*nix OS need help

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Indred

Member
Oct 23, 2005
172
0
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Ok. I'm thinking about dual booting my Main rig in my sig and installing a version on Linux. I have installed like 2 versions before but don't really rember i know one was RedHat but the other might have been slackware i had it on for about 1 month off and on usage and then had to format my entire drive deleting all my files Winblows and Linux and never got around to it. I have a 64 bit CPU and I think it would be good for me to get a 64bit distro. I know some very small commands on the cmd prompt like ls and how to change dir's. Please help with your HONEST thoughts.

some sites i've visited
http://distrowatch.com/
http://easylinuxguide.com/guides/EditorOpinionofDistros.htm
Thanks.
 
D

drag

Elite Member
Jul 4, 2002
8,708
0
0
Ubuntu is a good place to start. New release lately should have up to date hardware support and it's used by people new to Linux and people very advanced equally as well.

Just be sure to read the FAQ and other aviable documentation. It's very usefull stuff.

There have been a ton of threads on this subject.
 
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creedog

Golden Member
Nov 15, 1999
1,732
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0
IMHO, fedora (redhat) is the best place to start, either that or Suse, since these are the only two linux distros that are currently widely used in corporate datacenters. No use learning linux if you do not learn a distro that could benefit you,.
 
cleverhandle

cleverhandle

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2001
3,566
3
81
The most important thing, IMO, is to go with a distro that has a sizable and active community. No matter how slick the distro tries to be, there's going to be a problem eventually. When that happens, you'll be better served by a "hard" distro with a big, helpful community than an "easy" distro with a small or unhelpful one. Also, I've generally found that while distros that attempt to be the most newbie-friendly (lots of GUI's and automated stuff) generally go very smoothly, when they do break they do so in the most heinous and incomprehensible ways.

On that basis, I see the significant choices (in no particular order) as...

Ubuntu - nice distro, hugely popular right now, lots of info out there, newbie friendly

Fedora - not a huge community, but the docs and HowTo's I've seen seem to be well-written for novice users without totally dumbing things down

Debian - the base for Ubuntu, very high quality though sometimes difficult to understand at first, probably the most knowledgeable user base out there

Gentoo - actually, I think this distro is a total waste of time, but it does have an enthusiastic userbase, and that was my point


And, flames be damned, that's all I'd recommend. There are lots of other distros out there, many of them quite nice technically. But it's the people that make it work in the end, and for one reason or another the others just don't have as much going on in that department.
 
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SleepWalkerX

Platinum Member
Jun 29, 2004
2,649
0
0
By 'for noobs' I assume you mean easy. And even that varies.

Lots of software easily available on the disk? Suse, Fedora, or the dvd version of Ubuntu.

Easy to install? Pretty much all three listed above plus Mepis and I hear PCLinuxOS is too.

Automatically installs nongpl stuff like mp3 codecs, avi video support, flash, java, adobe acrobat, etc? Suse with the Addon CD (for the 5 cd release) or the DVD release or Mepis. I think maybe PCLinuxOS does too.

Most hardware supported? Pretty much all of them. The later the kernel it includes, the most support you have. Actually I think Fedora is the first (and pretty much only so far) distro release to include the 2.6.17 kernel. In this sense, technically they would have the most support. Although generally speaking, they all have about the same.

Easiest to get software (already precompiled) / Most software available on the repositories? By far, Ubuntu or Debian

Btw, the only distros, afaik, that don't have 64 bit support are Mepis and PCLinuxOS. Personally, I haven't noticed any performance increase from running a 64 bit distro compared to running a 32 bit one. Plus you might not be able to play certain video files (as you need to install w32codecs which won't work with a 64 bit distro), i think there still isn't a 64 bit java plugin, openoffice is 32 bit (which you can still run though I think), and there might be some other issues. Just letting you know.

edit: After saying all that, my personal votes go to Ubuntu or Suse. Those are two favorites. :)
 
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Brazen

Diamond Member
Jul 14, 2000
4,259
0
0
Ubuntu, as I and many others have said in the other 50 "linux for noobs" threads this week.
 
J

jlbenedict

Banned
Jul 10, 2005
3,724
0
0
Originally posted by: creedog
IMHO, fedora (redhat) is the best place to start, either that or Suse, since these are the only two linux distros that are currently widely used in corporate datacenters. No use learning linux if you do not learn a distro that could benefit you,.
Click to expand...

same here...

