reinstalling, followed by Linux install.....distro question

[Wigwam]

okay with only 3 months to go until my final FRCR2b exit exams i figure this is a good time to decide a reinstall of my machine and install linux to play/learn at the same time.

I am an utter novice with linux so, with my spec as below, what distro do you recommend AND WHY please [things like availability of drivers etc is a consideration for me obivously]:
athlon xp 2400+ [okay it is a 2100+ on a modest overclock]; asus a7n8x-del ver2.0; 120gb(pata) hdd, 1gb ram, radeon 9500pro, imminent nec3520 dvd burner...anything else pertinent?

i plan to reinstall xp pro [slipstreamed with sp2 - i have been waiting to get my dvd burner before and backing up before sp2ing!], image the virgin install; will include a 3-5gb partition for linux [do i need more?] as well as a 5-10gb partition for backups, on top of the 20gb partition for winxp/apps and rest for data/pix etc

so - this is a dual reinstall:
#1 install sp2 [and generaly spring clean the machine at the same time]
#2 install a linux distro

ones i know about - fedora core [allegedly good for novices] novell suse 9.2 [i saw the review for 9.2 pro and was very impressed with the bundle, although a 3.2gb download! ]
mandrake [know by name as good for novices?].
i understand things like red hat/debian are bad for novices, although i have seen references to ubuntu which some have said is good for novices and basd on debian [see, i have tried to read!]
ease of setup/driver availability for chipset/gfx card/adsl modem etc are obviously a consideration for me [although i accepth this should be looked on as the first hurdle to learn] so which handles these things better? [yast in suse from what i can see]

finally in terms of setting a partition for linux - should i prepare for it by doing it with PM8 in windows or leave it to the installation manager when i install linux?

thanks for your patience

 

[n0cmonkey]

nVidia are total cocksuckers about their chipsets. I think that board uses one, so beware, it might be a PITA.

If you want to use Linux Fedora, Mandrake, and SuSE are fine. If you want to learn it Slackware and Debian are the best around.

Don't mess with partition magic, there's no need. Just leave free space at the end of the drive.

 

[Wigwam]

yeah my board is an nvidia nforce 2 chipset...basically i am not sure what i want linux for: to play/familiarise myself and learn...something to do!
by leaving free space near the end do you mean that i should make a 105gb single partition when i reformat my 120gb hdd for xp pro, or something else?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Wigwam
yeah my board is an nvidia nforce 2 chipset...basically i am not sure what i want linux for: to play/familiarise myself and learn...something to do!
by leaving free space near the end do you mean that i should make a 105gb single partition when i reformat my 120gb hdd for xp pro, or something else?

If you want 100GB for Windows and 20 GB for Linux, make a 100GB partition for Windows and don't do any more partitioning.

Fedora or Ubuntu will be fine.

 

[REMF]

SUSE runs great on my Abit nforce2 system, they write good Linux drivers.

 

[Wigwam]

who do - nvidia or abit? i have the asus m/b so....
and what about ati [for the 9500 pro?]

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Wigwam
who do - nvidia or abit? i have the asus m/b so....
and what about ati [for the 9500 pro?]

nVidia writes drivers for stuff that they shouldn't have to. They're just a-holes for not releasing docs. ATI on the other hand needs to start writing better drivers.

 

[Nothinman]

Personally, I would say don't bother with the dual boot thing. It's a PITA and you'll most likely end up totally ignoring one of the two OSes, with Linux being the bigger candidate for that since you're already a Windows user. Get a copy of VMWare (or VirtualPC if you must) and install Linux in there, that way you can run both OSes at the same time.

 

[Wigwam]

thanks guys. few follow-up points and questions:
#1 i take the point about VMWare but wouldnt that bring my machine to its knees?

#2 Yes i am a windows user and i take the point about linux being "mostly ignored" - it is in part true as this is the pc the family uses as well hence winXP must stay for that reason; i am looking to play with/learn Linux "just cos" really hence something gentle on the keen noob is preferred [my IT friends got sick of me tweaking windows over the years and suggested i give it a whirl for its induvidual setup and tweakability!]

