Concidering Instaling linux, But wich Version

jozi

Concidering Instaling linux, But wich Version?

I got my hands on suse pro 8.2, redhat 9 (wich i read will not be suported from later on this year in a post) and i have slackware 9.1.

have a spare hd in the pc so i taught why not?
would like to be able to get the most from the pc as it's a fairly new build.
so i'd like games (those that run on linux) to run at it's best, also are there applications like winamp and dvd player etc available?

thank already,

Brendan

pickarooney

I'd probably go with Suse (easier than Slackware for a first install and has mp3 support from the get-go).
Xmms or Quark should do most of what you want from a Winamp-style program and Xine, Ogle and possibly mplayer should be able to play DVDs, if they're installed properly

zekiel

I use mandrake, which is very straight forward to install, and comes with a lot of packages included.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

slakware has mp3 support too

and I think it has xmms too..

if not, it has mpg123 until you can get online anyway..

if mp3 support is all your after

maxheadroom

Would definitely reccomend mandrake as a great way to ease yourself into GNU/Linux.

Am currently figuring my way through my first gentoo installation, but wouldn't reccommend *that* until you find your feet with linux

kobrien_ie

I have installed Red Hat 9. Very easy to install.

jozi

are the programs that come on other linux version discs compatible with with each other?

prob wont get round to doing an instalation until the weekend, prob end up instaling what is most recomended by you's

pickarooney

To a certain extent yes, depending on the type of distro. For RPM based distros (Red Hat, Mandrake, Suse...) it's common enough to get packages specific to the distro in question. Source code for compilable applications should work indifferently on all linux versions. Pretty much all distros will have some sort of auto-update/install feature for programs (urpmi, apt-get etc.), for which a high-speed internet connection is very handy.

This is my inexpert view of things, feel free to correct and pour scorn. (or scour porn, it's all good).

jozi

distro?

will linux be a bit like windows, as in you pick up and learns thing as you go? is there a big difference between windows and linux, in how it works and terms used for things?

maxheadroom

Heres a quick, nasty guide to getting started with Linux:

Linux, unlike windows, offers you the choice of obtaining it from several different companies. So you can have "Red Hat Linux" or "SuSE Linux" or "Mandrake Linux" etc... whereas you can only have "Microsoft Windows". Each of these different versions of "Linux" is called a distribution (or distro for short).

Each distro is slightly different. Some set everything up and give you no choice in the matter (e.g. Mandrake Discovery Edition, Lindows). Some make you select every program along the way (debian). Some make you compile the source code yourself for every program you want to use (Gentoo). Each of the approaches has its advantages and each is tailored to a certain type of use.

What you should do is find a distro that takes the middle ground somewhat. I recommend Mandrake - it sets up your hardware automatically, has an easy to use installer, and has great GUI configuration tools (a bit lke control panel in Windows). When installing you can tell it you'd like a "Multimedia Station" and you'll get a default set of multimedia apps. You can then decide which specific apps to install, or just stick with the defaults and customise it later (with the software manager - the equilivant of add/remove programs).

Everything is a little different - the filesystem is quite different under linux for instance. And, anything you can do with a GUI tool you can also do at the command line (like DOS). You should pick a lot of it up as you go along, just don't expect everything to work exactly the same way as windows (or MacOS) and you'll be grand...

Capt'n Midnight

www.knoppix.net

bootable debian disk with most common apps and utils preinstalled - eg. www.openoffice.net for M$office docs , and if your internet is via ethernet then you can browse straight away.

the image file from the CD can also be copied to a windows machine and run from there - or you can do an install off the CD.

jozi

thanks a whole lot everyone, loads of info there in the last few posts

going to see can i get my hands on mandrake i think sounds like a good one to start with.

thanks,
jozi

maxheadroom

You can download it on from www.mandrakelinux.com if you've got broadband, or PM me and I'll sort you out with install CDs.

scojones

You're gona have a hard time getting the commands right, if you can't type correctly. I thought the topic of the thread was a typo, but you made it twice

Asides from that - there's a **** load of threads on here with the same question you are asking, go look them up!

oscarBravo

Originally posted by sjones
I thought the topic of the thread was a typo, but you made it twice

C-c, C-v methinks.

jozi

Where's the typo? bit dyslexic and only living in ireland for 6 odd years and speaking english daily before that only a few hours in school hence the typo i guess

will go have a look at the mandrake site later when i get home, no bb here.

jozi

MarkR

Didn't think he was doing that bad. Not particularly noteworthy anyway.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

instaling?
concidering?

...i'm not arguing anything here, I'm just pointing out two I noticed.

Capt'n Midnight

i --> I
hd --> HDD
taught --> thought
etc --> etc.
thank --> thanks

Linux, unlike windows is case sensitive

Still reckon a Knoppix CD is a good way to dip your toes in the water - dog slow when running off the CD - But no changes to your PC.

spudulike

Suse for me...

jozi

ok, we done now pointing out that i'm not great at spelling things?!

i'm sure i'll work my way to the end of a linux instalation, if not there's these bords, rite!

just another question how would you be able to instal it in a few hours i should i take a day at doing it? (not much time on my hands in the evenings)

theciscokid

just install any, then you'll start to use more flavours

everyone has favourite..

but they'll all end up using debian in the end muhahahah

jozi

tried slackware and suse, seems both crashed or something? was detecting things etc. (i think) and then it just stoped
not sure what it is?

maxheadroom

Can you get Knoppix to start? It has some of the best hardware detection out there.

