boots from a 1.44 floppy, PERIOD.

every bit of the software is right there on the floppy. And did you notice in the hardware I did not mention a hard drive.

There isnt one.

So what can a computer without a harddrive do. Plenty,

One final note, my little firewall box has been running now for 9 months, 16 days, 2 hrs, and 15 minutes without a reboot.:razz:

galgoz

January 14th, 2006, 06:51 AM

That is SWEET! Man I love Linux. By the way? Would you be willing to send me a copy of that floppies content? I could use that.

briancurtin

January 14th, 2006, 06:54 AM

[-X Wait just a minute.

I have a computer, with a PSU, a MB, a 486 dx 66 CPU, 16 MB RAM, 2 network Cards, and a floppy drive. That is it.

It is a firewall box, doing IP Maquarading, IP forwarding, and DNS services. It is the gateway for 6 computers, I can configure it thru my browser, because it has a tiny http server locally running CGI scripts so that I can configure from any of my local computers. I can do VNC, it does its own IP forwarding with port specific forwarding, a Intrusion detection system, and at time of a detected detection it will email me, send a script to one computer that can page my pager, it also has acts as a print server having an old HP Deskjet printer hooked up to it, we can print from any of the other computers. It runs an SSH deamon for local use only...

There are other things it wlll do as well, but those are the things it is doing right now.

And it boots from a 1.44 floppy, PERIOD.

every bit of the software is right there on the floppy. And did you notice in the hardware I did not mention a hard drive.

There isnt one.

So what can a computer without a harddrive do. Plenty,

One final note, my little firewall box has been running now for 9 months, 16 days, 2 hrs, and 15 minutes without a reboot.:razz:
blah blah...but would you ever pull a hard drive out of any of your computers while it is on? that is what im more astounded at.

AMD64_N_Linux

January 14th, 2006, 07:02 AM

That is SWEET! Man I love Linux. By the way? Would you be willing to send me a copy of that floppies content? I could use that.
http://www.coyotelinux.com/

Now on the coyote site, they say that they will not support the print server, and some other addons, but they have links to sites that do have the software and all of the support is like this place, in chat rooms and message boards. Plus you can write some of your own scripts. I didnt care for the editor that they used. so I ssh-ftp 'd a copy of pico from a redhat 7.2 box to that box, and it never has hiccupped. Pico just worked.

And the coyote has branched off to this

http://www.brazilfw.com.br/forum/portal.php

and there are others

http://www.freesco.org/

I used freesco for more than 2 years, but tried and like coyote.

and if you dont mind a hdd install or making a custom cd there is

http://www.ipcop.org/

And there are more, but this will keep you entertained I am sure.

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 07:04 AM

blah blah...but would you ever pull a hard drive out of any of your computers while it is on? that is what im more astounded at.

my computer is an open air pile of scraps I remove the cpu while its running just for kicks sometimes.(bad idea btw)

AMD64_N_Linux

January 14th, 2006, 07:06 AM

blah blah...but would you ever pull a hard drive out of any of your computers while it is on? that is what im more astounded at.

But that is not what you said. What You said was "but i claim that a computer with no hard drive will do nothing of worth."

And I just dispelled that fallacy.

Plus, hot swapping hard drives is nothing new to the computer world, maybe to you, but Ubuntu supports hot swapping harddrives out of the box.

Maybe you should learn a little more before you make statements like you did ?

23meg

January 14th, 2006, 07:20 AM

What amazing things have you done with your Linux?Nothing quite amazing for me, but I've found that using grep to search and ed / sed to edit stuff via command line, coupled with a few I/O redirection tricks in bash totally amazes any Windows-bound semi-geek and makes them install a Linux distro within two hours :cool:

briancurtin

January 14th, 2006, 07:22 AM

But that is not what you said. What You said was "but i claim that a computer with no hard drive will do nothing of worth."

And I just dispelled that fallacy.

Plus, hot swapping hard drives is nothing new to the computer world, maybe to you, but Ubuntu supports hot swapping harddrives out of the box.

Maybe you should learn a little more before you make statements like you did ?

EDIT: deleted personal attacks

galgoz

January 14th, 2006, 07:25 AM

my computer is an open air pile of scraps I remove the cpu while its running just for kicks sometimes.(bad idea btw)

Loving your radio station by the way. Brain storming in another thread about what to put on a new website, maybe I will put a listing of Linux radio stations. Would you mind if I added yours?

AMD64_N_Linux

January 14th, 2006, 07:26 AM

maybe shut the **** up? i would answer your post, but you are an *** so ill let it go.

EDIT: removed personal attacks

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 07:31 AM

Loving your radio station by the way. Brain storming in another thread about what to put on a new website, maybe I will put a listing of Linux radio stations. Would you mind if I added yours?

no I would be quite honored just be sure to send me a link when you finish.

