About to take Linux plunge - advice?

[deanerk]

OK, I've been working with Windows for a long time and have built many systems of every Windows OS flavor since 3.1. I have no Linux experience and I figure it can't hurt me professionally or personally to check out the greener grass on the other side of the fence.

So, I have 3 spare boxes and a spare laptop at home. I have plenty of hardware to play with. I've been checking out Linux threads here and doing a little research. What would you Linux pros suggest as a good beginner distro? I've been checking out SuSE 9.0 Personal. Any opinions? I'm assuming that the $40 kit comes with everything I'll need to get up and running. I'm looking for your experiences with different distros.

My guess is that this question has probably come up here before, but be kind and remember I'm a Linux noob and I just want to join your ranks and am looking for the best way to learn and avoid excessive frustration.

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

 

[shanek]

SuSE 9.0 is great, and you can actually download it for free if you don't mind the whole freakin' install happening over the internet (NOT recommended for dial-up users).

However, before you do that, I would recommend that you download Knoppix. All you do is download the .iso and burn it to a CD, and you have a bootable installation of Linux that doesn't even touch your system. It's good to boot up and check out, get familiar with it, and be able to tell if it's something you really want on your system. Now, should you end up installing SuSE, you'll notice a lot of things are different, since different distros do things different ways, but Knoppix should give you the general feel of Linux and what it is and what you can do and help you make a better assessment without having to actually modify your machine to do so.

Of course, if you've got a separate blank machine all ready for Linux, you might decide not to worry about Knoppix and just go ahead and instlal SuSE. Your call.

 

[LFTKBS]

Also if you're going to go w/ SUSE, which I use and highly dig, be aware that the Personal version does not include the compilers, which is kind of a pain. The Pro version includes them, though it's $40 more. Your call.

 

[iain]

I would recommend SuSE or Mandrake for beginners.

Sign up to a site like LinuxQuestions.org
for help and moral support

 

[ceptimus]

I'm happy with Mandrake. This distro gets good reviews, and the compilers come for free. You can download the ISO CD images free from the Mandrake website. (Not recommended unless you have broadband).

 

[deanerk]

Thanks all.

Shanek, I do have plenty of hardware and I'm not afraid of breaking anything, so I'll probably go with a full install and skip the Knoppix. I have heard good things about it though and may play a little.

I do have a cable connection and like the idea of being able to download for free. I know I read on the SuSE site that the download cannot be split into installation CDs and you do not get he installation support you get with buying the kit. I'm going to look into the Mandrake download.

 

[deanerk]

WOW! I'm pumped. Feeling pretty good about myself. Heh. Got home from work, went to Mandrake's site, downloaded it, burned all 3 CDs worth, installed it and here I am - posting from my new Linux box. Did it all in less than 5 hours.

I got Mandrake up and running without a hitch on an old IBM Aptiva 350MHz machine with 128MB RAM. Not exactly lightning fast right now, but I remember running Windows98 on here and this is definitely up a notch or two in speed from that.

Just wanted to let people I was successful without ever reading a page in a Linux book. I only did a couple hours worth of googling. Anyone who has ever done a Windows installation will likely find Mandrake very easy to get installed.

 

[bignickel]

I installed SuSe Linux back in 99 on a box that I had dual-booted Win98/Win2k.

I chose default install.

It formatted my whole hard drive with out asking me.

I think I left the CDs downstairs for some other poor sucker to try.

Red Hat install was smooth. No complains with RH.

 

[LFTKBS]

WOW! I'm pumped. Feeling pretty good about myself. Heh. Got home from work, went to Mandrake's site, downloaded it, burned all 3 CDs worth, installed it and here I am - posting from my new Linux box. Did it all in less than 5 hours.

Congrats, deanerk. Nearing my six month mark myself.

 

[epepke]

Get SuSe. Buy the discs.

If that doesn't help, get SuSe. Buy the discs.

And whatever you do, get SuSe. Buy the discs.

And if that doesn't work, get SuSe. Buy the discs.