#3 n0cmonkey if you dont mind my asking: first you said "Fedora, Mandrake, and SuSE are fine. If you want to learn it Slackware and Debian are the best around." but then a post or so later went onto say "Fedora or Ubuntu will be fine. " would you mind telling me on what basis fedora or ubuntu will be fine for me [fedora as you already said good intro to linux for a novice, but what advantage of running ubuntu - from a comparative point of view between say fedora/ubuntu/suse].

thanks for the continued input guys

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Wigwam
#3 n0cmonkey if you dont mind my asking: first you said "Fedora, Mandrake, and SuSE are fine. If you want to learn it Slackware and Debian are the best around." but then a post or so later went onto say "Fedora or Ubuntu will be fine. " would you mind telling me on what basis fedora or ubuntu will be fine for me [fedora as you already said good intro to linux for a novice, but what advantage of running ubuntu - from a comparative point of view between say fedora/ubuntu/suse].

Please don't search on the topic. You'd only be wasting time. :roll:

You said you didn't know what you want linux for. So why bother giving you the distros that will force you to learn? Now you say you you want to be a tweaker ( :roll: ). That brings up a bunch of other suggestions instead. Really, just pick something already. They're all free. If you don't like one, you can try the next one.

 

[Davegod75]

just try ubuntu...if you don't like install something else

 

[Nothinman]

#1 i take the point about VMWare but wouldnt that bring my machine to its knees?

Probably not. Disk I/O would be slower, but VMWare performs really well. I run it on my notebook with 1G memory and it's fine.

#2 Yes i am a windows user and i take the point about linux being "mostly ignored" - it is in part true as this is the pc the family uses as well hence winXP must stay for that reason; i am looking to play with/learn Linux "just cos" really hence something gentle on the keen noob is preferred [my IT friends got sick of me tweaking windows over the years and suggested i give it a whirl for its induvidual setup and tweakability!]

You could always grab a Knoppix or Gnoppix CD and try it out without installing anything.

 

[REMF]

ubuntu is a good Gnome centric distro
SUSE is a good KDE centric distro

either will do you well.

 

[duragezic]

I'd say Fedora or Ubuntu would narrow it down to the two best distros for starters. If you just want to get a feel for it, then try Knoppix, and if you like it I'm not sure how you go about installing that so you may as well install FC or Ubuntu then.

As far as Nvidia chipset drivers, yeah I hear they are bad about them but thankfully all of the distros I've encounted would detect all of my devices no problem. That includes FC2, FC3, Knoppix, Ubuntu, and I think I tried Debian one day. Well I guess that only means ethernet and sound for me, but it was automatic and everything, and I hear there is no problem with USB. Now, as far as getting my ATI 3d drivers working in Linux, that's a whole 'nother story.

 

[Randabis]

You know...there are opensource drivers for NVIDIA chipsets (forcedeth for networking, and another for sound in both ALSA and OSS). Ubuntu installs both of these and thus you'll have sound and networking out of the box. NVIDIA SHOULD release specs for these things, but the current open source drivers for them are not bad at all. I don't even bother with NVIDIA's drivers except for the video ones, and with ubuntu those are a mere apt-get away.

 

[Wigwam]

thanks guys. a friend is d/l'ing the suse 9.2 pro iso for me as we speak so will give it a whirl [as a dual boot, rather than vmware].
from what you guys say hopefully i shoudl have little probs with the main drivers and 2d graphics but may as well forget about 3d in linux [no real biggy for at at the moment].

now i understand that getting my adsl modem to work mine involve some fun and games...which is a pity and surfing safely was one of the attractions

 

[Randabis]

Actually, you should be able to get 3D with the ATI fglrx drivers.

 

[Wigwam]

cool. i thought i rememebered seeing ati radeon linux drivers a few months back....
that just leaves my fujitsu modem...