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Geek Culture / Can any Linux geeks help me out?

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Bishop
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2005 22:17
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hey guys,

ive been interested in running linux for quite some time and now i have the recources to do it (my own compy )...however, browsing the internet you get so much garbage it's hard to find out what im doing, and there is so much hype about it being so difficult i dont want to tackle it alone and break something...

so is there and linux user's out there that can point me in the sirection of a good distribution, preferably a site where i can get a CD (on a 56k )?

I appreciate the help,
Bish

"It's not what's under the skin that matters, but your actions that define you."
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John Y
Synergy Editor Developer
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2005 22:23
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On 56K you have no chance really, but you can have a look on http://www.distrowatch.org


Http://www.DigitalOmega.Net
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Bishop
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2005 22:28
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wow that was fast
thanks for the link, nice place to get my distribution once i know what i need...thanks, i appreciate it

however my main plight is finding which distribution would be ideal for a guy who knows nothing about linux ('cept i want to try it) and who has no experience whatsoever in UNIX coding...

thanks again,
Bish

"It's not what's under the skin that matters, but your actions that define you."
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adr
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2005 22:49
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Mandrake Linux is supposedly the most friendly package out there. I personally have never used it (RedHat man myself) but I understand it does *everything* for you during install...

New 'n' Improved sig details how little I accomplish
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Raven
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2005 22:55
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It depends what you want to do with Linux, each build if more suited to different people.

Easiest to get running is DamnSmallLinux, because it's just a case of downloading the 50MB CD Images; burning it and your good to go; but you can pretty much forget about doing much past simple things.

SuSE is the easiest to use once installed, but updating anything major is a pain in the arse,

Gentoo is pretty straight forward but takes hours to install new things; and was like just over 28hours to install it on a Pentium4 3.2GHz HT, so not exactly a 'quick' solution.

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Bishop
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2005 23:22
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@adr: were you refering to mandriva linus? i couldnt find mandrake...

@raven: hey thanks for the suggestions...one of my other choices was freeBSD...do you know anything about it?

im just shooting for the most noob friendly version possible

thanks,
Bish

"It's not what's under the skin that matters, but your actions that define you."
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Killswitch
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Posted: 23rd Jun 2005 23:27
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'Mandrake' is the old name for 'Mandriva' (they change the name a few weeks ago).

~It's a common mistake to make, the rules of the English langauge do not apply to insanity~
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Dark Flame
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Posted: 24th Jun 2005 00:09
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I've got mandrake on one of my other machines...its pretty cool. It's free as well so thats a bonus, I recommend you try it out.

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IanG
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Posted: 24th Jun 2005 01:08
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there is also fedora core 4 - fedora.redhat.com

its the old redhat made opensourced

Used to be Phoenix_insane registered in september 2003 despite what the date says to the left <--
PC - amd athlon 2.0ghz, 512mb, GeForce FX 5200 128mb, 200gb, xp pro sp2
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Raven
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Posted: 24th Jun 2005 01:10
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I know FreeBSD pretty well, definately prefer it to any of the Linux Builds as it's more stable; and robust. As a development platform is a far better overall choice, but this said there is still no support for Mono .NET yet.

So if you were thinking of using that it isn't a good idea. It's much easier to install drivers on too, but again there isn't exactly an abundance. Although Unix and Linux are similar, they're different enough to cause issues.

It's like the difference between Windows 95 and Windows NT 4 in some respects.

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Ace Of Spades
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Posted: 24th Jun 2005 01:13
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i've been thinking about madrake as well. How big is the complete installed files? Im downloading the iso now on to my partitioned drive. Is it possible to keep windows xp pro and run linux on part of the partitioned drive? Can I install direct from the iso files or do I need to burn to a cd first?

Don't look at me like that!
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Jeku
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Posted: 24th Jun 2005 02:17 Edited at: 24th Jun 2005 02:18
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If I were you I'd go with Ubuntu Linux, because they have a form on their site where they'll send you phsyical copies of the CD at no charge to anywhere in the world. Then you don't have to worry about downloading at 56k.

Installing software and drivers with Ubuntu is as easy as Windows Update. Just click all the things you want, hit Install, and it does the downloading and setting up for you. It's also easy to uninstall the software, too.

They also offer a Live-CD version where you can boot up from the CD-ROM drive into Linux without having to partition your hard drive.


--[R.O.B.O.I. and FireTris Coming Soon]--
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Neofish
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Posted: 24th Jun 2005 05:28
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On the subject of Ubuntu I really like it. Apparently most linux users don't like it but that may be because they want to out nerd each other and use gentoo (just because the install takes weeks) I would recommend SuSE if you're willing to cash up, it's nice and easy (even the install is easy, easier than Ubuntus install) but it wasn't completley compatable with my laptop..