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 07:32 AM

maybe shut the **** up? i would answer your post, but you are an ass so ill let it go.

now now its nothing to get heated about lets just all play nice now.

galgoz

January 14th, 2006, 07:36 AM

http://www.coyotelinux.com/

Now on the coyote site, they say that they will not support the print server, and some other addons, but they have links to sites that do have the software and all of the support is like this place, in chat rooms and message boards. Plus you can write some of your own scripts. I didnt care for the editor that they used. so I ssh-ftp 'd a copy of pico from a redhat 7.2 box to that box, and it never has hiccupped. Pico just worked.

And the coyote has branched off to this

http://www.brazilfw.com.br/forum/portal.php

and there are others

http://www.freesco.org/

I used freesco for more than 2 years, but tried and like coyote.

and if you dont mind a hdd install or making a custom cd there is

http://www.ipcop.org/

And there are more, but this will keep you entertained I am sure.

Ah, another new thing to dig into and learn. I will probably be going with the Freesco as it is Open Source and I run a home based business that rules out using Coyote.

Thanks for the tip.

p.s. can't we all just get along :rolleyes:

galgoz

January 14th, 2006, 07:38 AM

I'm gonna ask a stupid question right here. On the right under our names is

Beans: ##

What does the number mean and how does it increase?

briancurtin

January 14th, 2006, 07:39 AM

I'm gonna ask a stupid question right here. On the right under our names is

Beans: ##

What does the number mean and how does it increase?
you get a bean for every post you make in any of the technical related forums. basically, every post you make outside of these off-topic ones. the posts you make here dont count

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 07:40 AM

they refer to your post they go up when you post in forums other than community chat (if that wasn't so I would have a hell of a lot more beans)

UbuWu

January 14th, 2006, 02:43 PM

maybe its just me, but i claim that a computer with no hard drive will do nothing of worth.

You can easily run Ubuntu on it either with the live cd or as a thin client.

majikstreet

January 14th, 2006, 06:22 PM

Nothing quite amazing for me, but I've found that using grep to search and ed / sed to edit stuff via command line, coupled with a few I/O redirection tricks in bash totally amazes any Windows-bound semi-geek and makes them install a Linux distro within two hours :cool:
ok tell me how to do that... I want to impress windows users :P

anyway, I haven't done much.. I've made a apache server from ubuntu before though...

WildTangent

January 14th, 2006, 07:36 PM

JimmyJazz

January 14th, 2006, 07:42 PM

I had a TV tuner that refused to work in Windows, none of the drivers I tried delivered proper operation. In linux, it worked out of the box, with no need for me to install drivers, and as far as I'm concerned, it worked PERFECTLY. There's a story for all those people who bash linux based on driver support.

-Wild

Yeah I had a sound card that never worked right in windows (even with the manufactures drivers) but worked out of the box with Ubuntu.

AMD64_N_Linux

January 15th, 2006, 01:08 AM

gezzabob

February 3rd, 2006, 01:29 AM

Bought our daughter a new digital camera for Christmas. A Kodac.

I knew there was some success with Kodacs in Linux. But wanted to be absolutely sure it worked with Ubuntu.

Took it out of its box, before it was wrapped. Took a couple of snapshots, plugged in the camera and was presented with, "would you like to import the photos" Clicked Yes and there they were.

After my daughter got her camera, I showed her it worked in Linux, then she took it to her room. Couldnt do anything with it in Windows XP until she installled the Kodac software. And adaware screamed bloody murder during the install.

I told her that it is a Linux ONLY camera.

My brother got a kick out of that.

Haha I like that A linux only Camera thats good :-D I am sad about how much people think that linux cannot handle a lot of hardware but it has handled everything I have thrown at it so far. Granted thats not a fat lot of hardware a few mobos, SAta and normal HDD (even semi broken HHD that windows cannot handle and comlains about), Nvidia and ATI graphic cards USB devices etc the normal run of the mill stuff prety much everything I have used with linux worked out of the box to a fashion a quick tweak here and there and they worked like a charm no feeding my PC with CD after CD of drivers and downloads from here there and everywhere ! But there is only one thing that I have had trouble with and thats my speedtouch usb asdl modem and I know it works under linux I have had it working before but silly me forgot to copy the config files and note down how I got it working etc before reformat of said PC so now I am scratching head tring to work out how I managed to get it working the last time whoops my bad;) . But the point of this was I liked your camera comment :)

gezzabob

February 3rd, 2006, 01:36 AM

By the way there is a few more bits of hardware that I have had working with linux But that last post was just an example now I am no linux guru but I am mighty impressed with linux wished I had started using it sooner the options it opens up is endless oh they joys man I'm sad but hey whatever floats ya boat :D

bored2k

February 3rd, 2006, 02:41 AM

An amazing feat. Hmm, tough one (this probably means I need to plunge even more into it!).

A Feat? Jeez, here's the best one I can think of:

Linux has managed to considerably keep me away from software piracy. Believe it or not, that's a huge feat.

benplaut

February 3rd, 2006, 03:35 AM

huge feat? i just, today convinced my school netadmin to have half the lab be Linux (edubuntu) - a spyware and virus-laden student laptop took down the ENTIRE NETWORK, including the server

xequence

February 3rd, 2006, 03:55 AM

Linux has managed to considerably keep me away from software piracy. Believe it or not, that's a huge feat.

