Logitech bluetooth keyboard

[Derick Centeno]

Hi Steve:

I'm glad the information was useful.  Regarding DOS and the Unix/Linux 
terminal it is pretty easy to write a tome comprising several volumes 
describing why and how they are different.  The best approach may be to 
state it this way Unix oversees the various nuclear and other systems 
which require control and monitoring 24/7 with no failure; DOS nor 
Windows cannot do that.  Linux is Unix-like on home and standard 
business computers -- the functional range it has is very compelling, 
and given it's range of flexibility there's always been a debate 
regarding how much the general public -- the average person -- really 
needs all Linux can do.  Consider that every Linux is both a server and 
a client; dig deeper into what that means and it becomes a bit clearer 
why Apple and others choose to sell their computers differently or in 
distinct tiers or models one kind priced as a server the other as a client.

Only with Linux can a laptop nearly 5 years old become a monster of a 
supersystem -- if one takes the time to master the details.  It is fair 
to say, that one could master DOS and still only approach a fraction of 
the skills available with the Unix or Linux terminal.

The good news is that you are in the right crowd here; people exploring 
and doing all kinds of things.  I've not ceased being surprised learning 
something in this community and other Linux communities.  Hopefully, 
you'll find Linux and YDL, in particular - especially as you master the 
PS3 using YDL - something of an enticing ride.

Forty years ago, if you mentioned that a supercomputer just slightly 
larger than a lunch box would be available both as a game machine and a 
serious programming system -- an ambulance would have been called to 
commit you to a state mental hospital.  Yet here it is.

Get some books on Linux System Administration and go from there.

Now about Flash.  Flash is proprietary to Adobe.  Simply stated 
proprietary programs belong, rightly to their inventors and the 
corporations who hold the licenses for those products. 

Linux is a product with a different idea and license called open 
source.  One form of the open source license is known as GPL -- General 
Public License.  The idea of GPL is this:   I write a program and 
mention that it is a GPL program.  I post it somewhere so you can use 
it, read it, see everything regarding it from it's source through it's 
binaries and merely ask that if you modify it, your work also becomes 
open source or GPL as well.  In theory, my work can be improved or 
expanded by yours and yours can be likewise improved and so on.  The 
result of our cooperation abiding by the GPL is a product more rock 
solid than any one of us could have done alone.  Also updates have been 
said to be faster than proprietary efforts -- compared against Microsoft 
patches say.

YDL and most of forms of Linux abide by one variant or another of the 
GPL.  All the components YDL and other Linux variants use also abide by 
GPL.  There is a program which has some function like Flash, but like 
the rest of Linux, it also is open source (which again Flash is not) -- 
this program is called gnash.  You can install it by:

#yum install "gnash*"

The wild card symbol * will find all programs associated with gnash 
which may use or improve it so that they too are found and installed.  
Yum will list what it finds, just say yes to install and you will have 
installed an open source work alike program to flash.  I don't want to 
say you can watch youtube videos with gnash; currently it barely plays 
slides or animations in online papers or other websites well.  For 
videos you'll have to install various codecs which are not included with 
YDL nor are they sold by TSS, but by another company which holds those 
particular proprietary licenses.

Why is there such a split between proprietary and open source systems?  
That's another tome, but you can google the SCO Unix v. IBM lawsuit.

Enough for now, all the best...

Steve Bell wrote:
> Thanks very much for the help. I was able to get my keyboard to work. As you 
> can tell, I'm new to Linux and not used to command lines, not since my DOS 
> days, but am learning. Any help getting Adobe flash player to work, such as 
> for YouTube, would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks again,
> Steve
>
>