GUI Desktop Linux

The move to get Linux on desktop systems has been slow. However, that doesn't mean there haven't been some really neat products to emerge from these efforts. Corel Linux is probably the best-known GUI Linux for desktops but they stopped producing it. Corel Linux 1.2 is an older version based on Debian 2.1 ("Slink") and an "open circulation" edition was made freely available. (I suspect their plan was to get their desktop in widespread use and make money selling their Linux applications like WordPerfect for Linux.) It's for i386 (x86/Pentium) systems only and we have the open circulation CD available for $1.95.

If you want take a GUI desktop version of Linux out for a spin to see what it can do, this free distribution is the best way to do it. It offers an easy way to investigate a transition from using a Windows OS to a GUI Linux OS on desktop systems. Corel's GUI is based on KDE but it looks a lot like Windows so you'll have no problem navigating your way around.

It even has integrated support for Windows networking which allows you (via Samba) to browse and connect to Windows shared printers, drives, and servers as well as share the files and printers on your Corel system. (If you want to share a directory on the Corel Linux system simply right-click on it in File Manager and select "Windows Sharing".)

You can install Corel Linux in one of three ways:

• You can set it up so it is the only operating system on a system's hard-drive.
• You can install it on unpartitioned space on your Debian or Windows system's existing hard-drive.
• You can put a second hard-drive in your Debian or Windows system (Debian will see it as hdb) and install it on that.

In all of the above cases Corel will take over the MBR and you will boot into Corel Linux by default (if you don't select anything else at the boot menu). Your Debian or Windows installation will still be available but you'll have to manually select it. Debian will appear as a "Debian GNU" selection on the Corel startup menu. (Windows will appear as "Windows <something>" depending on what version is installed.) If you don't want your Debian server to boot automatically into Corel Linux, install Corel on a separate system (or on a separate hard-drive that you can swap in and out of the system with the hard-drive Debian is installed on).

Installing Corel Linux 1.2

NOTE:  If you're going to install Corel Linux in a dual-boot configuration with Debian or Windows, install Debian or Windows first so that it is detected by Corel during the installation.

The minimum system requirements are pretty modest. A Pentium processor, 24 meg of RAM, and 500 meg or free space. The CD is bootable. If the system you're using doesn't support booting from a CD, the README.TXT file on the root of the CD has instructions for creating a boot floppy on both Linux and Windows systems. On the other end of the spectrum, keep in mind that Corel Linux is based on an older version of Debian. If you're planning on installing it on a P4-class PC you may run into compatibility problems because the newer hardware won't be properly detected or may not have drivers. This is a common problem with newer P4-class video cards. According to newsgroup postings I've read the easy way around that is to just swap in an older card to get past the detection routine during the install and then put the newer card back in. Your best bet would be to install it on an older system if you have one available.

Perhaps the most important thing is to have everything connected before you start the installation so Corel's hardware detection routine can find and configure any devices it supports.

There's really not a lot you have to do during the installation. Simply make a few selections and Corel will pretty much do the rest.

1. Place the Corel Linux 1.2 CD in the CD-ROM drive, make sure that the system's BIOS is set to boot off the CD-ROM drive before the hard-drive, and then reboot the system to start the install.
   
   
2. After the system boots into the installer and hardware is detected, a GUI screen will appear and you'll be asked to accept the license agreement by clicking on the 'Yes' button.
   
   
3. You'll then be prompted for a non-root user name. Make sure all of the letters in the user name are lower case (i.e. don't make the first letter upper-case).
   
   
4. On the next window you'll be prompted to accept the recommended "Install standard desktop" selection which you'll want to do.
   
   
5. At this point you decide where you're going to install Corel Linux (i.e. whether this is a dedicated system or you'll be dual-booting with Debian). If you left some hard-drive space unpartitioned when you installed Debian, the "Use free disk space" selection will be selected by default.
   
   If you have a hard-drive filled with existing partion(s), the "Take over disk" selection will be selected by default. However, you can also use the "Edit partition table" selection to delete/add partitions to make room on the hard-drive.
   
   Once you've got the proper install target selected, click on the Next button.
   
   
6. The next window gives you the option of scanning for bad blocks while the hard-drive is foramtted. If this is an older system, you may want to check this box. Then click on the Install button.
   
   
7. Approximately 416 meg of files will be copied followed by an "Installed successfully" window telling you to eject any floppy diskettes that may have been used during the install. DON'T eject the CD at this point because the system still needs to briefly read it. Simply click on the OK button. As the system shuts down in preparation for a reboot, the CD tray will open automatically at which point you should remove the CD.
   
   This completes only the first half of the installation.
   
   
8. When the system restarts you'll be presented with Corel's GUI start menu and "Corel Linux" will be highlighted so just press Enter.
   
   This initial system startup will cause Corel to complete the installation by configuring the system. It says it will take "several" minutes but it's more like 7 to 10 if you're using an older system.
   
   
9. When the system configuration is complete a login window will appear with the root username. You also have the option of dropping down the username list and selecting the non-root user you created earlier in the installation process. There are no passwords on these accounts so just click on the Login button. You'll be prompted to enter a password for each account the first time you log in. You can leave the passwords blank if you want to.

That completes the formal installation but there are a few configuration steps we want to take care of.

