Linux: Is it recommended? [Archive]

kshep92

10-22-2006, 10:48 PM

Since I started watching TechTV, i've been hearing about this Linux thing. I downloaded the ISO and ran it a couple times and that's pretty much it. I like the whole "new OS" thing but is it really worth it? It seemed kind of primitave since I had to type stuff in all the time in some weird language that I haven't take the time to learn yet.

The Point: If I'm in the mood to change over to a new OS is "Knoppix" a good one? And if so, can you please give me some of the benefits?

wastern

10-22-2006, 10:55 PM

knoppix is good to test without installing and is good to have around, but I wouldn't use it as a distro to install

give Ubuntu or SLED (Novell's Suse) a look. Both are well suited for a home desktop

With SLED I don't think I had to open the command line one time. Ubuntu requires very little of it, maybe one time to run Automatix then you can do most everything else from the GUI

google some of it and give it a look

noonebutme

10-23-2006, 09:06 PM

Check out Sabayon Linux - its a LiveDVD with Xfce, Gnome, KDE and one other window manager on it. Plus its based off gentoo and has XGL Auto-configured :)

bman

10-23-2006, 10:30 PM

tommyfullington

10-24-2006, 12:36 AM

I started back in the day with a copy of slackware a friend gave me, then I explored pretty much every distro there is. Most people who use Linux for the first time are not that Unix Savvy yet. As my friends would say "wtf is this bash $@%*" ... so if I were going to install a distro, and I had never installed one before. IMHO, it would one of these three: Ubuntu, Suse, or Fedora. Here are the reasons why.

Ubuntu - Based on Debian, end users love Debian. Honestly, it has a GIANT user base now and lots of people to help you. There forums are fantastic etc. etc. .. Some machines I can pop a Ubuntu disk in and it works and installs fine. When other distro's won't.

Suse - Simply because if you want to pay the money for the non free version, the support (I hear), is amazing.

Fedora - Some people just like the RPM style distro.

I use Crux (I am a mac user though.. so OS X these days, but my other laptop is Crux).. it's source based and it's lightweight. But it's not good for new users. Nothing source based usually is, source based is clean.. that's why I like it. Oh yeah, if you're switching from windows check out Linspire or Mandriva. In the end you're going to find out that other than extra built in modules and such, all programs included with Distro's are the same. Then again, some of the system tools included with some distros (like fedora and ubuntu.) are really nice to have. If you don't mind having messy code in text files.

If you want the ultimate in security and customizable OS.. Linux is for you. If you're unwilling to learn and have to deal with TRY AFTER TRY AFTER TRY.. look somewhere else.

Some new users tips, Go into your Bio's and disable USB/Legacy support before you install. If you're installing on a laptop.. research thouroughly. If you're planning on using an Nvidia card, go and get the binary drivers on their website.. burn it to a CD before you install. Save the readme file in there too. If you're using a dial-up connection, honestly don't install. If you really really want to.. go and buy an external serial modem before hand. Most of all, have fun learning :). Only use Knoppix as a live CD.

wastern

10-24-2006, 05:56 AM

it's all FRIGGING opinion, Ubuntu is the most favorite right now. Yes Linux is starting to be used more, and getting recommended more often.

Doesn't mean you will like it, and will be able to use it.

well if he is interested and trying it already and feels like he wants to play it with more....why not? It doesn't cost anything and he may end up liking it...or not, but he won't know without trying with it

sometimes its just fun to play with

kshep92

10-24-2006, 04:43 PM

jdhore

10-24-2006, 05:09 PM

Linux will replace the standard Windows XP bootloader (which you never see), but the Linux bootloader should automatically figure out that you have Windows installed and it should put an entry for Windows in it. The list will probably look something like this (with more options on the sides and stuff, but you usually don't have to worry about them):

Ubuntu Linux 6.10 (or whatever version you're running)
Ubuntu Linux 6.10 Safe Boot
Windows

It will probably default to Linux and have a timeout (automatically go into the default after 5-10 seconds), but if you edit /boot/grub/menu.lst you can change the order or the timeout

wastern

10-24-2006, 06:41 PM

Thanks for the help. Even though I didn't understand the UNIX terminology used, I think i get the point. It'll try Ubuntu first and see what happens. Oh, but my teacher said something about Linux being greedy once installed and It causes problems when trying to boot into windows or something to that effect. Is it true?

