Making the transition

[IamY]

Alright.....I am a Computer Science student, with a couple of years of tech experience....on WinTel type machines....and I WANT OUT.  My primary concerns are programming (I am coming along in C++ pretty well now) and am also immersing myself in web development.  I just built a new PC, AMD T-Bird 1.33, and initially wanted Linux.  I tried installing Red Hat 6.2 (old, I know, but I had the CD), and something went....wrong.  Scowling tremendously, I used a spare copy of 98SE (AAAGGGHHHH) I had sitting around to get this thing up and running.  Now, understand, my eyes are open, and I want OUT of this MS hell.  Someone, please, give me a recommendation as to what OS would best suit my needs and hardware, and I will GLADLY comply.  I do have a cable Internet connection, so size of download is not an issue.  Any ideas are appreciated.

[jtpenrod]

Your big mistake there was trying to use that old version. The new Mandrake 8.1 or Red Hat 7.2 or the new SuSE (7.3?) are much better. Linux has improved a lot lately in terms of ease of install and use. My own preference is Mandrake, however, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the "Big Three". In addition, the Linux distros come with some really terrific programming aids. A new graphical debugger, the Qt GUI developer, the FOX GUI class library, Tkinter, and others for Python, Perl, Ruby and many others. There's enough there to keep you busy for awhile.  

[grumpus]

Redhat 6.2 is too old; tremendous advancements in linux have been made since then, especially in hardware support and ease of use.  Get version 7.2; it's what I'm using on my Athlon 750 and it works great!  Autodetected EVERYTHING during the install!  And without a single reboot!  In windork I had to insert umpteen driver cds and reboot many times.  In fact, I had the "pleasure" of installing windows 98 on my mom's computer (don't know why she needs windows; in my opinion all its good for is infecting your system with worms and BSODing you every few hours, and surfing the web on it is like having sex with a prostitute without wearing a condom) and it took me twice as long as it took with linux and made some of my hairs turn gray and fall out.  :mad:  

There are other distributions that I would recommend looking into, like Mandrake Linux, which is even easier to use than Redhat, or SuSe, which is also good.  And as for getting the software, I got cheap burned cds mailed to me for $5  Go to a website like www.cheapbytes.com, or if you have a fast internet connection you can just download the ISO's from redhat and burn them into cds! Certainly beats paying $199 for Windows XPee, huh? And unlike with Micro$hit software, its perfectly legal, so you don't have to worry about Lenny and Guido coming over from MS headquarters to beat your head in.    

[voidmain]

Better yet, since you have broadband use the link in my tagline to download the CD images.  It's FAST.  Shit, I downloaded probably 10-12 CD images in two nights, my ISP probably hates me.

[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: VoidMain ]