Configuring Corel Linux 1.2

As mentioned earlier, the Corel Linux desktop looks a lot like Windows. They couldn't use the exact same wording of menu selections of course, so the following table shows Windows desktop items and their Corel Linux equivalents:

Windows	Corel Linux
"Start" button	"Application Starter" button
Task Bar	K-Panel
"Programs" menu selection	"Applications" menu selection
"Settings" menu selection	"Control Center" menu selection
"Startup" folder	"Autostart" folder
Windows Explorer	Corel File Manager

Now that we know the lingo, we can take care of a few system configuration details. System configuration is done using the Control Center.

As you can see in the open Control Center window above, Corel Linux properly detected the USB Web cam I connected to the system prior to the installation. (Note also that four desktop sessions are available on the right side of the K-Panel.)

Mouse

Because Corel defaults to a large desktop size you'll probably end up with a 1024x768 screen resolution. This is fine because text is still very readable. However, you may find that the default acceleration for the mouse means you have to do a lot of dragging to get the mouse pointer to go from one point on the desktop to another.

In the Control Center, click on the '+' next to Input Devices and then click on Mouse and you'll see sliders for acceleration and threshold. Set the acceleration to 4x or 6x by dragging the slider itself. Similarly set the threshold to 1 pixel and then click on the OK button. This will give you mouse performance more like that on Windows systems.

Networking

Corel defaults to using DHCP to obtain an IP address. If you need to assign static values for IP address, default gateway, and DNS servers you can do so using the Control Center. Simply click on the '+' sign next to "Network" in the Control Center window and you'll see the TCP/IP and Windows Workgroup selections.

Clicking on the TCP/IP selection will allow you to enter static values needed for your network. You can verify your settings by opening up a terminal window (K-Panel icon) and pinging another system on your network. Clicking on the Windows Workgroups selection will allow you to enter a workgroup or domain name and specify the type of access. (Try using Share access for peer networks and User for server-based networks.)

Remote Printing

With the networking set up, you can add a shared printer connected to a Windows system. First, make sure the printer truly is shared on the Windows system before continuing. Next, we have to make a couple changes to the Samba configuration file on the Corel system. Click on the text editor icon on the K-Panel (task bar) and open the /etc/samba/smb.conf file and make the following changes:

• put a # character in front of the line:
  invalid users=root
• add the following two lines if needed based on the passwords you set:
  null passwords=yes
  min password length=1

Save the file and exit the editor and then reboot the system.

Open the Control Center and click on Printers in on the left side of the display and then on the Add button on the right side.

In the Add Printer window select "Remotely on the Network" and then select a "Windows" type of network. Click on the Browse button and you may get a login window. If you do, you don't have to enter anything here but check to make sure the Windows workgroup name that is displayed is correct. Then just click on the OK button and a browse window will open and you can select the desired printer.

Enter a nickname for the printer and click on the Next button. You'll then have to select the printer manufacturer and model to load the Linux printer driver for it. You can then print a test page if you want but that's all there is to setting up a Windows printer in Corel Linux.

Remote File Access

Setting up access to shared folders is pretty much the same. The only thing you have to do is select a directory where you want the mount point created. For example, lets say you have a share on a Windows system named 'mywinfiles'. In Corel File Manager click on Tools on the menu bar and select "Mount Network Share" and a window will open with the home directory (of the currently logged in user) will be displayed as the default mount point. If you're logged in as root, /root/ will be displayed by default in the mount point field. In the lower part of the window you can drill down to the Windows share that you want to mount. In our example, the resulting mount point would be:
/root/mywinfiles/
and you can access the files on the Windows system by going to this directory on the local system.

Modem Configuration

Under /Applications/Network is the Connection Wizard which will walk you through setting up dail-up, cable, and DSL (PPPoE) modems. If the auto-detect feature in the wizard doesn't accurately detect your modem try the manual configuration option. With it you simply specify the COM port and modem make/model.

The wizard not only sets up the modem but asks for account-related connection and login information to set up a connection similar to Windows' Dial-Up Networking wizard. Once created, connections are available through the /Applications/Network/Connect selection.

Serious Desktops

As mentioned earlier, Corel Linux 1.2 is an older release based on Debian 2.1. It's good, low-cost way to explore and experiment with a Linux GUI desktop. However, Corel no longer supports it and neither does Xandros which took over the development of Corel Linux and changed the name to Xandros Desktop. For troubleshooting problems, there are still archives of Corel Linux newsgroup postings available via Google searches (click on the Groups tab).

If you're considering a serious change to a GUI Linux desktop, Suse 9.x Professional Edition, with its' Yast configuration utility, is getting rave reviews for its' ease of installation, hardware detection capabilities and support for hardware devices, and interoperability on Windows networks. (Friends of mine who were long-term, die-hard Microsoft bigots shocked even me when they dumped Windows to go with Suse because I didn't think they'd ever switch.) However, be advised that you'll want at least a Pentium-II system with 256 meg of RAM and a 6-gig hard-drive. It also costs around $85, which is why we suggest trying out a GUI desktop Linux using the $1.95 Corel Linux first.

But with Novell purchasing Suse Linux, there is finally a major player in the Linux desktop market for business and corporate users. In addition to the OS, they're developing Linux versions of their desktop software including Groupwise e-mail and Zenworks. Novell is not only selling Suse Linux but is providing support for it as well and HP has announced it will begin selling and supporting desktop PCs with Suse Linux later this year.

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