Windows is the greedy one. Whatever you do, don't install Linux and then Windows....the Windows install just F's everything up. Linux knows to play well with others

It'll automatically set up a dual boot for you. It may even ask you which OS you'd like to auto-start if no action is taken

darknessgp

10-24-2006, 08:56 PM

maybe you should ask this in the linux/unix section of the forum... seems like it would fit better than in the windows section.

elliotm

11-03-2006, 03:42 AM

I loaded Ubuntu Edgy Eft onto my laptop and had a terrible time trying to get my Intel 2200BG wifi adapter up and running on my WPA2 network. The INSTALL from Intel had me remove all 80211 stuff and install latest 80211 stuff (which did not work with the automated scripting tools included and then had to be checked, by hand) then running MAKE for 80211 wanted to place the resulting files one place and the Intel MAKE was looking for them elsewhere and I was going in circles following directory paths and hard links to figure out what I had to sort out until I finally gave up. Oh, and trying to install nvidia's drivers didn't work out, either. Then again, this laptop has an odd GeForce 5200 setup and doesn't like Nvidia's default drivers, even in Windows. :(

I would like to move to linux, I really would, but I doubt that will happen until I build a desktop or after linux matures a bit more.

I don't mind learning, I love using LiteStep so text configuration files are no sweat for me as long as they make sense, I would like to break away from needing Windows, etc. I'll try again, someday.

lordfoul

11-03-2006, 05:13 AM

Truth is that is linux was created for Geeks and is still a Geeks OS. The day it is a Desktop killer for the masses is in our near future, not yet, but soon. 5 years more or less is my guess. For us Geeks though; we can benifit now.

tbird

11-03-2006, 02:03 PM

Thanks for the help. Even though I didn't understand the UNIX terminology used, I think i get the point. It'll try Ubuntu first and see what happens. Oh, but my teacher said something about Linux being greedy once installed and It causes problems when trying to boot into windows or something to that effect. Is it true?

As said previously, yes, windows is the greedy one and not linux. My suggestion, though, is to try and install linux on another system (it'll run on almost all systems). That way you have a dedicated box without the option of screwing up windows. I once (way back) tried to install linux and it screwed up my windows partition...almost put a sour taste in my mouth about linux.

heathenx

11-04-2006, 01:54 AM

i am a sysadmin at my workplace. most of those that i work with read windows on a third grade level...if you know what i mean. i have installed ubuntu for a couple of people. having never used or heard of linux before, these guys picked up on it in a matter of a couple of hours. it is that easy and it's not any harder than windows...just different. one likes it so much that he would like to have it installed at home.

now, if these guys can handle linux then you surely can. ubuntu is popular because it's good. it's stable, fast, and looks feckin' sweet.

masherscf

11-04-2006, 04:06 AM

MisterGrimm

11-05-2006, 04:24 PM

Linux, doesn't matter what version it is. I'm always frustrated with it because it's complicated, knowing I'm a 100% n00b to it because I've been so attached to windows and it's simplistic GUI. I have not yet experienced with Linux (I have Mandrake and Fedora 6, looking to find Red Hat soon!) but It's worth a fresh look if you get tired of Windows all of a sudden.

simon

11-07-2006, 12:15 PM

bird603568

11-07-2006, 03:55 PM

ubuntu is popular because it's good. it's stable, fast, and looks feckin' sweet.

you mean because it does everything for you and its dumbed down the lowest level

synack

11-08-2006, 01:53 AM

If you want the ultimate in security and customizable OS.. Linux is for you. If you're unwilling to learn and have to deal with TRY AFTER TRY AFTER TRY.. look somewhere else.

Sup,
if you are keen on learning about a secure O.S, check out OpenBSD.

http://www.openbsd.org

Out of all the BSD flavors, OpenBSD has been dedicated to providing a free
and open system that is based around security. The quote below is from the project website;

' Only one remote hole in the default install, in more than 10 years!'

If you want to know how an O.S works, start by reading the source tree.

synack

astralsin

03-05-2007, 04:14 PM

linux is a great desktop OS and unless you're running some specific application for work or something you'll have a wide range of software to do anything you can do in windows. gaming is a bit iffy but transgaming cedega works very well and its only a $5/mo donation.

ericjosepi

03-06-2007, 09:22 PM

you mean because it does everything for you and its dumbed down the lowest level

No wonder your ass got banned! Command line shit is ****ing hard to wrap your head around when you are used to a GUI that has been there in some form or another for your entire life! The first computer that I started on was my dad's Mac Classic IIe. I loved that thing. Then we progressed (because they were cheaper) to a 486 DX66 with Windows 3.11. Then Win9x (I went through all 3 of it's "appearances"). Then XP. And now I looking at buying a Mac. Something is missing from the last 15 years of my life... something... I can't quite put my finger... oh yeah! A ****ing command line interface!

Command Lines are love or hate and in Linux, you see a lot of them. Some people will tell you some bull shit story about how you don't ever need to use the command line, but they're lying. Ubuntu is the first in many steps to get from command line to full GUI. And love me or hate me for this (and bring the flames) but until Linux goes all GUI all the time (with the command line still present for those who want it), it will NEVER be a mainstream OS.

