I am building my first computer and dont have the money to get winXP, and i hate win98 that i have b/c all it does is constantly crash. I was wondering if there is anything that i can tryout linux on without installing a new OS on the famly computer. Is it like dos? I have never used anything but a gui interface. I play alot of games and do alot of school work such as powerpoint, word, and so on. Would this not be the best thing for me ro should i try it?
What is Linux like?
- Thread starter stevens
- Start date
If all you do is play games and use word, dont bother with linux. And no, its NOTHING like DOS. Thats basically an insult to anyone using a UNIX compatible system 
Well I would like to learn how to use it and am sorry for comparing it to DOS. What would i use linux for?
<< Well I would like to learn how to use it and am sorry for comparing it to DOS. What would i use linux for? >>
The "
" meant that I was basically joking, so no apologies needed With linux you can play games, you can type up projects, and it is a network Operating system. It is totally different than Windows though, and if you dont have the time or intelligence to be able to understand that the philosophy behind Windows is much different than the philosophy behind UNIX type systems. Read up at linuxdoc.org, linuxnewbie.org and other linux sites to learn a little more about it before trying it out. Or download SuSE's live evaluation cd. You wont need to install anything (well nothing much if anything), and it will run off of cdrom. You can test it out without installing it that way and SuSE seems to be a great distro.
Linux is like any other *nix, most useful for programming and other such geeky activities . It is very difficult to learn(I've been using it for more than a year and I still consider myself a newbie), but well worth the time investment. When you know how to use linux, you will never be able to go back to windows, because it is such a pain in the ass.
As you will see in other posts on this form www.linuxdoc.org is a very good place to start. That has all of the documentation for pretty much everything. And depending on which distribution you use, you can do everything graphically, but you shouldn't. It's much better to learn how to do stuff via the command line, as it is much more powerful.
Anyway, good luck in learning, and just remember to have fun with it. Otherwise, what teh point, you might as well be using windows.
-Hob
. It is very difficult to learn(I've been using it for more than a year and I still consider myself a newbie), but well worth the time investment. When you know how to use linux, you will never be able to go back to windows, because it is such a pain in the ass.As you will see in other posts on this form www.linuxdoc.org is a very good place to start. That has all of the documentation for pretty much everything. And depending on which distribution you use, you can do everything graphically, but you shouldn't. It's much better to learn how to do stuff via the command line, as it is much more powerful.
Anyway, good luck in learning, and just remember to have fun with it. Otherwise, what teh point, you might as well be using windows
.-Hob
<< Linux is like any other *nix, most useful for programming and other such geeky activities
. It is very difficult to learn(I've been using it for more than a year and I still consider myself a newbie), but well worth the time investment. When you know how to use linux, you will never be able to go back to windows, because it is such a pain in the ass.>>
debatable. if you use mandrake, it is easy. but you lose all the control (it likes to hide stuff, just like windows). you can get around it, but not unless you want to. other distros (haven't tried suse so I dont know) tend to require you have some understanding.
I would also consider myself a linux newbie. Personally, i'd recommend you dual boot... win98 for your games that don't run in linux, and linux to play around with. I've reinstalled linux dozens of times, and every time I break something, I know more about linux
about GUIs vs. CLI: linux has a GUI. you can tell it to always start the GUI on boot. but i think CLIs are more fun
If you plan on going into the computer industry or getting any sort of computer science degree in college, then it would certainly be worth your time to learn Linux now. If you have neither of these aspirations, then in MOST cases, it would be a waste of time unless you make it into a fun hobby. It *will* consume spare time!
once you get past the installation (which isn't always hard, but requires a little more knowledge), using linux with gnome or KDE is just as easy as using windows. I use it for everything expect games that I can't find ported for linux and for quicken. Now I am sure you are saying what is KDE, what is gnome? well it is the graphical interface that operates on top of the linux command line environment. I know I will get killed for the analogy, but it is sort of like the way you used to be able to run windows 3.1 on top of DOS, except in this case there are many choices for the environment you can use. There are plenty of capable applications..star office,koffice, gnome office, etc. for office suite type stuff, mozilla, netscape, galeon, konquerer, opera, etc., for browsers, chat clients, scanner software, camera software, real player, etc., etc.
Try it, I think you will like it. The way you think about things like drives, and learning to mount and unmount drives as you need them are different than in the windows environment, but all in all, using linux is not hard. Getting it set up just the way you want can be a little daunting at times, but it is getting easier all the time
Try it, I think you will like it. The way you think about things like drives, and learning to mount and unmount drives as you need them are different than in the windows environment, but all in all, using linux is not hard. Getting it set up just the way you want can be a little daunting at times, but it is getting easier all the time
oh yeah and it has SOME similarities to DOS, on the most basic level.
cd and cd are the same
cp = copy
rm = del
ls = dir
so on and so forth. but the similarities are there because it is a CLI. all CLIs have some things in common just as all GUIs have things in common.
cd and cd are the same
cp = copy
rm = del
ls = dir
so on and so forth. but the similarities are there because it is a CLI. all CLIs have some things in common just as all GUIs have things in common.
<< dos you could be pretty proficient with in maybe a day, there is just not much there. linux takes a looooooong time.
oh and my screenshot is here >>
blech, a mac
you can't link to geocities. to view the pic, click the link, delete the g, press enter, put the g back in, presss enter again and it should work.or drag the icon in IE, i think most here know about geocities links...and what are you talking about a mac?
<< Well I would like to learn how to use it and am sorry for comparing it to DOS. What would i use linux for? >>
The feeling of hacking something is great fun already!
I like linux but I'd admit at the moment it is still a hacker's platform.
<< If you plan on going into the computer industry or getting any sort of computer science degree in college, then it would certainly be worth your time to learn Linux now >>
<< It *will* consume spare time! >>
Well i would like to do something with computers in college and that is why i am trying to learn alot about them now! btw How would i set up a dual boot for linux and win98?
You really need to read the info in the links given.
just search "dual boot" in this forum and more info will be given.
First you need to partition your hdd to at least 2 partitions. Unless you want to wipe your hdd, use Partition Magic to do this.
Otherwise, FDisk will be fine.
The distro such as RH 7.2 or ManD 8.1 or Suse or others are real good now about setting up the partitions once you give it space on your hdd to do so. (like create logical drive partitions but don't format them).
You will probably have C (W98) and newly created extended partition with logical drive D: in it.
Then install Linux and it will set up its partitions within the empty D: partition.
This is general, but will get you there if you want to dive in.
Have fun.
just search "dual boot" in this forum and more info will be given.
First you need to partition your hdd to at least 2 partitions. Unless you want to wipe your hdd, use Partition Magic to do this.
Otherwise, FDisk will be fine.
The distro such as RH 7.2 or ManD 8.1 or Suse or others are real good now about setting up the partitions once you give it space on your hdd to do so. (like create logical drive partitions but don't format them).
You will probably have C (W98) and newly created extended partition with logical drive D: in it.
Then install Linux and it will set up its partitions within the empty D: partition.
This is general, but will get you there if you want to dive in.
Have fun.
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