Linux Newbie - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

the_marq · 02-18-2004, 05:25 PM

Alright, time for me to come clean and admit something that I should have faced up to a long time ago.

I don't know sweet FA about Linux. I'm going to ramble on a bit here so feel free to skip to the end of this post where the **'s are for my point.

Sure I took a basic UNIX course in college when I got my network admin course, I even learned a fair bit about Novell. That was about 5 years ago and now I don't know a damned thing. Everyone tells me that Linux has changed since the days I had to learn a wack of esoteric commands just to open a text editor, and I'm ready to get back into it.

Currently I have an XP PC as my main computer, I'm running an Athlon XP 2400+ with 500MB of RAM, I have a GeForce 4200ti, Creative DVDROM, LG CDR, dual-monitors bla bla bla. I built it myself, I do have a wee bit of skill but it's all Windows-centric. Now don't get me wrong, I have no intention of dumping my Windows Box, I play tons of games on it, I work on it, even my girlfriend uses it to look up recipies. Hell, I'll even come right out and say it: I like windows but I need to broaden my horizons.

I have an old PIII 800 with 64MB RAM that I just dug outta my closet it's up and running right now with no O/S. I just need to know where to start.

******So here's the point.

Where do I start? It's my understanding I can download Linux Redhat...Mandrake...whatever, for free. What do you suggest? In the end I want to use the PIII as my firewall, can I get this for free? What would you suggest?

Sure I could have gone to Google and poked around there for a few days, but hey, this is a community right? Guide me my brothers and sisters, show me the opensource light.

And please, let's not make this into an M$/UNIX flame war.

Thanks in advance.

sailor · 02-18-2004, 05:49 PM

Sure, you can get those for free, and they are even pretty easy to setup.

I would choose between the two distributions you just named--Mandrake or RedHat, which is now called Fedora. Both are very good systems, easy to run, and very easy to install. Personally I would choose Fedora, but it is a completely personal choice. Just go download and burn the ISOs for one of them, and go for it.

VF19 · 02-18-2004, 07:11 PM

I would get Redhat, but make sure to put some more RAM in your old box or it will run very slow. Even opening an open office program took me a few minutes on my Duron 1.4 GHz 128MB DDR onboard video setup.
Now I have a XP Barton 2500 with 256MB DDR and a Geforce3 Ti200 and it opens in a blink of an eye- I dont know what did it but Im betting it was the extra RAM.

It's ok I like windows too, but sometimes you wonder what lies in the land of *nix.

Latch · 02-19-2004, 02:43 AM

There are a ton of "new to Linux, what distro to use?" threads on here. Search for "Linux distro" or something like that in this forum

sailor · 02-19-2004, 05:57 AM

Oh yeah, and the RAM... 64mb would be enough to run a firewall/router/small server, but its gonna chug when you try to use it as a desktop machine. Id throw another 128 or so in.

Fallon · 02-19-2004, 07:12 AM

now, how serious of a firewall do you want to make it, and how often do you want to use it. Also, if you wanna try linux on your good computer, you can dl a Live Linux version and play with it that way which is really nice.
There are a few threads about Knoppix.
If you just want to use the other computer as a plain firewall, look at Smoothwall Linux or Clarke Connect.
Both of those other a good firewall, and a few other nifty tools.

digby · 02-19-2004, 11:35 AM

For learning, Fedora and Mandrake (both mentioned above) should be excellent. I'm learning on Mandrake, myself and am rather enjoying it. I've heard many good things about SuSE as well, but the install didn't like my NIC, so I opted for Mandrake.

The Mandrake install was about as painless as possible (with the exception of the one lockup while trying to format my harddrive). Didn't take nearly as long as a Windows install either. I suspect that for those of us learning any of these would be about equal. One thing, if given the option, pick Gnome over KDE.

Oh, and stay far, far away from Gentoo for now.

kwoodmex · 02-19-2004, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by digby
I've heard many good things about SuSE as well, but the install didn't like my NIC, so I opted for Mandrake.

I've heard nothing but good about SuSE from about 8 people I know, I have Mandrake on my machine, but I've been thinking about looking into SuSE.

the_marq · 02-20-2004, 06:32 AM

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm downloading the .iso files for Redhat 9 right now.

Latch · 02-20-2004, 02:40 PM

Woaah.. if you decided to go Redhat, get Fedora Core 1... which could be called Redhat 10, a later version with a lot of updated stuff.

Redhat 9 is getting old.

Krycheck · 02-21-2004, 10:53 PM

This thread reminded me that I needed to install Fedora today!!

It can't get any easier really. Only complaint for me is that it didn't mount my Fat partitions

digby · 02-23-2004, 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Krycheck
This thread reminded me that I needed to install Fedora today!!

It can't get any easier really. Only complaint for me is that it didn't mount my Fat partitions

Will they mount with the mnt command? Mandrake automounted both of my Windows partitions (1 FAT32 & 1 NTFS).

bacon_masta · 02-23-2004, 05:54 PM

what kernel version is fedora based on? i'm on mandrake 9.2 right now, but i want to go to the 2.6 kernel, and i don't know enough about source compilation to just straightup update my kernel.

*edit* linuxiso.org is the place to go for almost any flavour of linux, btw, and has descriptions of each so you can choose what's right for you

Latch · 02-24-2004, 03:00 AM

Fedora Core 1 is based on the 2.4 kernel.

Read here for info about a distro that uses the 2.6 kernel in it's prod release.