"But Eric! Dell is going to start offering Linux! Dell the number 2 PC vendor in the US!"

Whoopty ****ing doo! Guess what OS most of Dell's customers will be buying? Windows Vista. Teaching someone who is only going to use a PC to surf the net and use e-mail in Linux isn't too hard. You can get Thunderbird and Firefox to work just like people would expect in a Windows setting but soon enough the tech support calls will start coming in, and no one likes to deal with rookie users who think that Google is th internet.

</rant>

Maybe I'm still bitter because the last 2 times I've installed Ubuntu and gone to the "community" (Linux community: doesn't exist) for help, I've been ignored on some pretty hefty issues.

Bottom line is, if you're happy with Windows, stick with it. Linux isn't going to do anything for you that Windows isn't already doing.

BCModder

03-10-2007, 11:26 AM

its not a matter of flaming in this case but I went from using windows to linux and the switch wasn't overly difficult, you can say cli is hard all you want but its only as hard as you make it(love hate yes true). as far as linux becoming a solid GUI good luck cli will always be there even if they increase the amount on the GUI end and frankly I can't see that as being something that would keep it from mainstream. The linux vs windows arguement is an old one but overall linux is far more flexible, customizable & stable. Lastly I would like to say that the statement of commandline not being a requirement isn't a lie its not 100% true either, like for mp3 support where you will need it but once youve gotten that fixed you really don't need it and the mp3 business isn't even a 5 min job.

Again though its all a matter of preference and each OS has its ups and downs, it all depends on what you as the user wants. Oh yea and I agree with the ubuntu support their a bunch of F*** faces personally, I quit bothering with them 7 months ago after being insulted for asking a simple reference question so I solve any issues that arise on my own now.....actually Im posting using Kubuntu right now lol

techknowmama

04-12-2007, 04:23 AM

I don't want to bring down a plague of shit from the Linux gods, so Linux fans please believe me when I say how much I love Linux.... But...

If you can't answer on your own "Why should I use Linux?", then you probably shouldn't.

Honestly, Linux isn't going to do anything so spectacularly different than your present Windows installation. Unless there is a piece of software that you need that only works on the Linux platform, you don't really need Linux.

Installing Linux used to be a learning experience that every computer guru should experience. Today, through the efforts of some really smart guys, any body's mom can install Linux. That doesn't mean that Mom should.

I agree,
the only reason I went to Linux back in the day was because Windows ME and I had a fight, and we broke up. a friend of mine gave me a copy of mandrake 6. something or 7. something and after switching out my modems I didn't touch window for 2 years

I think really it boils down to preference.
however if you need an os and can't afford windows, linux can be a good way to go

kshep92

05-11-2007, 05:42 AM

First of all, thanks for the replies guys, you've been quite helpful.

Well I installed Ubuntu on a 10GB partition of my HDD and I gotta say it worked pretty well and it looked "feckin' sweeet" as some1 mentioned before. I did, however have a hard time with installing it initially, I didn't quite understand the mount points" thing, so they were scattered helter scelter across many different partitions (it didn't let me set all the mount points to one partition). I didn't like that too much seeing that I like order on my PC... so I uninstalled it.

I'm keeping the distro CD for when my mom buys me the laptop and i'll install it there as my primary OS and see how it turns out. I like Ubuntu and it wasn't hard to use at all (except for the mount points thing) and it's an excellent alternative to windows.

Thanks again.

sugarsickness

05-11-2007, 03:57 PM

Were you using Edgy or the newly released Feisty version? Feisty Fawn's installer is much improved and can do things like migrate windows settings over to Ubuntu such as the My Documents folders, wallpaper (I think!), and things like firefox/IE bookmarks. I haven't had a need to use that feature myself, so I can't comment on personal experience with that. However, the partitioning part of the install is much smoother and it automatically mounted my windows partition and my slave hard drive automatically ( in /media/AUDIO for my music drive and /media/hda1 for my windows partition, both of which show up on my desktop for easy access).

I think you probably understand mount points now but if not just ask. I have been a devoted ArchLinux user for a long while now but Feisty is nice and simple. I love wading knee deep through configuration files and setting up the system from the command line but since giving Feisty a go I just love the simplicity it has. I've used a lot of distros and anyone that hates Ubuntu because they claim they "dumb it down" needs to stop using Linux.

kshep92

05-11-2007, 08:09 PM

TSSaloic

05-11-2007, 11:46 PM

PCLinuxOS is kind of new, but they have a great comunity

WorldGroove

05-14-2007, 11:08 PM

Well I might as well take this opportunity as it presents itself. here are my questions:

Mount points: What are they? If I only have two partitions (one for Windows one for Linux) does that mean that I can't install Linux?

