Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Questions galore

I'm in Linux. Completely. I decided if I was going to learn to use it, I wouldn't give myself the temptation to boot into a known OS to "get things done." The problem is, now I can't get things done. And, since I'm all about bandwidth conservation, I'll ask some questions that may not be related to anything else in particular.

What are my hotsyncing options?

How do I install Star Office?

How do I change my default mouse (so I can use my scroll button)?

How do I watch TV?

How do I watch DVD's?

How do I burn CD's ?

Is there a DOS emulator?

How do I import cd music (.ogg format, preferably)?

I drop off papers for the local shopper at small towns around the area. While I'm in one of the small towns, I do computer work for my second job. Should I (can I legally) charge the mileage to get to the town in question to my second employer? How about the time in transit (I am on salary, but need to put in my 40 hrs/wk)?

Women: why is anything smaller than the norm "cute"?

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Last edited by dick-richardson on 01-15-2002 at 06:12 AM

Registered: Aug 2000
Location: South Carolina
Posts: 1062

Re: Questions galore

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
Women: why is anything smaller than the norm "cute"?

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Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

I'll take a shot at a few of these...

To start, what installation of Linux are you using?

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What are my hotsyncing options?

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Pass.

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How do I install Star Office?

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I believe that there is an RPM for this (Redhat *something* manager) which, provided your flavor of linux support this, makes installing apps a LOT easier that dealing with tarballs and compilers. You should be able to install it via your package manager.

Alternatively, you could read the manual.

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How do I change my default mouse (so I can use my scroll button)?

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Probably in your linuxconfig settings.

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How do I watch TV?

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Find the remote, go into the living room, and turn it on.

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How do I watch DVD's?

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I know there are DVD players for linux. I can't help you get it running, though.

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How do I burn CD's ?

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See above.

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Is there a DOS emulator?

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Check out http://www.lindows.com (that said, why bother with DOS now?)

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How do I import cd music (.ogg format, preferably)?

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Import would just be copying off of the network. If you mean ripping them, you will need an MP3 ripper for linux.

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I drop off papers for the local shopper at small towns around the area. While I'm in one of the small towns, I do computer work for my second job. Should I (can I legally) charge the mileage to get to the town in question to my second employer? How about the time in transit (I am on salary, but need to put in my 40 hrs/wk)?

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Time travelling is something you should bill your clients...not write off on your taxes. As for mileage, yes, you can write that off.

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

Re: Questions galore

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
[B]What are my hotsyncing options?

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__________________
Jeff

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 284

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
Time travelling is something you should bill your clients...not write off on your taxes. As for mileage, yes, you can write that off.

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Yes, you can write the time spent travelling from one job to another off. Dick's situation seems a bit more convoluted, to me anyway.

Dick, I'm going to assume you're using your own vehicle and that the first company is paying you mileage for travelling from site to site. Since you're already being paid mileage, you can't double-bill. While I won't get into the legalities of it, it certainly won't reflect well on you if the companies you work for catch you double-billing, plus I'm pretty sure there will be tax consequences for doing that.

Now, what you can probably do is bill the second company for the distance you need to travel from the first company's local site to the second company's site in the same town, billing the first company only for the miles between the first company's sites. If not, the mileage between the first company's sites and the second company's sites in the same town can, I believe, be deducted from your taxes as a job related expense, but you'll have to keep really good records. This will be a PITA, but a mile here and two there will add up quickly if you're doing this every day.

As always, check with an accountant if you can, or you can check with the IRS directly.

As far as the Linux stuff goes: It's been over a year since I used Linux, so I unfortunately don't remember how to do any of the things you want. I only remember it was a PITA when I tried it.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

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To start, what installation of Linux are you using?

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__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Re: Questions galore

Since you finally specified distro, I may be able to offer some clues (although I don't really like mandrake):

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
[...] What are my hotsyncing options?

