Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

Hey guys,


I'm just trying to get as much information as I can about Linux before I order the burned cd of the OS ( linux ubuntu) to use for my PC. I was so enchanted by the nokia n810 tablet(disperatly waiting for it in the mail still) and even more so by the Maemo community backing it that I wanted to go further with the full experience. I heard such good things about the OS that I can say I'm anxious to try it out, and if its any thing like the tablets system with all the cool things that can be added to customize and make it your own then I know it will be one of the best kept secrets I stumbled onto. If there is any help at all you can give me as a person looking to make linux my main OS, please do, I really want to learn more and do more with my PC, I no longer want to be a person that is parlous to the world out side of windows/Mac...



Thanks,:)

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

My advice -- don't order any Ubuntu CD. Use Wubi to download & install it for free right w/i Windows. You may have missed my post in the other thread.

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

Another big shift when moving from Windows to Ubuntu: you don't generally get software by surfing the Web & downloading. You generally use the Add/Remove Software feature. There's a lot there, all free -- like you're in candyland.

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

Part of the beginner Linux explanation, I have these 2 questions, I read something on wikipedia but cannot get this straight:

1) If compared Debian, Fedora, Slackware, etc, what is the diffrence on the architecture (APIs / libraries / components)?
Can they be compatible at application level on the same processor architecture?

2) On what distrib is Android linux OS based? Debian, Fedora, Slackware, ...? Maemo being Debian.

Thanks

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

Thanks buurmas, I hope i dnt annoy you with any further questions...

like whats the difference in wubi and the ubuntu sites download as far as funtionalty, will i be able to only dual boot or do i have the choice, like the ubuntu site download. also i just downloaded the wubi and it had a menu for installation size, is that how much space it need to occupy...

the only thing holding me back from just making the transition now is that i have some things on my pc that i would like to transfer and not lose but other then that i would do it now, if there is any way to transfer data from vista to ubuntu please let me know (its just pic's & movies that are the most important thing really)

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

If you want to try mandriva (IMHO it's better than ubuntu, but then it's just my opinion) you can find some documentation for beginners here.
I suggest you download the kde4 version of Mandriva Linux One 2009 Spring, so you can try it before installing it.
If you don't want to burn a cd, you can use Mandriva Seed to create a bootable usb stick.
(The link is for the windows version, there's also a linux version, but it's easier to just dd the iso image to the usb stick).

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

not bad luca,


I went to the link and also to youtube to see it in action, it doesnt look to much different then ubuntu... in your opinion whats the main differences that make it better? i didnt know linux had so many OS's ... i really wouldnt mind either one, ubuntu or mandriva but i've seen more and heard more about ubuntu and i guess from what i've seen basically it seem like it would be a easy transition but again thats just based on what i've seen and from quite a few linux users too.

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

I have found the gentoo installation documents very nice and helpful when learning the innards of Linux... If you are not in a hurry of getting it running right away, installing gentoo linux following their install guide can be very educating experience.

www.gentoo.org

In the past (many years ago) when I started experiment with Linux the Gentoo was the only distro that I was able to boot my PC. (All others I tried just locked up or something... never got to a console.) Therefore I took the challenge and did install Gentoo from scratch. It started from the disk partitioning steps, compiling kernels, and downloading and compiling all the apps to use. While it really takes a lot more time than just extracting some precompiled packages on a CD, compiling on the fly you can use optimized CPU flags, include/omit packages you need or don't need, etc. The end result was a very nice and fast running linux machine that you actually knew what was there under the hood... It was nice feeling to be in control, just what the gentoo slogan says... :)

Maybe if you try first some of the "boring precofigured" distros and get bored with them, try gentoo next... ;)

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

Well, it's just that I've been using it for a long time, and when I briefly tried ubuntu it seemed less polished to me. Everybody is raving about "new" features of ubuntu, while mandriva had those long before it.
Anyway, today they're quite similar.

Well, you'll have to try for yourself and see which distribution you like most. It's not that you'll have to pay extra for every one you try ;)

Re: Linux for an OS, Beginners Guide...
 

No problem at all.

Either way (Wubi or Live CD from a download site), you will be able to dual boot. Wubi is just simpler, IMO. With the download sites, the typical rigmarole is that you are downloading a CD image (ISO file), burning a CD ("Live CD"), booting the CD, and then following instructions to either install Ubuntu (or whatever flavor of Linux) over your existing operating system or (more likely) creating a partition and installing onto the partition so that you can dual boot.

Right -- the amount of space available to Ubuntu. You don't need a whole lot. I chose 30GB, and the only time I ran out of space was ripping DVDs.

You don't need to transfer anything, actually. You can leave your pictures & movies where they are and you'll be able to access them under Ubuntu using /host. See this.