its true its true

[linuxnewbier]

i am a windows user right now but i have that feeling that
it is time to start using LINUX

my pc is celeron 633 mhz
384 sd ram
geforce 2 mx/mx400
CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER 16 (yes the oldest in history but i love it)
MERCURY CDROM
LG 8X6X32 CD REWRITER

so is it compitable and how can i install linux ?
treat me like i dont know anything abt linux and i promise u guys i will understand everything fast

[Gator]

that system sounds like it will make a nice Linux box, get yourself a copy of RedHat and you should be all set :)

[Fluke]

I recommend Mandrake. Redhat is over-rated. With Mandrake and your system, after an installation you will be virtually totally configured, with Redhat you wont, you will have to tinker with things.

Why you would want to go with Linux anyhow is beyond me, personally with that rig of yours I'd install Windows 98. At least you will have more software to choose from. To each his own, I guess.

[i2host]

While Mandrake is good, it can be a bit sluggish on older systems. I recomend Suse Linux. It is easy to configure and doesn't come with all of the overhead that Mandrake does.

[Fluke]

Overhead? You can manually select packages in pretty much any Linux distro... Suse I know to be good though...forgot that distro...

[i2host]

What I meant by overhead is that Mandrake incorporates a lot of additional "eye candy" and "user-friendly" features.

There was a great article about this in the September issue of CPU Magazine.

[Fluke]

with Linux, I think the more user friendly, the more success you will have using it. No? The biggest problem with Linux is the fact it is not user friendly in the first place. But Mandrake is one of the top rated choices for Linux from what I have been told. But then Suse is also good. Redhat is more commerically advertised compared to the others.

[volt]

-MOVED TO OPERATING SYSTEMS-
:D

[volt]

Originally posted by Fluke
with Linux, I think the more user friendly, the more success you will have using it. No? The biggest problem with Linux is the fact it is not user friendly in the first place. But Mandrake is one of the top rated choices for Linux from what I have been told. But then Suse is also good. Redhat is more commerically advertised compared to the others.

You can't say that about todays distros.
It's VERY simple point-n-click action. The only thing that is tricky is partitioning, but if you use a dedicated linux drive it's a piece of cake.
Linux has changed A LOT since last year. Not only things are simpler than before, but more convenient and flexible. I remember when I first installed Mandrake, it was a total nightmare (that was about 2-3 years ago). I kept reinstalling until I got it right. I have never fooked up my windows partition by the way! :D. I was watching TechTV last night, and the Apache co-founder was being interviewed. Basically he said that open-source has improved a lot in the past few years, and I have to agree with him.

[i2host]

When it comes down to it, it all depends on which distro you like the best. Everyone has their own opinion and as far as I'm concerned each person's opinion is just as valid.

[volt]

Originally posted by i2host
When it comes down to it, it all depends on which distro you like the best. Everyone has their own opinion and as far as I'm concerned each person's opinion is just as valid.

You should not choose a distro based on likes and dislikes. That doesn't work, it will only create more problems. You have to ask your self what are you going to run on linux system, and how are going to use it, then choose your distribution. I my self have a Linux desktop (Redhat 8.0) and a Linux server (Slackware 8.1). I never do two the same things on both machines.

[linuxnewbier]

now i am tottaly lost hey guys i told u i am a real newbie so i need fixed answers but now i think it is getting complicated

red hat
or mandrake
or else

[i2host]

volt,

Thank you for the enlightenment, oh great one (yes, I am being sarcastic). I own a web hosting company and work with linux 7 days a week. Before you start correcting people find out whom you are speaking to.

[netviper13]

Originally posted by linuxnewbier
now i am tottaly lost hey guys i told u i am a real newbie so i need fixed answers but now i think it is getting complicated

red hat
or mandrake
or else

I'll give you some advice that should help. I too am a brand new Linux user (installed it for the first time yesterday).

I chose to go with Redhat 8.0 and it went great. The Redhat install is very friendly, it did partitioning correctly and automatically, and it detected and set-up all of my hardware correctly. Redhat also includes all tools you might need (like office-productivity suite) and has a great assortment of other apps that come in handy.

The only two things I had problems with were NTFS support and installing the nVidia drivers, but I got the drivers issue worked out and NTFS isn't really needed.

My recommendation as a true linux n00b is to go with Redhat 8.

[Fluke]

There's nothing easy about Linux. But Linux users will always tell you different. They don't take into account the CLI requirements, the custom tailoring from command line, installing packages from command line, how to get shortcuts on your desktop. they take it for granted now they been working with it for a while.

To the dude who wants to run Linux, go get yourself a dummies guide to Linux (that is the book name) and read it before you make any decisions, see if it is for you.

Personally I think the best distros for use and support are in the following order:

Redhat
Mandrake
Suse
Caldera

Though some may have some minor differences, they are pretty much all the same aside from their respective install programs. After which time they all look the same.

As for annoyances, try installing and getting it to work the Geforce4 drivers. All distro's don't support GF4... Nvidia gives you install directions but they are incomplete.