02-18-2004, 05:25 PM	#1 (permalink)
the_marq All hail the Mountain King Location: Black Mesa	Linux Newbie Alright, time for me to come clean and admit something that I should have faced up to a long time ago. I don't know sweet FA about Linux. I'm going to ramble on a bit here so feel free to skip to the end of this post where the 's are for my point. Sure I took a basic UNIX course in college when I got my network admin course, I even learned a fair bit about Novell. That was about 5 years ago and now I don't know a damned thing. Everyone tells me that Linux has changed since the days I had to learn a wack of esoteric commands just to open a text editor, and I'm ready to get back into it. Currently I have an XP PC as my main computer, I'm running an Athlon XP 2400+ with 500MB of RAM, I have a GeForce 4200ti, Creative DVDROM, LG CDR, dual-monitors bla bla bla. I built it myself, I do have a wee bit of skill but it's all Windows-centric. Now don't get me wrong, I have no intention of dumping my Windows Box, I play tons of games on it, I work on it, even my girlfriend uses it to look up recipies. Hell, I'll even come right out and say it: I like windows but I need to broaden my horizons. I have an old PIII 800 with 64MB RAM that I just dug outta my closet it's up and running right now with no O/S. I just need to know where to start. ***So here's the point. Where do I start? It's my understanding I can download Linux Redhat...Mandrake...whatever, for free. What do you suggest? In the end I want to use the PIII as my firewall, can I get this for free? What would you suggest? Sure I could have gone to Google and poked around there for a few days, but hey, this is a community right? Guide me my brothers and sisters, show me the opensource light. And please, let's not make this into an M$/UNIX flame war. Thanks in advance. __________________ The Truth: Johnny Cash could have kicked Bruce Lee's ass if he wanted to.* #3 in a series

02-18-2004, 05:49 PM	#2 (permalink)
sailor beauty in the breakdown Location: Chapel Hill, NC	Sure, you can get those for free, and they are even pretty easy to setup. I would choose between the two distributions you just named--Mandrake or RedHat, which is now called Fedora. Both are very good systems, easy to run, and very easy to install. Personally I would choose Fedora, but it is a completely personal choice. Just go download and burn the ISOs for one of them, and go for it. __________________ "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." --Plato

02-19-2004, 05:57 AM	#5 (permalink)
sailor beauty in the breakdown Location: Chapel Hill, NC	Oh yeah, and the RAM... 64mb would be enough to run a firewall/router/small server, but its gonna chug when you try to use it as a desktop machine. Id throw another 128 or so in. __________________ "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." --Plato

02-19-2004, 11:35 AM	#7 (permalink)
digby Crazy Location: Ahh, the lovely South	For learning, Fedora and Mandrake (both mentioned above) should be excellent. I'm learning on Mandrake, myself and am rather enjoying it. I've heard many good things about SuSE as well, but the install didn't like my NIC, so I opted for Mandrake. The Mandrake install was about as painless as possible (with the exception of the one lockup while trying to format my harddrive). Didn't take nearly as long as a Windows install either. I suspect that for those of us learning any of these would be about equal. One thing, if given the option, pick Gnome over KDE. Oh, and stay far, far away from Gentoo for now. __________________ mmmm.... pudding

02-20-2004, 06:32 AM	#9 (permalink)
the_marq All hail the Mountain King Location: Black Mesa	Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm downloading the .iso files for Redhat 9 right now. __________________ The Truth: Johnny Cash could have kicked Bruce Lee's ass if he wanted to. #3 in a series

02-18-2004, 07:11 PM	#3 (permalink)
VF19 Banned Location: back to my old location	I would get Redhat, but make sure to put some more RAM in your old box or it will run very slow. Even opening an open office program took me a few minutes on my Duron 1.4 GHz 128MB DDR onboard video setup. Now I have a XP Barton 2500 with 256MB DDR and a Geforce3 Ti200 and it opens in a blink of an eye- I dont know what did it but Im betting it was the extra RAM. It's ok I like windows too, but sometimes you wonder what lies in the land of *nix.

02-19-2004, 02:43 AM	#4 (permalink)
Latch In Your Dreams Location: City of Lights	There are a ton of "new to Linux, what distro to use?" threads on here. Search for "Linux distro" or something like that in this forum

02-19-2004, 07:12 AM	#6 (permalink)
Fallon Junkie Location: RI	now, how serious of a firewall do you want to make it, and how often do you want to use it. Also, if you wanna try linux on your good computer, you can dl a Live Linux version and play with it that way which is really nice. There are a few threads about Knoppix. If you just want to use the other computer as a plain firewall, look at Smoothwall Linux or Clarke Connect. Both of those other a good firewall, and a few other nifty tools.

02-20-2004, 02:40 PM	#10 (permalink)
Latch In Your Dreams Location: City of Lights	Woaah.. if you decided to go Redhat, get Fedora Core 1... which could be called Redhat 10, a later version with a lot of updated stuff. Redhat 9 is getting old. Last edited by Latch; 02-20-2004 at 02:45 PM..

02-21-2004, 10:53 PM	#11 (permalink)
Krycheck Sultana ruined my evil persona Location: Los Angeles	This thread reminded me that I needed to install Fedora today!! It can't get any easier really. Only complaint for me is that it didn't mount my Fat partitions __________________ His pants are tight...but his morals are loose!!

02-23-2004, 05:54 PM	#13 (permalink)
bacon_masta Psycho Location: i live in the state of denial	what kernel version is fedora based on? i'm on mandrake 9.2 right now, but i want to go to the 2.6 kernel, and i don't know enough about source compilation to just straightup update my kernel. edit linuxiso.org is the place to go for almost any flavour of linux, btw, and has descriptions of each so you can choose what's right for you

02-24-2004, 03:00 AM	#14 (permalink)
Latch In Your Dreams Location: City of Lights	Fedora Core 1 is based on the 2.4 kernel. Read here for info about a distro that uses the 2.6 kernel in it's prod release.