Which Distro?

[mf-2HD]

Hi

Just installed Slack 9.1 last week, and It's pretty good.

The packages are quite impressive. Gnome 2.4.0, KDE 3.1.4, kernel 2.4.22, perl 5.8.0 (all stable goddies)

Slack does not come with GUI installation, its a text based installer but it does guide you through the installation very well.

IMHO cfdisk is so much easier to understand than fdisk, and that was what I used. I partitioned and installed Slack correctly 1st time having never seen or used cfdisk before.

The only thing you have to be aware of is your Graphic Card may not be detected correctly during installation. This mean you will have to run xf86config to set up your Graphic Card.

Its fairly straight forward and its text based. You just have to follow the prompt.

Hope this help:) :) :)

[micro]

Well, my preferred distro is Slackware.

I've installed or seen close Slackware 7-8-9, Debian 3.0. Mandrake 7-8-current, Suse 7-current, Gentoo, Jamd, Lycoris etc.

Slackware can be very customizable by hand and has the basic configuration style of *BSD as opposed to SystemV that other GNU/Linux distros have.

This makes it more tweakable and understandable.

But, to operate a mouse wheel in X, or to configure to see new hardware, if kernel does not detect it if course, or to bring up/down services are more difficult tasks in Slackware.

Seeing that, I often installed a more "friendly" distro, like Mandrake and studying "what" it did but not "how" it did it, i replicated certain issues that lacked from Slackware.

In my case for example, Slackware did not detect the Advanced Power Management capabilities, so I added the module by hand.

Till version 9.0, Slackware lacks many packages for creating an entirely practical and productive system (Mplayer,Xine.OpenOffice.org), but I overcame this, by installing or compiling what I needed to add.

Now that I can operate a GNU/Linux by hand, I don't need to install another distro aside ffom testing a new one, of course.

Well' I have a certain addiction to mandrake, I will continue to install & test.

That's why I have 2 spare partiions for other Distros to install, and keep my /home in a separate partition anyway.

Slackware "forces" you to learn GNU/Linux, and when added what it lacks, or found what to edit, you never forget.

[Disk Monkey]

I've been at a loss, rather, these last few days.
Something went horribly wrong w/ my Slackware 9.1 Distro and ever since It seems like nothing has been remotely useful.
I tried to install install RedHat 9.0, when I booted up all I got was a continuous series of "99s" on the screen.
I couldn't get Slackware to work like it used to, it kept having all kinds of errors from the get-go, I'm wondering if it's my media.
I tried installing CollegeLinux, but the keyboard kept cutting out halfway through the install. This very keyboard I'm using right now.
I tried installing LibraNET and it looked really cool, and I was stoked, but then it wouldn't recognize my graphics card for the life of me and kept freezing up during XF86config.
I tried installing StampedeLinux but that just didn't work, period, the CD won't even boot, and I know I burnt it right.
I tried Gentoo. It scared the hell out of me.
Right now I'm in VectorLinux and it's fairly baren. I like alot of the features, Samba worked from the get-go, instant package downloading and installation through Software Plaza. But my CD-ROM drive won't work and I don't know why... and it just feels kind of baren...the refresh rate is hideous and is making my eyes hurt. I'm really at a loss. I just want a stable, decent linux distro,
does anyone have any recommendations? I don't know if I'm ready for Debian yet, although I did fine in Slackware 9.1. I've tried pretty much everyone that I could find but Icepack...
Vectorlinux is working fine but I just don't know what to do with it...It has hardly any apps whatsoever and I just feel limited by it, unlike in other distros...
Seriously, anybody suggestions would be killer right now.

[lagitus]

SuSE is good. IMHO It has a very simple installation procedure which still offers a lot of configurability. It's hardware detection is known to work well too. The package manager is excellent compared to RedHat and Mandrake.
IMO Mandrake is easy to learn but too buggy. RedHat is (from my experience) buggy as well and used only because it's popular and newbies often find it first.
That's my opinion.

[Sepero]

Not ready for Debian???
I started out with slack. If you can do slack, debian will be easy. All you gotta remember is 'aptitude'. Goodluck.

PS.
I also somewhat recommend Mandrake and Suse.

[JamminJoeyB]

Hmm odd you are having problems with Slackware 9.1. Every Slackware version I have tried has just worked. Nothing fancy. Simple installs and fully running in about an hour.

Are you sure it's not a hardware problem?

What are the problems you were experiencing with Slack?

What hardware are you running?

If you are still searching for a good distro and have given up on Slack, check the which disto thread here. Check distrowatch.com. Lots of distros to choose from.

If you liked slack and really want to try something different with a slackware feel. Try Evil Entity. Lots of bundled apps with that distro.

I really think that you might be having a hardware issue.

[blobaugh]

What linux distro would you honestly recommend as being the easiest to setup and secure for a webserver? Right now I use RedHat on my personal computer so I know how to use it, and am think about using it. But what about Mandrake? And other Distros?

[Disk Monkey]

Well, I'm back in Slackware right now. Slackware is the only distro I have ever used with a modicrum of success. The only issue now is that when I load X-server I get a strange little blure of colour at the top of the screen and then it flickers, and then X loads fine. IT never used to do that. At this point, I don't even care, as long as it works.

Has anyone used VectorLinux? It just felt wrong...it's based on Slackware but something about it...It was so barren...I didn't even have the gumption to do anything...It pretty much had no software, and I didn't feel like I wanted to get more software for it...I just felt like I should run away home to Slackware and call it even. I suppose I could've stuck around and made it work fine, but, it just didn't feel like home. No amount of software was ever going to make it feel like the original Slackware.

I wonder if one of those other distros I attempted to install had a negative affect on some of my hardware...

[Darkbolt]

what you're experiencing with that "barren-ness" is your addiction to slack....Nothing else is ever quite as good

As for your other problems, make sure your hardware is ok, because i dont think it really sounds like a linux problem per say.

[JamminJoeyB]

Originally posted by Darkbolt
As for your other problems, make sure your hardware is ok, because i dont think it really sounds like a linux problem per say.

Glad to see another Slacker who agrees with me.

[JesterDev]

Alright, I need some advice on selecting a Linux distro. I hope this is the right place to ask. So far I've tryed Mandrake 9.1/9.2 and found it to be ok. I've also tryed SuSE (Using now) 9.0. But it seems to me to be rather buggy. I like it, and I think it's better then Mandrake and easier to use. But like I said it just seems buggy to me. For example, just a few moments ago I ran yast2 to install an rpm, and all of a sudden all my running apps dispeared. They where still running, but I couldnt get to them unless I loaded them again (i.e. Kmail). Also there are somethings that I installed during install but are not working, are not on the menu (system/emulators/other is not there for example) I can't shutdown unless I use the console (just locks up and sits there) and lots of other misc problems. I've reinstalled 3 times already and still the same problems...

So what I'm looking for is something that comes with a ton of programs like SuSE does, and is easy to use, and stable. I'm download Fedora now, and I'm going to try it out. I know its on it's first relase(?) but what the hell. Debian seems nice, but I'm not too sure.. Any suggestions?

[DSwain]

hmm, well i've used Fedora Core 1, and its pretty nice for the most part. First boot loader that actually worked for me under linux. Its a little rough with audio playback. For some reason with me it kept acting as if the sound card just went away, when it wasn't. But its a pretty nice distro, tons of packages too.

I'm using one called Lorma linux right now, a build of Red Hat, much smaller though. Having trouble with RPMs, and it doens't come with Gnome which can be a pain for installing source packages (Gaim, etc.) but i have dvd working in this distro, so that's a nice try too. I'm sure others would have worked, just never took the time to make it work on others. Too busy learning other things. only 1 cd though, so not many packages, so probably not what you're looking for.

[jailbreaker]

Hey JesterDev install apt (http://apt.freshrpms.net) and add these to your /etc/apt/sources.list

rpm http://apt.sw.be redhat/fc1/en/i386 dag
rpm http://newrpms.sunsite.dk/apt/ redhat/en/i386/fc1 newrpms
rpm http://download.fedora.us/ fedora/fedora/1/i386 stable unstable testing updates

and unquote (#) rpm http://ayo.freshrpms.net fedora/linux/1/i386 tupdates

then once finished type "apt-get update" then "apt-get upgrade", "apt-get install synaptic" exit the CLI and update again using synaptic since "apt-get upgrade" misses a few packages.

hope this helps :)

[Ludootje]

SuSE is very newbiefriendly, and so is mandrake but mandrake's not very stable.
The problems with the refresh rate can be changed in the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 (or without the '-4', depending on the distro).
Never tried vectorlinux. SuSE will be much more userfriendly then Slack.
You could try Debian, but the install won't be very easy (at least not compared to Slackware's nice installation thing).
Libranet is the same as Debian but it has a nice installer and it tries to be userfriendly by providing some administration apps which are crap. It's a nice way to use Debian without going trough the install. The problem you were having with it seems hardware-related to me...

[Disk Monkey]

How could it be my hardware? I'm not sure I fully understand. Everything works fine in windows, the only time I have a problem is getting X configure just right. Currently I'm being screwed. I tried changing my card from "vga" to "generic nvidia" and it pretty much went crazy. I can't seem to enter the correct refresh rate for my monitor...it keeps wanting to put it at 60 when I know it's 85... I have 2 video cards in this system and I'm 100% sure that they're both working, because I'm typing this to you know on my windows partition.

Ideas?

Would would a hardware failur look like?

[JamminJoeyB]

Well all the hardware failures I have ever been around involved smoke to some degree.

Seems like your biggest problem is video at the moment. So lets concentrate on fixing it. We need some information to help you. So far all of our attempts to get information to trouble shoot have been ignored.

It would help to know what kind of video cards you running in your system. The correct driver can fix a lot of stuff.

[dynaco]

FEDORA CORE 1....

'nuff said....

try it, it's crunchy!!!

[CrashTestDummy9]

Originally posted by Drago
The graphical installer could be "PGI", i never tried it but maybe someone else here has. Also I've heard that the folks down at progeny were porting redhat's anaconda installer over to debian, so that could be an answer for your install needs.
http://hackers.progeny.com/pgi/
http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2003/debian-devel-200310/msg01880.html
EDIT: Added link to PGI Yes that was the one I used about 8 months ago.Thanks for the info and interesting what they did with Anaconda too.

[The Linux Kid]

I have used both and have found slack to be the most stable and the fastest. I have found the Debian is too bloated to get anything done! (you spend soooooooooo much time working out which programs u can use!)

The Linux Kid.

