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[Serp86]

I have been hearing a lot lately about linux and was just about to try it out by doing a dual boot with debian linux. Is this a good choice? Are here more (free) user friendly versions of linux than debian?

I'm a complete n00b as regards to linux - never even saw a computer running a version of linux. Am I crazy for trying this out?

A few questions:

1) is it faster than windows xp?

2) will there be any trouble setting it up on a 2600+ athlon, ABIT KD7 motherboard, 512mb ram, and Radeon 9700pro computer?

3) is there a source of freeware programs for linux?

4) most people I see talking about linux on these forums mention a lot of complicated codes and stuff. Do I need to learn all this?

5) will linux behave nicely with windows xp?

Thanks in advance

Jonathan

 

[Praetor]

If you have never tried linux before, I would recommend trying out one of the Live CDs first. Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/get.php) is probably the most popular choice for this.

It terms of which distro to choose, every person will tell you a different story. Pick one and run with it. If you don't like it, install something else.

 

[keeleysam]

Even though everyone else says to go with Ubuntu for n00bs, I would reccomend Fedora Core 3. It comes with KDE as default, and the Anaconda installer is very easy to use. And yum is nice too.

The only problem I see is your graphics card, because ATI's Linux drivers suck. But you will be fine.

 

[Serp86]

Downloading SimplyMEPIS 3.3.1 now

Should take about 10 hours on a crappy 256k connection :'(

 

[bersl2]

Originally posted by: Serp86
I have been hearing a lot lately about linux and was just about to try it out by doing a dual boot with debian linux. Is this a good choice? Are here more (free) user friendly versions of linux than debian?

I'm a complete n00b as regards to linux - never even saw a computer running a version of linux. Am I crazy for trying this out?

A few questions:

1) is it faster than windows xp?

I would say yes, but others would not. More or less, additional speed is a product of being able to plug in as light or as heavy a component as you want and to tune it however you want.

2) will there be any trouble setting it up on a 2600+ athlon, ABIT KD7 motherboard, 512mb ram, and Radeon 9700pro computer?

The only problem there is the ATI card > 9200. ATI (3D) support for Linux is nominal at best; yes, the cards mostly work with the ATI proprietary driver, but there are sometimes frustrating problems that, due to the proprietary nature of the drivers, can't be fixed by anyone but ATI, who certainly take their time.

There is a project to reverse-engineer support for R3xx cards, and it works in a basic fashion, but the code is still very experimental, as the linked page makes all too clear (that statement's there just in case).

3) is there a source of freeware programs for linux?

Freshmeat is an index of all sorts of programs. Many projects are hosted on Sourceforge. Those two and Google will find most anything.

4) most people I see talking about linux on these forums mention a lot of complicated codes and stuff. Do I need to learn all this?

To be a user, no. To be an administrator (even of your own box), to a degree varying with what distro you choose. You might have do end up doing a few things manually, but usually they are one-timers.

5) will linux behave nicely with windows xp?

Generally. Transferring files between the two is a biatch, due the pathetically small number of filesystems Windows supports. Generally, each leave each other alone.

 

[LBmtb]

1) is it faster than windows xp?
Yes. Boot time MIGHT be a little longer on linux.

2) will there be any trouble setting it up on a 2600+ athlon, ABIT KD7 motherboard, 512mb ram, and Radeon 9700pro computer?
I have an all in wonder 9800 pro and can't get 3d going. Not a huge deal since gaming isn't linux's strong point yet. I have a tiny winXP partition on my computer in case a game comes along that I want to play.

3) is there a source of freeware programs for linux?
Just about all the programs for linux are 'freeware.' Except with linux you don't have to worry about the freeware having spyware/adware or virii. You'll learn to know and love the term 'open-source.' Sourceforge, freshrpms, freshmeat are just a few of the websites.

4) most people I see talking about linux on these forums mention a lot of complicated codes and stuff. Do I need to learn all this?
To some degree yes. It's all very straightforward once you do it a few times so don't get scared off by it. Linuxforums.org is a real friendly place with lots of good advice.

