> I am very new to Linux. I am a very competent Windows user, able to build
Both ok :-) > I have got to a point where I am a little frustrated You're doing the right thing - asking. > I have installed a complete custom installation on a separate hard drive and > dual boot. I assume the linux system is functional when you boot it, i.e. loads the desktop and lets you use the disks. > I really would like to be able to run Linux all of the time on my PC (with > Internet Connection Sharing or its equivalent and file and printer sharing > to the other Windows PC's and Hard drives - so the rest of the family can > carry on with their PC's). This is easily possible, install all packages you cam find with samba in the name or related to it. Obvisouly you need to configure it a little, but that's doable. Start with the samba documentation, or www.samba.org. Ask again more specifically when you get stuck. > One problem is connecting to the Internet. Firstly, wether I install > "Workstation" or "Custom -Complete" my D-Link PCI modem (CXT1035) is not This is a typical problem, caused by cheap shitty hardware. You almost certanly have a winmodem, or softmodem. Softmodem because some jobs to be done by a modem are off-loaded to your computer, rather than being done by the modem internally (thus saving some cost). winmodem because the driver is propriatory and only available for windows. It is now immediately apparent to any reader why some people prefer to call this a losemodem. Linux users get very irate when they buy the hardware, can't get a driver, and still have to pay for some crap piece of M$ software. That's why they don't buy in the first place. Your solution is: 1) Pick one of the following options: a) If your modem has a lucent chipset, download the binary only driver fromsome linux site, and fiddle until it works. Do not download from lucent dircetly, that driver is for kernel 2.2.5 or so and stopped working at 2.2.7. You need a hacked one which will not crash a contemporary kernel. You now see why this option sucks. If you have more money than time, do not choose this option. b) Use your external modem. As you have found out, there won't be any problems fullstop. c) Buy a proper internal modem, aka hardmodem. It's the same as an external one, except for the missing case and plugpack and the additional card edge connector. The distinguishing feature is that when you boot, your BIOS self test shows one more com port. Plugin-ready-go. Note: these usually are for ISA bus, I have now found out that there is no such thing with PCI bus available in New Zealand. [1] 2) Grit your teeth. 3) Do not complain about Linux. It won't get you anywhere, and will not give you sympathy from the Linux crowd either. The problem is that some pricks manufacture hardware without making drivers for it, and on top of that refuse to tell anyone how their hardware works so others can make a driver for them. Complain to the hardware manufacturer instead. Alternatively, buy elsewhere (and let the aforementioned manufacturer know that you do/did so). In plain short English: you bought crap, deal with it yourself. If Dynalink was really as Linux-supportive as someone on this list (or the Auckland one) suggested, email Dynalink NZ and ask them to email you a working driver for Linux. Judge Dynalink by their response to this query of yours. > Any ideas, or should I just keep floundering along and risk being turned off > Linux? Aimless fiddling is not very effective. Try to get things to work, if you get stuck say where and ask. Volker > Linux does seem > completely different to Windows.) Some people call that an advantage ;)
