Snarkpit Forum Index » General Banter » Linux?
Linux?
1
23 next page »
Post Reply
Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Wild Card on Thu Nov 11th at 5:23pm 2004

Im looking for a version (or distro or whatever its called) of Linux for my laptop. Since I'd like to play around with it. But I dont know which to get. Obviously Im not looking for something to play games with, but still something that has functionality. Someone point me in the right direction?

[addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by scary_jeff on Thu Nov 11th at 5:48pm 2004

www.distrowatch.com has a list of distros. Personally I would say go with fedora.redhat.com, but there's a million reasons to choose or not choose any particular distro.



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by fraggard on Thu Nov 11th at 6:15pm 2004

Try out a Live CD distro such as Knoppix or Damnsmalllinux before you make the plunge. Fedora, Mandrake and SuSE seem to be the current desktop favourites. Some of the older linux users seem to prefer Debian and Slackware. And for ultimate Hard-core-geekism you should probably try Gentoo. I've listed them in the (increasing) order of difficulty I have found in installing them. Using them is more or less the same with everyone using KDE/GNOME, except for Gentoo. So go ahead and make your choice.

Edit: Damnsmall works best with older laptops and other lower end hardware. But it lacks some essentials (such as GCC :o ) You can easily install that though.





Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Forceflow on Thu Nov 11th at 7:09pm 2004

I use damnsmalllinux on my laptop, and it works great ... boot from the cd and work away
[addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Crono on Thu Nov 11th at 8:13pm 2004

What kind of games? DirectX games (Half-Life for example)? If so you need a WineX which costs money. I've personally used SuSE for a few years and they're pretty good. To be honest, it really doesn't matter what you choose since they all have the same desktop interfaces. It just depends on what you want out of that OS.

But, The only one I really don't like is Red Hat ... Don't ask why because I can't tell you.

But, I think you'd have an easier time getting around using Mandrake or SuSE, I've never used Fedora before so I have no idea how it is.

Don't be fooled though, they're still a pain in the ass to set up properly Especially if you want to use them for Windows games. But it can be done, just ask Horn (If he ever shows up again).

Personally, when I get time, I'm putting Slackware or Gentoo on one of my computers and try out configuring it to see if I can replace my Windows OS. I know for a fact Gentoo is a f**king pain in the ass unless you take time to configure some automation (you have to compile a lot of 3rd party utilities yourself, which, honestly, is what you should do anyway to ensure it is hand made for your system).

On a complete side note, I F**ING HATE KDE. Too damn slow and cluttered ... but it looks pretty. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by $loth on Thu Nov 11th at 8:26pm 2004

I've used redhat, but don't ask as it was about 1 and a half years ago and I was a noob to puters and was first time on linux, i've got mandrake 10, really should get that set up some time. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Wild Card on Thu Nov 11th at 9:11pm 2004

Whats the difference between Mandrake and Red hat and SuSe? And where could I find a real download link to one. I've found many mirrors that are just br0ken junk. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Forceflow on Thu Nov 11th at 9:19pm 2004

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3

there you've got all the mirrors for mandrake.
[addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Crono on Thu Nov 11th at 9:26pm 2004

Really, the only differences are their own installation techniques and things like that.

I just don't like Red Hat, that's just me. But it is harder to use (if you've never used Linux of any kind) then SuSE. (Also, just to let you know, SuSE does have the largest Linux knowledge Database and they use it.)

I think Ultimate Linux or United Linux can't remember the name will be coming out soon. It's basically contributed by all major distributers except RH.

SuSE

The link Jeff gave has links to all downloadable versions. They're usually FTPs though.

To be honest you might like "Lindows" or "Mandows". I think they cost like 10 bucks. But they install over your Windows OS giving you Linux functionality and OS. But it also uses the Windows end of it to run Win32 applications. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Loco on Fri Nov 12th at 8:21am 2004

I think Lindows was renamed to "Linspire" after Microsoft tried to sue it, but I may be wrong...

I prefer Fedora myself, and with any luck I'm going to get the Fedora 3 64-bit disks soon. I've used Mandrake, which seems to be good, simple, and very reliable, but doesn't work with Cedega (Cedega is also known as WineX - it's a program that allows you to run DirectX programs on Linux).

As for Live distro's, my favourite is Slax - always seems to be reliable with plenty of functionality and still fairly small in size. DamnSmallLinux is good, but only really much use to me when I'm using a very old machine. Knoppix tends to be considered to be the best one, but I still prefer Slax...

