thedon808

Testing Out Linux. Part 1

▼

Testing Out Linux. Part 1

A windows users' journey into the world of Linux

from JoeUser Forums

I've known about GNU/Linux , and the whole open source thing, for sometime now. About a year ago I bought the 'Dummies Guide to Fedora Rore1' book. Hoping to get more into using Linux and also as my girl friend worked on Saturdays (the only day I could go to visit) I spent a lot of time in the town, so this book gave me something to do. I spent a few weeks flicking through it reading bits and pieces I then decided to try it out. I installed it on my test PC an old PII 350Mhz 128ram 3Gb drive. The install process of Fedora is quite easy with a nice GUI installer guiding you through what packages you want installed etc. After it had done its business installing, about 45-60mins install time, I was thrown into the deep end, with a rather dated looking desktop theme, my first mission was to connect to my main XP PC.
'Ok, how do I do that? Ah ha network tool. Oh, no card installed! Humm ok! Well I tried, where's my XP CD?'

So my first venture into Linux wasn't too successful.

After getting married and moving house I thought it would be great to have a file server for our music etc. I had already set up a network between my PC, my wife's, and her Mac. So adding a file server should be easy enough. Again out comes the old PII install Fedora on it again. This time I was more careful what I installed as I needed more space rather than toys, after the install I checked the space left on the 3Gb drive, only 400 or so Mb. Well there goes my conception that Linux was a smaller operating system than XP.
So now I'm on the hunt for a smaller distro, so google for 'lightweight Linux distro' all I come up with are the tiny distros eg50Mb. What I was after was something a little more fuller but not bloated. Then I came across Distrowatch.com in the packages list Ubuntu had all I needed, apache, php, samba, etc. and its on one CD (Fedora Core 3 is 4 CD's).
So set it up downloading overnight. The next night I had planned to install it (as long it downloaded ok, which it did). The next night I burnt it to CD and then got carried away designing a cover to print onto the CD. That was a week ago, last night I actually did the install. Even though it hasn't got a fancy installer like Fedora I actually found it easier than I thought to install. The only hard bit would have been disk partitioning but as it had Fedora on it previously I just reformatted the partitions that were already there. The only down side to the installation was the time, over 2 hours later I eventually had the login screen in front of me, (my only worry was I didn't remember putting the root password in?) anyhow login fine.
First objective, check root password, 'Great the same as my login password, really secure!' So promptly change it and then have a little nose around, the GUI still isn't as nice as XP or OSX it still needs some work, I then check the network, well the internet works so looks hopeful.
Next objective set up shared folder on the network. 'Oh, samba isn't installed'. At that point I decided to leave it for another day, as it was an hour later than I was expecting due to the lengthy install time.

More progress to follow as it happens.
48,125 views 80 replies
Reply #26 from JoeUser Forums Top
In fact I would recommend slackware for beginners. just stick it in, fdisk, do a full install, and put the bootloader in the mbr. Its install is really simple. You get a lot of software and its smaller then 3 gigs for the install. It will start you off in a console, which is intimidation, but just type in startx and your good. Yes it is a linux distro for advance users, but i would recommend it to newbs more than anything else


I have to disagree with you there. Firstly, Slack doesn't configure X automatically so "but just type in startx and your good" isn't correct. You have to configure X yourself before you have a usable X environment. You also need to configure alsa.

While Slack is my distro of choice (and I've used MANY), I don't recommend it to newbies because it doesn't use a lot of auto-configure tools, or much in the way of "auto" anything and manually editing config files can be daunting for a newbie. I always recommend something more "automatic" for them to get their feet wet and start learning Linux.

Gentoo is good, I used it for a while, but I found some of the packages a tad unstable at times, and the compile times tiresome (if it moves, compile it), but over all it's very good. And yeah it booted about the same as my Slack. I guess if counting time from bootloader menu to ready for work, I'd say 15 to 20 seconds is probably about right. I normally time from power up.
Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The slackware vs gentoo choice for distrobution was one of the hardest choices ive made in computing. I went gentoo many because of the philosophy (Start with nothing and building the system from scratch)

I would recommend slackware because it teaches people faster than any other distro. I remeber X being usuable but not fully configured on my system. But hey doing xorgconfig is not that complicated to do.