 

[iain]

Just wanted to let people I was successful without ever reading a page in a Linux book. I only did a couple hours worth of googling. Anyone who has ever done a Windows installation will likely find Mandrake very easy to get installed.

Hey, congratulations.

 

[QuagmaPhage]

Deanerk, if you installed Mandrake 9.2 you will probably run into some of the unfortunate bugs in that release. I think I had to download some 250 MB of patches and bugfixes when I upgraded from 9.1 to 9.2.

If you run into problems I can suggest searching the forums at MandrakeClub
or MandrakeUsers.

 

[Whyatt]

I've just installed mandrake 9.2 a few days ago, and heading over to that linuxquestions site as we speak. I would really recommend it. It took a good couple of hour less than it did to install XP, which kept having a break down. And partioning your hard drive is as easy as pie.

Still haven't figured how to install new programs though, what with all these tar and rpm files....

 

[bignickel]

Get SuSe. Buy the discs.

If that doesn't help, get SuSe. Buy the discs.

And whatever you do, get SuSe. Buy the discs.

And if that doesn't work, get SuSe. Buy the discs.

Buy SuSe.

Let it format your hard drive without asking.

Then toss in trash.

Then buy Red Hat. Enjoy.

 

[Whyatt]

I cant get the internet at home so I got the cd's for mandrake sent to me from opendata.co.uk for £2.75 inc P&P, which isn't bad at all.

Whats wrong with mandrake which means that i should upgrade to RedHat or SuSe?

 

[iain]

I cant get the internet at home so I got the cd's for mandrake sent to me from opendata.co.uk for £2.75 inc P&P, which isn't bad at all.

Whats wrong with mandrake which means that i should upgrade to RedHat or SuSe?

Nothing - Mandrake and SuSE are both very good. Red Hat also has a very good reputation. It's down to what you prefer.

 

[LFTKBS]

Buy SuSe.

Let it format your hard drive without asking.

Then toss in trash.

Then buy Red Hat. Enjoy.

Hey, didn't SuSE format your hard drive? I think you posted something about that.



Seriously, though, what version were you using?

 

[Cleon]

WOW! I'm pumped. Feeling pretty good about myself. Heh. Got home from work, went to Mandrake's site, downloaded it, burned all 3 CDs worth, installed it and here I am - posting from my new Linux box. Did it all in less than 5 hours.

I got Mandrake up and running without a hitch on an old IBM Aptiva 350MHz machine with 128MB RAM. Not exactly lightning fast right now, but I remember running Windows98 on here and this is definitely up a notch or two in speed from that.

Just wanted to let people I was successful without ever reading a page in a Linux book. I only did a couple hours worth of googling. Anyone who has ever done a Windows installation will likely find Mandrake very easy to get installed.

Alright! Another one turned away from the dark side!

deanerk, welcome to the wide, wonderful world of Linux.

 

[bignickel]

Hey, didn't SuSE format your hard drive? I think you posted something about that.

Seriously, though, what version were you using?

I keep posting it because people keep referring to a particular flavor of OS that reformats your hard drive as good. (Hits head on post) What universe do I live in where such a thing is good?

What ever version was out in 99-2000. Maybe 7?... Had 7 CDs and few instructions. Bought it at Best Buy.

Needless to say: Red Hat Default install did not reformat my hard drive.

 

[shanek]

I keep posting it because people keep referring to a particular flavor of OS that reformats your hard drive as good.

Contrary to your experience, I have never had Suse do anything to my hard drive that was in any way unexpected or unspecified by me.

What ever version was out in 99-2000. Maybe 7?... Had 7 CDs and few instructions. Bought it at Best Buy.

I worked with SuSE 7; not extensively, but I installed it a few times. It made it plain when you selected the option that it was going to use the entire hard drive. If you didn't want that, you should have chosen the option to specify the partitioning yourself. SuSE is NOT responsible for your lack of observation.

Needless to say: Red Hat Default install did not reformat my hard drive.

Every version of Red Hat since at least 6.2 has had the exact same options: one that uses the entire hard drive, and one (or sometimes two) that lets you specify the partitioning.

EDITED TO ADD: Oh, and BTW, Windows has the same options, too.