Going Linux!

[Kalian]

Hey folks, I probably won't be posting for awhile here, I'm going to switch over to Linux. Something tells me I'll be spending quite some time getting it all figured out. It will be a dual boot system at first, but hopefully once I figure out how to get internet conectivity and a few other things, I'll go "all Linux all the time"<br /> See ya in a few, (or several!)

 

[KaGee]

Re: Going Linux!

Good luck... you're gonna need it!

 

[bootle]

Re: Going Linux!

Will you be wearing a redhat whilst surfing?

 

[JasonB]

Re: Going Linux!

Surfing is great (no viruses to really worry about...YET....<br /><br />Good software like OpenOffice is out there..<br /><br />I use it for some servers, but I tried it on the desktop and it drove me nuts. I didn't have time to dig through to find what I needed, but Linux is growing fast. Linspire Five-0 has my curiosity pricked, I have a cd of it, just haven't had time to play with it yet.

 

[Elmer Fudge]

Re: Going Linux!

Is Linux comparable to Microsoft's internet explorer?

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: Going Linux!

EF, it's seperate from IE, it has it's own browser. I have it on CD and can load it up when I want.

 

[Elmer Fudge]

Re: Going Linux!

Originally posted by SBN:<br /> EF, it's seperate from IE, it has it's own browser. I have it on CD and can load it up when I want.

As an operating system how good is linux?<br />The reason for my question is that i have heard that some countries are changing over to open source systems such as linux.

 

[Kalian]

Re: Going Linux!

Hey folks, I'm using the wifes computer to post for now, I think I'll be fiddling with linux for awhile before I get it right.<br />Thanks KaGee, and you're right. It's confusing at first, a totaly different language.<br />Hey Darth, actualy I'll need a red hat and a fedora! Maybe a red fedora?<br />JasonB, Linspire 5-0? I haven't heard of that. What's its claim to fame? I'm installing redhat fedora core4.<br />ElmerFudge, from what I hear Linux is much more stable than Windows. I don't know much about it really, I just wanted to try something different. But one good thing about it is it's much more configurable than windows. It does take some getting used to though, the jargon is not intuitive, at least for me. I'm having dificulty with a manual instalation. The partitioning is confusing. But I'll get all figured out eventually! I wasn't able to do too much today because I had to make a trip to the bay area to get something for my son. And of course, since I was in a hurry, I had to get a flat. While it was raining, of course.<br /> Oh well, there's always tomorow!

 

[joblo33]

Re: Going Linux!

You'll get used to it pretty quickly. I love linux and have run many distros before eventually sticking with SuSe (Made by Novell), which I've used for almost a year now. I've been using linux in one form or another for about four years. I have windows xp on one hard drive in my pc for running the latest games and a few things that don't run as well in WINE. The computer in my kitchen, which I'm on right now, is running windows too because the rest of my family refuses to make the change. Linux is hard to crash though, and any problem is usually caused by the user or hardware. Just be careful what you do logged in as root and you should be fine .<br />Good Luck,<br />Eric

 

[JasonB]

Re: Going Linux!

Linspire is aimed to be a Linux desktop for the masses. I think it's set for web browsing and regukar tasks. It is installed on a lot of the cheap pc's you see at wal-mart.<br /><br />SuSe is goo, but has a steeper learning curve to me. Fedora Core 4 is good. We use it for some servers, as well as RHEL4 (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4), but RHEL is a pay for product.<br /><br />I used to enjoy playing with Mandrake, now renamed to Mandrive. It was always said that they tried to "Out Red Hat Red Hat". They would take the Red Hat release and, in my opinion, make it a bit more end-user friendly. Their early version of HardDrake, theie plug-play engine, seemed much easier to use than others.<br /><br />If you want to play with Linux without losing your install of Windows, look up the Knoppix CD distro. It's an entire Operating System on a single bootable CD. It finds and sets up most common hardware and has lots oif goodies like Mozilla and OpenOffice already there.<br /><br />On the subject of WINE (lets you run *some* Windows programs under Linux), Eric, how is that these days? I haven't tried it in years.<br /><br />EF, Linux is strong, but isn't always as intuitive as Windows, but just to give you an idea, Mac OsX that is so prized by Mac users is based on the Linux kernel.

 

[SwampNut]

Re: Going Linux!

