Going to have to reinstall WinXP

[Newby]

wow.

[Ergot]

Horrible... You have to sit through waiting it format and install... but I guess it's a start... many people have custom cases though.

[Armin]

(and it's "a iago", not "an iago", if you're saying "an" then you're pronouncing "iago" wrong :P)

How do you pronounce it?

[Ergot]

Yah-go

[deadly7]

"yahgo".. we went over this before, if i remember right.

EDIT: Damn you ergot. Troll!!!!

[Armin]

Ewww, I don't like iago anymore. :P

[Krazed]

iago, I heard that swap isn't really used that much in linux, as compared to BSD. Is this true? I've also heard you only need about the same swap space as amount of memory. True?

[Ergot]

IIRC, Swap isn't used until you run out of RAM. I almost never use swap, but it does come in handy if you're using a lot of apps and stuff. I think that iago said something about it being more efficient than Windows in that RAM is faster anyways.

[Armin]

You can change a boolean in I think the system.inf file to make it so it only uses swap after RAM is used up.

[iago]

I was debating with myself... it begins with a vowel T_T!!
I usually install Windows then put on Linux... I don't even know why.

It begins with a vowel, but it is pronounced like a "y", and you don't say "an Yiddish man".

I do Windows first because it overwrites the MBR without asking, which is a little annoying.

iago, I heard that swap isn't really used that much in linux, as compared to BSD. Is this true? I've also heard you only need about the same swap space as amount of memory. True?

*shrug* I assume it's used as needed. 

Uh, my hard drive is 9gb big. :)!

Then be creative.  I just wouldn't install Windows, but that's just me :)

[Ergot]

But Yiddish doesn't begin with a vowel...

I have issues with silent letters... like... a herb or an herb?

[deadly7]

hokay, what games does slackware have in the Solitaire/Freecell department? My dad said I can install whatever OS I want, as long as it has his games, the internet (which brings me to another point: slackware does read routers and stuff properly, right?), and I show him how to work it.

[Ergot]

[deadly7]

HOHHOOHO yes

[iago]

You don't "read" routers.  You choose an ip on the network (or have it chosen for you with dhcp; that works too), set up a DNS, set your default gateway, and you're home free.  Every OS that counts can do that. 

Here's some handy commands you might need, though, to get network working:

$ dmesg | grep eth
--> eth0, eth1, etc. are the name of your network cards.  If nothing is returned, then your ethernet card wasn't recognized (Google to find out how to get drivers; dlink, linksys, and most other major brands work out of the box).  If something IS returned, it's likely your video card.  eth0 is the most common. 

ron@tank:~$ dmesg | grep eth
eth0: Station identity 001f:0009:0001:0004
eth0: Looks like an Intersil firmware version 1.4.9
eth0: Ad-hoc demo mode supported
eth0: IEEE standard IBSS ad-hoc mode supported
eth0: WEP supported, 104-bit key
eth0: MAC address 00:50:F2:7A:C7:FD
eth0: Station name "Prism  I"
eth0: ready
eth0: index 0x01: Vcc 5.0, irq 3, io 0x0140-0x017f

To configure eth0 automatically, run netconfig:
$ netconfig
And follow the steps. 

To configure your network cards manually, edit the file /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf:
$ pico /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf
Then reboot

If you need to grab a dynamic ip, use dhcpcd:
$ dhcpcd -d eth0 -t 10
(replacing eth0 with whatever ip you need). It should say your mac address, then an ip.  If it times out without getting an ip, then your ethernet cable probably isn't plugged in. 

If you want to see what your ip and stuff is, just run ifconfig
$ifconfig -a

If you need to grab a static ip, you use ifconfig and route:
$ifconfig eth0 [ip] netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast [broadcast]
For example:
$ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255
[broadcast will usually be your ip with .255 at the end]
That will only use that ip until you reboot. 

I know I'm making this look a little complicated, but it really isn't.  Generally, run netconfig, reboot, and that's it.