Using Linux?

[Joe Ross]

I've used Knoppix a little, and a few more specialized CD / floppy distros.

I've also used Caldera (2.3), a few versions of Mandrake (6-8), Redhat (7.3 - 9), Suse (8.1) Gentoo, LFS, and Debian. Probably a few others that I've left out.

[Raven_Writer]

What would one recommend for a beginner?

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

What would one recommend for a beginner?

Mandrake is decent for a beginner, I've seen its slight more user friendly than others, but thats my view. If you need help installing feel free to IM me, I used to use dual boot a while ago, but uninstalled it because of disk space.
-Bharat

[Joe Ross]

I used Knoppix 3.2, I think.

For beginners, I like to make a couple of suggestions

Suse - just like German Engineered cars, Suse takes care of the small details very well. If I was recommending a distro for a business, this is it.

Fedora - Used to be Redhat, very nice, however they take the high rode when it comes to patent issues (which is good, except when you are trying to make the absolutely easiest use distro). They don't include MP3 or NTFS support, and a few other things. They can be easily added, though, by adding in third party packages.

Mandrake - Very up to date and includes everything Fedora/Redhat leaves out. However, in 3 or 4 version's I've tried, I've never gotten it to be as stable as linux should be (more on the level of windows).

If you were trying to learn linux very well, I'd suggest installing one of those and playing with them for a while, then installing Debian or Gentoo. I can help you with Debian, and Ian W. can help you with Gentoo. However, since you just want to get it running for you mom, I'd use one of the above three.

[Ryan M.]

I agree with the stabilty of Mandrake thing, but I'd say go with that at first.

Also, it has very nice NTFS support. So, if nothing else, get the first CD and use it to resize the XP partition(s).

And getoo is hard to install... good luck if you go for that.

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Texan

Also, it has very nice NTFS support. So, if nothing else, get the first CD and use it to resize the XP partition(s).

You can also resize NTFS partitions with qtparted, which is included with knoppix.

[Raven_Writer]

Really, Knoppix is only worth it if you partition your hd, and dual-boot it, in my opinion anways.

I'll probably figure something out during vacation, and do it when I return.

[Timothy D. Ginn]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

What would one recommend for a beginner?

I'd recommend SuSE. SuSE's YaST is a very nice update/software install tool and makes finding software easy. The SuSE installer is quite good at coexisting with Windows partitions, it can even resize NTFS partitions to give itself some space, and does so by default (rather than overwriting your other partitions). It's also probably one of the most straight forward systems to install, as it gives you enough to have a nicely working system that's suitable for use by most desktop users and then you can get the rest of the stuff later using YaST as you require it. The FTP installer may be a bit slow (SuSE has a fair number of mirrors overseas) but with enough persistence you will succeed.

There's a 9.0 Personal version that does an install over FTP. 9.1 uses a 2.6 kernel, but 9.0 doesn't uses a 2.4 one.

If you need any help, feel free to contact me (that includes post-setup).

[Astronouth7303]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

What would one recommend for a beginner?

Try CollegeLinux. It's based on Slackware, comes on 1 CD, and has a doc for Dual booting with WinXP. We just installed it on my brother's laptop, that went pretty good. (Know in advance, it's virtually impossible to change the resolution)

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by JakeGallagher

...so my Windows partition was almost lost.

I tried to install Gentoo (twice) a while back. I messed up the installation of the bootloader (with Gentoo, you install everything using a command line from a live CD) and then couldn't boot into Windows or Linux...

I had to do some fun work on my own getting it back up.

[Andrew]

I just got a new laptop with Windoze XP Pro pre-installed. I installed Mandrake 9.2 as a dual boot.

At the partitioning step, I chose the "use free space on windoze partition" option, selected the new size of the windoze partition, and let 'er rip. At the final step, where you can review your installed services, etc. I went into the boot-loader options and selected the windoze option as the primary boot option. You might have to hunt around to find this option. Otherwise the linux will boot first.

If you don't find this option and you boot into linux, you can edit the /etc/lilo.conf file and select another boot option. If you're not expert enough to know what I'm talking about here, you might want to cleanly install linux and fool around before going for the dual boot.

Inside linux there's a "dual boot howto" which explains all this better.

In any event, my Windoze XP and my Mandrake 9.2 linux are co-existing peacefully on the same machine now.

[Raven_Writer]

Thanks ya'll for your help.

One other question, I know *nix is free, but would it be smarter to buy a copy of redhat or some other sort instead?

[Ryan M.]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

Thanks ya'll for your help.

One other question, I know *nix is free, but would it be smarter to buy a copy of redhat or some other sort instead?

I've never had a "Pro" version of Redhat, but I'd say that unless you are using for, say, your business, I wouldn't bother. There is a strong community out there, and they are more than willing to help out if you run into problems. Heck, I'm willing to help...

[Raven_Writer]

Originally Posted by Texan

I've never had a "Pro" version of Redhat, but I'd say that unless you are using for, say, your business, I wouldn't bother. There is a strong community out there, and they are more than willing to help out if you run into problems. Heck, I'm willing to help...

Thanks

I know the community is pretty big ; that's 1 reason why I want Linux (amoung other reasons).

[Timothy D. Ginn]

Originally Posted by Raven_Writer

Thanks ya'll for your help.

One other question, I know *nix is free, but would it be smarter to buy a copy of redhat or some other sort instead?

As long as download times for an ISO aren't a problem (ie, you're on a fairly fast connection, or are willing to wait for a while) and support from a single place isn't a requirement, then you're best off downloading an ISO and putting it onto a CD (http://www.linuxiso.org is a good place to look for this).

If you don't have the connection speed (or the patience, or require support from a single place; the vendor) then a boxed software version is probably worth looking at.