Scared, but determined

[craigiew]

Hi, my name is Craig, and I'm an MSoholic. It all started back in '92 when my Dad bought his first PC. Since then I've become addicted to the easy self installing, drive guzzling, processor depleting apps that are MS.

I now have a nice (reasonably) powerful laptop and want to get away from the scurge that is BG, but I'm struggling on where to start. Will  I still be able to connect to the internet, who will be my ISP, will my Zip drive still work, who will I play Quake Arena now  :confused:  

The light at the end of the tunnel seems to be Linux, but where do I start? Should I FDISK the whol hard drive immediately, or partition it, will Linux work with my new USB Logitech mouse - oh the anguish!

I would welcome any comments about where to start, and I don't care about being flamed - I'm so depressed!

In anguish,

Craigster

[Refalm]

Upgrading from Windows to anathor thing is never to be flamed at.

You can start your Linux experience with the free Linux distribution for Linux newbies at Lycoris where you can download the free ISO's to burn the Lycoris Desktop/LX operating system. I also recommend downloading the manual too, which can help you making a Linux partition.

I hope, after you've done installing this great Linux distribution, you share your experiences on this forum.

Quake 3 should be working too when you've installed WineX, a Windows compatibility layer for Linux which information can be found here. I recommend installing some OpenGL drivers for your video card though, because the Quake 3 engine can sometimes be buggy as hell in WineX.

And the internet works fine, the only thing you need to know if your ISP supports DHCP and if it doesn't, fill in your static IP number, Gateway, DNS and Netmask. (oh and you can keep whatever ISP your using   )

[ June 11, 2002: Message edited by: Refalm ]

[LorKorub]

Go and get a user friendly distro of Linux, such as Mandrake or SuSE. If you are starting out, it is probably better to go to the store and buy a copy of the distro instead of downloading it.  The documentation that you will get from buying it is well worth the money alone, not to mention that you are getting a superior operating system.

YOu probably won't need to use fdisk at all.  If you are running $hitblows 3.x, you can resize your FAT partition using YaST or Diskdrake during the initial installation.  With SuSE, you even have the option of creating a boot manager and saving it to a floppy disk.  If you get sick of Linux, you can then just go into fdisk, delete the "non-DOS" partition, and not have to worry about removing Grub, linload, or LILO, from your MBR.  SuSE 8.0 comes with Wine (windows emulator) so even if you have Linux running most of the time, you can still point Wine to your C:\Windows directory and run most of your apps.  

Logitech USB mouse??  I have one running on SuSE and it works just fine.  My Iomega zip disk had no problems either.  The only thing I am having a problem with is my printer.  

Give it a shot.  It is worth the $80, and even if it fails you, at least you can say that you tried it. Microsoft makes 90% of their money off of people that are unwilling to try, and unwilling to learn. By giving it a shot, you partially remove yourself from that categorey of people....and that is kind of fufilling in a small way.

[pkd_lives]

Welcome, it's never too late. I am currently converting my system to a mandarke 8.2. I have some problematical hardware, and there is lots to learn. I re-iterate the above advice and dual booting is easy. If you have partion magic it will work a dream. Mandrake also has a good partioning tool in the installation. Just make sure windows is already on there. Buy a copy if you want, the manuals are good, and help get you off the ground. Don't be scared to tweak, you can do damage, but what's the occasional re-install I find myself doing that with windows for no reason than it decides it's bored.

Hardware concerns? see the link for mandrake hardware compatability http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/hardware.php3

If this is too hard at the moment, go get yourself some good windows browsers like Mozilla and opera. And try to get non M$ alternatives, you will thank yourself in the long run, and learn so much more about computers.

[choasforages]

i would actually recomend redhat 7.3, and yes, quake3 arane is supported, under linux it performance beats window's, the usb mouse is support, i have a microsoft mouse       a great refrence is linux documentation project the howtos are great to teach you what you can do and howto (get it?) do it. i would recommend dual booting at first, but if find your self using the windows crutch too much remove windows (you learn very fast, i did), also for games that are not supported nativly you can check the guys at transgaming's WineX
but when your done, you will notice the difference in performance from windows to linux, its well worth the time required to learn all the new stuff

p.s.
that guy that posted before me, y the hell would someone want to run quake3 under winex when there is a native version . the zip disk should work, but i don't have one to test that fact. most people when they start using linux wonder most of the things you asked about.(i did)
this should be idsoftwares ftp site ftp://idsoftware.com
just go to the idstuff/quake3/linux section, i think o well, have fun with linux   :cool:

[ June 11, 2002: Message edited by: choasforages ]

[slave]

quote: quake3 arane is supported, under linux it performance beats window's

You either sabotaged your Windows installation, didn't update your Windows video card drivers, or "tweaked" linux to the max while not tweaking windows at all, because Windows XP beats the shit out of Linux in quake 3, and Windows 98 has about the same performance as Linux (+/- 1 fps)  I have done many benchmarks on several different computers to prove this, which I won't bother posting since you think I'm a spreader of lies anyway.  