[Disk Monkey]

I use Slackware 9.1. I love it. I can't even use another Distro, anymore. It's like...crack or...everquest or something...nothing is as good, IMHO.

I hear that Debian's install is hell and people joke that "Our install is hell because you only have to install it once." I also hear it has huge development and a great packaging system. Slackware is pretty good out of the box.

If you are interested in Debian, but a newbie, if I were you, I would try libraNET, it's basically Debian, but it has a really simple installer that even a windows-native could use successfully, and it allows you to do admin stuff really easy if you just type "adminmenu." Setting up users and having them start w/ CD-ROM, Floppy, and Burn rights is easy without having to edit any config files. Kuser in KDE is pretty nice but still not quite as easy as libraNET's thingy. Sadly, I have had alot of hardware issues with LibraNET distro.. :\
Still if you want to give Debian a try, I would try LibraNET if you're a neophyte. www.libranet.com (http://www.libranet.com)



The only Distro that I heartilly endorse is Slackware 9.1 :D

[Disk Monkey]

Hmmm. I didn't even see the requests for hardware information, I was just busy trying to figure out distros at that point. I feel like such a neophyte now. *sighs*

Celeron 533Mhz
256 MB RAM
Nvidia Geforce 2 MX|400 256-bit GPU 64 MB VRAM
I/O Magic 52x24x52 CD-RW
Sylvania F77 Monitor.
14.5 GB Maxtor ata 133

It's not terribly glamorous but it is all I have...

[Drago]

Originally posted by The Linux Kid
I have found the Debian is too bloated to get anything done! (you spend soooooooooo much time working out which programs u can use!)

The Linux Kid.

LIES! ALL LIES!!! lol Anyway i've had those problems with slackware so i guess it all depends.

[JamminJoeyB]

Don't look at it that way. You'll find some one on here knows the exact solution to your problem if you just word it correctly.

Ok Nvidia card. Good choice. Unified driver and well supported under Linux.

If you are not running the Nvidia driver then head on over to www.nvidia.com and get it.

The documentation for installing and configuring X is in the read me posted on the nvidia site. Also there are lots of threads on here about nvidia to help.

This may clear up most of your video problems and get your refresh rate up to an acceptable level.

BTW the system has more then enough horse power for Linux.

[Disk Monkey]

Thanks, I was just hoping to scrape by w/ the generic nv driver...I didn't know that Nvidia made a linux driver!!! :D

I know that my system has more than enough horsepower for linux but everytime I tell some P4 or AMD 2200+ user I'm using a Celeron they just laugh at me like I've got the plague inside of a computer box. I know it's a budge chip, but it gets the job done, and it's been a good pal to me throughout the years. I guess I'm so used to getting laughed at for having an archaic system that I defend my hardware automatically. I even get laughed at for my Geforce 2 sometimes...it isn't a bad card or chipset, it's just old. XD
Anyhow, yeah, thanks for the info, I'll go see if I can get that Linux Driver up and running without accidentally killing myself and all of those around me within a 30 Mile radius. :P

[Disk Monkey]

Guess it just depends on hardware/what you want to use it for and what you value in an OS...
Although, if it helps any, Slackware is the oldest surviving, still supported version of Linux... :) It's from like 1992 or 1993...

[JamminJoeyB]

I run a geforce 2 and get plenty of performance out of it. I'd still be running a pIII 733 if it hadn't had a critical melt down. (the cpu fan quit working).

Well you learned your 1 new thing for the day.

BTW one of the main thing I like about linux is it keeps older hardware productive. Just lookat all the threads about linux on older hardware on here.

If you have problems with the install or config. Search thru the forums here. nvidia is well covered. You can even find examples of people XF86Config files to help.

[Disk Monkey]

I find some entertainment about setting up old systems and making them mildly producitve, setting them to compile great deals of code, or SETI or something...If you have a huge project to compile an old PII or PIII lying around means you can still use your main distro w/o slowdown. XD

[sclebo05]

i simply want to agree that fc1 + apt-get = happiness.

i also throw synaptic into the mix, and i have one heck of a cutting edge machine! between these tools and swaret for my slackware box, life is good!

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by The Linux Kid
I have used both and have found slack to be the most stable and the fastest. I have found the Debian is too bloated to get anything done! (you spend soooooooooo much time working out which programs u can use!)

The Linux Kid.

Awww man...now that has to be a troll :)
Too bloated to get anything done? That just isn't true man. You can make Debian be any way you want it to be. You just have to know how. Don't get me wrong. I love slack. If I ever stop using Debian (rather doubtful...thought about Gentoo...but nah) it will be to go back to Slack. But as a firm lover of all that is Debian...I must speak up for that which is Deb like. :D

[Disk Monkey]

I just need a bit more advice. There are three linux drivers...
I'm not entirely sure which one to pick...

IA32
AMD64
IA64

I'm assuming that the AMD is for Advanced Micro Devices? I'm not entirely sure what IA is at all...

[Darkbolt]

if im not mistaken
IA32 = intel architechture 32bit (x86)<---You want this

AMD64 = drivers for the AMD 64bit processor

IA64 = intel architechture 64 bit (ie the itanium)

[Disk Monkey]

I got it to work, I think...it displays the Nvidia logo when I start X.
Although I'm slightly confused on a few things...

1st off) When I went in to edit my xf86config file, it had a device in there that matched my card exactly. It was called "Geforce 2" and had the correct amount of VRAM. But I never configured such a card. I had it set to generic VGA so that I could get into X just to d/l the driver. Does the driver installation program automatically create an enty in xf86config? If I run kxconfig from KDE it shows that card as being the card selected. Is there anything else I need to do/worry about?

2nd thing) Now my monitor is all wonky and doesn't display quite right like it did before this entire endeavor. I used the values from the monitor's manual during XF86config but it still doesn't dispaly like it did from the original Slackware Install... Anybody know what do so about this?

[satchmo]

i had slack 9.1 and was a little overwhelmed being so new to linux, so i decided to try another flava for the fun of it...

JAMD was my next install. it is very friendly and pretty. easy for the newbie, but i don't think i will learn much about Linux.

I guess i will move to debian next, but slack is calling my name at night. it's like the fat girl at school kicked my assand i want one more round to set her straight.

Anyways, as a newbie should I ease into Linux with a Distro like JAMD and move back to slack when i am a little more knowledgable. Or should i just keep on like iam and try different distros and make my mind up for myself.

i guess option c is just suck it up reinstall slack and stop complaining.

[Darkbolt]

and once again we see slackware's addictive tendencies take hold of another innocent user...

[sclebo05]

no kidding. the name slack is dangerously similar to 'crack'. very addicting

use the jamd for a while longer. you will undoubtedly find little things you will have to configure by hand and that will teach you some things. when you are ready, consider making a separate slack partition - that way you can keep your jamd as a safety net if something goes horribly wrong. you will find many people here will have several linuxes installed at once, with one distro as thier 'old reliable'

[satchmo]

is there a way to create a partition (with jamd already installed) and sneak slack in there. then i could configure lilo and choose at boot which one to use

[JThundley]

Maybe you should give Mandrake a try, it's nice towards newbs. I'm gonna go check out slack right now too...

[automatic]

Well slackware is not recommended for a newbie but, it is not super hard to learn. I installed slackware 9.1 on mid of nov (been using knoppix for several months before). It was not smooth switch from knoppix (debian based) to slackware but i figure everything out in less than a week.

JAMD is easy to install and very nice too, basically RedHat (with JAMD logo) pre configure for desktop computing. But it is a bit out of date now, last update was July 2003.

Are you familiar with KNOPPIX live cd? its super easy and can be installed to your harddrive too ...

Joe-L

[satchmo]

booted knoppix briefly, but haven't had a chance to tinker with it much. i got obsessed with trying to cp filed from my floppy to certain directories in slack.

[automatic]

KNOPPIX
why don't you try type "knx-hdinstall" from command-line while using knoppix cd. Install knoppix on other partition and it will setup lilo with boot option, your old distro will be listed automatically.

MANDRAKE
sorry I forgot about this ... mandrake 9.2 is super nice and super easy both for newbie and for super user. You can build a single computer, a network workstation or a server . Support cutting edge technology and hardware. The update is greatly available too. Try it :-) you won't be disapointed.

Joe-L

[satchmo]

after knoppix installs, how do i create a another space for slack.

so 3 distros on one 20gig hd won't be too much?

[bwkaz]

Shouldn't be.

I usually allocate about 6 gigs per distro, but that's because I keep the source tarballs around for everything (I use LFS so I compile the entire system), and I need a lot of temporary drive space to do the compiling with. IIRC from when I used Mandrake (7.x/8.0/8.1), a full install with everything was like 4 gigs or so.

[automatic]

you want to install all those :eek: well you can use 'parted' in knoppix to create new partition or resize partition in your harddrive. I don't really know how to use parted, search this forum for more info on parted.

i'm using a 20gigs of hdd too, each distro only need 2 to 3gigs so 3 distro in one (20gigs) hdd (about 6gigs each) will be more than enough.

For a newbie you are very *****ious :D I think its a good way to learn linux ... good luck.

Joe-L

[voidinit]

Go with Slack!!!

Just kidding! Simply asess your time. Slack is going to force you to look up stuff and find specific solutions to problems. If you have the time, you will learn a lot getting Slack to bend to your whim. If you don't have the time and need a system running now go with something more user friendly.

[Satanic Atheist]

Slackware 9.1 is not super-hard. It's actually quite easy! I use it and I find it exceptionally stable, easily configurable and most of the stuff between distros is the same anyway (same packages might explain it...)

What I DO like about it above all else is the lack of dependencies. I hated RPMs with a passion because of the old "Chicken-and-egg" problem where a package won't install without something else and that package won't install without the one you're trying to install anyway!

You guys install on a 20Gb drive??? What the hell am I doing wrong? My Slackware installation is on a 30Gb drive all to itself! OK - I do reserve 20Gb for /usr since I install a LOT of software (and games - and the CDs often need to be copied completely). Thank God I have a 120Gb drive for data!!!

James

[pmrphs2002]

Holy Mother of God, JAMD is BEAUTIFUL.

Wow. I Do miss all my Mandrake apps, and i feel its pretty dumbed down.....but..... its just gorgeous!

Anybody else running this here?

[JamminJoeyB]

Post your X86Config file. That will help us to see if there is a problem.

[Disk Monkey]

I posted the pertinent parts in another thread in the X-windows/GUI forums. Only now I can't get into X-windows anymore. And using Vi, Emacs, or Joe to view or edit the xf86config file doesn't work...nothing shows up.

