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Learning Linux advice, etc.

post #1 of 67
10/10/03 at 7:53pm
Thread Starter 
Well, I finally decided to take the "plunge" into linux, so, after about an hour with my "Running Linux" O'reilly book, I dropped in my copy of mandrake 9 and away I went.

Or, away it went. All the things I thought I would have to learn how to do to get the thing to run were done by Mandrake.

I did a little extra research and ordered Gentoo for p4s and uncompiled KDE from Edmunds, so I will have that in about two weeks, which is when my Real adventure will begin.

So my question is: "In refrence to drivers, applications and commands, is there anything that I really need to download or learn how to do using the mandrake as a trainer, so that it will be physically possible to install Gentoo and have my 5680 be fully functional?"

Thanks alot for your help, and any advice anyone has.

Randy


--Ice, did you ever get your touchpad to work?
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post #2 of 67
10/10/03 at 8:02pm
Peace Brotha!!!

Im in the same boat...not really worrying about the compiling etc. just yet - just getting things as close to windows as possible in terms as functionality and getting them as far away from windows as possible in terms of crap and price

I have DVD, MP3, Yahoo, Internet and a few 3D Games apart from the bucketloads of games that come with RH9.0.

Some people may scoff but the games in RH9.0 are fun and they keep me occupied...

Im busy working with the terminal in RH9 (Shell UNIX whatever you wanna call it) and learning some simple commands etc.


Building up slow and steady...
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post #3 of 67
10/10/03 at 8:06pm
BTW why'd ya buy your software??? You can download the iso's right off the net...

check this out - http://www.linuxiso.org/index.php

save the iso's to HDD then burn them onto CD and wallah!

this is what im doing right now actually...have RH9, Mandrake 9.1, Gentoo, Debian and im dloding slackware, knoppix and Suse...

After that I will reformat and install all of them with 10GB each

I wanna use all of them for a short while and then decide which one I like best. I think I will limit myself to RH9, Mandrake, Gentoo, suse....Debian and Slackware are supposed to be a little less friendly to n00bs like me
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post #4 of 67
10/10/03 at 9:02pm
If you really want to learn linux, try Slackware, pretty good, very customizable.

slackware.org
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post #5 of 67
10/10/03 at 10:17pm
If you're psyco go for LFS. Now that will teach you more than you wanted to know about linux.
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post #6 of 67
10/11/03 at 3:45pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the advice, I am trying to install xmms right now, proving to be interesting.

GS I ordered the CDs at a dollar cd place because my internet connection is very slow out here. we have 512K and about 300+ users on our network.

People argue about cable/dsl, but its all about the promina baby!

randy
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post #7 of 67
10/11/03 at 11:21pm

just an advice...

umm, the best advice i can give, get some BOOKS and read LOTS.
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post #8 of 67
10/13/03 at 12:35am

more advice

You'll hit brick walls quite a few time. Don't dispair, there is a huge amount of info in the newsgroup achives, google, mailing list archives and of course, irc. Don't be put off by rude l337 d00dz, they're everywhere.

If you want to learn about the OS, try to drift away from gui config wizzards.They're different across the distros, and other than getting you up and running quickly, you don't learn anything. Knowing the commands and how to hunt down the config files means you can cope pretty well however the distros do it. You can also remotely admin other machines with ease. I do it for my clients and family around the world, and it's great!

Don't be afraid to test the various distros. Personally, I find the likes of RH awful, but others love it. I favor Debian because it's quite resistant to the version x,y & z upgrade cycle every 6 months (which never seem to work properly with RH, Mandrake, SuSE, with my experiences. But they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.

distrowatch.com has about 10 billion distros listed these days. It's a good place to see just what is available.

Morphix is my latest recommended distro. Knoppix is a good start too. Each of these will allow you to migrate to Debian with ease.

Most of all, when you're stuck and feel like throwing in the towel, have a beer. You'll get there in the end, and hopfully have fun along the way!
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post #9 of 67
10/13/03 at 12:43am

Re: just an advice...

Quote:
Originally posted by laclasse
umm, the best advice i can give, get some BOOKS and read LOTS.
Not very helpful

Can you suggest some books to start with??
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post #10 of 67
10/13/03 at 1:32am

Re: just an advice...

