I'm A Linux Wannabe!

[SabreEBJ]

Ok, after spending about a couple of weeks getting back into the internet (like...big time surfing!), I've been talking to friends about changing my OS. They suggested Linux. "Whats Linux?" I say. (bear with me   ). So, 2 weeks of searching, getting info ect, led me to many different forums and so on. Then I found this site (Recommended by an online contact). Reading through the threads had me intrigued at how helpful some of you guys are (and dammed well down to earth!). Sooooo...I thought I'd register and make some noise  

Right, so I have windowsXP and I want out. I've been sold the idea of converting to Linux for many various reasons. The two main ones being (I think) more secure? and the fact that I want to do a course at college involving various programming languages (Linux is good for that aint it?).
The only thing that troubles me, is that, there are so many different -types- of Linux (well, thats how it seems to me   ). I've got my eyes on Red Hat. Please bear in mind also, that currently I have NO programming capabilties!
What I hope you guys can help with, is that, I've heard/read that Linux can be difficult to set up (ie: hardware configs ect), is that true?
Also, what is a better -version- (Know what I mean?) of Linux over another. It just confuses me at times. What about windows games compatibility? I have a couple of games I really enjoy playing, would they still work?
The list of questions I have is pretty large, thus I dont expect all the answers, rather, a nod in the right direction of where to find the answers.
Sorry to go on, but the time to change for me is here. Just a few niggles I want to iron out. I'll think of some more in the near future  
Regards.
Gaz

P.S: I thought to put the posting in this section as I'm not YET Linux'd up.

[hoojchoons]

I really don't know where to begin from and you sure as hell have a lot of questions about Linux (or GNU/Linux to be exact). First of all, try to learn as much as you can about the GNU project and about Linux in general. Since you're using XPiss (or more specifically NT 5.1), you can go here for a comparison of Linux and NT. You could also read this excellent article posted at fuckmicrosoft.com.

To answer your questions in general, I could say, judging from my experience with Linux and Windows, that GNU/Linux is a more stable, secure, robust and powerful OS than M$ Windoze. Simply put, I've never (not even once!) experienced a crash or had to restart my machine under Linux. On the contrary, how many times did you have to press those three infamous (to Windows users) keys, Ctrl+Alt+Del?

A few words on Linux: When you mention Linux, you're not talking about an OS. You're more likely reffering to the kernel, or the heart of GNU/Linux. The Linux kernel, was first developed in 1991 by a Finnish computer science student, Linus Torvalds. Since then the Linux kernel has made storming progress reaching todays stable version 2.4.18. The Linux kernel is also distributed under the GNU/GPL license which simply means that, if it suits your needs, you can compile a new one. On top of the Linux kernel, run all those applications you come across when you download or buy a Linux distro. Most of them are free, others are commercial products.

Since you're thinking of going into programming, bear in mind that Linux comes with most of the programming languages available (Pearl, C, C++ etc), including the great C/C++ compiler. I can't give you any answers about games though, since I'm not much of a gamer my self, but some of the guys here could give you some hints.

As you wrote, there are many Linux distros, like RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian etc etc etc (the list is huge). I would recommend Mandrake, since you're a newbie in Linux. It has an extremely easy installation and great hardware support.

Good luck!!

[hoojchoons]

There's a broken link in my previous reply. The correct URL is http://www.jimmo.com/Linux-NT_Debate

[SabreEBJ]

Geesh :/ So much stuff to read! Thanks for the excellent links though, it sure does sound technical. But fear not! I'll suss it soon.
I think the only thing thats worrying me is the that I want to do a dual boot thingy for a while, as to just get used to possibly Mandrake as you reccomended (I'm going to look into that, thanks).
I still got questions, but I'll try to answer  them myself.
Thanks for your input :>

[tr_one]

I would like to add one small point.If you can not run Mandrake on your system, do not give up on linux. Try a different distro maybe. While I tryed to run mandrake,it didn't like something (i can not remember what it was) about my system. I returned to the distro I was using before.

