some info about Linux?

[bluehorizon]

I honestly know nothing about Linux, but I'd like to see about installing it on my A64 system to learn. Am I correct in assuming no windows apps will work, such as office 2003, dreamweaver, zone alarm, etc? What about drivers? What's the latest version of Linux and how would I get it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[addragyn]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: addragyn
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux

Thanks for posting that link, addragyn. I have wanted to learn Linux for a long time now....or at least TRY to learn it. I got lucky and have a copy (legal) of the new SUSE9.1 Pro on the way to me...

Your link helped educate me on Linux' history, etc.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: bluehorizon
I honestly know nothing about Linux, but I'd like to see about installing it on my A64 system to learn. Am I correct in assuming no windows apps will work,

Maybe.

such as office 2003,

Should work with crossover office, but open office isn't bad.

dreamweaver,

Probably with wine.

zone alarm,

Probably not. Why would you want that trash?

etc? What about drivers?

Windows drivers will not work.

What's the latest version of Linux and how would I get it?

2.6.7, IIRC. kernel.org has it.

Thanks in advance!

np Remember the google.

 

[pitupepito2000]

There's a lot to Linux. First Linux is the kernel, the heart of the Operating System, and there are a lot of distributions that use the linux kernel, for exampleebian, suse, gentoo, redhat, etc. When you are asking what is the latest linux?, you are asking what is the latest kernel, which at this point is 2.6.7 (more info on www.kernel.org). What you probably want to know is what is the latest version of the distribution that you will be using? I would personally recopmmend you Fedora, Suse, Mandrake. I would suggest you stay out of Debian, Gentoo, Slackaware, and other hard to set up distributions.

I would also advice you to get a good book about linux, and read it. There's a few online free books, and also you can go to your local library and get some linux books. The trick to linux is to RTFM, read the friendly manual. Some good websites are:
www.google.com/linux
www.tldp.org

Also, you can't talk about Linux in Windows terms, for example, there are a lot fo good open source programs that will allow you to do yoru work under linux. For example:
M$ Office -----> Openoffice.org
drivers -------> kernel modules
IE -------> Firefox, Konqueror, etc
antivirus -----> not necesary under linux, linux has hardly any viruses. I have only heard of less than 10 :0
firewall ----> built in with linux
notepad ----> vi, emacs
msn, im, etc -----> gaim

There's a lot of things and options in linux, you just have to spend some time to explore them, and you will see how much flexibility and options you have under linux, you will be shocked.

Note: The best way to learn linux is to set it up in a machine, and try to get different kinds of services/servers/programs working under it.

Good luck,
pitupepito