Quote:
Originally posted by laclasse
umm, the best advice i can give, get some BOOKS and read LOTS.
Books = theory

Who wants to know every possible syntax command for CD?

I sure don't.

Installing linux will get you *much* further than reading a book IMO.
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post #11 of 67
10/13/03 at 2:21am

gs

hey dude, if you want to run more than one distro, use vmware. Its a really cool proggie and learning tool. I use it all the time..
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post #12 of 67
10/13/03 at 2:27am
My recommendation for Linux newbies is to start with a user-friendly, gui-based distro (e.g. Redhat, Mandrake, etc.), and get a decent Linux book. Start with just using the gui, but push yourself to learn the CLI commands via books, man pages, and web searching.
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post #13 of 67
10/13/03 at 3:50am

Re: gs

Quote:
Originally posted by Icefluxx
hey dude, if you want to run more than one distro, use vmware. Its a really cool proggie and learning tool. I use it all the time..


I have almost everything...Debian, Gentoo, Slackware, Mandrake, RedHat, Suse, Knoppix and a Vanilla kernel...

I am collecting documentation in the pdf format and sort of compiling my own book. I am setting aside a lot of time for Linux...Want to learn to use at least "Something" properly, thoroughly and completely...

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post #14 of 67
10/13/03 at 2:40pm
Thread Starter 
fun fun fun...

I agree that lots can be learned by doing. Now that I am past my compiler issue, I am having great success. Also I am finding "running Linux" to be more and more useful. I have caught up to the "undersatand the book" level. Little things like pushing I in vi to edit and so forth.

I am doing everything in the CLI now, except removing the mandrake rpms and searching for files on the hd.

It is really nice to have support here though, thanks guys, and thanks again in advance for when I need help with my next project: 2.4.22.
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post #15 of 67
10/13/03 at 3:13pm
I have the 2.4.22 kernel...and the acpi patch...

what other patches will I need with this kernel ??

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post #16 of 67
10/13/03 at 3:46pm

now gs

get vmware...try it dude..trust me, youll like it
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post #17 of 67
10/13/03 at 4:38pm

Re: now gs

Quote:
Originally posted by Icefluxx
get vmware...try it dude..trust me, youll like it
Umm, how about no. Give me a reason to want to try it.
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post #18 of 67
10/13/03 at 5:12pm
Dont start thinking that Mandrake is not a "real linux" just because it is good at setting up your machine without your help. It is in everyway as complete a linux and just as good for learning on as any distribution (in fact probably better since there is always the gui to fall back on when you screw up). I have been using Linux since the .9x days and have tried em all. Slackware,SuSE, Caldera,Redhat, gentoo. Nowdays I just do a basic install of mandrake and then customize what I need to - why should I waste my time setting up stuff the hard way? (For example: If I want to change from static to dhcp IP I could always go into /etc and edit the sysconfig stuff and restart but I have a 2 click gui that does all that for me) For me time is something I dont have the luxury of pissing away just so I can feel superior to someone who uses a gui. (Dont get me wrong they can have my CLI when they break it from my cold dead fingers).

Dont ket the Linux snobbery get to you. Use the distribution that is easiest and most productive for you. As you get more comfortable you will increase what you do manually and your learning will increase.

As to vmware - its a ncie enough product but without 3d support its more of a novelty. - pretty much anything I can run in it I can run with WINE - and do it faster. It is good for testing SW under multiple setups without rebooting.
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post #19 of 67
10/13/03 at 5:33pm
amen Bratag. Ther should be no distro wars around here. We have many different people and many different oppinions. It's all linux, and what you learn on one flavor can almost always be tranferred to another flavor. I started on RH back in the early 5 series. Then hacked it up so bad it was my own flavor of redhat. Then went the LFS route. After that pain I went with Gentoo lots of customozation(sp) but not as apinful as LFS. I have also done some time as a Unix admin. So I love the command line, but productivity is the name of the game. Gui rocks and CLI rocks as well. I suppose what I'm trying to say is, Learn all you can period. Be ti windows or Linux or whatever. Have fun and run what suits you best.
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post #20 of 67
10/13/03 at 5:58pm

Umm, how about no. Give me a reason to want to try it.

what? and you are? sorry, no one was talking to you dude. This was a response for GSFERRARI.
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