[hard candy]

DickMonkey, I would just run "xfconfig" and start over. Choose the generic nvidia driver "nv" for right now. Get your video working and into a desktop. Then you can change things later.
And DickMonkey, here is a good site for X config in slackware-
Slackware Book (http://www.slackware.com/book/index.php?source=c1364.html)

[drfelip]

I realize many people think their favorite distro is the BEST one... So I won't ask wich is better :>)

In your opinion, what are the most polished distros? Preferabilly the free ones.

For "polished" I mean professional-looking, with few bugs... And what other pros-cons such distros have.

Thanks for your attention!

[Wolface]

I saw the new SuSE 9.0 and so far I haven't seen anything more polished ,more bloated too though not as much as red hat , so far.

[drfelip]

I realize many people think their favorite distro is the BEST one... So I won't ask wich is better :> )

In your opinion, what are the most polished distros? Preferabilly the free ones.

For "polished" I mean professional-looking, with few bugs... And what other pros-cons such distros have.

Thanks for your attention!

[hard candy]

Mepis (http://www.mepis.org/)

[Icarus]

This is really an opinion thread, so /dev/random it is :)

I think SuSE has a very slick and polished look, very usuable also
Mandrake is getting there but still seems admin-unfriendly (to me) more geared for the newbie.
Fedora is what I like using, but it's kind of the opposite of Mandrake...user-unfriendly but admin-friendly

[drfelip]

Originally posted by hard candy
Mepis (http://www.mepis.org/)

I red that Mepis is based on Debian unstable... How unstable it is? Also, how much "bloated" do you feel it? It's KDE-only or also comes with Gnome?

Thanks in advance!

[hard candy]

Check out the Mepis forums. I haven't found it to be unstable at all. You have to keep in mind that to a Debian distro, anything released in the last 2 years is "unstable". :)

[o0zi]

Are there any distros which currently have captive-ntfs pre-installed? I hear Knoppix may include it at some point.

[Sepero]

Originally posted by drfelip
I red that Mepis is based on Debian unstable... How unstable it is?Anyone that is afraid of Debian unstable has probably never used it. Most of Debian unstable is probably more stable than Microsoft XP.

Debian stable is almost GARAUNTEED to never, ever, ever, ever crash. It is Truely Server grade material, but it has pretty old software.

On the Desktop you will want the newest software. The newest software is found in Debian unstable.

[blackbelt_jones]

Red Hat is great for beginners like me and has a lot of nice touches (for example, out of the box, I think that RedHat may be the only distro I've used that allows me to use the wheel on my scroll mouse.), and RPM makes some installations easy.

Slackware is extrememly stable and reliable, out of the box.

My favorite distro is Debian-- I love the seven disks of software, all neatly indexed under apt-get, the flexibility, its FSF lineage, and the fact that it automatically installs wvdial ( I still get a charge out of logging onto the internet from the command line) but the stable verson of debian contains an older kernel that doesn't support ALSA, so it doesn't support my soundcard. I tried to install a new kernel but it didn't quite work. Someday, when I get a new computer or a new soundcard or debian releases its next stable version-- or I get smart enough to work this out-- debian will be my full-time distro-- and that will be a happy day at the Jones house.

But I love fooling around with different distros. There may be such a thing as "the best distro", but I doubt it, and if there is, I am not one who is qualified to judge. Hell, I'm not about to argue with someone who prefers a different veersion of Linux when there are all these damn fools running around using WINDOWS XP... know what I mean?
;)

[mmills]

what is your opinion of the best linux distro, include driver support and extra added features.

post linux download urls aswell.

[JayMan8081]

I think that Arch Linux is the best distro. It provides a base install and lets the user fully customize the packages installed. It has a good list of packages and a great package management program in pacman. Overall very good for users who only want the programs that they use regularly with nothing they don't use.

[trouble.ted]

I've only tried Redhat, SuSE and Mandrake. I belive that SuSE is a very good os. Also I like the KDE desktop best of all

[dindin101]

Hi I'm fedup with redhat 8.

Can u any one tell me which linux distu will do all this

1. read NTFS drives (with out me playing wit kernal)
2. Play wmv,wma, divx files
3. my messanger and internet thing
4. have to be free i dont want lindows :(

any help much appreciated

[trouble.ted]

My SuSE reads my windows drives, I didn't have to set anything up or nothing. There is also a program called wine check into that to run some windows stuff

[teeitup]

I've been a long time user of Debian. Since Potato anyway. It has done everything I ever wanted it to do. It does take some work to make it a great workstation.

After reading some reviews I bit the bullet and purchased Libranet 2.8.1.
This is a truely wonderful product. I have installed it on at least 8 machines now. Compaq Deskpro, Dell Optiplex, clones, and a Compaq laptop.

It installed perfectly on all of the boxes. Nvidia drivers were installed on the boxes that needed them. All the major desktops..KDE, Gnome, IceWM, Fluxbox and others were included.

Xmms, mplayer, xine, ogle are installed by default.

It's based on debian so I was able to apt-get anything that wasn't included. This makes it easy to keep up to date.

Adminmenu makes administration very easy. It will set up true type fonts for you. Add extra fonts if needed. Manage users, Browser Plugins, install Java, configure network cards, support even provied a script to update the kernel to 2.4.23 for the latest security fix. 2.4.21 is the default.

If I divide the cost by the number of machines that I have installed it on I'm around $5.00 a copy.

If your willing to spend a few bucks you will not be disappointed!

[knute]

Originally posted by dindin101
Hi I'm fedup with redhat 8.

Can u any one tell me which linux distu will do all this

1. read NTFS drives (with out me playing wit kernal)
2. Play wmv,wma, divx files
3. my messanger and internet thing
4. have to be free i dont want lindows :(

any help much appreciated

If you want to do all that w/o installing modules and a certain amount of configuring, you're out of luck.

NTFS needs to have drivers for it. That's all that a module is. It's a linux driver. So that would have to be installed... Not a hard process, btw.

But any distro would do what you want. Just make sure that it's a recent version and it'll work.

I use mplayer, or xine to play movies.

Gaim for messenger in the gui, or centericq for console.

Most distros are available for download from iso sites. A google search will reveal them.

HTH

[DSwain]

Mandrake will do a perfect job on all of those out of the box other than the wmv files probably, but any distro can do those, bare that in mind.

[dindin101]

Thanks Guys i go 4 the Mandrake

[DSwain]

Well I'd say good choice to that. I think its one of the best win-tranfeerer distro's you can get. And, gernerally powerful overall.

[tash]

Hey I have two quick questions one is what is the mirror for all the linux distro dl's and the second what linux distro should I use I had red hat given to me but the chd's I just tested and they are bad so I now need to dl them. Anyhow I want to know what distro to use to set up a webserver and an ftp on my system as well as do regular copmuter functions.

TIA,

kaTASHtrafe

[jme]

Hi there and welcome to JL.

Question #1: You will find the ISO images of most of the avaliable linux distros at www.linuxiso.org - or at least this will be a great place to start looking for a distro.

Question #2: As for which distribution to use you it might be a good idea to try one of the distribvutions that is geared towards the beginner such as RH or Mandrake. Your best bet would be to go to the massive "which distro?" thread which can be found here (http://justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110030)

All the best.
Jme

[juglugs]

OK, so I've officially promoted myself beyond Newbie...

I've been using Mandrake since it was 8.2 and I now ONLY use linux on my machine...

However, I'm told that the other distro's (Slackware etc.) are MUCH faster than Mandrake....

I haven't tried them, but I don't wanna lose all my settings etc. - will my /home partition be preserved (I think so) and will my settings remain set for my KDE stuff?

Which is the best distro to try out next? I'm at advanced newbie level....

[b00zer]

I assume you mean preserving /home/username to mean that you still want it to be /home/username on your new distro as well?

If so, i've read and heard that that's probably not a good idea since different distro's do things differently, like .config file locations and such.

As far as which distro to try now, i'd say go for either slack, gentoo and/or debian unstable.

[roamingnomad]

Yeah, one of those. As many have said before me, Gentoo is easy to install IF you can 1) read and 2) follow instructions.

...

Well, it's easy if you don't have a family who want's to use your computer....

[capaci]

i like gentoo a lot since i've started using it. i don't ever want to go back to rpms and the dependency crap. emerge!!!

[DSwain]

i like gentoo a lot since i've started using it. i don't ever want to go back to rpms and the dependency crap. emerge!!!

good point their, but they do have Apt for RPM now, so it isn't quite as bad. I've heard that Portge is good (i think that's what its called) but it sounds like it takes way too long to download/install and too hard to configure. As b00zer said, if you can read and follow instructions, its suppost to go over pretty darn well. maybe another day for me....when i can get better with linux in general.

I gave Debian a shot a long while back....took 7 hours.....X didn't work....never got it to work properly for me again.....

I'd have to hand it to Slack out of the 3. But, obviously this is your choice (you'll probably improve more than me too if you challenge yourself, so go for something hard if you wish)

[hardcore]

Gentoo is a great distro, optimized programs for your computer, and it is actually really easy to configure. There are guides on gentoo.org for everything you could possibly need to do. Compiling initially will take a good amount of time, but upgrades aren't bad.

If you've got a decent system, the compilations won't be too bad.

[tmcG]

Hi juglugs!

I am in a very similar situation! I learnt the basics on Mandrake/Red Hat (but now use only Mandrake) and have since discovered Slackware (I love it!:))
So I recommend Slack 9.1.
It is great if you want to get in "under to hood" and mess around with configurations that are all text file based and no wizards. I have learnt more from using Slack for the last three months that in a year of using Mandrake!

There are two great tools for package management for Slack known as Swaret (http://swaret.org) and Slapt-Get (http://software.jaos.org/)

They both check dependencies and make life easier (much like Gentoo's portage and Debian Apt).

[capaci]

Originally posted by DSwain
good point their, but they do have Apt for RPM now, so it isn't quite as bad. I've heard that Portge is good (i think that's what its called) but it sounds like it takes way too long to download/install and too hard to configure. As b00zer said, if you can read and follow instructions, its suppost to go over pretty darn well. maybe another day for me....when i can get better with linux in general.



gentoo takes a while to initially install...took me about a day with an athlon 1.3 wth 768 ram. i think it was well worth the wait. portage is very easy to use and the system is easy to configure in general. gentoo.org has a great community that can help you with any problem with the distro. i don't think i will ever get rid of gentoo...i will try other distros, but i think i will always have at least one machine with gentoo on it at all times.