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Re: Re: Questions galore

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
Since you finally specified distro, I may be able to offer some clues (although I don't really like mandrake):

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__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

Re: Re: Re: Questions galore

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
I didn't realize distro was that important. Why the aversion toward mandrake?

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

Re: Re: Re: Re: Questions galore

quote:

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Originally posted by Toby
I just had a bad experience installing it a few years ago which was never explainable.

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__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: May 2001
Location: NY metro area
Posts: 219

quote:

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I drop off papers for the local shopper at small towns around the area. While I'm in one of the small towns, I do computer work for my second job. Should I (can I legally) charge the mileage to get to the town in question to my second employer? How about the time in transit (I am on salary, but need to put in my 40 hrs/wk)?

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Let me try to answer this as I used to be the tax manager for a CPA firm and still prepare taxes. As a disclaimer - this is based strictly on current IRS laws and regulations, I do not suggest that these answers are true for any state or local taxes, this varies from state to state.

Whether or not you can charge your 2nd employer for the miles strictly depends upon their policies. Most companies that I know of do not allow employees to submit expense accounts for what is considered by Federal rules "commuting". If the company does allow it go ahead and submit; the reimbursement rate under IRS regs just went up to 34.5 cents per mile. As to charging that the travel time counts towards your 40 hours - no way. This is strictly considered commuting and I have never heard of any company paying their employees for getting to work.

The same answers would apply if you wanted to deduct these costs off your Federal income tax, for example on Schedule 2106, as unreimbursed employee expenses. Since the costs are considered as commuting you are SOL.

Sorry about that.

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Jonathan

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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XF86Config is the default. I'm sure Mandrake has their own graphical tool.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

homer, ctrl/alt/+ changes screen resolution (at least on my computer).

I got StarOffice installed. I just needed to chmod the .bin files.

This is why Linux doesn't command the market share that windows does. People don't want to hack their system to watch a DVD or burn a CD. They want to come home with their PalmPilot, click "next" a bunch of times on an install that started automatically when they put the cd in, and sync with a cheap system. They want to go to Wal-Mart and buy functionality which they don't have to think about installing.

__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Last edited by dick-richardson on 01-16-2002 at 02:09 AM

Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
Well, I spent an hour with Mandrake 8.1 and the XF86Config file trying to get my monitor res changed. I finally was told to use XFdrake to get it to work. Supposedly, XFdrake is the GUI for XF86Config, but from my xperience it is not, at least it wasn't the file that XFdrake was configuring.

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
[...] This is why Linux doesn't command the market share that windows does. People don't want to hack their system to watch a DVD or burn a CD. They want to come home with their PalmPilot, click "next" a bunch of times on an install that started automatically when they put the cd in, and sync with a cheap system. They want to go to Wal-Mart and buy functionality which they don't have to think about installing.

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Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

I got the mouse working. DrakConf was the key.

__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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This is why Linux doesn't command the market share that windows does.

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__________________
We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
-David Byrne

Registered: Oct 2000
Location: Aberdeen, SD
Posts: 2531

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
There is no defined direction for the GUI and user experience to go towards.

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__________________
-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 284

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson

Are you trying to tell me that Windows has a "defined direction" and a set "user experience" it is trying to achieve?

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Of course! They're copying what Apple puts out!

Sorry, but..I...just....couldn't............resist......

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And look at the market share OSX commands. There's no denying it's a damn fine OS - arguably the best yet. But it illustrates quite well that consumers don't care about direction or a set user experience. The average person doesn't want to work with the OS any more than he/she wants to change his/her own oil.

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While I agree that the "average consumer" doesn't give a flying fig about the OS, I'm not quite understanding the market share argument. The market share that OSX commands is directly tied to the number of Macs out there. Does this mean it's less valuable because it's only supported on a single platform?

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It's gotta be weather balloons. It's always weather balloons. Big, fiery, exploding weather balloons.
-- ComaVN (from Slashdot)

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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Are you trying to tell me that Windows has a "defined direction" and a set "user experience" it is trying to achieve?

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We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
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