completly new to LINUX wanna learn how

[cdawall]

well i want to get into linux i have 2 free machines i can learn it on with no hickups but what to download there are so many options!!! 1st thing though i want it to be a live edition with a GUI, but other than that i can learn the rest please help me.

 

[zekrahminator]

First thing about linux- Wifi SUCKS.
Second thing about linux- If it's ATI, graphics are gonna SUCK
Third thing about linux- Compiling is really cool looking .
Fourth thing about linux- While command-line based distros such as FreeBSD are meant for servers, home versions like Kubuntu are really easy to use.

Fifth thing about linux- RTFM .

 

[cdawall]

well i only have wifi on 2 machines and they are both laptops and i only have one ATi setup and its a laptop and neither will get linux on it

 

[zekrahminator]

Lol, you can get away with it, you'll just have lots of headaches/have to learn compiling. ATI on the other hand must go against linux or something, it just doesn't work. So yeah stick with Windows .

 

[ex_reven]

well i only have wifi on 2 machines and they are both laptops and i only have one ATi setup and its a laptop and neither will get linux on it

your laptops can just work though wireless router
ahhh the joy

what sort of performance differences are there between linux and say windows xp pro

 

[zekrahminator]

XP Home on Darth Flatulence: 1-2 minute boot time (from system-off), system somewhat responsive, laggy games.

Kubuntu on Darth Flatulence: 2-3 minute boot time, system responsive, no 3D game support.

 

[ex_reven]

XP Home on Darth Flatulence: 1-2 minute boot time (from system-off), system somewhat responsive, laggy games.

Kubuntu on Darth Flatulence: 2-3 minute boot time, system responsive, no 3D game support.

So whats it good for then/what applications for its use?

 

[zekrahminator]

Well see, those were just my experiences. Real linux gurus will argue that it is exponentially more stable, secure, and un-bloated than the Microsoft OS. However, this is at a sacrifice to ease of set-up and maintenance. With Windows, you stick the CD in the drive, wait an hour, stick in your CD key, connect to the internet, and you're all set. With Linux, you install the OS, you compile your various drivers, you compile all the stuff you want, you compile the GUI, you customize the kernel to run just as you'd like, and then you google work-arounds for all the Windows programs that were never meant to run on a Linux machine. Yes, Windows is just that popular .

 

[ex_reven]

sounds painful lol

 

[cdawall]

XP Home on Darth Flatulence: 1-2 minute boot time (from system-off), system somewhat responsive, laggy games.

Kubuntu on Darth Flatulence: 2-3 minute boot time, system responsive, no 3D game support.

whats this 1-2min crap it takes windows like 45sec to load on mine?

 

[DIBL]

cdawall, if your main interest is games, and you don't mind Microsoft deciding how many internal hard drives you're allowed, and how many times you can reinstall Windows without calling India for permission and authentication, then I'd say stick with Windows -- it's far more popular and all the games are written for it.

However, if you have time and curiousity, and can devote one of your machines (or at least a hard drive) to a pretty cool learning experience, get one of the popular Linux flavors, like Ubuntu, Kubuntu, or openSUSE, and have some fun. Among other cool eye-candy, I just got this one up and running on my Kubuntu system over the weekend, and it is just about too cool:

http://www.beryl-project.org/features.php



You can install Linux on as many hard drives as you want, or reinstall it as many times as you need to, and NEVER CALL ANYONE FOR PERMISSION. That's what I like about it.

I don't know how easy your Asus video card will be to set up -- you'll probably have to fiddle around figuring it out. Newer Nvidia's are best for Linux, ATI's are pretty tough, and I haven't seen much discussion on the forums about the Asus cards.

 

[zekrahminator]

whats this 1-2min crap it takes windows like 45sec to load on mine?

Click the link in my sig, Darth Flatulence is a (currently broken) Pentium 3 . XP takes like 30 seconds to load on Aegis.

And yes, Beryl is awesome .

 

[cdawall]

its a faster set up you poop-head

 

[Solaris17]

well no offense but i find that bs I for one will help you learn and not just shoo you away...just because something doesnt get automatically detected like in wondopws doesnt mean it isnt worth learning....its actually quite fun and leaves you with an OS your proud of instead of somthing you didnt have to workon to get to operate...now for the INITIAL question.....

over clockix is an easy one gentoo live...however most distros including over clockix give you the option to run live and install the site for distros at least the most complete collection is http://distrowatch.com/ my recommend dations for installable versions are suse and ubunto if you want something with more of a windows appeal try xandros i think its called its based alot off of windows so its easy for begginers but i recommend the latest version of suse because you get the full linux experience its easy to use and supports quite a bit..hope this helps.


edit elive is a good live cd and dont forget to check out debien its an ok distro too.

 

[zekrahminator]

Kubuntu has a wonderful livecd, and the installer is on the desktop you boot into .

 

[cdawall]

thanx solaris

 

[AshenSugar]

First thing about linux- Wifi SUCKS.
Second thing about linux- If it's ATI, graphics are gonna SUCK
Third thing about linux- Compiling is really cool looking .
Fourth thing about linux- While command-line based distros such as FreeBSD are meant for servers, home versions like Kubuntu are really easy to use.

Fifth thing about linux- RTFM .

not exectly true, xti drivers just need a little"love" after install, read the ubuntu wiki about it, my buddys x1800gto-x1900gt(rma replaced with the 1900) runs just as fast on compatable games under linux as it does under windows, its all about setting the drivers up properly.

and ubuntu is far from the best distro around, i have around 25 distros on cd/dvd here and there are far better distros even for noobs.

vector linux
Mepis
desktop bsd

are my top 3 distros for noobs, all have ALOT of help, and are pretty damn easy to get started on.

 

[AshenSugar]

Well see, those were just my experiences. Real linux gurus will argue that it is exponentially more stable, secure, and un-bloated than the Microsoft OS. However, this is at a sacrifice to ease of set-up and maintenance. With Windows, you stick the CD in the drive, wait an hour, stick in your CD key, connect to the internet, and you're all set. With Linux, you install the OS, you compile your various drivers, you compile all the stuff you want, you compile the GUI, you customize the kernel to run just as you'd like, and then you google work-arounds for all the Windows programs that were never meant to run on a Linux machine. Yes, Windows is just that popular .

more stable and secure, its only more secure on install because NOBODY BOTHERS TO HACK/VIRI LINUX, nothing to do with the os itself being impossable to hax up.

and whats this 1hr thing? my windows disk takes about 12-16min to install(16 min on a duron 1gz with pc133 ram and a 12gb bigfoot drive)

as to load times, linux WILL take loger to boot, its just a fact, but you can learn to live with it

 

[zekrahminator]

We're talking about Darth Flatulence, my unstable P3 that needs a replacement .

 

[cdawall]

honestly i just wanna learn LINUX cause its easier to hack from

 

[Easy Rhino]

i do not use linux but i do use freebsd and there are some similarities. i dont bother with using a desktop for bsd. it is the most powerful server OS out there. i use it for my home network running apache, ftpd, samba and general internet diagnostic stuff. i have been able however to get a nice desktop up and running without too much hassle. ive run fluxbox as my gui and got firefox working with flash/java although both still run poorly. ive got wifi with WEP encryption working even on a pcimcia card. ive got mplayer playing movies and xmms playing music. the nice thing is that even my 900mhz laptop can stream high quality movies over the internet without any drop in quality. thats the OS. windows machines die trying.

 

[Deleted member 3]

Fourth thing about linux- While command-line based distros such as FreeBSD are meant for servers, home versions like Kubuntu are really easy to use

Since when is FreeBSD a Linux distro? I thought it was a BSD, as the name suggests.

 

[Easy Rhino]

Since when is FreeBSD a Linux distro? I thought it was a BSD, as the name suggests.

it isnt i think he was confused.

on another note, w1zzard did upload desktopbsd to the tpu server. i recommend if people are interested in bsd to give it a shot. personally i like to setup my own crap with bsd but desktopbsd eliminates a lot of the hassle for people just learning.

 

[zekrahminator]

Meh, BSD and Linux are very similar in my opinion, which is why I got them confused.

 

[Deleted member 3]

Meh, BSD and Linux are very similar in my opinion, which is why I got them confused.

They're both unices, that's about all. Though if you want to try out BSD, just run OS X