linux

[Moosferatu]

I'm thinking about trying out linux this summer, which distibution should I use? I've been reading this page and they seem to recommend Mandriva and RedHat the most followed by Debian. I'm thinking of trying RedHat just because I think the Fedora name is awesome. Any suggestions? Also, does anyone have any good links I should check out?

[ysbreker]

what is your previous experience with linux?

I'd say get something like redhat/fedora or unbuntu If you never worked with it before. If you tried it before I'd say go for debian and if you're really up for a challenge: gentoo.

[Moosferatu]

Thanks, ys. I've never used it before, by the way. Yeah, I was just reading DistroWatch and read about Ubuntu. It looks awesome, and they'll send you the cds for free, so I think I'll probably give them a try.

[Erkki]

I read some of the text on that page... the language they use doesn't leave the best impression, so I wouldn't take everything they say as pure gold...

Myself, I have Mandrake installed, but I haven't actually used it much. I'm thinking about giving Fedora a try. Redhat has always been (one of ?) the most popular distros.

Since Windows XP is almost the only pirated software left on my computer, (except a few things I don't really use any more) and everything else is free software & most of it multiplatform, I'm thinking of starting to use Linux on a daily basis because I can still use nearly all of the same applications I use in Windows.

I still need WinXP for gaming though...

Hmm... Maybe it's not as rosy as I'm picturing it... can you play QuickTime & Windows Media formats on Linux? Also, I'm not sure if my TV tuner works in Linux.

[Erkki]

I wanted to try the Ubuntu Live CD version... It started up, but for some reason I couldn't log in. Don't remember what the exact failure was.

[Erkki]

Actually, someone more knowldgeable about Linux just recommended SuSe instead of Fedora. He said Fedora is not really stable and gets a lot of updates, even so much that it becomes unmanageable.

Supposedly there was 600 MB worth of updates to download the next day after the last release.

I think I'll give SuSe a try.

[netmonkey]

If you got no experience, I would recommend Fedora Core 3... it's the easiest one to install and set up.

SUSE is kind of a pain to install because you have to do it online, and it takes a long time and sometimes your connection cramps out and stuff. It's pretty, though!

[tabacco]

FC4 is out now, I believe. Personally, I see no point to running linux on my desktop. It only hampers my productivity.

[netmonkey]

FC4 is out now, I believe. Personally, I see no point to running linux on my desktop. It only hampers my productivity.

What do you know, it is... I don't think that was up yesterday, since I was thinking about reinstalling linux myself.

One thing that I like doing with linux is programming. I dread installing Visual Studio. NET on my Windows PC, because all it does is to add a bunch of files and shit that I don't really want.

[Moosferatu]

Have you guys ever read this site? They've got a pretty good run down of the top ten distributors here.

[Erwin_Br]

I'm a loyal SuSe user. Especially after Novell acquired it. I've been using Novell products for as long as I can remember.

At home I'm still on Windows, though. And probably will be.

--Erwin

[Moosferatu]

What version do you use?

[Erkki]

I tried to install SuSe 9.3 from some CD's I borrowed, but it was the 32-bit version, but I wanted to try the 64-bit one.

So I downloaded the 9.2 Network install ISO (or something like that) and burned it on a CD-RW, and choose FTP install, but after "copying files to RAM drive" it said "an error happened with this install" and nothing more.

[Erkki]

I got SuSE 9.2 x86_64 installed, but X won't start (I get a blank or corrupted screen and it hangs). Probably the wrong graphics drivers or something... I'm not comfortable enough in linux to be able to get it working though. I've searched for help and tried some solutions for hours.

Then I tried the Fedora Core 4 x86_64 FTP install. I left it downloading and when I went back to the computer, it had hanged very similarly to SuSE.

I guess I'll try Mandriva or Ubuntu now... or try to find more help to get SuSE working.

Or maybe I'll just go with 32-bit.

[Erkki]

Personally, I see no point to running linux on my desktop. It only hampers my productivity.

I agree. It's just too much of a mess to be as easy to use as Windows. But I wish there was a less productivity-hampering open source operating system out there.

In other news: after trying Ubuntu, Fedora Core and SuSE 64-bit versions and they all failed, I finally got SuSE working, but only with the framebuffer (fbdev) video driver. I heard the ATI driver won't work on linux kernels with a combination of AMD64, PCI-Express and something else...

Also, I've installed 64-bit WinXP Professional some weeks ago (you can get a two month[or was it more] trial from MS website) and it's not worth it yet -- 64-bit drivers seem to exist only for the most basic hardware and 32-bit drivers don't work in 64-bit windows. (32-bit programs do, though). There's are two IE's -- 64-bit and 32-bit. 32-bit plugins don't seem to work with the 64-bit one. And there's no 64-bit Flash. etc.

[Wormsie]

Tried to install Fedora, mouse didn't work. Installed Red Hat 9, the system hung up when it was supposed to check for network connection. Re-installed windows.