unlock network blocked dongles to use any sim card from any operator using linux

Do you have any dongle bought from any operator who blocked the dongle to the particular operator/network?

sinhala translation is available at ලිනක්ස් මගින් ඩොංගල් අන්ලොක් කරමු.

if you are in a hurry and don't like to read the whole article, simply go to the bottom of the article to know how the dongle could be unlocked.

Reasons to network/operator block the dongle from using the SIM cards from other operators.

• To stop using a sim card from another operator who is a competitor of the operator
• to keep the customer with one operator. it will help to earn more money while keeping the customer with the particular operator. 
• customer can't switch to another operator with the network blocked dongle because the dongle doesn't accept the sim card from any new operator than the network blocked operator.

Reasons to unlock the dongle

• to switch to a new operator because the new operator would provide more efficient and economical packages to the customer
• coverage/signal problems to some places of the country. 
• customer service of the operator is unsatisfactory

Be careful

• most of the dongles comes with a warranty for some period of time. that warranty would be avoid if the dongle is unlocked.
• if the dongle is provided at low cost or on an agreement with the operator, it would be violating the agreement with the operator. sometimes some operators provide the dongles with the packages with the agreements. so, unlocking or using another sim card or package form another operator could be illegal. 
• user will have to pay for the dongle if canceling the agreement.

After all you would need to switch to another operator due to any reason and if you had to buy another dongle to be used with the new operator, never buy an another dongle, try to use the old dongle while buying a suitable broadband or 3g plan from the new operator. don't throw out the old network blocked dongle because it would cost your hard earn money and would pollute the environment.

I'm using a linux (openSuse) operating system in my Laptop and I encourage other to use Linux on their computers. My dongle had cost me a sum of LKR 7829.99 on December 2009 (with one year warranty) without any plan or agreement but it has blocked to a mobile network operator from using another sim from other operators. Still I'm satisfied with the network but I needed to unlock the dongle for a fun because I needed to know is it could be done by my own.



Now I would explain how to unlock the network blocked dongle to be used with another operator.

First of all you need to know the IMEI number of your dongle. then you could find the unlock code using a web site in the internet. I used a web site on this url to get the unlock code for my dongle. ( http://www.mapmyplace.com/calc/ )

then I installed "minicom" to unlock the dongle using my laptop.
simply the linux package manager helps to install the "minicom" using the graphical way. but there's the text mode as well.

on ubuntu or debian based systems open the terminal and type
sudo apt-get install minicom

on redhat or fedora based systems (yum installer) open the terminal and type
su yum install minicom

on redhat or fedora based systems (yum installer) open the terminal and type
su zypper install minicom

then we need to find the place which the dongle is mounted. most of the cases ttyUSB0 will be the place which identifies the dongle.
use 

• "tail -f /var/log/syslog" on debian based systems or 
• "tail -f /var/log/messages" on rpm based systems 

as superuser/su to check whether the ttyUSB0 is the port which dongle attached. unplug and plug the dongle after running the command to find the port easily.

open the "terminal"
log in as root/super user using "sudo" (debian/ubuntu) or "su" (rpm) in terminal

type
minicom -s

will open a window like

then select "serial port setup"

type "A" in front of the "Change which setting?" to change the port attached the dongle
change /dev/ttyS1 to the port which your dongle is attached. /dev/ttyUSB0 is for mine

type "E" in front of the "Change which setting?" to change the Bps/Par/Bits

type "C" in front of "Choice, or <enter> to exit. it will select 9600 for current speed.

press "enter" to exit from the menu

then it will show a window like

Press "esc" to go to previous/main menu

select "modem and dialing"

it will initialize the modem. don't worry any message didn't come. then select exit from main menu

then the window will go off and will show command line to unlock the dongle

then type the command to unlock the dongle.



AT^CARDLOCK="12345678"

command should be in capital/uppercase letters and the 12345678 should be replaced with the code you got for the IMEI  of your dongle. unlock code should be within double quotes " and ". then press enter to continue.
it should show a message like "OK" or something if you done properly.