Banjoman says:
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Bishop
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Posted: 24th Jun 2005 07:07
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wow so many choices so little time...ill just get them all and try them out

thanks for all the suggestions guys! you really helped me out a bunch

Bish

"It's not what's under the skin that matters, but your actions that define you."
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Rpg Cyco
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Posted: 24th Jun 2005 15:37 Edited at: 24th Jun 2005 15:38
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Yeah, Ubuntu is the best distro out there at the moment, IMO. I've used it myself for quite a while and recently set it up on a friend's PC and he loves it. It also has one of the best communitys out there. Give that a try for sure.

http://www.ubuntulinux.org/
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/
http://www.ubuntuguide.org/

- Rpg Cyco

http://www.rpgcyco.net/
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Perokreco
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Posted: 25th Jun 2005 07:18
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If you never used Linux why dont you try Knopixx(live distribution)
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Poetry
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Posted: 25th Jun 2005 08:17
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PHLAK, yeah. What do you guys think?
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Bishop
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Posted: 26th Jun 2005 16:07
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yeah knoppix is cool, i made a reference to it earlier its a really cool distribution, however, im looking for a linux (rather found, ubuntu linux )that i can boot from my HD

thanks anyways,
Bish

"It's not what's under the skin that matters, but your actions that define you."
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Jess T
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Posted: 26th Jun 2005 16:41
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Knoppix can be installed onto the HDD

Never done it myself, but I've read about it a number of time whilst going over some help options with it

Jess.

Team EOD :: All-Round Nice Guy
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Raven
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Posted: 27th Jun 2005 05:08
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Knoppix and Debian are the versions used to create LiveCD! Distros.
So it's a good bet that Ubuntu is a Knoppix decendant.

Personally I don't like it because it's the most unstable variation.

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Killswitch
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Posted: 27th Jun 2005 06:16
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Its pretty easy to install Knoppix to your harddrive, in fact from version 3.4 (I think) theres a little tool that does most of the work for you.

~It's a common mistake to make, the rules of the English langauge do not apply to insanity~
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Bishop
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Posted: 27th Jun 2005 06:16
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well i got a knoppix CD...ill see if u can install it, but ive never seen that mentioned anywhere

i also got ubuntu cd on the way...i dont know if it is a knoppix decendent, but ill probably know when i get it...

Bish

"It's not what's under the skin that matters, but your actions that define you."
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Raven
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Posted: 27th Jun 2005 07:42
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well most of the One-Click, and LiveCD stuff, is Knoppix, which is decended from Debian.

Most of the popular builds are derived from them really, but as I said they're not exatly my favourites given thier instability. Mainly because of how they detect and manage the RAM.

It's frustrating having programs simply disappear when they reach your RAM limit, it's alright with 512MB or more; but you have less and it gets frustrating.

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Killswitch
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Posted: 27th Jun 2005 07:52
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Amen Raven!

~It's a common mistake to make, the rules of the English langauge do not apply to insanity~
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Jeku
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Posted: 27th Jun 2005 16:26
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Yes, Ubuntu is a Debian descendant, but not Knoppix (that I'm aware of). Just about EVERY Linux distro has a live-CD available to test out. There's also a live-CD you can get for one of the distros (can't remember the name now) that runs on a CD-RW disc so it saves any changes and programs you install.


--[R.O.B.O.I. and FireTris Coming Soon]--
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Raven
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Posted: 27th Jun 2005 16:31
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LiveCD was created for the Knoppix build. Just means others are now using it, funny thing about GPL software is while you must make changes OpenSource, don't have to actually credit anyone for thier work.

Kinda silly really.

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the_winch
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Posted: 28th Jun 2005 07:41
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It was done years before knoppix. Most distro installers use isolinux to boot linux that then runs the installer.
Knoppix does the same but insted of just having a handfull of utilitles and an installer it has a full range of software.

Latest releases dll_tool v0.8 27 june | patch tool v0.6 22 June | exe_shrink v0.5 15 May
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GothOtaku
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Posted: 28th Jun 2005 11:28 Edited at: 28th Jun 2005 11:34
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FreeBSD is the best free/open source OS you can get. It's stable, secure, has a ton of software, and can run SysV Unix, Solaris, and Linux binaries. I've for the most part given up Linux for FreeBSD nowadays. However, if you want to stick with Linux I recommend the Red Hat/Fedora family. Recently they've been shaky in their support for some things but overall their still the distros most professionals use. SuSE is also good. Ubuntu is really popular now but as a long-time Unix user I never liked Debian based distros because they move a lot of stuff around.

EDIT: There's also CentOS (http://www.centos.org/) which shares code with the commercial version of Red Hat but is free. Also, if you can find an old version of Red Hat (like 9 or 7.3) get it I thought they were better then the Fedora's in many regards.
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