OT: Linux

[Thilock_Dominus]

Hi.

I've made a decision to change OS. I'm running XP but want to change to Linux. I've been sniffing around the web to pick which Linux OS I should choose and I must say I'm a bit confused. There's Mandrake, Redhat, Debian etc. etc. Any big diffrences and I've noticed some aren't avaible for free download I thought it was for free???

My spec is:
Dell P4 2.4 ghz 1024 sdram
Gf 4 ti4600 128mb

What I use my comp to:
E-mail
Surfing
Writing/reading
Dom2 ofcause
music
video clip
paint programs


best regards
Thilock

[Taqwus]

Depends, depends.

I tend to like SuSE, but that's partly because with a 56K modem and a dislike of tracking down missing dependencies myself I benefit from their "pack a kitchen sink into a DVD" approach. Plus, they actually take the time to write pretty good manuals and installers. *shrug* IIRC, they still offer single-CD 'live filesystem' ISO images for download.

Debian has a reputation for a good package / dependency system, and if you have broadband it's apparently quite capable of grabbing dependencies for you should you want to update a package or download a new one. There's a distribution called Gentoo which also reportedly has a decent packaging system, IIRC one based on BSD's 'port' tree system.

[Gandalf Parker]

Everything has its pros and cons. In fact, I wouldnt DUMP Winxp quite yet. Linux ( as is true of Unix which it came from) is quite capable of 8 times the power on half the machine as Windows. Your ISP is probably using servers with less meory and cpu specs than your machine. If you havent experienced linux yet consider sticking on that old machine in the closet first.

As to Versions....

RedHat costs money. It has lots of toys for it. Its popular which is both a pro and a con since it means lots of answers AND lots of attacks. Since its really built around stealing the desktop business from MS its a good first choice. Its the easiest to install and get used to IMHO.

Debian is GNU and helps support the Open Source movement. If can be downloaded for free but I prefer to go ahead and order the CD's from gnu.org to make it easier. I figure if Im gonna pay Id rather help the cause than give it to a commercialized Version. Its horrible to install but its majorly easy to keep secure once its in. To be truthful I gave up and paid my local computer store to install it.

Those are the two linux Ive used. Ive also used BSD and Solaris (those are unix's). Here is a good site to go to for a comparison list.
http://www.distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

[Esben Mose Hansen]

So you want to join the linux movement?

Well, since Red Hat is effectively out of the private Desktop, these are your options, as I see them. You know, they say linux is all about options? This is where it starts

buy SuSE: Solid, easy-to-use distrubution. You get installation support (by email) in three months for the basic package which nearly garanties that the installation will be successfull. Con: It costs some money.

download SuSE, Fedora or Mandrake Free except for the CD's, but you will need to burn them yourself or order them somewhere. You don't get installation support, but there is forums and such which can help you. I have never tried this.

Debian A hardcore distrubution. One of the best binary, free as in freedom distributions out there. Not for the easily deterred: Both the Users and the installation are really old school.

Gentoo My distrubution which fits me like a glove. Let me warn you that this distrubtiion idea of an installer is a text prompt and a guide, but this distrubution has the BEST community I have ever had the pleasure to encounter. Be aware that this is a source distrubution, which means that every program is compiled during installation. This will take a few days.

Feel free to ask anything. Or maybe go to linuxquestions
which is a great resource, too.

[Thilock_Dominus]

Thanks for the advise, I'll then go for dual boot. I have looked and read through the link you gave me and I think Mandrake will fit me well, gonna check out mandrakes homepage.

[Thilock_Dominus]

Oh...I have a question: My harddisc (80gb) is splitted into 3 partitions all in NFTS format. Do I have to erease them before installing Linux?

Another question: Should Linux have to be install before or after XP for dual boot?


best regards
Thilock

[Taqwus]

Last I checked, Linux could read NTFS partitions pretty well, but writing might still have been considered unstable. Haven't checked for a long time.



Generally speaking, it's fine to keep existing partitions -- although having one partition free would be a rather good idea; while you can install at least some Versions of Linux into a FAT32 filesystem, for instance, it's not too advisable. Better to keep it separate. A swap partition is also a good idea. If they take up your entire drive currently, you may want to look into partition-resizing software and whether a given distribution comes with any.
The usual bootloaders available (lilo, grub, others) are pretty good at letting you select which OS you want to boot from at start.

[Esben Mose Hansen]

What I did back then was buy a new harddisk for linux... Easy but costly.

If you install XP Last you need to reactivate the boot sector, as XP can't even let a boot sector alone :-/ Otherwise there is not difference.

If you're willing to delete the entire harddisk, you could simply split it into partitions.

[Will]

You could also grab a Knoppix CD to test drive a Linux environment, so you get a better feel for it before diving right in.

[Sheap]

Linux can't really write Version 5 NTFS partitions (as used by XP). And it can't handle XP's "dynamic disks" at all. But it can still read NTFS pretty well.

Since you have three partitions on your drive already, you might be well off just converting one of those partitions to Linux. Or, you can get a whole other hard drive to run Linux on. Or run it on another computer, if you've got space and an old computer lying around.