I've just installed Linux Mint on my work p.c. and seem to be getting on quite nicely with it.

However, the usb printer I have connected (Epson SX445W) isn't working. So, question is, how do I install this printer onto Linux. I've been to 'Add Printer' and then I'm stumped.

A step by step tutorial would really help

Don't worry, I've done it..

If I managed to install a network printer in fedora, you only had to manage to install a usb printer en mint...

If you want to talk about linux woes.... try Gnome3, instead of cinnamon (mint, usually comes with cinnamon, that's why I'm guessing this is what you're using).
Gnome3 (3.6) was working quite well, for me... after installing some 20 extensions to get it to behave properly, but, for some reason, the notifications (those things that pop-up when someone writes a chat message) were coming up some 20 minutes after the event.... baffled, I simply went on to other window managers.
xfce - too minimal for me.
fluxbox - minimal as well
windowMaker - very oldSkool

And, finally, yes, I landed on cinnamon. It's clearly built on top of gnome, but it works!

Now, for some reason that's beyond me, I can't get RealVNC desktop :1 to start with a windows manager... unless it's GNOME, the default! When I configure the ~/.vnc/xstartup file with some other, like cinnamon, it says there's some other already running, but once I log in, all I see the X mouse cursor and the wiggly lines, so typical of X11, there's no way to run a program there, so it's useless.
If I start a vnc desktop with the default settings (chmod -x ~/.vnc/xstartup) it works, but sometimes fails with an error complaining about the extensions. I then change the xstartup (chmod +x ./vnc/xstartup) and force vncserver to start on :0 or :3, and it works perfectly. I now have a vnc session with gnome and another with fluxbox.
Oh the woe....

Using Mint 14 with the MATE desktop, works fine for me, no problems at all

On a separate topic, how is linux with security. i.e. Do I need a third party firewall and anti-virus suite such as Norton etc. that I would use with Windows?

I didn't like Cinnamon, it has a lot of bugs in it. I currently have Linux Mint Mate 64 bit and it is prety stable. I haven't had any problems so far.
The only problem is I couldn't find a good parental control software like Safe Eyes. If linux wants to thrive in college computer rooms, they should've made one by now.

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(March 19, 2013 at 1:42 pm)Darwinian Wrote: On a separate topic, how is linux with security. i.e. Do I need a third party firewall and anti-virus suite such as Norton etc. that I would use with Windows?

No, you don't need anything like that. It's a lot safer than windows too. Most viruses are made for Windows and Mac. I always use it for server shit.

(March 19, 2013 at 1:42 pm)Darwinian Wrote: On a separate topic, how is linux with security. i.e. Do I need a third party firewall and anti-virus suite such as Norton etc. that I would use with Windows?

Linux tends to be "secure by default" and already has an in-built firewall which many distros interface with. I'd recommend installing clamav as an anti-virus solution (free) anyway, since it will detect malicious Windows files as well.

Fuck. I need that hypervisor bit to run Win7 native on Xen.


*sigh*

Yes, you do.

If your rocking the paravirtualization boat, you need AMDV or VTX.

Is this the talk in Klingon thread?

I used to know computers back when a 386 was the bees knees. I guess things have moved on a tad.