Then try installing mandrake 9.2. It really is incredibly easy. Failing that, there's always Lindows.

jozi

just had a look at the slackware installation, i actually took time to read everything and it kept saying i need a partitian formated for linux... how do i format it for linux will a windows format do?

what size partitian should i make? 20 gigs enough?

maxheadroom

You really want to use a distribution that is designed to be easy to install. Mandrake will look after the partitioning automatically, or let you adjust it with a nice point and click interface.

nadir

If you are new to linux I reccomend starting out with mandrake or something simple like that. But just stick with it for a month or so and learn as much as you can. Then jump over to a less restrictive distribution like debian, gentoo .etc

pickarooney

Just wondering what you mean by a less restrictive version? What extra freedom do you get with gentoo or slackware that you don't with Mandrake or RH?

SkepticOne

Originally posted by jozi
just had a look at the slackware installation, i actually took time to read everything and it kept saying i need a partitian formated for linux... how do i format it for linux will a windows format do?

I'm not too familiar with slackware, but all installation programs should have a facility for creating and deleting partitions. According to Slackware.com you can either use fdisk or cfdisk. Either of these are run after booting up from the boot disks and before running setup.

Note: i'm just getting this from the website. I haven't run Slackware in about 8 years.

http://www.slackware.com/install/

what size partitian should i make? 20 gigs enough? 20 gigs is more than enough.

Yes. You could probably get away with far less if your purpose is learning about linux.

Gyck

I've just installed Mandrake 9.2, I was impressed with the install wiz but I'm not having any luck with starting KDE or even X. I've tried Lycrois, my first install was fine (dual boot with Win98, GF2 Ti) but my more recent attempts at installing it haven't been so good (dual boot with Win2k, Radeon 9800 pro). I'm putting it down to problems with my 9800 pro. Pity ATI isn't as well supported as NVIDIA...

nadir

personally I just stay a mile away from rpm, dont like it.
But unfortunately the noob friendly distros use rpm, so go with suse, redhat whatever at the start, until you have a grounding , then switch to something good, like debian, gentoo, whatever

pickarooney

Can you elaborate a bit - what exactly is wrong with RPM (it's a question, not a defence ) and what's to stop you compiling programs in Mandrake/SuSe/RedHat the same way you would with Debian, gentoo, etc.?

leeroybrown

While RPM works fine it's dependancy system is pants.

With Debian (or Gentoo which is Debian based) the packages are in the DEB format. This allows incredibly reliable dependancy checking and automatic detection of dependancies required, clashes, etc followed by simple automated installation to fill these requirements. I admin Debian machines (multiple servers and my home PC) and I rarely (if ever) need or want to do source-tarball based installations.

apt-rpm gives this functionality to RedHat & RPM but it's still not as comprehensive or as reliable as debian. It also requires that you put work into switching over post install.

I don't have anything against RedHat/Fedora & RPM, I just have a strong preference for Debian, it's packaging system and it's philosophies.

maxheadroom

Gentoo isn't debian based - its based on the BSD ports system.

pickarooney

Originally posted by leeroybrown
While RPM works fine it's dependancy system is pants.

With Debian (or Gentoo which is Debian based) the packages are in the DEB format. This allows incredibly reliable dependancy checking and automatic detection of dependancies required, clashes, etc followed by simple automated installation to fill these requirements. I admin Debian machines (multiple servers and my home PC) and I rarely (if ever) need or want to do source-tarball based installations.

apt-rpm gives this functionality to RedHat & RPM but it's still not as comprehensive or as reliable as debian. It also requires that you put work into switching over post install.

I don't have anything against RedHat/Fedora & RPM, I just have a strong preference for Debian, it's packaging system and it's philosophies.

While the RPM dependency problem is annoying, it at least tells you (sometimes rather cryptically, admittedly) what dependant files are missing. On the other hand, on my (Mandrke) system when I try compiling programs from source, they never, ever compile and I get no usable feedback about what went wrong. I've no experience with Slack, Debian or gentoo (besides a miserably failed effort at installing Slack with no graphics drivers), so I'll have to take your word for it that compilation is less problematic until such time as I get round to installing a real man's distro again

nadir

Basically what i mean is as leeroybrown says, the dependancy issue with rpm. It may tell you the problem, and urpmi may even make it easy for you. However in the long run, If you try to tinker, as in install beta(unkeyed) pacakes .etc or otherwise interfere with the rpm system. It is quite possible that you will fubar your rpmdb
pickarooney: (sorry for not elaborating earlier, didnt see your thread) the solution that debian offers with apt, means that you dont need to worry about whether you have version bla bla bla of glibc installed, quite often with rpm depandancies are so messed that it requires you to update system critical componants, this happened to me with mandrake a couple of years back, and I ended up destroying my system all over trying to update python.
And if you look at gentoo(what i use now) and watch an emerge quake3-osp from scratch, see it grab every package source in the portage tree, compared to rpm as a package management system, there is really no comparison imho.
With Debs also you get a vast amout of well tested high quality packages, there is really no need to be compiling tarballs, although that facility is fully catered for, should you need to.

maxheadroom portage is bsd based, but that is only package managment. Gentoo is most definately closest to debian as a distribution. In terms of licence, structure, service management and policy.

po0k

Just install Debian unstable/Fedora and Kernel 2.6.x for now.

leeroybrown

Gentoo isn't debian based - its based on the BSD ports system.

I think a "Brain Typo" is the only way to explain that error on my part ;-)