AT^CARDLOCK="12345678"     
OK                                              


you've done.

then insert SIM card (from previously blocked operator) in to the dongle and use it.

thank you Girobiro's blog for the article about "Unlock 3G USB Dongles in Linux" helping me to get an idea how to unlock my dongle.

recover the boot loader and start the computer - Super Grub Disk

Threre are several operating systems in the world and most of them are far differ from the other. It's useful if we have different operating systems. But, how could we buy two computers to install that operating systmes. It's no need to own two computers anymore. 

try to install both operating systems on one computer as dual boot. If you need to use the operating system , you need to boot the system using the desired operating system. Using VMWARE or VIRTUAL-BOX helps to use one operating system inside the another operating system, but we can't feel the real power of the operating system when we run one opearting system inside another.

If you have installed two operating systems in to one computer (may be on laptop or desktop) you need to ensure that the boot loader is installed properly. so, you need to install the latest operating system just after installing the previous version. If you installed windows xp after installing windows 7 or windows 7 after windows 8, it will overwrite the boot loader and will hide the operating system previously installed.

Anotherthing is when you installed any linux distro and if you installed windows operating system on to a partition in the computer, it will simply hide the linux operating system and boots in to windows. but this will not effect to dual boot systems if the both operating systems are linux because linux identifies other linux operating systems well.

if you lost any of the operating system after installing the second operating system, you could use "Super Grub Disk" to recover the boot loader. it could be use to boot the computer using a Live USB or CD.  no need to install anything, just select the desired menu to find the boot loader list and boot in to the latest operating system and then repair the boot loader. it will ensure the boot loader is installed properly.

http://www.supergrubdisk.org/

generate/create powerful/customized passwords using the command " pwgen " on Linux Command Line

When anyone registering with a website , it may say " your password must have 8 or more characters and it should be a combination of a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and atleast a symbol. Then what should you do? most probably you have to create a new password to meet with these requirements because you didn't have a password which meets with these requirements.
If you are a Linux user you can use your Linux Command line to create a random, powerful password which can't be guessed by anyone.
First of all you must have "pwgen" to generate new passwords using  Linux Command line. When you type pwgen in your terminal it should show some passwords which has generated randomly. If it show these message similar to this "bash: pwgen: command not found" when you type pwgen, it means you didn't have pwgen installd in your system. So, use your "package manager" to install it. After installing pwgen, you can type pwgen and view some random passwords. You can use pwgen with some options to meet your password requirements. use "pwgen --help" to see available options on the command. This command generates random passwords and you can't see the same password twice by using the pwgen command with the same options.

Here is the syntax you could use this pwgen command to generate passwords.
pwgen [ OPTIONS ] [ pw_length ] [ num_pw ]

• [ OPTIONS ] -means availabe customizations for pwgen. you can use several options at one time, but all of theose options should not be seperated by spaces or something. but when you start using options, it should contain - mark before the first option that you call.
• [ pw_length ] is the character length of the password that you need.
• [ num_pw ] here you can say the number of passwords needed.

when using these options don't use bracket [ ] marks.

Options supported by pwgen:
  -c or --capitalize
    Include at least one capital letter in the password

  -A or --no-capitalize
    Don't include capital letters in the password

  -n or --numerals
    Include at least one number in the password

  -0 or --no-numerals
    Don't include numbers in the password

  -y or --symbols
    Include at least one special symbol in the password

  -s or --secure
    Generate completely random passwords

  -B or --ambiguous
    Don't include ambiguous characters in the password

  -h or --help
    Print a help message

  -H or --sha1=path/to/file[#seed]
    Use sha1 hash of given file as a (not so) random generator

  -C
    Print the generated passwords in columns

  -1
    Don't print the generated passwords in columns

  -v or --no-vowels
    Do not use any vowels so as to avoid accidental nasty words


Technorati Tags: Linux, pwgen

pwgen භාවිතා කර Linux command line එකෙන් මුරපද හදමු.

