With all the discussion that's been going around about Linux lately, I'm thinking that I want to try it out. Unfortunately I have no idea where to start.. What distro should I use? etc... Post here with downloads and explanations, and I will love you forever.

(me predicts GBK to be the first to respond to this thread)


[Oh yeah, and I've got two hard drives on my computer, so I'm thinking that I'll just install Linux on one, and leave Windows XP on the other (assuming that will work) then boot from whichever depending on what OS I want to use... At least until I can decide what works best for me.]
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Tia mi aven Moridin isainde vadin
http://www.writings-emag.net The next big thing since individually wrapped cheese slices (coming soon).

[This message has been edited by Sarn_Cadrill (edited February 04, 2004).]

Download Knoppix and run it from the CD for a while to make sure you like it. If you're on cable or dsl, most likely your internet will work automatically.

http://www.knoppix.net/

If you like it, you can hd-install it to your second hard drive in about 20 minutes (make sure it's blank first!).

Here's some info on dual-booting, although they make it more complicated than it needs to be (they want to use the windows boot loader instead of lilo).

http://www.knoppix.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4174

I just started using knoppix today, So far I like it, except I can't get my display to run any higher than 1280x1024@50hz :-/

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WARNING: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF PEANUT!!!
---@%

...Just read any of my recept replies regarding Linux. I dont feel like retyping it all.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

Check my thread, jsut recently. It's got loads of incredibly helpful replies.

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WOOSH.
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All you need to know is 'man man' and google.com

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Mystic0 Editing Resources (no longer Updated)
Mystic0 Forum (fast again!)
The Massassi Post Count Summary

I don't think I want to know what kind of sites that brings up.


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WARNING: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN TRACES OF PEANUT!!!
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I wonder... how nice is Knoppix if you install it? I'm in the process of finishing up my Gentoo installation... just need to emerge Gnome and I'm all set (down with KDE!!!)

I started with RedHat and Mandrake, they were both fairly easy. But definitely try Knoppix.

linuxiso.org is great for downloads, btw.

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BV's rendition of Titanic: Let's have sex. I won't let go. I don't need this stone.
The End.
~ Wolfy

[This message has been edited by BV (edited February 04, 2004).]

I cant believe you just said that.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

...nor can I.

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Napalm is nature's toothpaste.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

[Just a quick aside here. How does one take screencaps in Linux? Use the std. Print Screen?]

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<scribbly handwriting barely resembling name>

[This message has been edited by Gandalf1120 (edited February 04, 2004).]

Theres a few dozen ways... You can bind printscreen to the X screencap function with KDE, or use ksnapshot, or the Gimp, etc...

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

I recently installed Mandrake on my secondary hard drive. It hates my Modem Blaster (I bought the winmodem version while thinking I was buying a hardware modem from BB). I can't get online and don't have the money to buy a new modem, but that Tron game is addictive as hell. I'd install linux just to play that game.

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http://www.napalmdeathsquad.com

When you install knoppix, it's just like installing any other distro. You end up with the same thing. A graphical boot manager, a graphical login that lets you choose among various window managers, and a pretty desktop.

Of course, I gut all that crap so it starts with a text boot manager, a text login prompt, and then once I log in, I startx into my favorite window manager, IceWM.

ahh, I see... I thought Knoppix would only load from cd, so I was looking for another option... Didn't realize you could install it. But now that I know there's other options, I'll be sure to check it out.

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Tia mi aven Moridin isainde vadin
http://www.writings-emag.net The next big thing since individually wrapped cheese slices (coming soon).

GLTron? Its available on Windows too.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

I would try KDE if I hadn't compiled Gentoo with "-kde" in my USE variable.

Would I have to recompile anything to try KDE?

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BV's rendition of Titanic: Let's have sex. I won't let go. I don't need this stone.
The End.
~ Wolfy

Welcome to Gentoo.

I can't run half the games because they run like a slideshow. actually, all of linux is pretty slow. And Evolution freezes when I close it. And Gaim spams me with "could not add buddy (noname). And I haven't figured out how to get the flash plugin installed on firebird.

But i'm sure msot of this is my fault. I'm working to fix it.

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WOOSH.
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BV: No. A few of the programs you've already complied may have optional KDE-specific components missing, though.

Personally, I'd ditch both desktop enviroments and use a minimalist window manager, like Fluxbox.

That's just the commercial distributions. Most of them have only compiled for a generic x86 platform, so it doesn't use any of the special processor features that even Windows uses. Recompiling yourself would make things a lot faster.

BV: You can still emerge KDE with something like 'setenv USE="+KDE" emerge KDE". It's been a while since I've done the Linux dance though.

1) Whats the speed of your box?
2) Evolution sucks. Try KMail or Thunderbird
3) The flash installer is a shell script, you have to run it in a console as root.



Why on earth would you say something like that? Unless your running on a 386, ditching features will solve nothing. Fluxbox doesnt hold a candle to KDE.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

1) Slow. 600mhz.
2) Yeah, I'm using KMail now.
3) I did that, it tries to install it into either Mozilla or Netscape, but won't let me do Firebird.

(Never let it be said that linux-types aren't helpful)

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WOOSH.
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600mhz is too slow to run KDE, sadly.

..Are you running an official release of Firebird, or a nightly? Also, what sort of build, gtk or gtk2?

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

GBK: Because KDE offers nothing that Fluxbox doesn't provide, except bloat.

Wow. Thats just so . . . . ignorant. Have you even USED KDE??

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

Thought it was my computer.

It's a release. And I have no idea what you mean by gtk or gtk2.