[Doctor V]

quote:Originally posted by GazUK:
Ok, after spending about a couple of weeks getting back into the internet (like...big time surfing!), I've been talking to friends about changing my OS. They suggested Linux. "Whats Linux?" I say. (bear with me    ). So, 2 weeks of searching, getting info ect, led me to many different forums and so on. Then I found this site (Recommended by an online contact). Reading through the threads had me intrigued at how helpful some of you guys are (and dammed well down to earth!). Sooooo...I thought I'd register and make some noise    

Right, so I have windowsXP and I want out. I've been sold the idea of converting to Linux for many various reasons. The two main ones being (I think) more secure? and the fact that I want to do a course at college involving various programming languages (Linux is good for that aint it?).

->
More secure?  Yes, there are probably more than 100 times more security holes in Windoze than Linux.  Also, Linux security holes get fixed very quickly, the fixes are often downloadable only hours after the problems are discovered.  With windoze, you have to wait for microsoft to issue a patch, and that can take several months.  Good for Programming?  Yes, compilers for all sorts of languages are avaliable.  You also have greater control over wether you use a GUI or not.  MS-DOS blows.


The only thing that troubles me, is that, there are so many different -types- of Linux (well, thats how it seems to me    ). I've got my eyes on Red Hat. Please bear in mind also, that currently I have NO programming capabilties!
What I hope you guys can help with, is that, I've heard/read that Linux can be difficult to set up (ie: hardware configs ect), is that true?
Also, what is a better -version- (Know what I mean?) of Linux over another. It just confuses me at times. What about windows games compatibility? I have a couple of games I really enjoy playing, would they still work?

-->
While Red Hat is good, it seems less geared toward home users than Mandrake.  I use Mandrake at home, and I have to say I am very impressed.  Some Linux distributions are hard to set up, and can take days, not Mandrake.  Its only takes an hour or so, and is very easy.  When I set up Mandrake 7.1, it installed perfectly the first time with no errors.  With Mandrake 8.1, The GUI bugged out after I installed it.  I went to the Linux homepage and found out how to fix the problem in less than 5 minutes (but it would probably take longer for someone not familiar with Linux).  If you have problems, the guys on this site will surely help you.  Games will probably be a problem.  Unless they are specifically released for Linux, they won't work.  More and more games have been coming out for Linux, but currently most are being made for windows only.

The list of questions I have is pretty large, thus I dont expect all the answers, rather, a nod in the right direction of where to find the answers.
Sorry to go on, but the time to change for me is here. Just a few niggles I want to iron out. I'll think of some more in the near future    
Regards.
Gaz

P.S: I thought to put the posting in this section as I'm not YET Linux'd up.

Good luck

V

[Master of Reality]

before (or after) you get linux dont forget to go here:
things we wish we knew before we started

[jtpenrod]

Red Hat is a good choice for any Linux virgin. And, no, it is not difficult to install. There was once a time when that was true (and it still is for some distros such as Debian or Slackware, and I wouldn't recommend those for you just yet). You might want to go to Mandrake Linux and down load these references: Mandrake Linux: Installation and User Guide and Mandrake Linux:Reference Manual. Even though these aren't Red Hat docs, Mandrake is similar enough, and the information is applicable to just about any flavor of Linux, and the material is easy to read and understand. Not only that, but it's also free. You'll get a good start on Linux.

As for hardware, just about all the hardware out there will work in Linux, the notable exception being the dreaded and acursed WinModem. A good external, hardware modem would also be a good investment. What I'm using is the US Robotics 56K external modem. With this, I can connect from all my OSs: Win 95, Mandrake, Red Hat, Slackware, and QNX; from KDE or GNOME. No problem. A visit to Red Hat to check out hardware compatability is also a good idea before you get started.

As for games, well, who knows? Linux has something called "WINE" that just might be able to run your Winders games, although that's not guarenteed. (Never know unless you try). Or these games may have Linux versions. And if you decide you just can't live without them, there's VMWare or Win4Lin.

Go for it! All you've got to lose is your BSOD        
____________________________________

Powered by Mandrake Linux and Freedom

If software can be free, why can't dolphins?

[ May 17, 2002: Message edited by: jtpenrod ]

[ May 17, 2002: Message edited by: jtpenrod ]

[Calum]

i'll steer clear of those "what's the best distro" type questions because in this day and age most of the popular ones (and a lot of less known ones) are all fine for a beginner.

Instead i'll post this huge list of links that i made up for my sister (who is in a similar boat to GazUK) so here goes:

http://www.yourlinux.co.uk/index.html a site that sells incredibly cheap software on CDs in the UK.

http://www.yourlinux.co.uk/whatis.html a quick history of linux

http://home.c2i.net/dark/linux.html a document for linux beginners, won't teach you much initially, but keep it around it has a lot of hints for after you've been using the system for a couple of weeks.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/ a huge online forum, you will probably be able to find any answers you require here simply by using the search facility.

http://www.yourlinux.co.uk/forum/ a very small linux forum, sometimes a small forum is better! this one is in the UK for a change.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/stallman.html a fantastic chapter by Richard Stallman telling the story of how the Free Software Foundation came into being, allowing free operating systems such as we have today.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/linus.html a chapter written by Linus Torvalds telling his story about linux and how it came to be what it is today.

http://newsforge.com/newsforge/02/04/03/2151246.shtml?tid=23 a page telling you about /proc and /dev, the two parts of the linux filesystem that do not have a windows counterpart.

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/index.html try this large index of help files and articles written specifically for newbies.

http://pluto.phys.nwu.edu/~zhaoyj/learn/Unix-system/toc.htm a really good book for using unix in general. it covers your journey from a total newbie to a unix system administrator.
You will want to read chapters one to five, possibly six and seven, definitely eight and ten, probably nine, and also a few chapters from section three, probably chapters sixteen to eighteen and maybe nineteen, although the whole book is good, and you might want to read it all.

here are a few good articles from linuxworld.com.au, these are not too technical and are designed for the beginner:

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=77&tid=8 start here, it's a page for a total linux beginner

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=4&tid=1 a page describing the graphical interfaces available for linux

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=6&tid=1 a page to start you off using Emacs, which is an open source text editor.

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=19&tid=8 a page to start you off using vi, a unix text editor

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=27&tid=8 a page about different user accounts on yr system, this is more important than in windows, since it actually works in linux.

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=66&tid=8 a page to get you started on installing things in linux. this is a tricky area, since there's still no standard easy way to install something. the method described here looks set to become the standard though.

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=58&tid=8 a page describing how to run windows programs in linux.

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=128&tid=8 a page about mounting filesystems, windows doesn't mount more than two or three types of filesystem, and it tries to do it transparently, linux supports nearly a hundred different file system types, and while mandrake does it fairly transparently too, it helps to know what is going on.

http://linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=131&tid=8 a page about upgrading your kernel. This is not something you will do until you have been using linux for a few months, but it is something you will eventually want to do.

http://linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=280&tid=8 a page about running M$ office in linux, though why you would want to do so when you have openoffice is beyond me

http://linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=283&tid=1 a page about recovering deleted files

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=88&tid=4 a page about reading pdfs in linux (which is easy)

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=121&tid=8 an article about connecting to the internet

http://www.linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=122&tid=8 an article about basic computer security

http://linuxworld.com.au/article.php3?aid=166&tid=4 how to tell if your security has been compromised

hope that helps!!!

[SabreEBJ]

INFO OVERLOAD ALERT! . No seriously, thanks for all the links and advice, just what I need    I'll keep you posted on my progress.

[SabreEBJ]

OK chaps, me again. I've just installed Mandrake Linux.
Whilst doing so, completely wiped windows XP off by "accident". Oh well, NM, like everything so far, just need to figure a few things out. Guess I can now start posting any queries on the Linux forum? :>

[Master of Reality]

when i first put on inux i accidentally deleted 3GB of music that i had stored on my win partition.

[Master of Reality]

i thinking of switching to slackware for my web/proxy server (switching from redhat7.2). I really like Slackware. I still havent tried it with a GUI though (but that doesnt matter if i wanna use it as a server)