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It says: "Other Linux related questions that do not quite fit into the other forums." So I hope this is the right place for this question.
I am a newbee to linus.
Reading others forums and posts, its look like Red Hat will be a little too advance for me to learn right now. I like to know which maker(brand) of linux will be the easy for me (a newbee) to learn and set up (Mandrake, SuSe, Lindows and so fore). Linux will be the only OS system be install on mine rig. I will learn linux or die trying. I'm so fed up with windows.
sclebo05
09-19-2003, 10:30 AM
i would say either redhat or mandrake. redhat isn't too advanced, and if you have problems, you have a huge user base to ask questions. also, looking at your hardware in your sig, i would say that either of those will be the best at setting up your hardware.
linuxmad
09-19-2003, 10:31 AM
Welcome:D
You can start with Mandrake. Itīs very easy for the beginner that comes from uncle Billīs farm. You can also start with Red Hat as itīs quite easy also. Personally i use Red Hat 9 . Iīve started with 7.3... and still not disappointed. In both distros you can choose to use both Gnome or Kde.
As i said ... welcome. Feel free to use Linux... and be a proud Linux user.:D
hard candy
09-19-2003, 10:34 AM
I will learn linux or die trying. I'm so fed up with windows
Where shall we send the flowers? :D
You have a very nice set-up, some of the hardware like the Radeon card will not probably work 100% right away without some tweaking.
I would suggest Mandrake 9.1 to start, followed by a nice 0.6B (or newer) Jambd, the third course should be Gentoo, and dessert will be Linux from Scratch or Rox Linux. You should not hurry this repast as you will get a sour taste if you take the courses out of turn. This time next year you will have a picture of Bill Gates on the dart board, your keyboard will feed a family of 4 in Somalia for a few days, and you will smirk when you hear people complain about Win XP costing too much.
Some links for your pleasure, and please bookmark them:Tips and tricks for linux (http://home.powertech.no/oyvinsat/a/en/cat.html)
The Linux Tutorial (http://www.linux-tutorial.info/)
JamminJoeyB
09-19-2003, 11:05 AM
RH, Mandy and Suse are great starter distros. I agree with hard candy, ati cards take some tweaking to get going properly. Take you time with what every distro you choose.
I'm gonna throw in a plug for slackware here. Slack may not have a GUI installer, but I have never had a problem setting it up on any system. It doesn't have all the gui tools for managing config files, but you will learn alot about linux and the command line quickly. It also has a very large user base.
Some friendly advice to help you with your transition.
Get you system up and running and spend some time here each day reading about other peoples problems and solutions. You will probably see some of the same ones you will encounter.
I spend a lot of time just reading posts here. You never know what you are going to learn from other peoples mistakes.
I've been using Linux for around two months now. I started out with Redhat 9, which installed very easily, and was easy enough to use. A friend of mine uses Mandrake, and is very happy with it.
I would say they both provide similar experiences for beginners, and any debate of which is better is usually a matter of personal preference. Personally, I really like apt-get and Synaptic for installing some programs.
My advice is just grab Mandrake or Redhat 9 and go for a run. You'll find plenty of bumps either way. :D
As a side note; with RH9 my Radeon 9000 was detected during installation, and runs well enough to play Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory at a decent resolution and framerate.
I like to thanks all for all the input. I will start with Mandrake 9.1 and Im downloading it now.
I will be changing out my ATI Radeon 4x for a 8x video card soon, I guess I will go with the Nvidia GeForce chipset and I have already order a hardware base modem (Lucent Venus chipset) that has linux drivers to replace my win modem.
Do anybody see anything else that I may have problem with??
What is apt-get and Synaptic?????
dysharmonic
09-19-2003, 11:56 AM
Same as the others, I would suggest RHL 9 or Mandrake 9.1.
dysharmonic
09-19-2003, 12:02 PM
apt-get is a program/command used to install other apps, off the cd or the web, w/o getting you into dependency problems. synaptic is the gui to apt-get I guess...
Originally posted by nw53
What is apt-get and Synaptic????? Once you've used Linux a bit more, you'll start to see that installing a program is radically different than in Windows most of the time. When you are starting out, apt-get makes things a lot easier by automatically handling program dependencies. Synaptic is a GUI front-end for apt-get. With Mandrake you'll have urpmi and rpmdrake which basically do the same thing.