I use in my everyday work, Sun Solaris 2.7, Solaris 2.8, Redhat and Mandrake. I use these daily.

Just be prepared for a lot of work if you are going to Linux. I'm not putting down Linux, I'm being fair and honest.

[de><ta]

Originally posted by linuxnewbier
now i am tottaly lost hey guys i told u i am a real newbie so i need fixed answers but now i think it is getting complicated

red hat
or mandrake
or else


linuxnewbier i would strongly suggest, oh wait you want fixed answers.

Use Mandrake, get the latest public version (not the one for beta testing, you can distinguish the distro/distrobution by its number 1.3 is for public release 1.3.1 or any odd number is for testing debugging etc.)

Linux Mandrake is very simple to install, my friend she had trouble installing windows, but she could install Mandrake. It is that simple. You can also go back steps with Mandrake.

To install Mandrake all you need is a 3 1/2 disk with a cd image link in your computer when it starts up (as well as the cd's). Thats it.

If you are totally new Mandrake has an option at the start which asks you whether you want the installation to choose the best choice.

Install Mandrake and let me no of any problems you encounter.

Cheers
dexta

[sebazve]

hi buddy welcome to the linux world.
OK it seems that you dont know what distro to choose, well try them all they are free:D and see which one you like best.

OK if you dont have too much time for all that. Let me give you my personal opinion.

RedHat 8 and Mandrake 9 are one of the best distros for newbies, they are very easy to configure and install.
NOTE about RedHat: if you have an NTFS partition and youre planning to keep it, you must compile your nfts module (kind of driver you may say) since RH doesn give a **** about the ntfs module since its in development. However Mandrake already have the nfts and if he detects a ntfs partition he will automatically install it for you.

Suse another good distro for newbies, i used the 7.0version a long time ago and it was very friendly so right now it must have improved a lot since then.

Gentoo well this distro is really good not so friendly but it is more standard than the others. What i mean by this is that they dont use modifed kernels like RH or Mandrake. Also this distro includes GameLive CD which have UT2003 demo and very easy way for installing and setting it up.

One other thing no matter what distro you use will take time to get the hand on it. You must practically forget everything about windows because the OS itself is totally different.
But it is a wonderful journey youll learn many things, compiling, configuring, etc. There are a lot of info in the internet and youll will spend lot of your time in it.

I have to disagree with Volt here, every distro is able to the same things. Distros only difer how they integrate the kernel and the other programs. In fact if i want to set up a web server i could just download the kernel and the apache and im done!. it will probably take less than 100mb to have just the web server.

So distros are all about dislikes or likes. Distros are not OSes, the kernel is the OS and the kernel is the same for everyone.

[drowis]

from the looks of your system you shouldn't have any problems installing. I used mandrake and had some issues because I have an nForce motherboard. The drivers are a little more hands on than I was used to. If you want to install I recommend that you do a little research before the install. I had to install a couple of times because I needed to make sure certain packets were installed. packets are parts of the OS that may or may not be needed during normal use. I needed the developement packet because it contained certain programs I would need to install the drivers. Try to learn as much as you can before install as you can so it goes as smoothly as poss.

good luck

[The Baron]

To get a feel for it and see if it's really what you want to do before you install it, download Knoppix. (http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html)

It's a bootable CD that is a mini-Linux distro that runs from the CD drive, automatically configures itself, and then dumps you into a GUI. Pretty cool stuff--you can get a feel for it in there and see if it's what you want to do.

As for the distro thing--I'd recommend staying away from RH8. RH has traditionally been one of the most monolithic, if not the most, of all the Linux distros.

SuSE? Never used it--I know it was big for a while among engineering guys, but I can't say anything about its ease of use or anything like that.

Mandrake is probably your best bet. It's simple to install, looks purdy, and should run perfectly fine on your box. Plus the nVidia driver should install fine.

If you're feeling lucky, install Slackware. Slackware is a power-distro. It gives you the most control compared to any other distro (and is probably the best for a server), but for the love of God, stay away from it if you have no experience with Unix or you're good friends with a Linux guy (read: a Linux guy that won't get too mad when you call him every night with questions :p ).

Debian? Dear God, avoid it like the Plague... ;)

[Matthyahuw]

I've used RH8 and Mandrake9...Mandrake9 was just easier to setup...I couldn't get my printer to go in RH8 without some playing around, but M9 had it going at 1st boot! :)

[doom]

I'm glad I switched to linux, every twenty seconds or so quake 3 would crash in win2k, not to mention many other games of mine. When I set up q3 in rh7.3 it hadn't crashed since... but I'm on redhat 8 now and still trying to setup the drivers.

[VeritechK7]

any more inquiries ...should go here .. . www.linuxnewbie.org a good associate of mine @ maximumpc forums pointed it out to me ..really informative last i went there

[DaveW]

How about one of those tiny linux builds that fit on a floppy? :)

[Ryo-Ohki]

I too would recommend Slackware (my first & only distro so far, ever since the 7.0 release), but I'm just plainly crazy... ;)