මුරපදයක් යනු වර්තමානයෙ දී ඉතා වැදගත් දෙයකි. එය යම් තරමකින්වත් අාරක්ෂිත මුරපදයක් නොවුවහොත් ඔබගෙ අන්තර්ජාල ගිණුම් වලට  අනවසර පුද්ගලයින් අැතුල් වී ඔබට සිතා ගත නෙෙහැකි ප්රතිපල උදාකරවීමට ඉඩ අැත. තවද සමහර වෙබ් අඩවි වල ලියාපදිංචි වන විට අප විසින් සාමාන්යයෙන් භාවිතා කරන මුරපදය පිලිනොගැනීමට ඉඩ අැත. ( සමහර වෙබ් අඩවි වල ලියාපදිංචි වන විට ලබා දෙන මුරපදය එම වෙබ් අඩවිය මගින් ඉල්ලා සිටින අාකාරයට ලබා දිය යුතුය. එනම් සමහරවිට මුරපදයතුල ඉංග්රිසි කැපිටල් අකුරක්, ඉංග්රිසි සිම්පල් අකුරක්, ඉලක්කමක්, සංකෙතයක් (symbol) හා මුරපදය අවම වශයෙන් අක්ෂර (characters) 8 කින් යුක්ත විය යුතු යැයි ප්රකාශ කරයි. මෙවිට ඔබට සිදුවන්ෙන් නව මුරපදයක් තැනීමටය. මෙම මුරපදය ඔබට පහසුවෙන් මතක තබා ගත හැකි විය යුතු මෙන්ම අන් අයට අනුමාන කිරීමට අපහසු එකක්ද විය යුතුය.)
ඔබ ලිනක්ස් පරිෂීලකයෙක් නම් ඔබට අාරක්ෂිත මුරපදයක් සෑදීම වෙනුවෙන් මොළය වෙහෙසමින් කල්පනා කල යුතු නොෙව්. එනම් linux command line එක භාවිතා කර ඔබට උවමනා අාකාරයට මුරපදයක් තනාගත හැක. මෙයට අදාල විධානය pwgen ය. මෙහිදී ඔබට අවශ්ය මුරපදයෙ අාකාරය pwgen විධානය සමග ලබා දුන් විට මුරපදය තිරය මත පෙන්වයි. මෙහි දී මුලින් භාවිතා කල විධානයම නැවත ලබා දුන්නද ඔබට මුලින් පෙන්වූ මුරපදය නැවත වරක් නොපෙන්වයි. එනම් මෙහිදී මුරපද නිර්මාණය කරනුයෙ අහඹු ලෙසය.
linux command line එක මත pwgen විධානය සමග ලබා දුන් විට bash: pwgen: command not found අිකාරයෙන් පණිවුඩයක් දිස්වන්ෙන් නම් ඔබගෙ package manager එක භාවිත කර pwgen ස්ථාපනය කර ගන්න.

pwgen විධානය භාවිත කල යුතු අාකාරය පහත දැක්වෙ.
pwgen [ OPTIONS ] [ pw_length ] [ num_pw ]

• මෙහි [ OPTIONS ] යන ස්ථානයට ඔබට අවැසි මුරපදයෙ අාකාරය එනම් මුරපදයතුල ඉංග්රිසි කැපිටල් අකුරක්, ඉංග්රිසි සිම්පල් අකුරක්, ඉලක්කමක්, සංකෙතයක් (symbol) අවැසි දැයි ප්රකාශ කල හැක. OPTIONS ලබා දෙන විට අාරම්භයට - සලකුණ ලබා දීමට අමතක නොකල යුතුය.
  
• [ pw_length ] යන ස්ථානයට ඔබට අවැසි මුරපදය සමන්විත විය යුතු අක්ෂර (characters) ගණන ලබා දිය හැක.
• [ num_pw ] යන ස්ථානයට ඔබට අවැසි මුරපද ගණන ලබා දිය හැක. එනම් තිරය මත දිස්විය යුතු මුරපද ගණන ලබා දිය හැක
• (මෙහිදී වරහන්, එනම් [  ] භාවිත නොකිරීමට වගබලා ගන්න.)
  

Options supported by pwgen:

  -c or --capitalize
    අඩුම තරමින් එක capital අකුරක්වත් අැතුලත් විය යුතු බවට උපදෙස් දෙයි.

  -A or --no-capitalize
    capital අකුරු අැතුලත් නො විය යුතු බවට උපදෙස් දෙයි.

  -n or --numerals
    අඩුම තරමින් එක ඉලක්කමක් වත් අැතුලත් විය යුතු බවට උපදෙස් දෙයි.

  -0 or --no-numerals
    ඉලක්කම් අැතුලත් නො විය යුතු බවට උපදෙස් දෙයි

  -y or --symbols
    අඩුම තරමින් එක සලකුණක්වත් අැතුලත් විය යුතු බවට උපදෙස් දෙයි.