I thought alsa was configured also (guess its been a while since I installed slackware) That should be simple also. I think a simple alsaconfig should do it all. Doing things like dmix is plenty difficult though (who knew playing 2 sound files at once was such a daunting task)

Yeah theres a lot of crap you gotta do with slackware next to suse or something but Im the kind that will throw a user into the linux lake, then let them get their feet wet.

My first distro was mandrake. And that is probably the best rpm based distro out there. I guess if a newbie refuses to slack, then they should use that.
WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.
Reply #28 from JoeUser Forums Top
I went gentoo many because of the philosophy (Start with nothing and building the system from scratch)

I know how you feel. I built my Slack system the same way. I liked Gentoo ok but evetually went back to Slack.

But hey doing xorgconfig is not that complicated to do.

True if you know what you're doing, but for a newbie who has no idea what he's looking at it could be very daunting.

I think a simple alsaconfig should do it all.

Yes that's it. It's knowing you have to do it that comes with experience.

Im the kind that will throw a user into the linux lake, then let them get their feet wet.

Yeah and a lot of newbies quickly go back to Windows because they are left with a system they can't use. I feel it's far easier to ease someone into Linux with something easier and more automated. But it varies with the person too. Some are more technically inclined and do quite well, most have a lot of bad habits from years of using Windows and just can't make that radical a transition. It's all about the learning curve.
I've taught a number of introductory Linux classes. I always used Slack for the teaching, but to just throw someone to the wolves usually results in a quick return to Windows.

I'm not much for distro bashing, but I found Mandrake far too buggy to be of any practical use.
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah I guess people should take your word over mine. Its been a while since I went through a Linux installation. Yeah and mandy might have changed since last i used it
Reply #30 from JoeUser Forums Top
Yeah I guess people should take your word over mine.


Not at all. We all have opinions and experiences to share and our own way of doing things. That's the greatest thing about Linux; choices.

Simply sharing my own opinions, not trying to start a debate.
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My XP system boots in less than a minute and a half.


My new system boots from power off to the fully loaded XP desktop in less thn 15 seconds, right out of the box!!!
Reply #32 from JoeUser Forums Top
My new system boots from power off to the fully loaded XP desktop in less thn 15 seconds, right out of the box!!!


You must have an impressive machine. The fastest Xp boot times I've ever seen have been in the 30 second range, and then only after some serious tweaking.

Keep in mind though that with Windows, just because you can see a desktop doesn't mean it's finished booting up. There are still apps and services being loaded so from power up to desktop realy isn't the correct measure of boot time. It's from power up to everything loaded that needs to be loaded.
Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Anybody interested in checking out Linux should try the Xandros distribuion. Based on Debian and granted not for advanced users, but out of the box the easiest way to see how Linux compares to XP for a newbie.
Reply #34 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yesterday, I did the Knoppix thing and was fairly impressed. It found all my hardware and everything worked great. I ended up with, I guess, a KDE desktop? It was all running from my CD, but what if I did want to try a full installation?

Which installer installs and finds all the hardware and networks and etc automatically and finishes in a working state, ready to go.
Reply #35 from JoeUser Forums Top
Which installer installs and finds all the hardware and networks and etc automatically and finishes in a working state, ready to go.

As I mentioned previously, SimplyMepis is a very good newbie distro with auto-config and hardware detection. It's a LiveCD like Knoppix but specifically designed for ease of installation if you choose.
Reply #36 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Just did the test on my rather outdated computer.
From cold boot to completely loaded, XP: 4 minutes; Linux: 2 minutes.
And I have disabled already all the unneeded services in XP, but it does load a bunch of apps that I consider invaluable such as Windowblinds, mySQL, PHP, antivirus, anti-spyware, etc. On the other hand, pretty much the same kind of apps are alos loaded in Linux, except the antivirus and antispyware which aren't needed.
Reply #37 from WinCustomize Forums Top
My new system boots from power off to the fully loaded XP desktop in less thn 15 seconds, right out of the box!!!