5) will linux behave nicely with windows xp?
Yes but windows doesn't behave nicely to linux. Actually it'll be fine, just don't install Windows on a system that already has linux or else it'll wipe the master boot record and claim the system in the name of MS, making booting into linux a little tricky. If your parition is ntfs, you'll only be able to mount it in linux as read only. If it's fat32 you can read and write from linux. You can't see the linux parititions from within linux.
You can also setup a simple file server with samba from linux if you have machines on your lan that you want to share files with.


edit: I use fedora core 3 btw.

 

[TGS]

You can use the Windows bootloader to load Linux.

example

Or all assuming Lilo for loading the linux distro.

Personally I prefer just using grub for a dual boot, and adding in the chainloader comment for windows.

IE.

title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

Seems a little more straight forward than configuring a linux bootload, then having NTLDR handle the operation. When grub is/can be much easier. IMO

 

[JoLLyRoGer]

Originally posted by: keeleysam
Even though everyone else says to go with Ubuntu for n00bs, I would reccomend Fedora Core 3. It comes with KDE as default, and the Anaconda installer is very easy to use. And yum is nice too.

The only problem I see is your graphics card, because ATI's Linux drivers suck. But you will be fine.

Agreed.
<--- Currently Running FC3/XP Pro.
<--- Administers multiple SCO OpenServer 5.0.7 machines at work

I just went with FC3 last month and it's the first linux distro I've been this excited about. Setup was a breeze and the yum installer is awsome! After getting my rpm repositories set up getting everything going was a snap.

This distro has the best USB support I've run into, ACPI works out of the box, my ATI card gave no issues and was auto-detected upon install. Getting wireless to go was as simple as a yum install madwifi from the atrpms repository and I even got...get this... my conexant winmodem (that's right, a winmodem) up and going at full speed 56k (I live in the country so I use dialup).

The install took care of most everything else. Installing flash, java, and mplayer plugins for firefox was simple and straightforward too.

Overall FC3 is the best experience I've ever had with Linux hands down and www.fedoraforum.org is an excellent community support site dedicated to Fedora/RedHat.

Other distros I've tried:
RedHat 5.2, 7.3, 9
SuSE 8.0, 8.2
Mandrake 7.2, 8.0, 10
Knoppix "I forget the version"

Also, Meppis makes an excellent live CD (blows Knoppix out of the water IMHO) if you want to try Linux before you actually install it

Cheers!
JR..

 

[Nothinman]

1) is it faster than windows xp?

Yes and no. A lot of the core is faster but if you run a 'heavy' UI like KDE or Gnome then it might feel a little slower.

2) will there be any trouble setting it up on a 2600+ athlon, ABIT KD7 motherboard, 512mb ram, and Radeon 9700pro computer?

The ATI crap will probably be the only stumbling point, ATI's Linux drivers are nowhere near as good as the ones from nVidia. If you don't want accelerated 3D you can ignore that and just use the OSS drivers.

3) is there a source of freeware programs for linux?

Most applications for Linux are free. But you should always stick to what your distribution packages whenever possible, it'll save you a lot of headaches. The number and quality of packages is a main reason behind why I use Debian.

4) most people I see talking about linux on these forums mention a lot of complicated codes and stuff. Do I need to learn all this?

Depends on what you want to do. Some things require extra work on your part, but it's really not all that complicated, it's just different. And you can usually find someone willing to help you out. If you choose to use Ubuntu (a Debian derived distro) I would suggest hanging out in #linux on irc.arstechnica.com, a lot of the people there use Debian and Ubuntu and most will work with you as long as it takes to get any problems figured out.

5) will linux behave nicely with windows xp?

Sure, but you won't be able to write to any NTFS partitions because MS won't release any good docs on the NTFS on-disk format. There are some hacks to make it writable, but I wouldn't trust them.