  -s or --secure
    සම්පූර්ණයෙන්ම අහඹු මුරපද නිර්මාණය කරයි.

  -B or --ambiguous
    Don't include ambiguous characters in the password

  -h or --help
    pwgen හා අදාල උපකාරක පිටුව පෙන්වයි.

  -H or --sha1=path/to/file[#seed]
    Use sha1 hash of given file as a (not so) random generator

  -C
    නිර්මාණය කරන ලද මුරපද, තීරු ලෙස තිරය මත පෙන්වයි.

  -1
    නිර්මාණය කරන ලද මුරපද, තීරු ලෙස තිරය මත නොපෙන්වයි.

  -v or --no-vowels
    මුරපද නිර්මාණය කරන විට vowels භාවිතා නොකරයි. එවිට වදන් ලෙස ශබ්ද කල හැකි මුරපද නිර්මාණය නොකරයි.

Technorati Tags: pwgen

Note to new Linux users: No antivirus needed

Savvy Windows users have to watch their virus checkers as closely as the head nurse in the ICU keeps an eye on patient monitors. Often, the buzz in the Windows security world is about which protection-for-profit firm was the first to discover and offer protection for the malware du jour -- or should I say malware de l'heure? The only thing better than having backed the winning Super Bowl team come Monday morning at the office coffeepot is having the virus checker you use be the one winning the malware sweepstakes that weekend.

If a rogue program finds a crack in your Windows armor, paying $200 per infection to have your machine scrubbed and sanitized by the local goon^H^H^H^H geek squad not only helps to reinforce the notion that you have to have malware protection, but that it has to be the right protection, too. The malware firms are aware of this, and all of their advertising plays upon the insecurity fears of Windows users and the paranoia that results. Chronic exposure and vulnerability to malware has conditioned Windows users to accept this security tax.

It's no wonder, then, that when Windows users are finally able to break their chains and experience freedom on a Linux desktop, they stare at me in disbelief when I tell them to lay that burden down. They are reluctant to stop totin' that load. They have come to expect to pay a toll for a modicum of security.

I try to explain that permissions on Linux make such tribute unnecessary. Without quibbling over the definitions of viruses and trojans, I tell them that neither can execute on your machine unless you explicitly give them permission to do so.

Permissions on Linux are universal. They cover three things you can do with files: read, write, and execute. Not only that, they come in three levels: for the root user, for the individual user who is signed in, and for the rest of the world. Typically, software that can impact the system as a whole requires root privileges to run.

Microsoft designed Windows to enable outsiders to execute software on your system. The company justifies that design by saying it enriches the user experience if a Web site can do "cool" things on your desktop. It should be clear by now that the only people being enriched by that design decision are those who make a buck providing additional security or repairing the damage to systems caused by it.

Malware in Windows Land is usually spread by email clients, browser bits, or IM clients, which graciously accept the poisoned fruit from others, then neatly deposit it on their masters' systems, where malware authors know it will likely be executed and do their bidding -- without ever asking permission.

Some malware programs require that you open an attachment. Others don't even require that user error. By hook or by crook, malware on Windows often gets executed, infecting the local system first, then spreading itself to others. What a terrible neighborhood. I'm glad I don't live there.

On Linux, there is built-in protection against such craft. Newly deposited files from your email client or Web browser are not given execute privileges. Cleverly renaming executable files as something else doesn't matter, because Linux and its applications don't depend on file extensions to identify the properties of a file, so they won't mistakenly execute malware as they interact with it.

Whether newcomers grok permissions or not, I try to explain the bottom line to them: that because they have chosen Linux, they are now free of having to pay either a security tax up front to protect themselves from malware, or one after the fact to have their systems sterilized after having been infected.

So Linux is bulletproof? No. Bulletproof is one of the last stages of drunkenness, not a state of security. Linux users, like users on every operating system, must always be aware of security issues. They must act intelligently to keep their systems safe and secure. They should not run programs with root privileges when they are not required, and they should apply security patches regularly.

Misleading claims and false advertising by virus protection rackets to the contrary, you simply don't need antivirus products to keep your Linux box free of malware.