You must have an impressive machine. The fastest Xp boot times I've ever seen have been in the 30 second range, and then only after some serious tweaking.

Keep in mind though that with Windows, just because you can see a desktop doesn't mean it's finished booting up. There are still apps and services being loaded so from power up to desktop realy isn't the correct measure of boot time. It's from power up to everything loaded that needs to be loaded.


Brand new.

3.2 GHz Intel 640 EMT64

It was upgraded alot from the base model, but the link to the base model is here:
http://www.gateway.com/products/GConfig/proddetails.asp?system_id=9310x

The upgrades:
-SB Audigy sound
-17" Flat Panel
-Media Card reader and Floppy Drive
-Separate DVD and CD-RW drives
Reply #38 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Of cource, the only startup proggies are Trend Micro PC-Cillin Internet Security 2005 and Norton GoBack 4.0.
Reply #39 from WinCustomize Forums Top
As I mentioned previously, SimplyMepis is a very good newbie distro with auto-config and hardware detection. It's a LiveCD like Knoppix but specifically designed for ease of installation if you choose.




Thanks MasonM...Sorry, I did read that, but I've been reading a lot lately about linux (and there is a LOT to read about linux) and my head is a bit spinney. I'm not even sure I want to attempt this, but I've got this 120g hdd and it's practically empty. Thought about a dual boot thing. I just hope I don't screw up my xp installation.
Reply #40 from JoeUser Forums Top
werewolf; What I always tell people who want to find out about Linux is to just pick a distro and try it. Try as many as you want to try, most are free to download and only cost you the price of the blanck CD-Rs.

Mepis is Debian based so installing apps, doing upgrades, etc., is pretty easy. Once you get the hang of Linux, give Slack a try.
Reply #41 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've got Slack bookmarked

I'll tell you what, it's a whole new bunch of words to learn and I hope I'm not too old to learn a whole new OS
Reply #42 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'll be trying Ubuntu soon as the free CD's get to me.
Reply #43 from JoeUser Forums Top
I'll tell you what, it's a whole new bunch of words to learn and I hope I'm not too old to learn a whole new OS

Nah, you can do it. Just remember it isn't Windows, don't expect it to be the same and you'll be fine. Keep an open mind. If you want to learn more, ask questions, etc., check out www.linuxquestions.org
Reply #44 from WinCustomize Forums Top
well, here I am, dual booted into linux. I installed the mepis stuff, but my desktop looks like KDE. I don't quite grasp the concept. So is this mepis wrapped around the linux kernel with KDE GUI wrapped around that?

Yeah, yeah I'll check out that website, but tomorrow...errr later today after work
Reply #45 from WinCustomize Forums Top
KDE is a desktop environment. You have to have one, otherwise its a dos-style prompt.

The different distros just offer different software, customizations like wallpapers, etc..... (Like the Berry cute cat)
Reply #46 from WinCustomize Forums Top
X windows and shell is 2 seprate programs. Don't like KDE? You can change the shell.

I'm currently using XFCE. It's much more lighter than KDE, which is very important on 500 mhz 56 mb ram laptop. It also has everything I need and none I don't need.
Reply #47 from WinCustomize Forums Top
good grief!! I was poking around in the files and have no idea how this stuff is all setup. I had to update to the 1.04 Firefox, but I couldn't find where the original files were installed LOL. Hopefully I'll be able to find some site which will explain what all those directories are and how the OS is laid out on the disk.

How do I get that Winamp looking player to see my drives where my music is stored? Can't get out of the Linux partition with its open dialog box.
Reply #48 from WinCustomize Forums Top
linuxquestions.org

linuxbeginner.org seems to be down and the url redirects to some search page.
Reply #49 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm at linux.org/lessons Mostly talking about terminal commands at the moment. But it did explain what those dang folders are.

Some of the term commands are nicely familiar to an old DOS guy.
Reply #50 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have one quick question and, I promise, I will be researching everything else on my own as much as possible and won't be an lnp (linux newbie pest )

Is there a linux media player which plays .wma files, other than xine?

I'm just trying to get my daughters basic computers needs completely solved before I install linux on her machine. This distro has everything else she needs already.

Thank you