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by juglugs

Which is the best distro to try out next? I'm at advanced newbie level....

Have you had a look through the very, very long 'Best Distro' thread here in /dev/random?

[Mustard Duster]

I would install Slackware 9.1 and then give Gentoo a try. Slackware can be installed in around 30 min, and wasn't hard at all. It did however, have trouble installing lilo on my machine. Gentoo can take a long time to install, and if you are like me and only have 1 pc, and you want to be on it all the time, it takes parts of 2-3 days. (letting kde, gnome compile overnight) I must say it is much more rewarding installing one of these distros then it is with Mandrake / Red Hat. They don't do everything for you and its a good learning experience.

[DSwain]

thats a good point. there is something about installing a source distro, and using a text menu (or command line in gentoo's case) that is very satisfying. What's really satisfying, though is when you compile/install your first kernel, and have it work (just did it today myself) but, still gotta work on sound.

ps- mdwatts..... been a long while o.O

[mengle]

Yeah, I started with Mandrake but finally got passed the point where I needed it to hold my hand. Then I treid Gentoo. It took me a long time and a lot of patience to get Gentoo back to where Mandrake was but I'd have to say that I've learned a hell of a lot more installing Gentoo that from everything previously I'd learned from Mandrake. Plus, the portage system is great.

I've never tried Debian (other than knoppix) or slackware so I can't say much there. Good luck!

[croberts]

Thinking of switching from Mandrake 9.0 to a different distro. Not sure which one would be best for me since I'm still a little new to Linux. If I change to let's say, SuSe for TurboLinux for example, will I lose all of my data in the install(upgrade)? Or will I keep the applications and just change distros?
Also, if I stick to Mandrake and upgrade to 9.2 is it just an upgrade or do I format and start over?
Anything you can help me on I would appreciate the gesture.
Thanks...Chris

[hard candy]

How about installing a newer distro on a separate partition? Then you could try it out before installing it. You can transfer your data to the new home directory. And if you decide to make it your main distro, back up your data to cd, usb key, etc and reinstall. When you upgrade there is usually an option to keep current data, settings.

[satimis]

Hi folks,

Has any folk tested

cAos -- Community Linux
http://caosity.org/

What is your comment?

TIA

B.R.
satimis

[mdwatts]

Moving to /dev/random.

[teedd]

Im running RH9 and as its going to stop being supported in April im thinking of moving to a Diff distro, I have heard allot about Fedora, Its ment to be RedHat with a diff name. So I wanted to know if this means RPM's for RedHat would work on it. Also I thought about Linux Mandrake because its quite a big linux os and I want some thing with lots of support ie lots of software written for it.

What do you think, I purly want to use my linux os to learn linux and just to play about with.

Thanks

Dan

[voidinit]

Originally posted by teedd

What do you think, I purly want to use my linux os to learn linux and just to play about with.

Thanks

Dan

If you want to learn and sweat a bit try Slackware (http://www.slackware.com) or Debian (http://www.debian.org). It's not easy, but if learning is what you want.........

[Sepero]

Originally posted by teedd
What do you think, I purly want to use my linux os to learn linux and just to play about with.For Learning: LFS (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/) Slackware (http://www.slackware.com) Gentoo (http://www.gentoolinux.org/)
For Playing: Mandrake (http://www.mandrakelinux.com/)
For realworld use: Debian (www.debian.org) ;) :D


Anyways, here's the REAL which distro thread:
http://justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110030

[mdwatts]

Moving to /dev/random where the other 'best distro' threads reside.

Besides the link Sepero posted, have a search in /dev/random for 'fedora' as I believe this question has been asked and answered a few times recently.

[teedd]

thanks for the feedback, i like the look of gentoo but have a few quiestions about it, installing Aps 1 is there allot of programs written for it, and installing programs is it as easy as rpms or do you have to mess about with tar.gz files. Also if i did install it i duel boot with xp at the moment and red hat asks me what to boot into would gentoo know xp was there or would i have to tell it this.

Also can i just install over RedHat or not?

thanks

Dan

[teedd]

also how easy is it to install?

Dan

[serz]

Yes you can install it over Red Hat.

The Gentoo install is easy as long as you can follow the install directions.

To install packages, Gentoo uses something called "Portage", which downloads the package want, it compiles it and then it installs, that's all automatic.

[teedd]

without sounding dumb do tar.gz files install and work on it ok?

[spaceboy99]

I have a friend who just got an Athlon64 system. He's running WinXP on it right now, but I think I've convinced him to try linux (since XP doesn't really take advantage of his processor). I'm curious which distros I could recommend to him, the main criteria being (a) it should be available as 64-bit, and (b) I'd prefer a gnome-based distro.

Any suggestions?

spaceboy99

[GlennaclawZ]

yes, tar.gz files work on all linux distros because they are all the source code for the embeded compiler.

[GlennaclawZ]

Originally posted by Sepero
For Learning: LFS (http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/) Slackware (http://www.slackware.com) Gentoo (http://www.gentoolinux.org/)
For Playing: Mandrake (http://www.mandrakelinux.com/)
For realworld use: Debian (www.debian.org) ;) :D


man that hurts just hearin that even though its the truth cuz I just recently changed from slackware to mandrake and the makes me feel like a big noob when u say mandrake is for playing... :(

[Sarbar]

Mandrake has a 64-bit version out. Try that.

[Calipso]

i believe mandrake has a vers for the 64 bit proccessors.
dont know about any other ones.

[Sarbar]

I am planning to move to a new distro because dont really like Mandrake. What do you think would be best for learning how to use command line, running servers, and general work(including programming and multimedia)? Thanks Guys, I always get an answer in this forum :)

[madcompnerd]

Running servers...Debian should be pretty easy to get things going on.
Everything works fine for general work.
Learning to use command line, cut off all the strings and helpful interfaces. Install slackware. Actually, dual boot slackware and freebsd, it should give you a nice background on command lines :).

I use Arch as my general purpose main distribution. I've found it to be very difficult to crash, no matter how bad of code I run on it. It's rediculously stable for using such late code. I would probably use Gentoo, but I don't consider current desktop technology to be at the level of compiling it's own code. 30 minutes is too long to upgrade versions of Mozilla. In five years though, I will probably be using a source distribution.

[Sarbar]

How many of the 7 debian disks will I need?

[Sepero]

Originally posted by Sarbar
How many of the 7 debian disks will I need? If you have a inet connection to your box, then you should only need thte first one. You can download anything else you need from there. You should probably know some CLI before taking on Debian, though.

[Sarbar]

Ill, be blunt, whats CLI???

[jailbreaker]

Command line Interface

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by Sarbar
How many of the 7 debian disks will I need?

In all actuality, you only need the first one. The other disks are pretty much the same...they just all have different kernels on them. That and some different packages. But since you can apt all those as you need to I would go that route instead of downloading all those cds. For more info

http://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#which-cd

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by spaceboy99
I have a friend who just got an Athlon64 system. He's running WinXP on it right now, but I think I've convinced him to try linux (since XP doesn't really take advantage of his processor). I'm curious which distros I could recommend to him, the main criteria being (a) it should be available as 64-bit, and (b) I'd prefer a gnome-based distro.

Any suggestions?

spaceboy99

SuSe is ready to rock as far as 64 bit goes.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by madcompnerd
. 30 minutes is too long to upgrade versions of Mozilla.

Why is it taking you 30 minutes to upgrade Mozilla? M/B you should think about an ADSL connection.

[bosox79]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
In all actuality, you only need the first one. The other disks are pretty much the same...they just all have different kernels on them. That and some different packages. But since you can apt all those as you need to I would go that route instead of downloading all those cds. For more info

http://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#which-cd
You may want to give knoppix or MEPIS a shot they are Debian based and they are Live CD's so you can test them out before you install them to your HD and the hardware auto detection is great

[Sepero]

Originally posted by JohnT
Why is it taking you 30 minutes to upgrade Mozilla? M/B you should think about an ADSL connection. He was talking about the compile time it takes for Gentoo.

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by bosox79
You may want to give knoppix or MEPIS a shot they are Debian based and they are Live CD's so you can test them out before you install them to your HD and the hardware auto detection is great

Good idea. I may go the knoppix route on my next install.

[hard candy]

Haven't tried it, sounds pretty good. Some folks will say why do we need another distro? I say because some folks like chocolate ice cream, some like pistachio, and then there are some who like chocolate-pistachio. :)
More distros, more ideas, more choice. Too bad windows isn't open source- we would have Windows3.0 all the way to WinXP2004.1.20!
Let us know how it turns out.

[emactive]

I installed slack 9.1 a couple weeks ago. Since then i've learned alot. More than what i've learned within a week using Redhat/Fedora.

[Changeling]

First off I have no version of Linux. I am building a new system and want to run Linux and get away from MS.
SuSE 9 was recommended on another website by a person well versed in the different versions I think. I would just like more than one opinion since I know nothing about Linux. What do you guys think?

[mdwatts]

Moving to /dev/random so you can also have a look through the very, very long 'Best/Which distro' sticky thread and all the others below that one. Lots of opinions from our JL members.

Best to do the research yourself to see which is best suited for your needs and hardware.

[Darkbolt]

I happen to like 2.4.23, but then again, I have yet to get 2.4.24, or 2.6.1

[mdwatts]

Originally posted by Darkbolt
I happen to like 2.4.23, but then again, I have yet to get 2.4.24, or 2.6.1

Distro or kernel version? :confused:

[OTP]

Tell us what you like to do and we will tell you what distro you will probably enjoy the most.

[MorphiusFaydal]

Originally posted by Darkbolt
I happen to like 2.4.23, but then again, I have yet to get 2.4.24, or 2.6.1

i happen to use slackware 9.1 default... 2.4.22 myself..

i will start usin 2.6.x when slackware has a full release that includes it..

chris

[mengle]

First off I have no version of Linux. I am building a new system and want to run Linux and get away from MS.

Most people find it's generally easiest to start with Mandrake, Fedora (Red Hat), SuSe, or MEPIS. I believe SuSe is the only one your required to pay $ for but I could be wrong.

I started with Mandrake and it was a good for me.

Welcome.

[Darkbolt]

Originally posted by mdwatts
Distro or kernel version? :confused:
Before you merged it, the thread was named 'which linux is best', or something to that effect atleast. So i told him my opinion on it :p

[Hmse]

I just wanted to know if anyone here use's Gento Linux? Because I'm building a linux box and that was the version of Linux I was thinking off using. I just want to know if it's very good or not.

