Linux?

[sarwiz100]

I originally posted this in the os forum, but it belongs here. I have been looking on the web for info on linux, and there are so many different ssetups that it is very confusing. I was looking for linux users to help me decide which install to use on a new rig. I have never used linux and wanted to give it a try. The new unit WILL be oc'ed and will be primarily used for folding and games. I like to experiment and learn new things, but am very confused as to where to start. Thanks for the responses on the other forum, please add more!!

[robbie]

You can start here and here
HTH

[Aedan]

Do NOT start a Linux system on an overclock. If you hit problems it will be very difficult to work out if the issue is the overclock or if the issue is Linux! Overclocked systems that run ok under Windows do not necessarily run ok under Linux. The instruction mix is a little different, and issues can arise if you're unlucky.

[sarwiz100]

Thanks, this is the kind of info I am looking for. Having never messed with linux before, should I try it on an older machine first. Have a laptop (dell lattitude) lying around doing nothing. I was planning on wiping it and starting over with win98 or something . It has 98 on it, but it is glitchy. All personal info and save games have n been removed already. If I partition the 11 gig drve, what size should i go?

[benighted]

You can try several different distributions until you find one that works for you. You can find a list at distrowatch.com. There are several ways you can partition it; Of course you will need a swap partition, make that about 1GB. After that you can make the rest your root directory (/) or you can make a 3-5 GB root partition and allocate the rest to /home partition so if you decide to reinstall or upgrade your linux install you can keep your personal files and settings.

Originally Posted by sarwiz100

Thanks, this is the kind of info I am looking for. Having never messed with linux before, should I try it on an older machine first. Have a laptop (dell lattitude) lying around doing nothing. I was planning on wiping it and starting over with win98 or something . It has 98 on it, but it is glitchy. All personal info and save games have n been removed already. If I partition the 11 gig drve, what size should i go?

[sarwiz100]

Got some good info here and at distrowatch. Have now dl-ed and disked fedora, knoppix, suse 10.1,gentoo and slackware. can't find a good dl site for mandrake. (the files come in, but it won't create the iso disk right???) New rig is half way assembled and can't wait to take it for a test drive. Thanks y'all. Fold on.

[benighted]

Cool. Let us know how it goes!
You might try Gentoo last because that one takes a linux expert to install (I've tried and failed). You could try Debian instead of Gentoo. And AFAIK you can only get Mandrake (now Mandriva) if you pay for it but I hear its good for beginners.

[sarwiz100]

I have spent the last three days getting this thing up and running, testing it out and now I'm baaaaaaaaack. Haven't installed linux yet but will today. New mobo, hd and ram (3200)

[benighted]

How did it go?

[sarwiz100]

Have not yet installed linux on the new rig, but did a trial install on the old celeron and it went smoothly, but have problems with drivers for network cards. It will connect to the internet and to my home network, but on a limited basis. Had a couple of distractions the last 2 days and am just getting back into it today. I want to be able to run suse10.1 from full control admin only, but it keeps setting up as a limited acct only. Need to read more info/documentation on it. and to learn more file commands. also had problems trying to read a cd-rom. cannot mount a drive.???

[robbie]

You'll learn quickly that you DON'T WANNA run as root (full control admin as you call it) You'll want the safety and security of having to put a password in when you go to install things.

[sarwiz100]

the whole thing has been put on hold for a while. Just moved my puter to another room and am cutting a hole in the wall for a sal****er aquarium. Gonna get the 125 set up. I have linux installed on another rig, so I'll be using/\learnin' it on that one' Need more info on "mounting a drive".

[benighted]

CD drive should mount itself when you insert a disc. Are you trying to mount a windows partition?

[Aedan]

Mounting a disk rather depends If the kernel has an automounter, then that should automatically mount cd/dvd disks as and when they're inserted.

Otherwise, a command line session might be in order. Use of the "mount" command helps here - the general format is "mount path/device mountpoint".

So, for example, if I wanted to mount the second partition on the primary IDE hard disk, I could enter "mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/tmp/". That would mount second partition (2) on the primary IDE disk (/dev/hda) so that it appeared under the directory /mnt/tmp/.

[sarwiz100]

it was the cd drive the other night. cannot mount a drive that is already mounted I think was the error. It was telling me that the drive was allegedly in use by another prg, but I could'nt figure out what one it was. I'll get into it more next week. Thanks for all the help. I don't expext everything to go smoothly, that's part of the learning process. If windows was perfect, I would have never learned anything about the registry, etc.

[sarwiz100]

Update: been using Ubuntu now for almost 2 years and am actually really loving it. New laptop has 9.04 and win 7 as a dual boot , and I usually go straight to linux. Just a little glitchy getting the wireless to connect, but a bit of patience is all that is needed and the experience gets better every time. Now have 4 computers in this house running some form of Linux and windows in dual boots, and yes I know how to edit grub among other things.

[chrisbard]

Hey man. Been using for sometime ubuntu. It's alright. However when I have to work something (video encoding, editing...) I go back to Vista. ...not to mention gaming. And btw nice W7 sig

[Gizmo]

I've got one machine running WindowsXP for development. For gaming, I've got my PS3. For everything else, I'm running either Ubuntu, Fedora, or Gentoo Linux. Other than the development stuff, they do everything I need.