Source: By Joe Barr, Monday, 26 February 2007 08:00 Linux.com

http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/8261-note-to-new-linux-users-no-antivirus-needed

posted by K.W. Roshan Herath

Group of Microsoft Rivals Nears Patent Deal in Bid to Protect Linux

Microsoft Corp. has suggested in recent years that companies using the Linux computer-operating system might be violating Microsoft patents. Now, in an effort to avert any legal threat that might discourage the adoption of Linux, a group of Microsoft rivals is about to acquire a set of patents formerly owned by the software giant.

Linux is a free open-source operating system that has gained ground against Microsoft's Windows software among business users, especially in servers, the big back-office computers inside companies. Linux's fans say the free software is more secure than Windows and, because its blueprint is open to users, can be more easily customized.

The group, which includes major corporate supporters of such open-source software -- including International Business Machines Corp., Red Hat Inc. and Sony Corp. -- said it is nearing an agreement to acquire 22 patents that Microsoft sold to another organization earlier this year. Though the issue hasn't been tested in court, the patents may relate to Linux.

The group, the Open Invention Network, argues that its acquisition will protect users of Linux software from expensive lawsuits that could result if the patents fell into the hands of "patent trolls," groups that don't typically make products and exist primarily to earn money from lawsuits and settlements in patent cases.

The group said it is close to signing a deal to acquire the patents from Allied Security Trust. AST buys patents to protect its members from patent litigation, provides them with licenses to the technology, and then resells the patents on the open market. OIN and AST, whose members include Verizon Communications Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co., could announce an agreement as early as this week.

AST won control of the patents in a private auction held by Microsoft. OIN and AST said their cooperation ensures that the Microsoft patents won't end up with patent trolls, leaving some big boosters of Linux potentially exposed. "We have averted a scenario where these patents can be used for negative purposes," said Keith Bergelt, chief executive officer of OIN, which holds on to its patents and broadly licenses them.

Financial terms of the deals aren't being disclosed.

Mr. Bergelt said Microsoft presented the patents to potential bidders in its auction as relating to Linux. A Microsoft executive declined to say how the company described the patents to bidders.

Microsoft's sale of the patents is a new twist in its approach to Linux. Microsoft executives have previously said that the company holds more than 200 patents, out of the company's total portfolio of more than 50,000 patents, that they believe are violated by Linux software. In recent years, Microsoft has entered into patent-licensing pacts with dozens of companies that distribute or use open-source software in their products.

Earlier this year, Microsoft went a step further and filed a lawsuit in federal court in Seattle against the Dutch GPS device maker TomTom NV for allegedly violating Microsoft patents related to Linux, which were used in TomTom navigation products.

That suit, Microsoft's first Linux-related action and its first-ever alleging infringement of a software patent -- caused a stir among open-source advocates who feared Microsoft might be mounting a major legal offensive against Linux users. Microsoft and TomTom subsequently settled the suit for undisclosed terms.

Dave Kaefer, general manager for intellectual-property licensing at Microsoft, disputed allegations by some open-source advocates that the company intended to disrupt the market for Linux products with the sale of the patents, arguing that it wouldn't have sold the patents to AST, a firm whose members also include Linux boosters, if its goal had been disruption.

Mr. Kaefer said the patents, acquired from Silicon Graphics, were sold because they weren't strategic to the company. "They weren't important to our business going forward," he said.

Source:
By NICK WINGFIELD
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125236988735891147.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
[ accessed on 08th Sep, 2009 ] by K.W.Roshan Herath

How to mount an .iso image on Linux

How to mount an .iso image on Linux

When we use CD/DVD images to burn into a CD/DVD, normally we can't see the files which included inside the CD/DVD without burning them into a CD/DVD. IF you use Linux
Operating System, you never need to burn the .iso file into a CD/DVD to see the files inside the .iso image file.

At first you must have the root user. You can simply do it by typing su on basic linux terminal window ( if you use *buntu system you can type sudo instead of su ) and providing the correct password. Then the prompt will change to the root user.
Then make a directory in /media folder to mount iso files. ( in most linux distros /media is the place which mount CD/DVD. )

Syntax : mkdir /media/folder_name
folder_name should be the name of the folder which used to mount iso files.

Then mount the CD/DVD iso images into the folder which we created before.

Syntax : mount image_file path_to_the_folder -t iso9660 -o loop

image_file is the name of the iso file with the path and .iso extention
path_to_the_folder is the place of the folder which we created
before.

