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Linux noob needs a suggestion...

post #1 of 9
1/29/04 at 5:34pm
Thread Starter 
I'm looking at installing a Linux distro on an older laptop just to experiment on. I'm looking at Slackware, Debian, or RedHat, all of which I can download. Anyone have a suggestion/preference to one of these three, or should I go with a version on a CD, like Gentoo or SuSe?
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post #2 of 9
1/30/04 at 1:39am
Well, depends on what you want to "experiment" with, I'd say the easiest and quickest install would be a knoppix knx-hdinstall. That doesn't give you the kernel sources or gcc or anything like that, so you can't really compile your own programs... However, it allows you to fiddle with the user-interface, and if you're patient, you can issue an apt-get command afterwards and wait for debian to install gcc for you... (which can take forever). If you want all the features, I guess any one of the graphical installs- mandrake, redhat, suse, would work pretty well.
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post #3 of 9
1/30/04 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmsnipe
I'm looking at installing a Linux distro on an older laptop just to experiment on. I'm looking at Slackware, Debian, or RedHat, all of which I can download. Anyone have a suggestion/preference to one of these three, or should I go with a version on a CD, like Gentoo or SuSe?
I want to clear something up for you, JMSnipe: all downloaded distros are burnt onto a CD, so all distros are 'on a CD'. Regarding the distro selection, though, since its an old machine, you would probably be off with something like Redhat or Mandrake since they will not require you to compile anything (unless you want to) and will have GUI, etc - since you're starting out, GUI would probably be nice for you so that you dont get really confused at first. Meanwhile, if you have time, a decent machine (unless you want to spend days compiling), and want to learn, I strongly recommend trying out Gentoo - you wouldnt believe how much I learned in two weeks by just installing the distro.

Good luck.

Mikhail

P.S. Amen to your not having to take English anymore comment in your sig.
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post #4 of 9
1/30/04 at 6:20pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I knew that all distro's have to be installed from a CD, I was just referring to the fact that I could dl certain distro's easily. Guess I should have been more clear. I think I'm going to start out with RH, then try Debian, and then Gentoo, just to see which one I like better. Thanks everyone, and I'll let you know how it goes, once I fix my old TI laptop.
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post #5 of 9
2/4/04 at 1:30pm
Good choice -- RH is easiest for noobs, because the amount of info/help out on the web is probably greatest for RH right now.

Also, it seems that whenever a real hw manufacturer dabbles in Linux (Dell, IBM) they always put their toe in the pool at the Red Hat end, and this helps a lot, too.

In time, though, you'll see the light, and end up with Gentoo.
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post #6 of 9
2/4/04 at 2:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vicG
In time, though, you'll see the light, and end up with Gentoo.
Indeed
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post #7 of 9
2/4/04 at 2:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmarkin
all downloaded distros are burnt onto a CD, so all distros are 'on a CD'.
Not entirely true. Suse is not available as a complete ISO download. They do offer a 22mb ISO that enables an ftp based install (or NFS if you already have the packages...) But to actually get the entire suse distribution on CD you have to go buy it.

my $0.02
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post #8 of 9
2/4/04 at 3:02pm
I dual booted SuSE 9 and Win XP Pro a few weeks ago on my Sager laptop... the darn thing runs awesome. I couldnt be happier. Had to do some tweaking, but its great.
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post #9 of 9
2/4/04 at 5:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vvalerio
Not entirely true. Suse is not available as a complete ISO download. They do offer a 22mb ISO that enables an ftp based install (or NFS if you already have the packages...) But to actually get the entire suse distribution on CD you have to go buy it.

my $0.02
LOL, I meant that most distros end up on a CD one way or the other. Of course, there are things like floppy-install distros, but thats just masachism.

Mikhail

P.S. Good to hear of your success, Ballyhoo. Glad to hear you're enjoying Linux.
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