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Nittany
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Switching to Linux
« on: March 04, 2004, 08:50:23 PM »
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I seriously plan on making the switch over when school ends in May. I'll be at home then and I can put all my important stuff on another computer. I found a very interesting thing while I was on tomshardware.com today.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20040303/index.html
It seems like a good idea that will allow me to test the waters while still using windows until I can lose all my files over the summer. What do you guys think?
Edit: Typos
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| « Last Edit: March 04, 2004, 11:56:32 PM by Nittany » |
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2004, 09:42:42 PM »
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LiveCDs are perfect for exactly this kind of thing. Sounds like a great start Nit. 
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[Wumpa] Porter
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Nittany
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #2 on: March 05, 2004, 12:00:08 AM »
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Thanks Porter. I just don't feel right supporting Microsoft by using windows. No, I didn't pay for it, but I feel like it would be best for me to leave windows all together, so that i'm free from depedency on it in the future.
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Guardian_Tenshi
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #3 on: March 05, 2004, 12:34:56 AM »
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Yeah, slight and I are just now putting a few finishing touches on one of my older machines, and after we finish this one I'm going to start with either my 1GHz desktop or redo my laptop from BSD to Slackware. We'll see, some of it depends on what Porter and I can accomplish over spring break and summer. Of course, eventually, I need to pull cat-5 cable up to my room this summer too... The fun never ends for Tenshi Computers Inc.
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slightcrazed
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #4 on: March 05, 2004, 09:29:13 AM »
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Good for you Nittany.... Linux is certainly not for everybody, but I like to see people give it a try and see if they like it. Freedom from being locked into Microsoft is certainly a benefit, but Linux (and open source in general) has much more to offer than just that. Knoppix is a good place to start, as it will at least give you an introduction to Linux, but after you are familiar with the basics I would steer you towards an established distro like Slackware or Gentoo or Debian so that you can do an install and start playing around with applications that may not have been in Knoppix.
Let me know if I can help. I have walked Tenshi through quite a bit, and I think it's gone pretty well. 
slight
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Nittany
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2004, 09:41:52 AM »
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Thanks for the support guys. I'd certainly put a more established distribution on, but for now I think I'll be able to learn somethings.
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Terraji
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2004, 10:14:24 AM »
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I tried installing Debian on my K6-2 450, but I am having HUGE problems trying to get it to work with my TNT 2 video card. and from talking to the computer lab tech at the University, he told me that the Debian nvidia drivers are quite bad and they have caused him problems in the past. Anyone know of a nvidia friendly distribution that they would reccomend?
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slightcrazed
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2004, 10:37:11 AM »
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Ummm.....Terraji, NVidia MAKES Linux drivers that should work with any distribution. The old Hacked Nvidia drivers (by hacked I mean user made) suck, but the ones off of Nvidia's site work awesome right out of the box.
http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux.html
slight
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Terraji
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2004, 10:47:11 AM »
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Great. thanks! I never liked that lab tech anyway. You'll have to forgive me, I am still very new at this.
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Nittany
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #9 on: April 02, 2004, 11:52:00 AM »
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http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/20040329/index.html
Another article on switching to linux. This one is helpful for making sure you have everything set before you make the switch. Funny that they distros you recommended slight they said are better off for more advanced users. They said mandrake and Fedora to start off with.
I have questions though i'm sure some of you can answer. What p2p programs are out for linux? Is open office truly compatible with microsoft office; I mean completely free of errors? Is gaim the used aim program for linux? What programs do you use to play movies/mp3s, are they built into the os?
I want to transfer my important files off my comp onto one at my house then move them back onto my comp once linux is installed. Will this work out fine or will there be problems?
Sorry, if the questions are dumb and if there is a website that answers these questions feel free to just post the link.
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #10 on: April 02, 2004, 12:26:02 PM »
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| What p2p programs are out for linux? Is gaim the used aim program for linux? |
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Gonna let Slight handle the others, but here's 2 answers:
BitTorrent at least works fine. There's a command line client and a graphical interface. http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/
As a general rule of thumb though, if anybody's ever done it, there's a program on linux to do it/interface with it/play it/join it/control it.
gaim is fine, but if I'm not mistaken, AOL has an official AIM client for linux as well: http://www.aim.com/get_aim/linux/latest_linux.adp
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[Wumpa] Porter
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Terraji
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #11 on: April 02, 2004, 12:45:55 PM »
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My experieces with openoffice is that it works 100% for the normal document/spreadsheet stuff. It starts to break down when you try to open a .doc file with a bunch of embedded tables, charts, pictures, and weird formatting. For normal basic stuff in microsoft formats, it works great though.
Powerpoint compatiblity is quite good and has always worked for me, but I have seen people try to give a presentation with a corrupted .ppt file from it. I heard the most recent version is better for .ppt compatiblity.
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Surgeon General
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #12 on: April 03, 2004, 12:49:27 PM »
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Since I lost my MS Office Cd, I installed Open Office (win) on my laptop. It worked fine though I had to ghetto rig my page numbers on my research paper, because I didn't have time to figure it out. The help was no help either.
As for compatibility I didn't have any problems when I moved it to my desktop and opened my document in word.