Hmse

[UID500]

I just wanted to know if anyone here use's Gento Linux?
I doubt it, but i bet some people use Gentoo Linux. heh

I'm sure people that use it will say it's good...that's why they use it. It's prolly the biggest fairly "new" distro around.

It's a little harder than say mandrake/red hat for a noob. plus it takes a long time to install things and update because you compile things. but your sig says "Programer" so i suspect that's something like a programmer or maybe it's "pro gamer," so you shouldn't mind.

[Helper_Monkey]

I have been using gentoo for about a year now, I really do love it. It is not a noob distro though, all of the install is through the command line, all of the config is through the command line. However, as long as you have a little bit of experience and some patience, you will be just fine. There is great documentation at gentoo.org, and the forums there are also great resources for any problems that you may be having.
If you do go with gentoo, be prepared for +- an entire day to install the system. This will partially depend on the speed of your system (You can speed things up if you use binaries for the huge packages (kde, openoffice.org).

The beauty of gentoo is portage which really makes installing/ updating packages easy.

[DerekKraan]

I use it, and I will never go back. I'm addicted to portage. Like the person above said, it's not for noobs. If you can talk your way through the installation manual that they have on the site and understand most things they're asking you to do, you shouldn't have too much of a problem with it.

[Carl_1]

Just wondering what you think the best distro is for linux newbies? I am in mandrake but its not working that well, and tried redhat but didnt like it much.

[DerekKraan]

Essentially the best distro for newbies is the one that your geek friend has. ;)

But if you're on your own you could try Mandrake(sorry that its not working out for you. :P), Suse(never tried it, but it's supposed to be cool), Xandros(pretty newbie friendly from what I hear), or Lindows(you have to pay for it though). There are other options I'm sure. I've only tried mandrake out of that list though. The rest I've listed based on reputation.

[serz]

The most recommended are: Red Hat (or what is Fedora now), SuSE and Mandrake...

You may want to take a look to the Which Distro thread (http://www.justlinux.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=110030), it's big :)

Moving to /dev/random.

[Carl_1]

My friend also recommened SuSe, so I might try it, havent decided yet. :)
Xandros wants money to.

[DerekKraan]

And that is the beauty of Linux; choice.

[iamchilled1]

I use it too. If you can get thru the install you will like it too. My advice is too print out the install instructions. read them first, then follow the instructions step by step. don't get impatient. it will take a while.... you will like portage

[DerekKraan]

It's also possible to install Gentoo from an already installed distro, as long as the kernel has all the stuff that Gentoo requires. That's what I did, and it made the installation process a lot easier.

[Crashcourse]

Mandrake 9.1 is free, nice and stable.

[Carl_1]

Im using Mandrake right now, but it has this -thing- with not installing and of the RPMs wether or not I have the deps.

[AndrewLubinus89]

google search for urpmi. Also face it, they all have that problem. Say you wanted to install frozen bubble on your rh distro and it doesn't install because it is missing some weird perl library it won't work if you compile it from source either. Urpmi and apt-get solve dependencies but they aren't perfect.

[Ocasta]

I've found Suse 9 to be EXTREMELY user friendly. I've only used Mandrake before, though. Yast in Suse helps make the transisition from windows much more smooth than my experience with Mandrake has been.

The thing that I've learned from linux in spite of the problems I had in the beginning is with the individual programs themselves, the actual operating system has been quite marvelous.

[Carl_1]

I was going to change to SuSe but you have to pay dont you. So I decided not to.

[X_console]

I like it because everything is optimized for your system from the start.

[JohnT]

MEPIS Linux.......http://www.mepis.org/

XP/NTFS support, ACPI power management, WiFi support, personal firewall, KDE 3.1.4, OpenOffice 1.1, Mozilla 1.5, and much more.

The most newbie-friendly at the moment. Your best bet it to buy the cd from http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/cart.php/ba/pdtl/product/238
I have ordered from these folks for several years and never a bad burn, They are ontime delivering and cheap.

[Trogdor]

I use it, and like it a lot.

[bosox79]

Originally posted by JohnT
MEPIS Linux.......http://www.mepis.org/

XP/NTFS support, ACPI power management, WiFi support, personal firewall, KDE 3.1.4, OpenOffice 1.1, Mozilla 1.5, and much more.

The most newbie-friendly at the moment. Your best bet it to buy the cd from http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/cart.php/ba/pdtl/product/238
I have ordered from these folks for several years and never a bad burn, They are ontime delivering and cheap.

Iwill have to throw in a vote for MEPIS also ;)

[bandwidth_pig]

MEPIS or Fedora.

[bandwidth_pig]

I use it. And I too like it. It's a bit of a oddity in terms of a install IMHO but aside from that, it's quite good.

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by Trogdor
I use it, and like it a lot.

That image...is that from Half Life?

[pvd212]

___------------------____________-_----_-__---_--_--
DerekKraan

It's also possible to install Gentoo from an already installed distro, as long as the kernel has all the stuff that Gentoo requires. That's what I did, and it made the installation process a lot easier.
_-_-_-_----------------_-_______________-__-__-

i have heard about that. can you pleas post some more info on building gentoo from a already runing OS, like say slackware9.1 runing the 2.6 kernel on i686/i386 machine

[bosox79]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
MEPIS or Fedora.

I say try both :D e.g install fedora and run MEPIS from the CD, or install both to your HD if space permits. right now I am spending most of my time in MEPIS ;) I went ahead with the HD install

[Helper_Monkey]

The only way to install gentoo is from an already working distro (usually a livecd). If you take a look at the documentation at gentoo.org there is info about how to install from another linux distro.

[Trogdor]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
That image...is that from Half Life?

w00t, yeah!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALTER!!!

[Tekmaven]

I've been a Gentoo user for about 4 days, and I'm quite happy with it. If you can figure it out, I highly reccomend it.

[soda_popstar]

Ever since I started using Linux, I've been distribution-hopping. But the one that I stuck with the most is Gentoo. I learned a lot while using it and it's a little faster than RPM distributions too. And Portage is the best package management system, in my opinion. :D It actually doesn't take too long to install. Since it's your first install, go with Stage 3 + GRP. You might not know what that means right now, but you will when you read the install manual. But in a nutshell, it means that you'll be using precompiled binaries rather than compiling everything from source.

Gentoo is lots of fun! :p

[JohnT]

bosox79

right now I am spending most of my time in MEPIS.



If you get a chance stop by and so hello to Elvis.:D

[azambuja]

Originally posted by Carl_1
I was going to change to SuSe but you have to pay dont you. So I decided not to.
I've never installed it myself but I think there's a way of installing it without paying anything... an ftp install or something... I've heard about it but don't remember.

Anyways... just not sure that's true

[Pafnoutios]

Originally posted by Carl_1
I was going to change to SuSe but you have to pay dont you. So I decided not to.

No, you don't have to pay. If you go to www.suse.com, clock on the 'Home Users' or 'Home Version' (or whatever) link, then the 'Download' link you can download a boot.iso to install SUSE 9.0 from an ftp server (or download the entire ftp tree to a local storage). I installed SUSE 9.0 on my wife's computer this weekend. It's working great. The only thing that's not working, despite the apparently great support SUSE has for TV tuner cards, is the TV tuner; however, my wife's tuner is built in to her graphics card and that might be why SUSE couldn't detect it. I would definitely reccomend SUSE, try it. Redhat is discontinuing their home desktop line anyway.

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by Trogdor
w00t, yeah!!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALTER!!!

:D I thought that looked familar. That has to be one of the best games I have ever played. I can't wait for the new one to come out.

[deathadder]

I used Gentoo for a while, but it took to long to do anything with it on my old machine, I will try it again when I get some better hardware, so I'd say if you've got a semi decent computer, hardware wise then give it a shot its not for everyone though.

[dietrichw]

I have proudly moved from Red Hat to SuSE. For me, SuSE's Yast and Yast2 are what make SuSE superior to the other.

[Pafnoutios]

I've been thinking about installing Gentoo onto my computer. Since Redhat is no longer supporting 8.0, I need to switch to something else. I already installed SUSE on my wife's computer, but I want something more geekish for mine. I have two main requirements for my next distrobution. Portage, it seems, will fulfill my requirement for a package update utility of some sort. But I also want vanilla kernels. Does Gentoo use vanilla kernels or modified ones? I've been having problems getting a DVD player to work with my dxr3 decoder card, so I want vanilla kernels to maximize my chance of success. That DVD problem is almost my only reason for keeping my Windows dual boot (that and a few games).

[Tekmaven]

Originally posted by Pafnoutios
I've been thinking about installing Gentoo onto my computer. Since Redhat is no longer supporting 8.0, I need to switch to something else. I already installed SUSE on my wife's computer, but I want something more geekish for mine. I have two main requirements for my next distrobution. Portage, it seems, will fulfill my requirement for a package update utility of some sort. But I also want vanilla kernels. Does Gentoo use vanilla kernels or modified ones? I've been having problems getting a DVD player to work with my dxr3 decoder card, so I want vanilla kernels to maximize my chance of success. That DVD problem is almost my only reason for keeping my Windows dual boot (that and a few games).

Vanilla kernels are available in Gentoo linux. Gentoo-Portage.com, a site that I've stumbled on, is a great site to see what you can "emerge" (the command that installs). vanilla-sources available :-). http://www.gentoo-portage.com/browse-portage.php?category=73

[goon12]

I am trying to install Gentoo, but I am having a problem with the emerge-sync ( I just moved and the cable company hasnt been by yet to hook me up ) - Can I install Gentoo off the 2 cd's and skip the emerge-sync step?

I didnt even bother trying yet - I will if I can skip that part for now, and do it later.

goon12

[Hmse]

Ok sorry for not getting back to you guys sooner.
I am not really a noobie to linux, but not a master either :p
I've been using Debian for about a year now, and I'm not really liking it that much, (as in the inerface and stuff like that.)
Now the installing stuff I think I'll be fine, cuz I'm confident in my capabiliy with the command line :D
NOw I'm asuming that I'm just gonna d/l Gento and put it on a cd to install it. I know it's more complicated than that, but that's the basis of it right? Or am I totally wrong?
Thx for all the positive response's :D

Hmse.

[Hmse]

Originally posted by UID500
It's a little harder than say mandrake/red hat for a noob. plus it takes a long time to install things and update because you compile things. but your sig says "Programer" so i suspect that's something like a programmer or maybe it's "pro gamer," so you shouldn't mind.

I am a beginner programer, "C, and NQC" But I am a little familler with comppiling and all the good stuff, so I should be ok :d

[Trogdor]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
:D I thought that looked familar. That has to be one of the best games I have ever played. I can't wait for the new one to come out.