If you want to be productive immediately with a *Nix system, get a Mac. It's built on BSD Unix, but you don't have to use the command line if you don't want. When you do, you can.<br /><br />No viruses, no spyware. None.

 

[Kalian]

Re: Going Linux!

Well, I hit my first snag, and it's with windows xp, not linux! I posted it on the non boat technical forum if anyone is interested.

 

[aspeck]

Re: Going Linux!

Have a good friend (Missionary) in the eastern block countries of Europe and he loves Linux and OpenSource. Is trying to get me to convert our stuf in Ghana to it. I have played around a little with it, but am spending too much time on iboats to give it the time I need to check it out!

 

[coleman kayak1]

Re: Going Linux!

Good 2 see someone is making the change. My family refuses to do it, but I do it. Yes, I run Linspire 5-0. On other computers I run Suse, Redhat and FreeBSD, of those I would reccomend SuSe. Linspire is (as mentioned) designed to be a good alternative to windows. Yes, I too run wine just for a couple programs, its actually not that bad.

 

[Kalian]

Re: Going Linux!

I downloaded knoppix and repartitioned the ntfs partition from 76 gigs to 38 gigs. It was a breeze, no problems at all. I was really impressed with knoppix. It's amazing that you can get all that from an operating system thats on a cd. You don't even have to install anything. Knoppix is amazing. If you're into alternative operating systems or have been thinking about linux you gotta check out knoppix. Kudos to the poster who recomended it to me!! Just thought I'd post that, now I've got to get back to installing Linux.

 

[SwampNut]

Re: Going Linux!

The Knoppix CD is something that EVERYONE should get and keep on the shelf, if nothing more. It will let you recover when Windows blows up, without losing your data.<br /><br />And you can try your hand at a bit of Linux with a nice desktop simply by booting from the CD with no danger to your existing WIndows installation and data.

 

[technostingray]

Re: Going Linux!

Originally posted by KaGee:<br /> Good luck... you're gonna need it!

What in the blue blazes does luck have to do with it? In this environment if you are not going forward you are standing still. Maintaining status quo is going backward. In todays market, information is the most lucrative commodity and the quicker you can access it the better off you are. Trying to be too propietery was the downfall of IBM and it is becoming the shortcoming of Microslop. Keeping people dependent that is what it is all about. I don't know whether linux is the answer but it appears to create a more competitive atmosphere.

 

[Kalian]

Re: Going Linux!

I've got the Linux fedora core 4 partion in now. I like the knoppix desktop much better than the fedora 4 desktop. I think its KDE, not sure though. I can't get my sound card or wireless to work in fedora, so now the headache starts. But once I get it all figured out, I'll use linux for mostly everything, and windows for a few games and such. <br /><br />"Trying to be too propietery was the downfall of IBM and it is becoming the shortcoming of Microslop. Keeping people dependent that is what it is all about. I don't know whether linux is the answer but it appears to create a more competitive atmosphere. "<br /><br /> You're right Techno, it was also the downfall of packard bell and will probably be the downfall of compaq. Novell, which has been slipping, partnered up with linux(I think it was redhat) and at the very least that should force microsoft to improve their product somewhat. <br /><br /> At any rate, I'm now an official Linux head and hope to be 95% free of microsoft soon.

 

[chugger]

Re: Going Linux!

Welcome to Linux. I've been running it exclusively at home since 2001 and almost exclusively at work for the past 2 years. It's come a long way in 4 years and most of what you do in windows you can do in linux but it's still a microsoft world so you may find yourself dropping back to to MS every now and then. I keep win98 on a dual boot system for those situations. If you need help linuxquestions.org has a wealth of information. <br /><br />By the way, I was a die-hard Red Hat user until they dumped the home user market to focus on the commercial user. Fedora wasn't an option for me because I can't justify the cost of broadband. I tried Suse, Redhat, Mandrake, and finally settled on LFS with FVWM as the window manager. <br /><br />Good luck with the new OS. It's a whole new world with Linux.

 

[Kalian]

Re: Going Linux!

I finaly got my wireless working in Linux. I had to go through a lot to get it to work, but I'm typing this using the konqerer(sp) web browser from my linux partition. Windows will stay on the smaller partition for awhile until I know for sure the various programs I need to run will work with linux. It's different, gonna take some time for me to get used to it, but so far I love it!