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| « Last Edit: April 03, 2004, 12:50:07 PM by Surgeon General » |
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slightcrazed
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #13 on: April 03, 2004, 12:52:14 PM »
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http://www4.tomshardware.com/howto/20040329/index.html
Another article on switching to linux. This one is helpful for making sure you have everything set before you make the switch. Funny that they distros you recommended slight they said are better off for more advanced users. They said mandrake and Fedora to start off with.
I have questions though i'm sure some of you can answer. What p2p programs are out for linux? Is open office truly compatible with microsoft office; I mean completely free of errors? Is gaim the used aim program for linux? What programs do you use to play movies/mp3s, are they built into the os?
I want to transfer my important files off my comp onto one at my house then move them back onto my comp once linux is installed. Will this work out fine or will there be problems?
Sorry, if the questions are dumb and if there is a website that answers these questions feel free to just post the link.
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E-mule/E-donkey/overnet all have linux clients, although I have not used them. I believe that Kazaa/kazaalite works on linux under Wine.
For MP3s and OGGs I use XMMS (X-multi-media-system) which is basically the linux version of Winamp. XMMS comes with most distros. For movies you have your pick. Realplayer has a linux version, but personally I use Xine (pronounced zine), which also comes with most distros. Xine will play just about everything under the sun, including all M$ proprietary video formats. It will also play MP3s, although I prefer XMMS for this. There is also Mplayer, which is as good as Xine, but I have never really played around with it. It's user preference in the end.
As for distros, MAndrake and Fedora (red-hat) are good distros, but for me they try to be too, errr.... flashy. That's not the right word..... they cover up too much of the underlying OS with GUIs and wizards and such, and I think that takes away from them. I prefer a more clean distro like slackware, and I think it HELPS to start off with slack or Gentoo, rather than Fedora. Fedora is like linux with training wheels. Eventually, you're going to want to take those training wheels off. At least that's my opinion. Tenshi has been through a couple Slackware installs now, and he might be able to tell you if it seemed to advanced or if he liked it.
As for moving files to/from linux, this should be easy. If they are all on the same network then you can move them around using SaMBa, or FTP. SaMBa is the linux implementation of SMB (server message block) which is how microsoft does network file sharing. SaMBa is pretty easy to use, but I prefer good ole FTP, simply because it is faster in most circumstances. SMB includes a whole bunch of handshakes and bloat that help to slow down file transfer speeds pretty good.
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #14 on: April 05, 2004, 10:43:51 AM »
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Ironically, I just read an article or a quote somewhere claiming (default) Samba was 2.5 times faster than a default install of Windows 2003 server. Ah of course, the samba homepage (half-way down the page): http://us1.samba.org/samba/samba.html
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[Wumpa] Porter
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Nittany
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #15 on: April 05, 2004, 12:11:16 PM »
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I remember when azus put linux of his his 233 mhz pentium and it ran 10x faster on nix then it did on w98. I was really impressed.
Funny thing was he did it all so he could cheat in everquest. Since he used a hub the nix computer just picked up all the same info that was being sent to his comp and mapped out all the items and creeps through the map. NTM, he could chat on gaim with everyone while playing.
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Nittany
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #16 on: April 08, 2004, 10:32:33 PM »
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Hey, I'm posting while running linux right now.
Just on a live cd of kop, but I finally decided to burn the iso and give it a try. It is extremly easy to use. It is running very fast too even just off the cd. Really cool stuff. I can't to put a full install on, but still undecided on which distro to use.
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biggums
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #17 on: April 09, 2004, 03:19:59 PM »
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yeah i'm gona have to play with it a lil bit down at your room to see if i like it.
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slightcrazed
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Re:Switching to Linux
« Reply #18 on: April 09, 2004, 08:55:21 PM »
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Hey, I'm posting while running linux right now.
Just on a live cd of kop, but I finally decided to burn the iso and give it a try. It is extremly easy to use. It is running very fast too even just off the cd. Really cool stuff. I can't to put a full install on, but still undecided on which distro to use.
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Keep in mind too that Knoppix uses KDE as their default desktop environment. This is where it gets good....not only do you have Different distro's to use, BUT you also have multiple desktop environment's/Window managers to pick from. KDE and GNOME are the 2 biggest desktop environments, but there are also about a dozen window managers as well. A window manager tends to be much lighter weight. It doesn't bog you down with eye candy (although they can look pretty damn good on their own) as much as provide you with a method to display and controls your applications in multiple windows. Gnome and KDE go out of their way to provide you with a uniform desktop appearance by more tightly controlling the applications that come with them. They also provide much more in the way of menu's, wizards, and GUI's for controlling your system. It's personal choice really, although if you're running on out of date hardware (like Tenshi's latest expiriment on a 133mhz laptop) then I highly reccomend a window manager like fluxbox or window maker over Gnome or KDE. If you have the hardware, go for the big boys. They'll seem more familiar if you're coming over from Windoze.
Check out themes.freshmeat.net for themes for most of the popular desktops. It will give you some idea of what each one looks like. Just bear in mind that there are many different (and oftern better) ways of displaying a desktop than by just throwing a 'START' button in the corner. Each window manager does thing a bit differently, and some of them are down right brilliant.
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