less than a Linux newbie

[Kartajan]

I am a long time windows user, but long long ago I did use DOS... What is a good distro for me to use?

Big on games, need easy access to virus protection, DVD burner, etc...

 

[n0cmonkey]

Mandrake or RedHat if you want more gui oriented distros. If you are more interrested in learning try Slackware, Debian, or Gentoo.

Seriously though, you can learn with any ofthe distros, but if you are not interrested in learning a totally alien system and putting some effort into this, dont bother.

 

[Bremen]

1. Games: Generally if you are a hardcore gamer stick to windows, its what the games are written for and work best on. Not saying you can't play games in linux, however selection is limited, and it dosn't always work right (getting it to work is sometimes more fun than playing it)

2. Virus software: Awhile ago I heard someone mention there was actually virus protection software for linux. Personally I have never seen said beast in the wild, nor have the foggiest idea what it would be good for. Generally Linux is not as suceptable<sp?> to viri, no activeX to exploit after all (the script kiddies are crying in their pillows at night); and when you do get hit, due to the unix security model damage is limited since you don't have permission to format the hard drive, or do other nefarious activities.

3. DVD Burner: I'm pretty sure this is supported, but I don't have one so I can't say how well.

4. etc: browse internet, read email, do word processing; check.

Basically its not quite an end user system as windows is. You have to know a bit about how it works. However on the plus side since you actually know how it works when something goes wrong it is alot easier to fix. No reboot and hope its fixed (seldom works anyway in linux)

 

[Kartajan]

Thanks for the input. Downloading RedHat8 now.

Any last minute advice for RedHat to cohabitate well on a (secondary) FAT32 drive in my WinXP box are welcomed. I will be looking to have an easy way to remove it if the GUI kicks my rear too badly, and won't stay Linux long without any kind of AV protection.

Is PPPoE natively supported? No 'net= no fun.

Nero for Linux???? Suitable substitute?

 

[Nothinman]

Nero for Linux???? Suitable substitute?

First, stop looking for Windows programs to run on Linux, 9 times out of 10 you won't find them. You have to keep an open mind if you want any chance at all of getting any real use out of Linux.

Any last minute advice for RedHat to cohabitate well on a (secondary) FAT32 drive in my WinXP box are welcomed.

I don't know if they still have that option, it runs so much slower it's not worth it. If you're going to install Linux give it it's own partition.

and won't stay Linux long without any kind of AV protection.

There's no need for AV yet, the only antiviruses available scan for Windows viruses because there are none for Linux. The only thing you have to fear is your own stupidity, it's much easier to f' your system with a mistyped command as root than it is to get a virus.

Is PPPoE natively supported? No 'net= no fun.

It'll work, can't say if it'll work out of the box or not though.

 

[SolrFlare24]

Oh in regards to windows programs/games there are two things you may want to play around with. Wine is the windows emulator for linux and works very well for some applications. It takes a little work to get it set up but it does work well for some stuff. But yeah, for pretty much everything out there there is just as good if not a better linux equivilant to a Windows program these days and its probably the better route to go.

Also Windows is still better for gaming yes, but if you want to run some games out of linux, check out WineX which is very easy to set up and use. Not all windows games are supported, but there is a decent list of ones that are by the program. Heck it even runs Warcraft 3 just fine on my box right now. Still Windows is better but if you want to play around, Wine and WineX will let you use some stuff. Also some games do have linux clients for them as well and those work fine, but as a general rule your client performance is still going to be less in Linux than Windows.

For me, outside of using Windows XP on my main rig for gaming, these days I run everything else out of linux just fine.

 

[Kartajan]

What is the king of CD Burning software for Linux?

 

[N11]

Originally posted by: Kartajan
What is the king of CD Burning software for Linux?

Red Hat in their stride for standardization is including X-cd-roast which is a popular choice for most people regardless... very straightforward to use -- burn isos, wavs, etc. without much difficulty.

 

[cleverhandle]

I find gtoaster quite pleasant myself, though I'm admittedly not a burning enthusiast. Worth checking out, though...