Most of the time, Mount-points = partitions. I say most of the time, cuz you can do "loop" stuff and mount an iso image file, but whatever. Ubuntu usually wants a minimum of 2 partitions: swap partition; equal to the concept of the C:\pagefile.sys in Windows and one other partition for the whole OS 'n stuff(ext3 most common nowadays). You can install Ubuntu without the swap space, but I don't think that's recommended on a machine with less than 2 gigs RAM. I'd say, unless your machine is an 8GIGram server, always give 512mb swap. If you startup Gparted-LiveCD, you'll see it has an option for creating a "swap" partition; as well as a bunch of others.

sugarsickness

05-15-2007, 05:04 PM

A slight elaboration of sorts, perhaps unneeded:

A mount point is, as mentioned, a place in the file structure where a partition is placed. In Windows every partition gets a letter (C:\, D:\, F:\. etc) and that is where you go to access that partition. In Linux, they don't get letters, they just get a folder. This means you could have different parts of your system in separate partitions or hard drives. So, one could have a hard drive mounted as / (The root of the filesystem) and have his Linux installation on that one hard drive. He could then mount a second hard drive as /home/[username] (Which is sortof like the My Documents in Windows). Or someone could split up a single hard drive so that most of the drive is one partition that is mounted to / for the whole system but have the folder /etc (A place where various configuration files go) on the second partition so if something happens to his larger partition he can still save all of his edited config files or something.

Linux needs two partitions, most of the time, a / mount point and a swap partition. If you have a large unpartitioned area setup on the hard drive for ubuntu you can just click, in the installer, something like "Use largest contiguous free space" which will take the free unpartitioned space and divide it into a swap partition and use the rest for the file system. That should be enough to get it setup. It will also mount the Windows partition automatically.

vehemens

05-16-2007, 01:46 AM

Windows Vista repulsed me so much that within four hours of getting a new laptop with it preinstalled I had made the decision that however difficult Linux was I would be switching to it.

I tried openSuSE and you know what. It was great. Perhaps the most graphically impressive Linux distribution I have used. But it was bloated. Just like Vista... it came with packages I wouldn't use which I couldn't get rid of because they provided dependencies for some program I did use. I don't need calenders, note jotters, jabber clients and so on so forth. It also didn't provide drivers for my wireless card which I had to configure myself (which worked the first time I went through the step by step guide to installing the madwifi ones, all the same).

So, despite my best efforts to resist, I tried Ubuntu.

I ran Ubuntu in Live CD mode. I partitioned the drive. Created separate mount points for swap, / and /home (which was the first time I'd done such a thing) and installed. It worked. First time. And provided support for my wireless drivers off the bat. And it rates up there with openSuSE in the graphic superiority department.

The excuse that Linux is "too difficult" for the average user is gone. And the argument that other OS's are graphically superior is dead to. Especially in regards to Windows. Compiz/XGL & Gnome.... Stunning.

</my two cents>

Enelysion

05-17-2007, 04:33 PM

I am a recent convert myself. (3 months)

I actually had a friend load SUSE onto my desktop back about 3 years ago, but I never really used it, I just left my computer on windows anyway. It was easier, and I could do most of the same stuff, even more infact.

3 months ago I, after deciding vista wasn't for me, switched my laptop over. No dual boots, just a clean linux slate. I chose ubuntu because, as you have said, its easy to ease into.

Now I am feeling more comfortable in the command line, and I am thinking about switching to Gentoo. (a topic for another thread) I love linux, and saying there is nothing more you can do in it just isn't true. Linux is customizable, and the user has easy access to the OS through the command line. Plus, linux has a GREAT library of free software, just about anything can be done. I can even play my WoW and some other games in WINE.

Linux is really just different. I am not going to claim its better or worse, but I think all the OSes really have their place. I suggest anyone who is maybe thinking about trying it out to do so. If you don't mind a challenge, you just might enjoy it! :D

kshep92

06-09-2007, 09:52 PM

Ok guys, thanks for the resounding and extremely helpful response. I Installed ubuntu (FF 7.04) last night (after about a million re-installs of XP) and I really like it, it's just that the whole "go to command prompt for everytihng" approach is kind of daunting. The reason i'm bringing this up is because I simply want to install some Drivers for my Radeon X300 and get the monitor to display the OS in the correct resolution.

I got through the installation of the drivers fairly well, but I'm having trouble editing this "xorg.conf" file. I just want to bump the resolution a few pixels higher so I can see everything on the screen, unfortunately, this isn't happening. I've spent nearly 4 hours online searching for help but none of the methods work.

I have the LATES release of Ubuntu if any of you wizards wanna take a whack at it.