I gotta admit... When I was on linux, I really couldent find any software to pirate.

Last seen 2006-02-01 05:57:47 (1 day ago)

Considerably doesent mean fully, eh?

my computer is an open air pile of scraps I remove the cpu while its running just for kicks sometimes.(bad idea btw)

What feats have I performed with linux... I really dont know any that ive done.
Then it wouldent be running anymore =P

potrick

February 3rd, 2006, 04:21 AM

I'm going to agree. The lack of piracy for me is remarkable.

qalimas

February 3rd, 2006, 04:26 AM

My feat? Hmmm, not having to constantly redo my PC? Not having to trouble myself with taking good care of it daily? Using it to scan my friend's computer for viruses with no risk of me getting infected? If any of those count... then take your pick :P

bored2k

February 3rd, 2006, 05:31 AM

Considerably doesent mean fully, eh?
Take it as you want to, I'm not implying nor denying anything. In a court of law, this cannot be taken as a proof :).

mstlyevil

February 3rd, 2006, 05:46 AM

Amazing feats hum, let's see here. This probally does not qualify as an amazing feat but getting eye candy to work in Gnome (Thanx Poofyhairyguy) that is not even available to Windows users until later this year is pretty damn close. Also I found that Ubuntu has found and properly configured every piece of hardware I have thrown at it except my web cam. The only third party driver I installed was the latest NVIDIA graphics driver. Linux/Ubuntu configured 2d on my graphics card flawlessly before the driver install. (This is something Windows can not do without third party drivers.)

Puptentacle

February 3rd, 2006, 07:36 AM

Amazing feat?

I installed Ubuntu, everything worked out of the box, I'm actually using Linux and liking it. THAT is a feat.

The real feat will be removing the Windows partition and convincing the girlfriend to let me install Ubuntu on HER machine.

Leo_01

February 3rd, 2006, 07:52 AM

Feat?
using Linux itself is a amazing feat!
the best thing that happened to me is that it can give new life older PCs...!

mohapi

February 3rd, 2006, 09:31 AM

Amazing feat #1: I haven't booted into Windows in weeks. And when I did, it only made me angry.

Amazing feat #2: I haven't wanted to boot into Windows in weeks. Just the thought of it makes me angry.

And I have to second the piracy comment made earlier. If everything is 'free', I don't feel the need to scalp the latest version of Photoshop. Not that I ever did, of course. ... :-#

xequence

February 3rd, 2006, 05:34 PM

Take it as you want to, I'm not implying nor denying anything. In a court of law, this cannot be taken as a proof :).

But I have to admit, I saw you uploaded an ubuntu ISO to that site. Perfectly legal =O

weasel fierce

February 3rd, 2006, 06:17 PM

Running for about half a year, with no formats, installing and uninstalling a ton of programs, and generally mucking about, with no loss of speed, no need to defrag and no interruptions or absurd errors

Im way a newbie, but I think the most amazing thing I have personally seen is Damn Small Linux. Neatest party trick

bored2k

February 3rd, 2006, 08:48 PM

But I have to admit, I saw you uploaded an ubuntu ISO to that site. Perfectly legal =O
This absolutely nothing to do with this. Do not drift off.

xequence

February 3rd, 2006, 08:52 PM

This absolutely nothing to do with this. Do not drift off.

Wow... I dont know what to say... I was really starting to not mind you, but, whatever. Youre choice, though it does seem there are two of you. One who is nice and posted post #36, which was funny. And one who is... Not that nice. As in post #43. (Guess which one I want you to be? o.O).

Heh. Its pretty hard to be mad when I am listening to a very awesome song right now.

AndyCooll

February 4th, 2006, 01:31 AM

Wow... I dont know what to say... I was really starting to not mind you, but, whatever. Youre choice, though it does seem there are two of you. One who is nice and posted post #36, which was funny. And one who is... Not that nice. As in post #43. (Guess which one I want you to be? o.O).

Heh. Its pretty hard to be mad when I am listening to a very awesome song right now.

Not sure where that rant came from. Thought his posts were harmless TBH :???:

Anyway, I would think a lot of us on these forums will empathise with bored2k's comment that "it has kept us off software piracy!" And further we would concur that it is quite some feat! Yey!!

About a month I go I threw out every item of pirated software I had in my possession. My WinXP drive (which I very rarely use now) has a paid for WinXP licence and everything else is open source. Brilliant!

:cool:

iNerdSure

February 4th, 2006, 02:15 AM

I am amazed at how much success people on this thread have achieved with Linux / Ubuntu. As a newbie WinXp convert to Ubuntu, I've been struggling since the launch of Breezy with a silent, muted, no sound Acer 4061 laptop.

I wonder if any experts and gurus here have had any success with a PC or laptop with similar hardware. Intel HDA ICH6, Realtek ALC260 chip. This problem was also posted in other threads but no one has found a way out to break the silent, no sound barrier.
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=703739#post703739
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=675296#post675296

Many thanks in advance for suggestions, ideas, workarounds, solutions etc.