Suse 10.1 is pretty nice. I just installed it a few days ago, on the rig in my signature.
The install was almost all "point & click" the next button..
Everything worked, right off of the install (Audigy 2... "Check".. 6800GS.. "Check".. the onboard Gigabit Intel LAN... "Yes"... Dell 2005FPW.. "Not a problem")




 
N

nweaver

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2001
6,813
1
0
Gentoo isn't a waste, it has some of the best documentation, they managed to break/tweak everythings.
 
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stupidkid

Member
Jun 21, 2006
113
0
0
I'd recommend Gentoo for your good. Even after you get Gentoo installed and Gnome/KDE/w/e working, you'll pretty much be fluent with many Linux commands and understand the basics of the Linux kernel.

Anyways, when I started I used Suse. Man the graphical utilities in Suse are amazing. You can basically avoid the command line and still get a wonderful system. (but what's the point of using Linux and avoiding the command line?) I personally thought Suse was easier than Ubuntu, so you may want to try Suse first.

Edit: Oh from what I've read, it's easier to get XGL working in Suse. So that's definitely a plus. :)
 
M

magomago

Lifer
Sep 28, 2002
10,973
14
76
Originally posted by: stupidkid
I'd recommend Gentoo for your good. Even after you get Gentoo installed and Gnome/KDE/w/e working, you'll pretty much be fluent with many Linux commands and understand the basics of the Linux kernel.

Anyways, when I started I used Suse. Man the graphical utilities in Suse are amazing. You can basically avoid the command line and still get a wonderful system. (but what's the point of using Linux and avoiding the command line?) I personally thought Suse was easier than Ubuntu, so you may want to try Suse first.

Edit: Oh from what I've read, it's easier to get XGL working in Suse. So that's definitely a plus. :)
Click to expand...


I'll have to disagree. Telling someone to use Gentoo first is like teaching a child to ride a bike by tossing him an unassembled bike and some tools. "Once you figure out how to put it together, you'll have quite a bit of experience and knowledge about bikes and their physics!"
Gentoo, beyond wasting half your life compiling ;) , is for more proficient users. Everything has to be done manually, and there is no choice. For some people that is just extremely difficult to setup initially~ even automounting in KDE isn't automatically included if you emerge KDE. Gentoo is great if you are already a little familiar with linux and want to learn things under the hood through "learn by doing". Through that alone I have respect for Gentoo, because when I attempted a stage 1 install many commands began to make more sense, and the file structure helped to become more clear (with great Docs i might add...REALLY great docs). However, it should not be given to a beginner...too many potential frustrations because too many things simple aren't automated.
Insofar as gentoo is concerned I will agree with cleverhandle: GREAT community, GREAT Dcoumentation...just not for beginners.

I reccomend Ubuntu, great distro, great community, and works well for novices al lthe way to those comfortable with Linux. Catch the community at http://www.ubuntuforums.org ~
 
S

SleepWalkerX

Platinum Member
Jun 29, 2004
2,649
0
0
Originally posted by: stupidkid
I'd recommend Gentoo for your good. Even after you get Gentoo installed and Gnome/KDE/w/e working, you'll pretty much be fluent with many Linux commands and understand the basics of the Linux kernel.

Anyways, when I started I used Suse. Man the graphical utilities in Suse are amazing. You can basically avoid the command line and still get a wonderful system. (but what's the point of using Linux and avoiding the command line?) I personally thought Suse was easier than Ubuntu, so you may want to try Suse first.

Edit: Oh from what I've read, it's easier to get XGL working in Suse. So that's definitely a plus. :)
Click to expand...

Gentoo has its place, but for a noob that doesn't exactly want to learn the insides of the operating system they're running should focus on easier distros like Ubuntu. Since he said for noobs, that definantly rules out Gentoo.

If you know you want to install a linux-based os and not just play around with livecds then I definantly give a thumbs up to Suse. One of the easiest distros to use. I thought XGL was just a little toy that's somewhat interesting, but after running it its definantly something that just attaches to you (I just had to turn off the wobbly windows, that was annoying). Everyone needs to at least play with it once. :)
 
D

drag

Elite Member
Jul 4, 2002
8,708
0
0
Gentoo..
2 thoughts come to mind.