Now you can open the the .iso file as a normal CD/DVD inside the Drive.
To unmount the image file from the location use

umount /media/folder_name


posted by K.W.Roshan Herath [ roshanherath ]

My Linux timeline

I decided to install Linux O/S on my PC on 2004 May because I read an article that saying Linux has every software that we want to use.
So when I went to Kandy city to pay our telephone bill, entered to a CD-Shop and then asked for Linux.

The sales person then given me Redhat-Linux-ver-9 and said it cost LKR250/= because it has 3 CDs. so I paid that fee and came home with Redhat-Linux-9. Then I placed redhat9-cd1 after booting my PC by XP.
Then what I see? The Cd doesn't contain any setup.exe file to install Redhat9 to my pc. Then I went through may folders to find the setup.exe. Where is it? Then I read the html file that introduces Redhat9. I didn't understand anything. So I decided to keep that cds away from my pc.

After some weeks , the CD-Rom on my pc didn't read any cd. So, I made a call to the dealer who sold it to me. Then they told me to open the casing and carry only the CD-ROM to them to check it. I'm new to computers. I didn't even opened a caing of a PC before, and there is a warrenty that given me from the

Dealer. So, I decided to carry whole CPU to the dealer. Then I asked them to install Linux on it and make my PC to dualboot with Linux and XP. They told me they could install Redhat9 and can't install XP to dualboot with it So, they given me some options. Keep my PC runing on XP without installing Redhat9 , dualboot with Redhat9 with windows 98. So, I decided to select the 2nd option because I want to
experience Linux. So, they installed Redhat and Windows 98 on my PC. When I came home , I started to experience the Redhat9. After sometimes I wanted to listen to a song. So, I searched for D:\> drive on my PC, because it's the partition that I copied my favorite music. Where is it? so I placed a MP3 disk and
tried to listen a MP3. It failed. So, what should I do? Said goodbye to Redhat9 and started windows 98. MP3s work well with 98. So, but I don't like the appearence on 98. I decided to format my pc and install windows XP on it. Redhat didn't live on my PC for more than 1 day and I didn't used it more than 1 hour.

Then it's May-2005 and saw an advertisement called a computer magazine cost LKR150/= bundled with free CDROM.

Then I bought that mag and got the free CD. It's knoppix. It made my mind to love Linux because it has many plugins and codecs. Unfortunately, Knoppix is only a Live CD and couldn't setup on a PC.
I remebered Redahat9 again because I can't forget the Look-&-Feel that brought by Knoppix. So, I installed it on my PC. Then waht is the secondary os? I don't have 98 bootable CD to install 98. Then I decided to install XP on my PC and made it dualboot with redhat9. But after some weeks, I got boared abaout Redhat because it couldn't play MP3s. so I said goodbye again to redhat.

I found Ubuntu5.04 from my colege friend. He took LKR200/= to give me Ubuntu5.04 because it has 2 CDs , LiveCD and Setup CD.I didn't know it's a free CD shipping with free of charge. Then I installed it on my PC. It didn't give feeling that I got with Knoppix. So, removed that also. But I collected many Ubuntu and Kubuntu versions by registering with Canonical but didn't used some CDs to boot my PC.
I'm a customer of the it mag which comes with free cd. So , I got a Mepis Linux CD from that mag (july-2005 issue). I stated my pc from it and made my mind to install it. So, I installed it on my PC. I didn't remove it till I found any other Linux.
After my A/L s, I wanted to find another Linux distro. So, I went through many CD shops in Kandy to find one. I got number of funny answers from sales persons. Someone told she didn't heared the word "linux" before I tell it to her.

Got Mandriva Corporate Server 4 for LKR200/= and installed it. But I didnt like it.
Then I found Fedora core 6 DVD for LKR250/= and RHEL5 5cds for LKR350/= on oct-2007. Why I pay for CDs when I could use DVDs. Then I bought FC6. It took my hours to install FC6 on my pc and bored about FC6 from the installation. Then I removed FC6 after using it for some hours and installed Mepis Linux again.Found openSUSE10.0 but sales person told it has some errors, and he didn't explained what are them
and he tried to sell windows XP pirated copy for LKR250/=.