I'm all set for HL2. I got a new video card (+$214) that came with a coupon for HL2 (-$80) and I wrote it off as a business expence (-$43). I need a video card to use the computer, which is used for business email. :P

[UID500]

Originally posted by Trogdor
I'm all set for HL2. I got a new video card (+$214) that came with a coupon for HL2 (-$80) and I wrote it off as a business expence (-$43). I need a video card to use the computer, which is used for business email. :P


hehe, i got the ati radeon 9600XT so ill get it free also...if it ever comes out, that is. :eek:

[GlennaclawZ]

I am going to dual boot my computer soon and I found myself trying to decide whether I should do a mandrake/windows ME dual boot or a Mandrake/Slackware dual boot.

I am leaning alittle more towards the mandrake/windows because my line of work (game development) uses alot of programs that I just cant get to work on my linux box. However, I do have another computer that has only windows on it but it is not fully mine.

Another option obviously is to do a Slackware/Windows dual boot but Im not exactly sure if I should go that route.

Yet another factor is that I am fully devoted to linux and I would like to learn more and as I have heard mandrake definately isnt the distro for learning as much as I would like to.

Plz help,
GlennaclawZ

[bsm2001]

do a windows/gentoo dual boot.

[tmcG]

Hi glennaclawZ

I have that exact setup!

I use windows 2000 and dual boot with Mandrake 9.1 and Slackware 9.1

I have no problems in using either distros with the NTFS partiton as I have the NTFS modules compilted into the kernels so I can read the windows paritions. I use NTFS as read-only with Linux as it is unstable for read/write.

I guess you need to see what you will be using Linux for. I cut my teeth on Mandrake, it is easy to use and learn linux with and "graduated" to Slack once I was more familiar with the command line, etc and have not looked back! In fact, I have not booted into my Mandrake installation in about a month!

you could always do what I did and install both Mandrake and Slack! (if you have room on your HDD):)

[GlennaclawZ]

thanks for the reply guys.

I have the room for all 3 but I dont want to have all that hassle because I only have 2 hard drives and I would like it to be simply that. I dont want to go through the trouble of 1: partitioning and 2: the read/write problem.

also... what are the specs on gentoo. Is it between mandrake and slackware on the learn:play ratio? or what?


thanks,
GlennaclawZ

[j79zlr]

its past slackware on the learning curve

[u3mike]

Gentoo is easy. Just make sure you print out the guide. Follow it step by step and you have no problems. The most advanced thing you have to do is configure your bootloader by hand. Although mandrake and slackware are probally easyer yet :D I don't mind the little bit of extra effort for a fast distro.

[Carl_1]

Im using SuSe and its great thanks everyone :D

[dboyer]

Id say you only need 1 linux partition.. linux is linux, after all...

From what i heard, gentoo is all about installation... once everything is set up, less tweaking is neede than, say, slackware... slackware is a bit easier to setup (just pick binaries and hit okay, for the most part) but to me it seems like an everlasting configuration adventure (something i happen to enjoy).

Id say go with slackware... if nothing else, it has a cool name :-)

[Mr. Krinkle]

I'm running Mandrake and I'm about to set up another pc as a webserver. People tell me that for a webserver, Redhat(/Fedora) is better. I've always heard this and I'm not denying it, but I want to understand how/why?

I could understand if it's just because redhat has a better support agreement when you pay for it, but just purely from a technical perspective, why isn't Mandrake as good for a server environment, what optimization is redhat (or the other linuxes) doing? Or is it all just marketing bs, and in reality they're both just as good.

As for ease of use/installing stuff, mandrake seems massively better than redhat/fedora.

[j79zlr]

FreeBSD is better than both :p

[Mr. Krinkle]

Originally posted by j79zlr
FreeBSD is better than both :p

FreeBSD is like a totally seperate flavor of unix right- not even linux per se, but a different unix that happens to run on x86 too, right? And the reason it's better than mandrake is because of... stability and robustness in general?

[Sepero]

If I had to choose between Redhat and Mandrake for server use, I would choose Redhat. Redhat's design is aimed at servers and enterprise. Mandrake is mainly designed for desktop use.

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by j79zlr
FreeBSD is better than both :p

I'll give you an amen to that! :D

[JesterDev]

I'm reading Running Linux 4th Edition (great book btw) and I got to thinking. I've never really done a install by hand. It's always been via some sort of installer. Even my first attempt back in '95 was done by an installer. So I thought since I have VMWARE for linux, I might as well put it to use.

What I want to do is find a (well documented) small linux distro that I could learn to install by hand with. Something that I can fit on a single cd.

Any suggestions for distro's, documentation and the like?

[Darkbolt]

slackware 9.0

[splyderman]

I have tried many, from as/400 to BEos, to TinyOS, SharkOS, etc. Personally I have found that SuSE evaluation cd is one of the best routes to take provided your machine is pentium capable. All you have to do is download the ISO image from the SuSE website under the download section, burn it onto cd, then reboot (of course setting your BIOS boot options to boot off the cd first). Then bing, bam - it install a small file on your C:\ (mostly config files, etc) and your good to go to whatever you want.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by u3mike
Gentoo is easy. Just make sure you print out the guide. Follow it step by step and you have no problems. The most advanced thing you have to do is configure your bootloader by hand. Although mandrake and slackware are probally easyer yet :D I don't mind the little bit of extra effort for a fast distro.

How in in all honesty can you equate Slackware and Mandrake?:confused:

[Mr. Krinkle]

Originally posted by Sepero
If I had to choose between Redhat and Mandrake for server use, I would choose Redhat. Redhat's design is aimed at servers and enterprise. Mandrake is mainly designed for desktop use.

Yea I know that. My question was WHY, HOW. "what optimization is redhat (or the other linuxes) doing?" What makes redhat better as a server?

[jedthehumanoid]

Originally posted by Mr. Krinkle
Yea I know that. My question was WHY, HOW. "what optimization is redhat (or the other linuxes) doing?" What makes redhat better as a server?

Hello Mr. Krinkle, how are you today?

I think Red Hat would be better in that less optimizations have been set up by default thereby not wasting resources on things you don't need. For example, if I was going to set up a webserver, I'd set up an old machine and install debian or a bsd because it is 'lighter' by default. Does that make sense?

[Hayl]

Originally posted by jedthehumanoid
Hello Mr. Krinkle, how are you today?

I think Red Hat would be better in that less optimizations have been set up by default thereby not wasting resources on things you don't need. For example, if I was going to set up a webserver, I'd set up an old machine and install debian or a bsd because it is 'lighter' by default. Does that make sense?

i hate to post in /dev/random

but i have to agree with this... debian / bsd will get u a far more stable server in addition to being lighter OS's

[JohnT]

I would just run it without the case, then it would be even lighter.:p

[UID500]

I was a redhat guy for years, messed with almost every other linux. mandrake i always liked because it had a great installer and i used it on my home box lots.

but then i tried freebsd. i had a fairly good understanding of *nix going in. i have to say, IMO, freebsd is the fastest most stable *nix os i have used...and it does run very light. it's very streamlined.

i no longer waste time doing installs or sitting in RPM dependency hell. ports just rocks my *** off. i spend time tweaking and configuring, not working out odd issues due to installs/upgrades.

not trying to start a fight or anything, this is just me. and i still think some of the linux distros are fine and usable. i just found a better fit in freebsd. :D

[Mr. Krinkle]

Originally posted by jedthehumanoid
Hello Mr. Krinkle, how are you today?

I think Red Hat would be better in that less optimizations have been set up by default thereby not wasting resources on things you don't need. For example, if I was going to set up a webserver, I'd set up an old machine and install debian or a bsd because it is 'lighter' by default. Does that make sense?

It seems the rumors are about, my team might move away. (btw have you seen the movie "Taxi Driver"?)

It does make sense, but can you tell me like an example of an optimization that debian does right out of the box? I mean as I see it- the way I install apache, php, and mysql is exactly the same on any linux flavor I use. So, I end up with the feeling of "well, what's the difference". What is mandrake running that drains it's resources- just one or two example of what that optimization is?

(btw, I want to try feebsd but I'm afraid. Are there, like, "RPM's" for bsd? you don't have to answer that, I should go read up on it first anyway..rtfm)

[UID500]

no rpms, http://www.freebsd.org/ports/

ports is where gentoo got the idea for its portage.

it's great. so easy. check http://freebsdaddicts.org/modules.php?name=FAQ&myfaq=yes&id_cat=3&categories=FreeBSD+FAQ#11 for some more info on ports and pkgs.

don't be afraid, if you are good with linux, you will do fine. the docs for freebsd are great. you can check the handbook here http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/index.html

i always found it hard to find answers when i used linux, i mean with so many distros with things different it was a chore to find what i needed. redhat had some good docs i have to say. but freebsd has very good docs, and all in one spot.

also, check the link in my sig for a nice freebsd site....shameless plug ;) you can ask freebsd newbie questions there, nobody will say RTFM :eek:

[Sepero]

Originally posted by Mr. Krinkle
So, I end up with the feeling of "well, what's the difference". What is mandrake running that drains it's resources- just one or two example of what that optimization is?You're not going to find some "magical" difference between them. They use the same tools, and if tweaked properly, Mandrake can behave just like RedHat. The main difference is "under the hood", so to speak. It's in the default values. It's in the way things are setup. By using RedHat for a server, you spend more time doing actual work, instead of extra configuring.

[blackbelt_jones]

I don't believe that there's any best distro for everyone, so I don't want to get into any arguments. I am a relative beginner, so I know full well that my experience with certain distros was shaped by the limits of my ability just as they were shaped by the limits of my low-end hardware.

I recently installed SuSE for a while, and I didn't much care for it on my low-end machine. Maybe when I have more resources it won't seem so bloated. I kept losing my dial-up connection, and that makes me wonder if the bargain disks I bought on EBAY aren't badly burned.

Started with Mandrake, and maybe I'll get back to it someday. I used to think of it as for beginners, but the old retired guy in the local LUG who was running Unix when I was in Junior High uses it, so I must be wrong about that.

Storm Linux 2000 is available for a dollar from cheapbytes. Best operating system you'll ever find at that price. Basically, a simplified Debian. Ahead of its time, it just didn't survive.

Learning how to install Slackware was a turning point in my Linux education. Runs very smooth and stable, but good luck trying to install software if you're new. Slackware doesn't track dependancies. A slack user on IRC explained to me that "Understanding dependancies is what Linux is all about." No, it's not.