Gentoo.. I've heard it's gcc screen saver is pretty cool.

Also my favorite thing to do with Gentoo is have my terminal's colors set to green and black and make it full screen. Then when people start to wonder why I've been staring at it for 3 hours I can talk to them about "All I see now is blonde, brunette, redhead."
 
I

Indred

Member
Oct 23, 2005
172
0
0
Originally posted by: cleverhandle
The most important thing, IMO, is to go with a distro that has a sizable and active community. No matter how slick the distro tries to be, there's going to be a problem eventually. When that happens, you'll be better served by a "hard" distro with a big, helpful community than an "easy" distro with a small or unhelpful one. Also, I've generally found that while distros that attempt to be the most newbie-friendly (lots of GUI's and automated stuff) generally go very smoothly, when they do break they do so in the most heinous and incomprehensible ways.

On that basis, I see the significant choices (in no particular order) as...

Ubuntu - nice distro, hugely popular right now, lots of info out there, newbie friendly

Fedora - not a huge community, but the docs and HowTo's I've seen seem to be well-written for novice users without totally dumbing things down

Debian - the base for Ubuntu, very high quality though sometimes difficult to understand at first, probably the most knowledgeable user base out there

Gentoo - actually, I think this distro is a total waste of time, but it does have an enthusiastic userbase, and that was my point


And, flames be damned, that's all I'd recommend. There are lots of other distros out there, many of them quite nice technically. But it's the people that make it work in the end, and for one reason or another the others just don't have as much going on in that department.
Click to expand...



I like your moto :D

Sleep WalkerX
Btw, the only distros, afaik, that don't have 64 bit support are Mepis and PCLinuxOS. Personally, I haven't noticed any performance increase from running a 64 bit distro compared to running a 32 bit one. Plus you might not be able to play certain video files (as you need to install w32codecs which won't work with a 64 bit distro), i think there still isn't a 64 bit java plugin, openoffice is 32 bit (which you can still run though I think), and there might be some other issues. Just letting you know.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for your comments any one else have any advise on this? I know having a 64bit CPU has its upsides and that the 64bit os/software world alike are still catching up but is it going to be a waist/pain to install it or should i stick with 32bit???

All and all I think i'm leaning on installing 2 versions doing tri-boot if you will with Winblows, Suse and Ubuntu. My next question which is some what retorical but I need to make sure all my software is compatible. I know with windows it is possible to check this I just need to do some research on the two above mentioned distros and make sure. I know they also have programs that can open like MS word docs and stuff like that but any one know about games. I currently have COD2, Far-Cry, and BIA EIB. Thanks again sorry for the long post.

 
Nothinman

Nothinman

Elite Member
Sep 14, 2001
30,672
0
0
I know having a 64bit CPU has its upsides and that the 64bit os/software world alike are still catching up but is it going to be a waist/pain to install it or should i stick with 32bit???
Click to expand...

Only closed source software is catching up which is why things like flash and Windows Media don't work well on 64-bit Linux yet. Actually some things like Oo_O might have issues too, but they're the exception to the rule in more than just the 64-bit vs 32-bit case. But really there's virtually 0 reason to have a 64-bit userland right now unless you're running really large databases, huge 3D renders, etc.

I know they also have programs that can open like MS word docs and stuff like that but any one know about games. I currently have COD2, Far-Cry, and BIA EIB. Thanks again sorry for the long post.
Click to expand...

If you want to play Windows games on Linux you'll need to look into WINE or cedega (a commecial version of WINE), but I really doubt that would work well if you install a 64-bit userland.
 
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Pythias

Senior member
Oct 4, 2004
209
0
0
I'm fairly new to linux as well, and I've had the best luck with ubuntu, suse, and strangely enough Fedora Core ,which is supposed to be cutting edge.

If you go ubuntu, you may want to give automatix a try. If you go fedora, I found the following sites immensely handy: Fedora Core 5 installation guide and this guy has some really great advice and instructions for getting all the cool stuff up and running on FC-5. Nvidia 3-d drivers and what have you.

Good luck and happy hacking. =)
 
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Indred

Member
Oct 23, 2005
172
0
0
Am i still correct that linux is not able to read NTFS I Know it can read Fat32 and I think it can read a few more but i don't know if any updates have enabled it to read NTFS
 
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