[johnbryanpeters]

k, please help the Windows guy out.

If I purchase this tool of the devil, what are the differences between the server and desktop editions?

 

[syadasti]

Ubuntu is free of charge.

 

[sanjuro]

Without ever using Ubuntu and only some experience with RedHat, my educated guess is that it comes back to support.

Don't forget than both versions are free, so the makers are dependent on support contacts from the business users.

Linux developers are not Microsoft whores, who remove very basic features because they think can generate a profit to make you buy later.

You can access to everything, but it is up to you to support it.

BTW, according to this, it sounds like server software like web serving is left out of desktop, and X Windows is left out of server, but you can install later, probably without any issue.

 

[H8R]

If I purchase this tool of the devil, what are the differences between the server and desktop editions?

The desktop edition is geared toward desktop use. The server edition is geared toward server use.

 

[H8R]

Ok -

So the server edition will come bundled with packages for server use, Apache, Samba, security and user management tools, etc. With Ubuntu 9.10, cloud server setup as well. Also, I believe the kernel is optimized for server use. It''ll be stripped of all the niceties for desktop use, like the office suite, themes, graphic apps, games, etc.



The desktop edition comes bundled with productivity apps, games, multimedia apps and eye candy.

Both editions can be made into one or the other with some work. I believe each version has specific software repositories setup in the package manager, but sources can be added/deleted as required.

 

[H8R]

Ah...

http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/serveredition/features

Kernel »
Ubuntu Server Edition includes a specially configured kernel to match the requirements of all common workloads typically found on a server so that you get the most out of your hardware while maintaining optimal power consumption.

Authentication »
Whether you are running Windows, Unix, MacOSX or other flavors of Unix, Ubuntu Server Edition comes with all the tools to easily integrate with your current user management systems, allowing your clients to seamlessly authenticate, share documents and access services.

Deployments »
Ubuntu, whether it is used for the desktop or on servers, provides all the tools to automate the official installer and therefore allow for reproducible, hardware-independent deployment scenarios

Web server »
Whether you want to use PHP, Perl, Java, Ruby or Python, together with Apache and MySQL, Postgresql, DB2 or Oracle, Ubuntu Server Edition can be ready within minutes to start serving your dynamic web pages.

Mail server »
Ubuntu's mail server is composed of two of the most renowned open source packages: Postfix and Dovecot. Postix is a mail transfer agent, or in other words, the software that routes and delivers emails. Dovecot is the agent that talks with email software using IMAP or POP3 protocols.

Infrastructure »
Ubuntu Server Edition provides you with most of the tools you need in order to create your network infrastructure. Along with Linux built-in capacity to route networks, the following tools allow you to add the key services to create and maintain your network.

Power management »
Power management features allow you to make your system resilient and reduce your energy bill.

Security »
Ubuntu's Security team works together with Debian and other leading vendors security teams to make sure Ubuntu remains as secure as possible when issues are discovered and publishes notices when patches are released.

JeOS »
Ubuntu Server Edition JeOS (pronounced "Juice") is an efficient variant of our server operating system, configured specifically for virtual appliances.

File & Print »
Sharing files with Linux, Windows (r) and Mac (r) is made as simple as ticking a box in the installation process.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Ubuntu is free of charge.

Nominally, but media and support cost.

H8R, thanks for the info.

I'm puzzled by "Security" being bundled only with the server version, or do I misunderstand?

The reason I'm considering this is to provide the tool set to compile Chrome O/S releases.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

So CDs arrived, I installed Desktop version 9.10 on a Dell Latitude D800 laptop.

Now I'm trying to configure wireless to talk to my MiFi 2200 access point, found the configuration application, but it doesn't explicitly offer WPA2-PSK[AES] security. Was able to find and select 'WPA & WPA2 Enterprise" but it does not offer EAS authentication - choices are

• TLS
• LEAP
• Tuneled TLS
• Protected EAP

Driver version issue? I know that the wireless NIC on the laptop will do it, it does so under XP...

Suggestions?

Edit: I suspect that this may convey some information, but it seems to be written in Swahili...

 

[johnbryanpeters]

So, having found /var/log/syslog we find

Feb 27 15:50:49 john-laptop kernel: [   15.883832] b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43legacy/ucode4.fw" not found or load failed.
Feb 27 15:50:49 john-laptop kernel: [   15.883840] b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the correct firmware (version 3).

So we have the old conundrum of need to connect to get the drivers, need the drivers to connect.

Download b43-fwcutter-012.tar.bz2 and broadcom-wl-4.80.53.0.tar.bz2 to a pen drive on an XP machine and hope that I can follow the to me arcane instructions for installation.

It's a tarball, it is.

 

[syadasti]

Quit being a drama queen/Ubuntu newb. Its a LAPTOP - just walk over to a LAN port and plug-in and download what you need (or if it was a desktop, just use a USB drive on another machine) - its exactly what would happen on any machine when you wipe it clean and have a bit of hardware not supported on the OS install disk of any OS. If you check the restricted drivers option while online, it might be automated if you don't mind using restricted drivers rather than open source ones or you could just use the Windows driver with ndiswrapper.

Also as someone who works in IT you should be familiar with resources called the INTERNET and GOOGLE. We are talking Linux here, there are tons of free community resources out there and wifi related questions are one of the most common questions asked/answered.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

I don't have a farking LAN port at home - all wireless and wicked PITA to reconfigure.

Also I'm using internet and Google; ubuntu manpage is decent. Forums, blogs and whatnot are full of opinions, half-baked statements and misinformation - it's no better for *nix than for any other subject. From what I read, had I done this build at work where I have an Ethernet feed to the cloud, ubuntu would have gone out and checked for updates. I need to get the wireless going at home to do that.

 

[syadasti]

If you don't feel like waiting until you get to an ethernet jack at work to download the restricted drivers, follow this page from another computer and copy them to a USB drive:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper

You just need to download ndiswrapper, the Windows drivers (and possible extract them for the required driver files), and disable the free driver if applicable.

I'd just wait until you get to work or temporarily lower your MiFi encryption to something supported by your open source driver (thank broadcom for not releasing enough info for a proper one to be coded) to install the restricted native driver.

 

[H8R]

I don't have a farking LAN port at home

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Carry on, biotch.

I have an Ethernet LAN, but bits get to and from cloud through cellular link, then by radio to computers on 192.168.1.

Ethernet to support XP and W7 computers is on 192.168.2 for printing, file sharing, etc.

Setting up internet connection sharing on Windows would require that the Ethernet use .1, requiring me to change the Wireless to .2 or something else.

In short, I'm not going to redesign a stable network architecture to accommodate a *nix toy turdbox.

ubuntu actually seems to be pretty nice based on a couple of days of poking at it, but I can't imagine Joe the plumber managing to deal with it.

Edit:

Got the b43legacy drivers for the Broadcom wireless NIC it was looking for installed, syslog has no errors, but won't connect, with or without wpa_supplicant.conf - I think the issue is no support of AES encryption.

I think I'm going to try the wire at work before farking around with NDIS wrappers; thanks for the tip.

Re-edit:

Got it working with help from here, Update Manager now about to destroy my 5 GB/month bandwidth cap.