Debian came SO close to being my favorite distro, but the stable version contains an older kernel (2.2.20) that doesn't work with my soundcard, or with ALSA. I tried installing a new kernel, but it was a little beyond my powers. Patiently awaiting the next stable release. Flexible, powerful, nicely uncommercial with a classic feel to it, Debian has all the software you'll ever need in an incredibly easy to install package, and take it from me,you don't need to understand every question the Debian installer asks you in order to get it running.
When in doubt, hit the default... it worked for me, anyway.

AND THE WINNER IS:

RED HAT LINUX 9!

For me, the best test of stability for a distro is holding onto a dialup connection, and in this respect, on my system, RedHat 9 beats even the mighty Slackware. Red Hat really is the best of everything for me. It's as user friendly as SuSE without the bloat, a nice desktop with an eye to enterprise applications. RPM isn't quite as simple and cool as apt... but it's simple and cool enough for me to install what I need on it.

Of course, Red Hat 9 comes dead on arrival. It seems ironic that the distro that was so successful at being all things to all people is now splitting into two distros. Will Fedora be as flat-out GREAT as Red Hat 9? My disks are in the mail.

NOTE: To the extent that I have revealed my prejudices and misconceptions above, I welcome the thoughts of my more learned Linux brethren... but let me freely acknowledge that you know more than I, so that we can avoid the user geek d***-measuring contest, okay? Thank you very much.
:)

[blackbelt_jones]

In the 24 hrs since I wrote that little essay, I came in possession of a copy of Knoppix. Running the live CD impressed me so much that I installed it on my hard drive, and I think I may have a new favorite.

Knoppix is amazing! For one thing, it's exactly what I've always wished for, Debian with a newer Kernel, and I understand a 2.6 version is coming soon. Also, it's the first distro that I've ever run that comes with Wine preinstalled and preconfigured. If I can bring that one last Windows application that I can't seem to live without (Iin my case, an excellent text-to-speech application called ReadPlease) on board, I'll finally have the Linux desktop of my dreams, and I'll be able to wipe my Windows Hard Drive and install something much cooler there...

Of course, I purchased the Knoppix disk to give to my Windows addicted friends, thinking it might impress them... I didn't expect tobe so flat-out blown away myself.

[ubenpdon]

Im finally starting to get the hang of this whole linux thing, then red hat decides to stop updating its software...so im going to make the jump to another distro.
Which should i choose? the 2 im considering are suse and mandrake.
please let me know what you think i should get and also why you like that distro better than the other.

[frimann]

Mandrake you can get for free , that is download iso images and burn to disk but suse you have to pay fore that is if you do not know howe to install it ower ftp, you can get information about how to do that at www.suse.com, I started with mandrake 8,2 and then went on to 9 and 9,1 and finally to 9,2

[frimann]

i ment to say aswell that at the same time i was trying out suse 8, 8,1 8,2 and finally 9 and in my opinion suse 9 is much better polished and better for crossing ower from oter oses, mandrake 9,2 has a lot of bugs like all of the menue in kde disappering, not abell to update and stuff like that, but then again remember that this is just me opinnion.

[serz]

My vote is for SuSE. It's paid (that means there are no isos to download, you have to buy the box set) unless you do a ftp install (this does not include lotsss of stuff).


Moving to /dev/random.

[dimgeeky]

There really isnt one better than the other linux distribution. It really is what you get used to using. Once installed, they should all operate the same. It's only my observation, but the true differance is in the installation, update, and configuration utilities included in each that sets them appart. I found that Mandrake is by far the easiest to install, and configure. So....I suggest Mandrake. As frimann said, it's free. (I'm not sure what sort of problems frimann is having, but I have had only user errors with Mandrake.) Suse will work too i'm sure.
The installation process with Mandrake is extremely easy. You dont have to trouble yourself with too much information about your hardware either. I too had used Redhat, and will admit that the installer sure does look good. Mandrake's installer looks fine, and is just as straight forward to use. Mandrake Update utility is very kewl too. It has not failed me yet. I also suggest using the KDE desktop. It's a smooth transition from swinedowz.

edit: the Suse ftp install is a pain in the arse. Just get the Mandrake 9.2 iso files (there are 3) from one of these servers:

United States
# ftp://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/mandrake/Mandrake/iso/ (North Carolina)
# ftp://ftp.cise.ufl.edu/pub/mirrors/mandrake/Mandrake/iso/ (Florida)
# ftp://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/linux/Mandrake/iso/ (Utah)
# ftp://ftp.ndlug.nd.edu/pub/mandrake/iso/ (Indiana)
# ftp://ftp.phys.ttu.edu/pub/mandrake/iso/ (Texas)
# ftp://ftp.rutgers.edu/pub/mandrake/Mandrake/iso/ (New Jersey)
# ftp://ftp.tux.org/pub/distributions/mandrake/iso/ (Virginia)
# ftp://ftp.umr.edu/pub/linux/mandrake/Mandrake/iso/ (Missouri)
# ftp://ftp.uwsg.indiana.edu/linux/mandrake/iso/ (Indiana)
# ftp://helios.dii.utk.edu/pub/linux/Mandrake/Mandrake/iso/ (Tennessee)
# ftp://mandrake.mirrors.pair.com/mandrake/iso/ (Pennsylvania)
# ftp://mirror.aca.oakland.edu/linux/mandrake/iso/ (Michigan)
# ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/linux/Mandrake/iso/ (Wisconsin)
# ftp://mirrors.ptd.net/mandrake/iso/ (Pensylvania)
# ftp://mirrors.xmission.com/mandrake/iso/ (Utah)
# ftp://raven.cslab.vt.edu/pub/linux/mandrake/iso/ (Virgina)

[emus]

I'd say SuSE. I experienced some of the issues frimann mentioned too.

[JusKickNit]

This is just my .02. Feel free to argue if you think it will do any good.

I do not like Suse. The reason is the are charging for other people's work, and don't make it very easy to install there free releases. And god forbid if you have to reinstall. That's alot of Bandwidth wasted. Anyway's I bought a copy of 8.2 when I was new to Linux, because it came with support. During my install I could not get my network going. I emailed them and there reply first proceded to tell me that was not considered a install problem, and for a fee I could get a better support option. I later found out that I needed to disable ACPI in the kernel. Suse should have detected this automaticaly all other Distro's have.

So my vote goes for Mandrake

Since your a previous RedHat user I would suggest you look at WhiteBox Linux 3. It's a rebuild of RedHat EL 3. It's very stable even if the software is alittle out of date.

[MMYoung]

Forget Mandrake AND SuSe.

GET MEPIS (http://www.mepis.org) instead!

Here (http://www.mepis.org/book/view/2) is their mirror listing.

Later,
MMYoung

[SunOfTux]

If you want an opinion between Mandrake and SuSE, I would choose Mandrake.

SuSE is an impressive distro. It has a professional "polished" look, and TONS of packages (which I believe is its downfall).

SuSE includes too many of its own customizations, and too many packages. SuSE is the only Linux distro that I have ever "broken", and on more than one occasion. It is just to "self-complex" for its own good.


Mandrake, while not my favorite, would be a better choice. It is RedHat based and has package sanity. I have never had problems or "breakage" (i.e., time to re-install) with Mandrake.

As a more experienced user (I think!?), I have settled on Slackware and love it. But for an intermediate, I would suggest Mandrake.

I don't recommend SuSE (in my personal opinion). It is too "complex" (customized) and easy to break for the linux hacker.

Regards,
SunOfTux

[clinux]

I would say SuSE, I have been using SuSE since 7.3 all the way to 9.0. I have used Mandrake and RedHat both and thought they were good but inferior to SuSE. It's sucks that you have to pay for SuSE, but if you no where to look you can download ISO's for free, I have download there last 2 versions including 9.0. Once you get the hang of it I would suggest moving on to another distro. though. I am in the process of selecting a new one, I am considering Mepis, Slackware & Gentoo.

Goodluck!!!!:D

[cereal83]

http://www.packetnews.com/search.php?kw=suse

:D

[zombie_geek]

I'm new and trying to figure out what I want to run for my first distro. I've tried the MandrakeMove and SuSE 9.0 live evals. I'm really digging SuSE, so I'll probably be running that. It seems easy to jump into for Windoze users. I'm going to grab the retail box so I get the manual.

[MMYoung]

Originally posted by clinux
I am considering Mepis, Slackware & Gentoo.

Goodluck!!!!:D
MEPIS is a good choice. Still has some "quirks" to it but I use it as my main distro. Warren is making headway and will, in a future release, have a "power" user install and a newbie install feature. Can't wait for that.

I also use Slackware Current. VERY stable distro. Easy to "tinker" with and so can be "broken", however the install is so easy that it is worth the trouble of tinkering with to learn Linux. One of the things I like about Slackware is it is still a "stock" Linux, ie doesn't have all the "customizing" that SuSE, Mandrake, RedHat/Fedora, Lindows, et all, have incorporated into their distros.

If you decide on MEPIS and have some questions just post on their forum (http://www.mepis.org/forum) and we'll help as best we can.

Later,
MMYoung

[blackbelt_jones]

Originally posted by ubenpdon
Im finally starting to get the hang of this whole linux thing, then red hat decides to stop updating its software...so im going to make the jump to another distro.
Which should i choose? the 2 im considering are suse and mandrake.
please let me know what you think i should get and also why you like that distro better than the other.

My experience with SuSE suggests that you need a lot of resources to run it effectively. I didn't like it on my old box, but it comes packed with some nifty apps, so I might go back to it when I finally get a new computer.

Have you considered Fedora? If you like Red Hat as much as I do, you may want to give it a try.

[another_noob]

I've been using linux for about a year now and I've tried most of the main flavours of linux. there seems to be two main sections 1. for newbies and 2. for experienced users. By this red hat, suse and mandrake in one and slack, debain and gentoo in the other. I'm wondering whats the big difference for going with the second set?? Is it faster, is it just the fun of configuring it. it's just that it seems that it's made out that the "advanced" linux distros are seen as better but I can't see why.

The arguement for Gentoo that it's super optimised and fast but I installed from stage 1 and didn't notice a difference in speed?

Debian because is stable but aren't most distros stable?

Slack, I don't know?? It doesn't seem to have a gimick or have I missed it.

Is the only difference that the likes of mandrake comes preconfigured with GUI conf tools.

I'm not intending to start another which distro thread but I'm looking for what to use as my main distro for the time being and can't see why I would choose any in the second category.

Please don't flame me too much

p.s. What is the fasenation with slack??

