on Wed, Oct 31, 2001 at 10:22:01AM +0200, Ian Balchin (fables@imaginet.co.za) wrote:
> Karsten et al.
>
>
> > We were all in withdrawal on Friday's downtime....
> >
> > > I use a dialup, am waiting for a s/h modem that is coming my way,
> > > 28.8 whatever it was that compaq bought out and shut down.
> >
> > Hmm...28.8 is *really* slow. You should be able to find 56.6
> > either new or used, I'd strongly recommend it.
>
> I live in the 3rd or maybe 4th world. My ISP doesn't even have a
> 56.6 modem rack to connect to and the phone lines can barely make
> it to 33.3. the 28.8 Microcom will do fine for email (used to have
> a 9600)
OK, reality check. I'm used to my friends looking down their noses at
my 56k dialup....
> I've kept the Trident video card which lscpi shows nicely
>
> Will stay in console mode until I find an old computer at an auction
> with some memory inside. Plenty to learn. I thought that one could
> have the mouse in midnite commander like in the old dos pctools, but
> probably not.
So long as you're doing console-mode work, you might as well pick up
some tricks that makes it a lot more feasible:
- Emacs (or xemacs). Before there were graphical interfaces, emacs
had windows, sessions, and a shell with the full strength of the
world's most powerful editor. If you're doing console based
computing, it's a very, very powerful tool.
- Screen. If you can't wrap your head around emacs (and it does take
some getting used to), the 'screen' program will give you ten
terminals for each of your terminal consoles (that's 60 terminals
counting screen + 6 virtual consoles -- few windowing environments
can support as much, readily). I use screen frequently, even in a
windowing environment.
- SVGATextMode. If 24x80 isn't enough display for you, SVGATextMode
should be ablet to get 40, 43, 50, or even 60 lines of text. If
you're lucky (and I doubt it), you may be able to get screen widths
of up to 132 characters. SVGATextMode is an additional package
you'll want to install.
- vga modes. Built into the Linux kernel is support for additional
video modes. Add the line:
vga=ask
...to the general area of your /etc/lilo.conf, rerun 'lilo', and
reboot. You'll be prompted for the display resolution, with a list
of possible displays listed. Try several until you find one that
works for you.
- Someone also posted here in the past couple of weeks with a link to
a consloe-based windowing system that works under GNU/Linux. It's
not packaged for Debian, but you may (should?) be able to get it
running on your system.
> Will have go at the printing problem this w.e. dman made some
> suggestions to follow. Really need some hardcopy READMEs.
I find I prefer the online copies these days. There are a few books
which have compiled them, otherwise, you may be able to print some out.
The 'mpage' and 'psnup' utilities are your friend -- multiple pages per
physical sheet.
> thanks a lot
Not at all.
--
Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/
What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Home of the brave
http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ Land of the free
Free Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA! http://www.freesklyarov.org
Geek for Hire http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html
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