For distros the best place I've found yet is http://www.linuxiso.org - seems to have most of them.
[addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by $loth on Fri Nov 12th at 8:53am 2004

? quoting Loco
I think Lindows was renamed to "Linspire" after Microsoft tried to sue it, but I may be wrong...

Nope, your right.

[addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Crono on Fri Nov 12th at 8:58am 2004

I knew they tried to sue them, I didn't know they actually settled and changed the name ... that's so stupid. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Monqui on Fri Nov 12th at 6:09pm 2004

I would seriously suggest using Knoppix if you're just getting into Linux. Like people have said before about it, I'm sure, it's incredibly easy to use. Basically go to http://www.knoppix.org (click on the English link, first), scroll down, click on the Download button, then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the list, click on the HTTP link for one of the bottom 3 (I think Purdue is the only one with HTTP available (or just go with the FTP or RSync links for one of the other two, if you want), agree to the thing, and then download the KNOPPIX_V3.4-2004-05-17-DE.iso package. Simply burn that to a CD, then.

Keep that CD in your drive, and restart your PC. Make sure that your BIOS is set to boot to the CD before the HDD, or directly boot to that device, assuming your BIOS supports that. Then, wait for it to load, and when it gives you the promt that says "Boot:", simply hit return. Wait a little while, and it'll auto-log you into a KDE session.

Congradulations, you're running Linux.

It's incredinbly easy, and it's a great way to get started with Linux. The plus side of this method is that it automatically mounts (gives you access to, essentially) all of your HDD's, so that you can access all of the information on them. It has some really nice programs for just about anything that you'd want to do (code, listen to music, imaging software, Office style programs (for word processing), web browsing (although it's Konquerer, which I can't stand), etc.).

The only downside is that it won't let you eject the CD while you're in the Knoppix session.

To end the session, simply click the big K icon in the taskbar (where your Start button would be in Windows), click log Off, decide whether or not to save your settings, then click OK or whatver. It'll automatically run all of the kill commands, then will spit out the CDRom.

Next time you boot, assuming the Knoppix CD isn't in your CD drive, it'll boot back into Windows with no harm done. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Forceflow on Fri Nov 12th at 6:49pm 2004

I wonder, where are your setting saved when you use a liveCD like Knoppix or DamnSmallLinux ?

And those disks have problems with NTFS or not ? (only tested it on FAT drives)

Thx for the link btw, Loco ... real good: http://www.linuxiso.org/
[addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by gimpinthesink on Fri Nov 12th at 7:03pm 2004

Yeh thanx for all the links guys I have been thinking about switching for a while but I havent really looked for any distros and this has spured me on to switch. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Forceflow on Fri Nov 12th at 7:12pm 2004

It really doesn't have to be a switch. Use a boot manager and use both windows ?nd linux. I have to do that to keep my family members happy.
[addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Monqui on Fri Nov 12th at 7:15pm 2004

Don't get the wrong idea about Knoppix, gimp. It's not meant to be a permenant solution if you want to run Linux. If you really plan on going with a linux install, I'd say go ahead and just work on installing Debian or Mandrake or something along those lines on a partition that you don't really use (assuming you have a partitioned HDD). Just get used to the install process, and have another PC handy so that you can look things up if you run into something you don't understand.

And Force, yeah, they seem to be compatable with NTFS, as I just ran it on my laptop and was able to access my NTFS disk from it. And as for where it saves things, I have no idea. I haven't looked for any files that mysteriously popped up, but I will once I get off work. I assume it just dumps some small text file on your primary drives primary partition, but that's just a guess.

Knoppix is a great introduction to Linux, but it's by no means something that you'd want to constantly rely on for your Linux install.





Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by gimpinthesink on Fri Nov 12th at 7:53pm 2004

yeh I knoppix aint a permenent solution but it will get me a bit used to a linux distro before I do accually switch or try some other distro. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by Crono on Fri Nov 12th at 8:28pm 2004

if you install on a partition (which Linux will allow you to adjust once you try to install it) Linux will be able to see and use the windows partition. Such as, you can open the C directory and listen to all your music.

I'm not sure which distributions don't support this.
Some other things you'll probably want is Samba. Even though it's not that great it's the only ( I know of) to network windows to unix/linux and vice versa. [addsig]



Quote
 Re: Linux?
Posted by fraggard on Sat Nov 13th at 4:31am 2004

Fedora Core 1-3 do not come with builtin support for NTFS partitions due to some legal issues. You need to get separate rpms (available at livna) to get it running.






1
23 next page »
Post Reply