[amit_shah25]

Hi all,

I got a laptop with AMD64 from circuitcity lastnight, and I want to install Linux on this.

I dont know enough about these chips and compatibility and stuff, but I kindaa know that I can run the regular 32 bit linux on this chip (??? Can I ???) but it wont take full advantage of the chip power.

I know that Mandrake, Fedora and Suse have been out with 64bit support for the chip, but I dont know which one is good for a newbie who doesn't know much about linux....

Also some people said Gentoo is good becuase it compiles everything from scratch, but I am a programmer and work 2 jobs to make money :(( So Gentoo would be my last option becuase it I guess will be very time consuming to compile from scratch ....


Any help, suggestions, articles please please

THanks all ....

[Loki3]

Mandrake, SUSE and Fedora Core are all consider fairly newbie-friendly distros. Gentoo is supposed to be much more difficult to use. If you want your computer working now or soon I suggest you choose a newbie-friendly distro. If you don't really care about that and are more intrested in expermenting and your brave you could try something like Gentoo or Debian. Slackware seems to be a popular middle ground.

Installing linux on a laptop is a little tricky, check out http://www.linux-laptop.net/.

Hope this gets you started and welcome to fourms!

[amit_shah25]

Hi,

Thanks a lot for replying so promptly :)

I understand that Fedora, Mandrake, Suse etc. are newbie friendly distros, but I dont know how good their 64 bit versions are. I read at couple of places from google that Suse and Mandy craps during installations and things like that. I have not been able to find any reviews on Fedora 64 bit experimental release.

Thats my delyma !! I know I should go for one of these distros, but if I am gonna spend lot of time trying to fix some issues, where as Gentoo though takes long, works fine, I would think Gentoo is better. Thats why I wanted to know if someone has tried or knows for sure if any of these newbie friendly distros work great with 64 bit chips like AMD64.

Also, I even read at some places that Java is not supported on these 64 bit distros !!! I am a Java programmer, and I code Java to earn my bread !!! If my 64 bit machine with a 64 bit linux distro cannot hold Java, I will have to go back to Bill Gates :(

Please help !!!!!!!!!!

[Loki3]

Yikes! No java support? Hmm, I wish I could help you there but I don't know anything about java or programing but here's what I do know(well sort of.) AMD64 support is part of the linux kernel and the linux kernel can be recompiled and tweaked to your hearts content. I think it's possible to install Fedora, Mandrake or SuSE with the stock 32bit kernel to avoid installation and then go download the most current kernel source (2.6.1I think) for kernel.org and compile in AMD64 support. Then atleast your kernel would have 64bit support. I don't know how this would relate to the applications though.

I think gentoo is a fine distro for someone who doesn't mind having a half-broken system half the time and understands that things won't always work right the first, or second or third time. Gentoo for me is about breaking stuff and then learning how to fix it.

I have a feeling one of the more newbie-friendly distro would suit you much better.

Now the final option and a very popular one at that is to dual-boot your system(I assume you were planning on dual-booting.). Basicly it's like having your cake and eating too. You can keep your XP partition for java programing and use while your still learning linux.

In fact if you don't mind taking the gentoo philosophy of breaking stuff and fixing it taking the long road, dual booting might be the right way to go.

I still recommend that you dual-boot with something like Fedora, Mandrake, or SuSE, especially if you want things to work right away.

Also, any luck finding your laptop on linux-laptops.net? They generally have all the info you could ever want.

Good luck!

[icronk]

Sorry, about that, i'll try not to ask anymore questions on these forums. We wouldn't want anyone giving opinions / advice to anyone would we? They should think about taking this site down and redirecting the URL to google.com/linux.

To the person who posted below:
Thank you very much for stating your opinion. I might try the Gentoo later.

[JayMan8081]

I would suggest using Gentoo Linux. As long as you can take the time to do a Stage 1 install then you have full control over how many services and programs get installed. You also will have a system that is optimized for the hardware that you have available. The portage system includes almost any package you could possibly want and is very easy to use. If you decide on Gentoo read the installation guide all the way through before beginning and I would suggest printing it out as well. I have Gentoo running on a PIII 550 MHz, 128 MB RAM and a 4 GB HDD and am very pleased with it.

[j79zlr]

I just like slackware, I can install it in about 15 minutes, and she runs nice. Throw in configuration, updating, and kernel compile in the mix and maybe 2 hours, fully functional.

I've never tried Gentoo for three reasons, 1) I dont really have a desire to compile from scratch, I do that with FreeBSD. 2) The ports collection is a far cry from BSD's, why drink pepsi if you want a coke. 3) I've heard that it runs so fast it breaks:D

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by j79zlr

I've never tried Gentoo for three reasons, 1) I dont really have a desire to compile from scratch, I do that with FreeBSD. 2) The ports collection is a far cry from BSD's, why drink pepsi if you want a coke. 3) I've heard that it runs so fast it breaks:D

As you may recall, I also run FreeBSD. Which I am quite fond of (except my recent 100 gig of MP3s vanishing act). At any rate, you don't have to compile Gentoo from scratch if you don't want to. I did a stage two install...which is just a notch above compiling the whole thing from scratch. I took me about 4/5 hours to get a running box from stage two. Add another 4-6 for KDE (now that took forever). But once that is done, it's quite nice. And for new software, it is indeed tough to beat. It's nice. And it is nice and speedy. Hard to say if I like it better than Debian. Still haven't made up my mind on that. I loved Woody.

[DSwain]

heh i tried Gentoo a few times today. i was doing a stage3 (not GPR or whatever) and i wasn't getting far cause i couldn't ping outside my network....but that's another post. as far as i got- it looks like it would take a long time to get Gentoo going, but probably worth it. FreeBSD is a tough one.

[satimis]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
As you may recall, I also run FreeBSD. Which I am quite fond of (except my recent 100 gig of MP3s vanishing act). At any rate, you don't have to compile Gentoo from scratch if you don't want to. I did a stage two install...which is just a notch above compiling the whole thing from scratch. I took me about 4/5 hours to get a running box from stage two. Add another 4-6 for KDE (now that took forever). But once that is done, it's quite nice. And for new software, it is indeed tough to beat. It's nice. And it is nice and speedy. Hard to say if I like it better than Debian. Still haven't made up my mind on that. I loved Woody.
Hi,

I have Gentoo and Debian (unstable) machines here. Now I am going moving to FreeBSD. I have 4 FreeBSD CDs burnt. Could you please advise if I want to install FreeBSD from its developers' site (similar to Debian unstable) which CD I have to use and how to achieve it.

TIA

B.R.
satimis

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by satimis
Hi,

I have Gentoo and Debian (unstable) machines here. Now I am going moving to FreeBSD. I have 4 FreeBSD CDs burnt. Could you please advise if I want to install FreeBSD from its developers' site (similar to Debian unstable) which CD I have to use and how to achieve it.

TIA

B.R.
satimis

I recommend sticking to 4.9 for FreeBSD. I don't think you really gain anything from release 5 unless you are interested in helping test bugs. I run 4.9 myself and I only needed one CD.

[satimis]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
I recommend sticking to 4.9 for FreeBSD. I don't think you really gain anything from release 5 unless you are interested in helping test bugs. I run 4.9 myself and I only needed one CD.
Hi bandwidth_pig,

Which CD you need?

4.9-i386-dics1.iso
or
4.9-i386-disc2-iso

B.R.
satimis

[hard candy]

Take a look at this testimonial,
Mepis (http://www.mepis.org/node/view/1354)

Love that Mepis!

[bandwidth_pig]

Originally posted by satimis
Hi bandwidth_pig,

Which CD you need?

4.9-i386-dics1.iso
or
4.9-i386-disc2-iso

B.R.
satimis

You should download both. For some reason though, it seems like I made it just using disc 1.

[bandwidth_pig]

There are posts in this thread that are 4 and 5 years old! People talking about Caldera...Caldera doesn't even exist anymore....does it?

Caldera...hmmm. Seems like if memory serves...Caldera was one of the Mods distro of choice. Mr. Google I think it was.

[JohnT]

Originally posted by hard candy
Take a look at this testimonial,
Mepis (http://www.mepis.org/node/view/1354)

Love that Mepis!

It's distro's like Mepis that will evetually put places like this out of business. It sets up so easy that I couldn't go near my computer for 3 days. Thought it had a haint in it.:eek:
Took it off immediately in case the other OS's got any ideas.:p

[bosox79]

Originally posted by JohnT
It's distro's like Mepis that will evetually put places like this out of business. It sets up so easy that I couldn't go near my computer for 3 days. Thought it had a haint in it.:eek:
Took it off immediately in case the other OS's got any ideas.:p


:D :D ;) MEPIS is a great distro

[satimis]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
You should download both. For some reason though, it seems like I made it just using disc 1.
Hi bandwidth_pig,

Noted with thanks

B.R.
satimis

[UID500]

Originally posted by bandwidth_pig
There are posts in this thread that are 4 and 5 years old! People talking about Caldera...Caldera doesn't even exist anymore....does it?

Caldera...hmmm. Seems like if memory serves...Caldera was one of the Mods distro of choice. Mr. Google I think it was.

caldera == sco

i doubt they have many fans now. hah

[questionasker]

ive been looking at lorma (http://linux.lorma.edu/)
and PHLAK (http://phlak.org) lately.

does any one have experience with either of these.

are there any outstanding stong/ and or weak points?


im not even sure ill use eaitehr, i just wanded some opinions about them.




p.s. i know they are alot different, and a plus for phlak is the i dont have to install, since its a live-cd.

[serz]

Hmm.. I didn't know about Lorma, but I think it's another general-use linux distribution, from what I read...

PHLAK is oriented to security admins, it has lots of security tools. I already downloaded the iso image but I haven't tried it yet.

Moving to /dev/random.

[happybunny]

Not sure if this is OK to post but I came across this site today.

http://www.gtlib.cc.gatech.edu/pub/

Georgia Tech website

[louis_b]

For questionasker, I have tried Lorna and it is OK as it is Fedora Core 1 with all the multimedia programs that Fedora doesn't supply.

It was an easy and quick install (1 CD) and everything got configured properly with the exception of my on-board sound card (says it can't find the device) on an old Acer Aspire PC (300 Mhz Celeron). Knoppix and other live CDs find and configure the sound card just fine. I haven't bothered to try to find the problem as I use this PC just to test install distros until I find one I really like.

I'd probably stick with Lorna for a while as there is no fuss and bother over mp3s and mpegs if the sound worked. Next stop will be Mandrake 10 ...