You've got a lot to learn, so I don't want to confuse you too much immediately. :)
hard candy
09-19-2003, 12:12 PM
"To boldly go where no man(windows user) has gone before" will require some caffeine, uninterrupted time, and late night reading. Deep breathing and relaxation techniques also help. Also the caffeine will make you get up and walk to the john every once in a while- which is good ergonomics. :D
tom56
09-19-2003, 12:16 PM
apt-get is a way of installing programs in debian. in mandrake (and red hat too) you use rpm files instead, the rpm version of the apt-get command is urpmi. try searching www.google.com/linux for more information.
tom56
09-19-2003, 12:17 PM
damn it, yutt, you beat me to it :)
dysharmonic
09-19-2003, 12:40 PM
I thought it was me who beat everyone else to it!:D
tom56
09-19-2003, 01:52 PM
yes but you didn't point out that apt-get isn't for mandrake
funkytaz10
09-19-2003, 02:29 PM
why not download JAMD??
I see you are a modem user, so why downloading 3 cd 's for mandrake or even six (if i am still correct on this one) for red hat 9, when you can download JAMD who use 1 cd to work...
it is a red hat 9 , but only stripped for things newbies will not use anyway and it has synaptics (aptget) so you can upgrade and install all packages that you want in a later stadium....
JAMD is also much quicker in performance than mandrake and RH9, the only thing that i don't like is mozilla the webbroser in JAMD but i am trying to find firebird to install on the JAMD... according people on this board should this be also much quicker than mozilla... (I just as newbie have to figure out where to get it and how to install it if it is not aptgetable (new word))
BELIEVE ME it is complete different and what the guys earlier said "Where to send the flowers" was nearly my faith... i had to quit with linux for a few day to get the mess out of my head and try again.... hope full with more luck this time...
have fun
funkytaz10
sclebo05
09-19-2003, 03:44 PM
he's got a point. you can save yourself 2 cds and just go for jamd. it IS rh9 with less of what you don't need on it. and if you decide you need it, the package tool synaptic will get it for you.
TigerOC
09-19-2003, 03:57 PM
If you want to learn and get used to Linux another way is to get yourself a copy of Knoppix. There is not need to install and it run off the cd. It is really brilliant. Once you have some understanding of how this system is structured and works you can make a decision. Knoppix will also give the opportunity to tinker because you would have to do basic stuff like getting the modem/adsl link working. Who knows you may even like to try Debian after giving it a try. That is a really great way to learn Linux.
sasKuatch
09-19-2003, 05:09 PM
Guys, let him/her(?) get Mandrake so that he has all the libraries and programs right there. Quite possibly the worst Linux experience I've ever had was when trying to install a so-called "minimal" system that I could never install anything on because I didn't have the libraries (or devel packages). Let him do Mandrake for a while, so he can learn how to use Linux before he has to learn how to tweak it.
Plus, it'd be a pitty to cancel now, being on dialup and everything.:eek:
[edit] I don't have a problem with Knoppix, but I'm surprised you guys don't recomment LFS for his first distro "to get some hair on his chest".
Hey guys, I just got my hands on a copy of Mandrake 9.0, is there thing wrong with 9.0 or do i need to keep downloading 9.1
clw54
09-19-2003, 07:15 PM
Mandrake 9.0 is fine. After two aborted attempts at Linux, I finally stuck with it with 9.0.
DSwain
09-19-2003, 07:31 PM
Yes, to be honest i find mandrake is the way to go almost always, especially for newer systems. There are other good ones; i've found that RH9 was too complex for a first timer, slackware is great for a first time source install, and things like that, but they're all flawed in some ways like RH's weakness with NTFS FS's, and SLackwares support for only tarballs makes it hard for a newcomer to use these. Mandrake has always been the best for me (really good if you're an i686 user)
SO, even new or advanced, Mandrake can be a good distro to come by. But it's up to you in the longrun, whatever you think is best is for you.
I would like to second the Knoppix suggestion. Boot the knoppix cd and see how you like it. IT is very easy to install to your hard drive if you want to use it full time. I will be happy to help you get it installed.
If you boot the cd and find that it is confusing or not to your liking then just remove the cd and reboot. You'll be back to your original setup and nothing will be changed.
Joe
Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379
09-19-2003, 09:45 PM
Originally posted by sasKuatch
Guys, let him/her(?) get Mandrake so that he has all the libraries and programs right there. Quite possibly the worst Linux experience I've ever had was when trying to install a so-called "minimal" system that I could never install anything on because I didn't have the libraries (or devel packages). Let him do Mandrake for a while, so he can learn how to use Linux before he has to learn how to tweak it.
