Linux

Shaun · 24-08-2003, 16:42

Whats the best Linux distro for a Linux virgin?

I'm feeling a little adventurous, I want one thats not too hard to set up but will teach me the basics of Linux as I install and customise it

Stalker · 24-08-2003, 16:45

Mandrake by far.

views are different on this, but i found RedHat a pain in the ar$e to start off with. Mandrake pretty much explains everything through the install process & the manual explains the rest. It even detected & installed my HP printer

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Edit: spelling

danielf · 24-08-2003, 16:51

Yes, AFAIK Mandrake is the most user friendly, or maybe I should say the least user hostile

Shaun · 24-08-2003, 16:54

Cool, I'll see if I can locate a copy to D/L

One thing I'm a little unsure of is how I go about getting my system ready to install the new O/S.

I'm running XP home, I'm going to format a free partition on my HDD with partition magic, but how do I get it to let me boot to that partition to install Linux? Will I need to burn the iso's to a CD and let it bot from that??

Any links to good Linux sites aimed at noobs would be great.

Stalker · 24-08-2003, 16:59

ok,

you download the Mandrake ISO's (you definatly need number 1, and i would advise having number 2, but u can get away easily without number 3

saving a 650mb d/l)

format with partition magic, make it probably minimum of 7-8 gig. Chuck in Linux disk 1 & reboot.....it strts itself and allows you to select the partition you want to install to.

It aso installs a boot manager later on so you can choose which OS to boot at startup.

hope this helps,

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danielf · 24-08-2003, 17:03

Before you create your partitions, have a look on the web, about dual booting XP and Linux. As I recall, windows is a bit finicky about its location (but I think you're allright installing Linux on a system that already has XP)

Shaun · 24-08-2003, 17:05

All sounds to easy, I'm off to find the iso'd now, do I just want the latest version?

When I format the drive its going on does it need to be to linux Ext 2 or will the install prog do this too (like XP)(and do I need a swap partition?)?

Oh and cheers for the help guys.

Stalker · 24-08-2003, 17:25

it'll sort all that out on install

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Richard M · 24-08-2003, 18:26

Get the ISO images from here:
ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/sunsite...e/Mandrake/iso

Choose Ext3 for the drive(s) in the setup.
You'll like it a lot, I've been running Mandrake 9 with XP Pro happily for about 3 weeks now with no problems at all.

BenH · 24-08-2003, 18:35

As hard as it is for me to say, their all right. Mandrake is superb for newbies. Although if you just want to get a taster of Linux before spending the next 12 hours downloading iso's, take a look at Knoppix, a single disk live distro based off debian with KDE as its default desktop.

Have Fun.

Ben

BenH · 24-08-2003, 18:42

Quote:

Originally posted by dellwear

When I format the drive its going on does it need to be to linux Ext 2 or will the install prog do this too (like XP)(and do I need a swap partition?)?

Ext2 is now very depreciated, replaced with Ext3 or Reiser. Ext2 is now really only used in embedded systems.

As for a swap partition, its now no longer as vital as it once was so long as your on an up to date system. Depending on your system the swap should be equal to, to twice the size of your RAM.

Regards,

Ben

Shaun · 25-08-2003, 14:12

I've got my mandrake iso's burned to disk, I'm off to try and install it.

Thanks for all the advice I'll let you all know how I get on, from what you say I may not need a swap file as my comp is relatively new (2.8Ghz P4, 512Mb, 120Gb HDD).

See you all in a bit, I'll scream if I need anything.

BenH · 25-08-2003, 14:27

Use at least some swap space, the installer should assign an amount, then tamper with it. Some programs seem to like swap space.

Personally, despite a gig of RAM on my main machine, I still have 256Megs set aside for swap.

Shaun · 25-08-2003, 20:46

Everything went well in the install, or at least I thought it had, everything worked, and the system rebooted, the boot-loader seemed to work, and it started going through a check list.

All fine, I'm really glad that was so easy!!

Only problem is: it came to 'checking module dependencies' and seemed to get stuck, I left it for 45 min, but it was still there. No HDD movement nothing.

I rebooted the comp and it all worked fine, but got stuck on mounting the file-system!

Well I thought I'd try formatting and installing again, fine all went well until it got to rebooting, started to d other check list, and came to 'checking module dependencies'. It was stuck again.

I'm a little confused now, it was going so well, the installation had found drivers for nearly everything except my printer I was well impressed but I cant seem to get past this.

Shaun · 25-08-2003, 22:09

Anyone?