want to learn linux.

[rasczak]

i have an old emachine with a celery 533, benq dvd rw, and dlink wireless adapter and trendnet ethernet adapter.

i want to install (gulp) linux on this machine, any ideas what distro would be best for me?

i would rate myself a c-/d+ in programming, but i want something other than knoppix.

any help would be great.

Thanks,
joe

also, if you could point me to some of the linux sites/ forums that would be great.

 

[KoolDrew]

Debian, Ubunutu (Debian based, but "newbie friendly") or Slackware.

 

[rasczak]

are those cd driven? or can i install directly to my pc?

 

[n0cmonkey]

Slackware.

The ones mentioned by KoolDrew are installed on the system. Ubuntu may have a live cd too, but it can be installed.

 

[Carl Uman]

If you end up finding that you get a distro installed and know nothing about what happened and or how to change things... Try Gentoo (gentoo.org).

I used a liveCD install from mepis and found myself not knowing enough to really get anything done or how to get myself out of a major mess w/o doing fresh install. Try mepis and if you find yourself wanting to learn more get gentoo!

If you try gentoo for your first distro it is unlikely that you will get the machine running your first try BUT you will learn a lot by the time it is working. If you don't like it you can still switch back to something else but you will have gained experience.

 

[nweaver]

RedHat is easy on the noobs. I hear great things about ubuntu. I am waiting for the CD's (too lazy to download them)

 

[spherrod]

I would vote for Ubuntu

 

[nweaver]

as a suggestion...don't just "I want to learn linux" and install it. Set reasonable goals for what you want to do, such as "Install application A to do B" "move service C off of windows box and have the same functionality" such as DHCP, DNS, Filesharing, etc.

I am the kind of person who doesn't just "learn" stuff. I have to have a reason. I want to learn perl, but sitting down with the book and hacking out the example scripts doesn't really get me far. I need to say "I want a perl script to telnet into my cisco device and configure the interface for blah". Then I do that much. That is just me, but having tasks that you need to acomplish will get you more knowldege, and you will not just sit there and think "wow, I heard it was the roxxors, but it's not really". Above all, dual boot or use a second box, and give Linux time. As you learn, start moving daily tasks, such as email, web browsing to it. Give it 6 months of decent usage. If you give it six months, learn some stuff, and then come back and post that you didn't like it, and that you are going back to windows full time, you won't get the grief some folks do.

 

[rasczak]

what would you suggest? i have been needing a file server/ web server for a while now, but my 2k server copy is only good for 180 days (cert school edition). as for dual booting, i'm ok without it. this box i'm using is strictly for installing formatting and reinstalling oses. my gaming box and other apps are separate.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: jpbelauskas
what would you suggest? i have been needing a file server/ web server for a while now, but my 2k server copy is only good for 180 days (cert school edition).

Setup samba and apache.

 

[rasczak]

thx. i just finished dl'ing ubuntu and will be working on tonite if i have time. i'll let you guys know how it goes. i hope you guys don't mind if i bug you when a problem comes up

 

[santaliqueur]

ive heard more people say "ive heard good things about ubuntu" than ive heard the actual good things themselves.

CJ

 

[Nothinman]

Just about everyone on Ars who hasn't stuck with Debian has installed Ubuntu because it's essentially Debian only a little nicer.

 

[Red and black]

I saw someone install Ubuntu a couple weeks ago; it looked very painless. And http://ubuntuguide.org/ has total noob HOWTOs.

I definitely second the suggestion to tackle a small number of concrete tasks, and also second the specific suggestions of apache and samba.

 

[Aenslead]

You will need A LOT of free time, and lots of learning wishes. Mandrake is the easiest distro with the best compatibility rate.

 

[calyco]

Can go wrong with Ubuntu, easier install than Windows XP. Installed it on three different systems and 99% hardware worked out of the box. Then you can just use internet to learn linux, best way to learn something is to try it right?

 

[LBmtb]

www.linuxforums.org is pretty friendly, try there. I run Fedora Core 3 and like it. Pretty easy and well supported.

 

[rasczak]

yea, and i'm a pretty patient guy since i hear you need some patience trying to learn this system. i hear the benefits of it far outweigh any negative feedback you hear about installation.

haven't had time to try installing ubuntu last night. burning the midnight oil on a real estate deal and loan. meh. sometimes i wish i could just sit and play with my box for one whole day.

 

[Aenslead]

Its just that installing packages can sometimes prove quite dificult.

I'm so used to Win Folder System, that I need a shortcut at hand instead of having to browse through folders to find the program I wan to run.

 

[Nothinman]

Its just that installing packages can sometimes prove quite dificult.

If you use a decent system it's simple, finding the correct name of the package can be a little pit of a pain but it gets easier as you get to know the system.

I'm so used to Win Folder System, that I need a shortcut at hand instead of having to browse through folders to find the program I wan to run.

Any decent system should add entries to the menus for you and even if it doesn't, you don't have to browse to find anything because it should be in /usr/bin which is in your PATH already.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Its just that installing packages can sometimes prove quite dificult.

If you use a decent system it's simple, finding the correct name of the package can be a little pit of a pain but it gets easier as you get to know the system.

I'm so used to Win Folder System, that I need a shortcut at hand instead of having to browse through folders to find the program I wan to run.

Any decent system should add entries to the menus for you and even if it doesn't, you don't have to browse to find anything because it should be in /usr/bin which is in your PATH already.

Or /usr/local/bin if it's a 3rd party application.

 

[Nothinman]

Or /usr/local/bin if it's a 3rd party application.

Which should also be in your PATH. And if you're using Debian you don't have to worry about that since just about everything you could ever want is already packaged =)

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Or /usr/local/bin if it's a 3rd party application.

Which should also be in your PATH. And if you're using Debian you don't have to worry about that since just about everything you could ever want is already packaged =)

Packaged into /usr instead of /usr/local. Not all packaging systems consider all packages to be part of base, some packaging systems are reasonable.

 

[Wyck]

Ubuntu is beautiful. Do it!

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: Aenslead
Its just that installing packages can sometimes prove quite dificult.

I'm so used to Win Folder System, that I need a shortcut at hand instead of having to browse through folders to find the program I wan to run.

I tend to rely on package managers that keep track of dependancy hell, which is/was for the most part the big pain with Linux.

As for shortcuts, you can make shortcuts in Linux as well. Just make a symlink and drop it on your desktop, or in your home directory to keep a nice clean desktop look.