Then I found Mandriva Free 2006 3CD's(on Dec-2006) from Buddhika sir who is in Asian Destination. So I copied that 3 CDs to another 3 CDs coz I must return that 1st copies I got from sir. Then I used that Linux version till I found openSUSE11.0 on Sep-2008.

Found openSUSE11.0, MandrivaFree2009, FC9. I bought openSUSE11.0 and Mandriva free 2009 both DVDs for LKR400/= because I couldn't forget the experience with Fedora. Then I tries to install MandrivaFree2009 because I used MandrivaFree2006 for months. But what I see when boot from MandrivaFree2009 DVD? it's a 64bit version that failed to run on my 32bit PC. Then I installed openSUSE11.0 successfully on my PC.
Till now I use openSUSE11.0 on my PC.
K.W.Roshan Herath - Gelioya , Sri Lanka.

openSUSE is the new and improved SUSE Linux.

The openSUSE project is a worldwide community program sponsored by Novell (http://www.novell.com) that promotes the use of Linux everywhere. openSUSE Linux provides anyone with free and easy access to the world's most usable Linux distribution, SUSE Linux.

From Windows/Dos to Linux

You want to switch from the DOS/Windows world to Linux?

Good idea: Linux is technically superior to DOS, Windows 9x and even Windows NT.
But beware: it might not be useful for you. These are the main differences between DOS/Windows and Linux:

• Windows runs Microsoft Office and lots of games; is perceived to be easy to install and configure; is notoriously unstable; performs poorly; crashes are frequent.
• Linux runs StarOffice, scores of technical software and fewer games; can be tricky to install and
configure; is rock solid; performs impeccably; crashes are extremely rare.

It's up to you to decide what you need. Furthermore, Linux gives you power, but it takes some time to learn how to harness it. Thus, if mostly need commercial sw, or if you don't feel like learning new commands and
concepts, you had better look elsewhere. Be aware that many newcomers give up because of initial difficulties.

Work is underway to make Linux simpler to use, but don't expect to be proficient with it unless you read a lot
of documentation and use it at least for a few months. Linux won't give you instant results. In spite of these warnings, I'm 100% confident that if you are the right user type you'll find in Linux your computer Nirvana. By the way, Linux + DOS/Win can coexist happily on the same machine.

You installed Linux and the programs you needed on the PC. You gave yourself an account (if not, type adduser yournamenow!) and Linux is running. You've just entered your name and password, and now you are looking at the screen thinking: ``Well, now what?'' Now, don't despair. You're almost ready to do the same things you used to do with DOS/Win, and many more.
If you were running DOS/Win instead of Linux, you would be doing some of the following tasks:
• running programs and creating, copying, viewing, deleting, printing, renaming files;
• CD'ing, MD'ing, RD'ing, and DIR'ring your directories;
• formatting floppies and copying files from/to them;
• tailoring the system;
• surfing the Internet;
• writing .BAT files and programs in your favourite language;
• the remaining 1%.

You'll be glad to know that these tasks can be accomplished under Linux in a fashion similar to DOS. Under DOS, the average user uses very few of the 100+ commands available: the same, up to a point, applies to
Linux. Introductory Concepts The best way to learn something new is to get your feet wet.

You are strongly encouraged to experiment and play with Linux:
unless you login as ``root'', you can't damage the system that way.

A few points:
• first of all, how to quit Linux safely. If you see a text mode screen, press , wait for the system to reboot, then switch off the PC. If you are working under X Window System, press first, then . Never switch off or reset the PC directly: this could damage the file system;
• unlike DOS or Windows, Linux has built−in security mechanisms. Files and directories have permissions associated to them; as a result, some cannot be accessed by the normal user. DOS and Windows, on the contrary, will let you wipe out the entire contents of your hard disk;
• there's a special user called ``root'': the system administrator, with full power of life and death on the machine. If you work on your own PC, you'll be root as well. Working as root is dangerous: any mistake can seriously damage or destroy the system just like with DOS/Windows. Don't work as root unless absolutely necessary;
• much of the complexity of Linux comes from its extreme configurability: virtually every feature and every application can be tailored through one or more configuration files. Complexity is the price to pay for power;
• redirection and piping are a side DOS feature, a very inportant one and much more powerful under Linux. Simple commands can be strung together to accomplish complex tasks. I strongly suggest that you learn how to use them.