But please, if you think Linux runs quake 3 so fast, do an honest comparision.  Update drivers for BOTH operating systems, (not just for Linux) and run the timedemo for quake 3 on both OSes using the exact same parameters, and post the results here.  You'll be surprised how much faster XP is than Linux.

[Gooseberry Clock]

Nothing beats the shit out of anything when it uses OpenGL. Get real. Get Direct3D.

[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: Gooseberry Clock ]

[hoojchoons]

First of all, welcome on board! Don't let yourself be intimidated by Linux or any other Operating System. All you need to have is patience and above all, time to adapt to a totally new environment. If I were in your place right now, I would propably download or borrow or even buy (!) a friendly Linux distribution such as Desktop/LX by Lycoris or Mandrake Linux. Before installing try to find as much about the hardware that comes with your machine as you can in order to ensure a smooth installation. For example, the 2.4.* kernel supports USB devices and most definitely supports ZIP drives as well. After installing, try to learn as much as you can about the bash or the command prompt in Linux. And don't worry. There are so many online tutorials on the Net and so many people willing to help that you won't ever get lost or feel frustrated. Try also to adapt to some basic *NIX notions like for example the file system. Anyway, give it a try. It'll pay out. I assure you  

[sporkme]

if you started in 92 you know some dos

all you have to do is learn a few linux equivalents and a few new concepts and you have it

i started with red hat, i suggest that you wipe your hard drive (see http://www.overclockers.com/ for the 3 r's) make a 50-50 partition, install windows, then install your pick for linux.

linux is easier to install and run than windows, it will support all of your hardware thousands of times more easily than windows, and it is free/honest/open/fun, so welcome to the dark side my friend.

if you have broadband linux will likely instantly recognize your net card and nearly all of your others, but if not there are simple to configure driver sources available, i promise.

after a few days you will be as happy as a pig in shit.

oh, and linux simply refuses to crash.  happy hacking!

[preacher]

If you are looking to learn some basic linux commands, check out this tut on my site.

http://www.badconnections.net/linuxtut.html

[Calum]

As you can see craig, many people have rallied round, ignore the comments from XP User and you will get on fine.

I suggest getting mandrake 8.2 or possibly Red Hat 7.3, there are a lot of other good versions though...

Much of what you need to know will become obvious when you install linux. Basically everything that windows does is done properly by linux, connecting to the internet and so on and so on. Plus it has a nice helpful community of users and there's a huge variety of fully functional software available for free.

Partition first i'd recommend, but if you really want to get away, and you plan to wipe windows anyway, just do that right now. I still dual boot because my laptop is full of buggy chinese hardware and a couple of the bits don't setup by default and i'm too  lazy to fix them. You might want to check your hardware is supported. The easiest way to do that is to just install linux and see if it all works actually.

Good luck, go for it, and welcome to the forums!  

[craigiew]

Thank's very much folks, I really appreciate all your help and support. I will keep you posted of the on-going changeover through a pseudo-non-tech post, and will keep a note of details for providing other people with the sort of help you have offered me.

Cheers

Craigster.  

[Interscope]

I haven't tried Quake in windows/linux but I did try UT on this comp.

Linux:
It works, A slow framerate in SP, but I mostly do MP anyway.
Windows:
The installation program crashed. Didn't dare to try
install it again.

[Master of Reality]

quote:Originally posted by craigiew:
Hi, my name is Craig, and I'm an MSoholic. It all started back in '92 when my Dad bought his first PC. Since then I've become addicted to the easy self installing, drive guzzling, processor depleting apps that are MS.

I now have a nice (reasonably) powerful laptop and want to get away from the scurge that is BG, but I'm struggling on where to start. Will  I still be able to connect to the internet, who will be my ISP, will my Zip drive still work, who will I play Quake Arena now     :confused:    

The light at the end of the tunnel seems to be Linux, but where do I start? Should I FDISK the whol hard drive immediately, or partition it, will Linux work with my new USB Logitech mouse - oh the anguish!

I would welcome any comments about where to start, and I don't care about being flamed - I'm so depressed!

In anguish,

Craigster

Getting your internet to work (with any ISP) is just as easy as in windows(it was easier than windows for me). Your ZIP drive will work, most of the hardware in thats works in windows will work in Linux. There is Quake for Linux. The USB mouse will work easily in Linux, it  already has the drivers for the Logitech USB mouse.

You can partition your hard drive using the Linux installer. Its partition program is much nicer than Fdisk. I suggest using Mandrake, its excellant for beginners. You can run a dual boot and have Linux and windows on your computer, but if you do that you will have to partition your hard drive, then install windows, then install Linux.

websites:
www.linuxquestions.org
www.linuxdoc.org
www.mandrake.com
www.linuxiso.org
[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: Master of Reality / Bob ]

[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: Master of Reality / Bob ]

[sporkme]

yes very important, if you plan to continue using it, that you install windows before your choice of linux because it overwrites all your beautiful linux boot info with ugly windows gobbledygook

edit:
----
oh and welcome to the brave new world, you have a bunch of friends out there now!  nevermind the little boys that feel obligated to talk smack.

[ June 12, 2002: Message edited by: sporkme ]