My future HTPC is jsut sittign there and I want to mess around with linux/ unix again...

[Goosemaster]

pc is a dell optiplex

2.8ghz p4 w/ HT
1GB DDR2
integrated video ( intel 815? I don't know the intel integrated video adapters by heart and it isn't plugged in right now)

Basically, I just want to mess around for now. My goal is to get profficient in unix/linux again to the extent that I will be able to isntall it on my fileserver and have network r/w access to my NTFS partitions using VMware. All the partitions and physical disks are filled to capacity so they have to stay NTFS and I need to write to them periodically. I could defintiely do that right now but am actually jsut trying to find an excuse to use my future HTPC for now while I aquire a better TV.

<--using his main PC as a HTPC right now


For now, I just want to get back into it. :evil: ; GUI and all

BTW, the main reservation I have with going back to gentoo is that it is to proprietary in a sense. God knows I creamed by pants when I first learned the power of the 'emerge' command coupled with Cable Internet, but in the end it left me lost and longing for things in other os's like Redhat that use a package approach. Sure I know how to compile the kernel with all the flags I could ever want, but I would then hesitate in dealing with the same situations in other flavors of unix linux.

Basically, to cut my ramblings short, FreeBSD or Ubuntu?

( will probvbly install ubuntu first anyways jsut to see what the hubbub is about, but trying to figure out what to keep in the end

BTW, from what I read, isntalling vmware on freebsd is a snap compared to the ubuntu install (at least for ubuntu 5.10) but I'm not too worried about that right now.



:evil:

 

[MadRat]

Writing to NTFS with anything but an NT machine is not recommended. Good way to scramble your partition to kingdom come.

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: MadRat
Writing to NTFS with anything but an NT machine is not recommended. Good way to scramble your partition to kingdom come.

which is why I will use vmware....I'm hopeful that I will somehow be able to have them listed in fstab and then mount them using vmware or soemthing..not really sure

That is why I have XP pro on my fileserver right now

 

[minofifa]

i'm in pretty much the same situation you are night now, except taht i don't know much about linux at all.

I just installed ubuntu on my desktop (dapper) and it went very smooth. I tried an older version of ubuntu a while ago but it was just too complicated before. So far i have the OS working properly, i have samba working as it should to network with the windows computer in my house, and i have vmware installed. there is a HOWTO guide on the ubuntu forums that tells you how to install vmware and it is dead simple. I would say as simple as installing something in windows (which i find much easier than installing something in linux right now).

The only major obsticle i'm having right now is installing mythTV to make my computer an HTPC. there is another HOWTO guide on the ubuntu forums but they are much more complicated. I would recommend that new users not count on getting mythtv working easily or quickly.