Plus, it'd be a pitty to cancel now, being on dialup and everything.:eek:
[edit] I don't have a problem with Knoppix, but I'm surprised you guys don't recomment LFS for his first distro "to get some hair on his chest".
This is one of the best suggestions I've ever heard in one of these types of threads. Personally, I don't ever like doing a "minimal" install of a distro-- I don't like stitting there and waiting. I'd rather sit there and wait a little longer during the install to unpack a development package than sit there when I'm actually trying to do something.
Personally, as much as I love FreeBSD, Debian, Slackware, and even LFS, I always recommend either Red Hat or Mandrake to new Linux users. I've found that any recent Windows withdrawal sufferers tend to freak out when they have to do anything in the command-line when they just start out...
Well guys, my 3 installment of 9.0 fail. The problem is the radeon video card. I'm not going to gave up, I just have to get my hardware right,
or I might be doing something wrong.
dysharmonic
09-20-2003, 11:07 AM
Radeon driver d/load page here (http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/linux/radeon-linux.html?type=linux&prodType=graphic&prod=productsLINUXdriver&submit.x=14&submit.y=4)
ok, call me dum dum, but how do you load drivers for the video, if it wont boot to KDE. It stop at some kind of log on.
andycrofts
09-27-2003, 12:45 PM
Sounds to me like you're almost there..
Folks - will he need the drivers for the video, or will it just fall into a 'default'?
Does it say some text, followed by login:#
If so, good
Try logging in as your user name, then password.
See if typing startx or xstart will kick it...
The others on the forum will need as much info. as possible. Give 'em exactly what it says...
Maybe you can worry about drivers later. I thought most cards fell into a basic 1024x768 without too much trouble, a sort of 'failsafe emulation' mode. But I could be very, very wrong!
-Andy
dysharmonic
09-28-2003, 03:22 AM
Hmm..probably an init 3 logon. Once you've logged in as root, how abt giving either of these commands:
gdm
kdm
xdm
This should launch you into the GUI, unless, of course, you really need to have the Radeon drivers installed and work properly first...
Trogdor
09-28-2003, 04:07 PM
Gentoo is good for nerdy linux veterans (one must be comfortable with compilation and not always having a point-and-click interface). I know that becuase I am running Gentoo on my xbox. Not joking.
Gentoo for Xbox (http://gentoox.shallax.com/)
OK, my new hardware modem with linux drivers will be here soon and retired my old winmodem. I will try again to install mandrake 9.0 and try the commands that was suggestioned for the video or to get me into the GUI. If that dont work, I will order a Nvidia GeForce video card. I check the ATI site and the 9000 and 9200 radeon are not on the support list for linux drivers.
I do have the first disk of 9.1 downloaded and started the the 2nd disk. Maybe this ver have more hardware support.
I'm not going to gave up. "WINDOWS WILL DIE"
coffeelover
10-02-2003, 05:44 PM
Originally posted by nw53
OK, my new hardware modem with linux drivers will be here soon and retired my old winmodem. I will try again to install mandrake 9.0 and try the commands that was suggestioned for the video or to get me into the GUI. If that dont work, I will order a Nvidia GeForce video card. I check the ATI site and the 9000 and 9200 radeon are not on the support list for linux drivers.
I do have the first disk of 9.1 downloaded and started the the 2nd disk. Maybe this ver have more hardware support.
I'm not going to gave up. "WINDOWS WILL DIE"
Yes mandrake and all the newer versions of Linux come with more hardware support. And more and more companies are starting to provide support for Linux for there hardware. But seeing that you are new I would dump Windows just yet in case you run in trouble. Before you install Linux I would do a search on this board or over at www.google.com/linux for how to dual boot both Windblows and Linux . And when you get the basics of Linux down than go ahead and get rid of Windows. As far as modems go The best modems for Linux is either ISA or external. Winmodems (or as I like to call them lazy modems) relies on Windows to most of the data processing. When you get your new modem you might have to compile the drivers to in order to install them. Don't worry just follow the instructions to the letter and you will be fine If you still have trouble installing the drivers than return it and get one of the modems that I said, because ISA or external modems are always recognized by Linux and you don't need to install drivers to get them to work.
cl
___________
good linux sites
www.google.com/linux
http://en.tldp.org/
formerly linuxdoc
www.linuxworld.com