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WOOSH.
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Speaking of KDE...

I'm currently running mandrake, and upon installation chose gnome to try it out. I hate it. is there any way to change it to KDE without re-installing?


Also, we've run into another problem due to choices at installation. Originally, we chose it to automatically log in one person, because I'm the only one really using it in my family. But we can't find a way to log in the other users, or root for that matter. Any help?


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Tell me not in mournful numbers, Life is but an empty dream, For the soul is dead that slumbers, and things are not as they seem. Life is real, Life is ernest, the grave is not it's goal; Dust thou art, Dust thou returnest, Was not spoken of the soul.
~William Shakespeare

KDE isn't the environment youre looking for.. You want to go home and rethink your wm..
You want to emerge enlightenment..

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[Blue Mink Bifocals !] [fsck -Rf /world/usr/] [<!-- kalimonster -->] [Capite Terram]
"You'll have to face it, the endings are the same however you slice it. Don't be deluded by any other endings, they're all fake, with malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality. The only authentic ending is the one provided here: John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die." -Happy Endings [Margeret Atwood]
NPC.Interact::PressButton($'Submit');

[This message has been edited by Dormouse (edited February 05, 2004).]

Let me help you get started with Linux!

First, find a hammer.

Next, hit your head with the hammer several times. That throbbing pain is similar to the pain you will feel in trying to get the drivers to work the way you want them to.

Next, grab a raw onion and peel it. The tears simulate the frustration you will feel from having an update completely mess up your driver issues, meaning you will need to go back and tweak them all all over again.

Next, grab your Linux CD, break it in half, and tape one end to your monitor - you are free to throw the other end away. The half-cd is to remind you of why you left linux in the first place, should the crying the the pain in your head eventually subside, and you forget why you left Linux.

Finally, grab your Windows XP disk, and begin the install, and realize that despite its quirks, Windows really isn't that bad.


There! You are now all set up for the Linux experience! Enjoy!

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*Joren, Legend, Alleged Egomaniac, Thread-Killer, 2-time Ban Recipient, and 6th Grade Spelling Champ*

Joren . . that . . that was just wrong, on soo many levels.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

GBK: I have used KDE, but have never found a use for it. Perhaps you'd like to expand on its many exclusive features.

Dormouse: That was awesome.

Sure, whynot.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

I agree that Widnows XP FAR from sucks, windows is not that bad. But similarly, I'm sur elinux isn't that bad once you figure out what you're doing.

I jsut learned a little bit about using a terminal to...like..DO stuff. And it made me feel smart.

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WOOSH.
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GBK: Um. Looking at What KDE Can Do For Me, I see nothing which isn't a) already being done for me with less memory and hard disk space consumed or b) something I don't want done. A taskbar, a clipboard, and a control panel just aren't worth it, but consist the whole of KDE's added functionality as far as I can tell. If I ever really need a KDE app, I can run it with a minimum of taint.

I use my computer to browse the internet, fileshare, write, code, render, and game. I've already found fast, elegant programs to do all of the above (well, except play games) and a slick windowmanager to tie it together. What else do I need?

[This message has been edited by Ictus (edited February 05, 2004).]

Meh, to each his own.


KDE is more than just a window manager - its a whole desktop environment. One I happen to enjoy using.

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

Tell me, GBK, if I learn to do everything I can through commands and the like, can i impress girls with my incredible technological know-how? I'd think typing something with all those slashes and letters would turn them on.

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WOOSH.
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No, sadly, members of the fairer sex do not find Linux to be the turn-on we all wish it was.

Infact, never introduce your girlfriends to Linux. Because, after you break up, they will be calling you for months and months...

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The future is here, and all bets are off.

If I had a quarter for every time one of my friends tried Linux, and complained about either the install, or the drivers, or an update that screwed up everything....

So yeah, I don't care much for Linux. Most people who I know of who use it talk like its a bad relationship, but they enjoy the grief. Its like each has their own war stories to share about what it took to get Linux working right on their machine, and other stories of how 2 months later, when they updated part of their software, how they had to repeat the whole darn process or at least some of it to get Linux working again.


I would like to see an alternative OS as much as the next person, but I not going to support software simply because it is an alternative. I get that impression from most - that they hate MS so much, they put with with Linux as if they are spiting MS.

As a gamer, I go with MS. If Linux ever was able to support the games I had in my collection, if installing portions of drivers or updates into my machine didn't occasionally cause glitches and crashes, and ran as simply as a windows install, if those things ever happened, I might consider going to Linux.

See, I am not a MS Hater, but not a MS lover either - as a tech, I am always about the highest bidder; who can give me the most of what I want, and do it best. For right now, that's MS. If Linux is ever able to compete for what I am interested in, then I likely will switch if its a painless one. But I won't install linux just to install it, or be a contrarian.

Its like back in the day of GeForce for vid cards - ATI had its fans, and they constantly extolled the virtues of the Radeon cards, but I stuck with nVidia up to the 4000 series, because they were better cards. ATI comes out with the 9800's, boom, I switch to that because its a better card. I even considered a Parhelia until the first tests showed up showing it was a bad card.

So I have no issues with Linux, other than, what can it really do for me (especially my game collection) that I can't do already, and with less work?

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*Joren, Legend, Alleged Egomaniac, Thread-Killer, 2-time Ban Recipient, and 6th Grade Spelling Champ*

Indeed ^^^ - which is why knoppix was cool for me - no messing, have a look and a play before i do anything about it!

I can finally have a proper play now most of my coursework is handed in!

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If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards.