So, consider my used N810 to be the fault of my new obsession. It's Linux. I miss the old days of being in control of my timex sinclair/commodore 64/surfing before there even was WWW. I have seen the light, and it is eminating from debian or ubuntu, not sure which. I have an overseas trip coming up in a couple weeks, and would like to bring a laptop and my n810 to read a bible of the best linux documentation. My intent is to convert all of my home equip to open source OS and apps. I have a dell xps desktop, dell e6400 laptop, and a dell 8250 'dvr' box, plus the N810. (don't mean to be a dell fanboy, as built my own pc's from '88 til about 2001, then I found the dell outlet and was influenced by my corporate experience too)

Any recommendations for an os and the site that leads me to good documentation that I can study on 50 hrs of flights?

Of course the goal is to get tech savvy on linux mobile devices and to benefit at home by 'never' paying for software again.

I await your responses...

LFS (Linux From Scratch) is a very good place to start. You can download the book from http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/lfs/ or you can buy the print version. It is a great way to learn how Linux works.

Being a Newb, I am only about a month into trying Linux for desktops, but I strongly suggest Linux Mint. If you have Windows on the lappies already, you can run Linux Mint 7 from a USB jump drive without disturbing your Windows install, or you can make a separate partition and install it alongside Windows in a dual boot environment.

If you have a spare USB jump drive around 2GB or larger (I use a 4GB as well as a dual boot partition for my home PC.), you can use THIS APP to make a Linux USB drive from within Windows, or you can create a live CD, which runs Linux from the optical drive, and create a USB key from within Linux with USB-creator, an app available from the Synaptic package handler.

I'm pretty good with Linux now, so you can PM me if you have any questions, or better yet, ask them here, and we'll get the answers for you.

You didn't tell us about your level in linux/how long your trip will last.

Anyway I will not recommend LFS it is a time killing and in no way it will helps you into becoming better. Also, DO NOT try to use linux with livecd/usb as it won't leave you much free space into modifying it ,you could install it into usb flash ,but I wouldn't suggest this (I'd rather suggest installing it into HDD).

Simply, if you are into server stuff then go with CentOS and learn your way with it. By the way, if you are seeking a distro for beginners then go with Ubuntu first and Debian second.

Things you might want to consider it while enjoying your trip. 1-Download few kernels (latest one) , patches , a nice tutorial or two and you might want to check (Zen) [Your goal here is to compile your own kernel]
2- Learn Bash scripting (You will find this useful)
3- "cd /etc/" and learn about each config file you find there


That's a crime...



Edit: Also, change your topic into a better one.

Depending on the distro and USB size, I was able to do so much on a 4gb USB, I decided to kill Windows altogether. I'm back, but only for Media Center. If you have a 4+GB USB stick, just try it, and if its all good for you, you can install onto a partition or drive from that same USB key.
Mint is derived from Ubuntu, and I can't recommend it enough! Ubuntu based OSes are almost always user friendly, and I'm beyond happy.

Thanks for the replies, and sorry for the inadequate title, I'll change that. I do have many 4GB or larger usb sticks, and plenty of spare hard drives. I guess my intentions are long term, as I'm sick of all of the windows 'tweaking' I have to do.

As far as 'paying' for software, that is why 'never' was in quotes, because I'm sure I'll find some worthy apps at some point to buy.

A friend runs ubuntu, but his wife has an imac and he hasn't really tried openoffice, nor the gimp. I've used both of those on my N810, so I can only imagine how much more I'd like them on a full system. The PDF mentioned in the first reply sounds like a good way to start.

Thanks again, guys.

You misunderstood what I said...

With a USB stick I was referring to 2 types of usages:
The first one (Which you are now speaking about): Is using it as a livecd. The good thing about this is that it will allow you get into the OS faster (USB bandwidth is much more than CD's/DVD's). The bad thing is your files won't be saved (This including everything you modified in the system) unless you decided to rebuild the live-usb with new files (Totally a waste of time and doesn't worth it). Also, by speaking about Ubuntu to get a most stable OS ,you will need to update it (I noticed this solves Compiz problems on few laptops) , so this is a waste of time to keep updating the os each time you are booting.
The anther side effect os using this method, is you won't be able to learn how to modify the system files and noticing the difference. Also, there are many bad thinges of this method. This method is meant to be used like a Demo and not for everyday usage and of course not for mastering linux through it (If thats your goal and you are afraid of screwing things up get with VirtualBox/Vmware and such, it is much more better than this (Be aware of preformance dropping). And you know what? As you are using Ubuntu, you can even install it inside windows (You can remove it any time from control panel) without any much in losing performance.


Anyway, the 2nd type is installing a bootloader + your fav linux on your usb stick. The bad thing is the limited writing cycles with flash memories.... Go and figure the other bad things for this.


By the way Chris, I am an old linux guy and off course I know these. (Consider yourself lucky that there are now automated tools to makes liveusb)

Just to get you get a little help into your Linux journey , I suggest you try Slitaz (linux with only 25mb .iso) to compare the performances on whatever Ubuntu based distro you are using now and with that. Try to compare how the programs packaging work. It might interest you.

Here is Slitaz link: http://www.slitaz.org/en/get/index.html

I'll check that out, thanks. But I have to correct something, unless I'm misunderstanding what you're saying. Most of the Live USB creators allow persistence now, which allows you to save updates and data. I had a 3000 MB persistence file on my 4GB Linux Mint 7 drive, and after a full update and various apps, it still had plenty space for the occasional image, and I also had external partitions and discs I had access to on the PC in NTFS for storage.

Maybe persistence is a new thing, but the method I gave him allows for persistence. Here's a question. Does Slitaz have most of the good codecs installed, or drivers for printers and peripherals?

I will skip answering on this as I think I already got my pressure high. (I had a bad month and this week is the worst of continues bad news in these 35 days & every single day in this week with even much worse news, what I am going to do now is having my 2 hours sleep and then getting ready for my new bad day).

To answer your "persistence" , do "uname -r" before updating your kernel and after and try to figure it out.

I don't like to flame anyway , so I am off to sleep.

I think we just aren't understanding each other. But the LinuxLiveUSB app I listed allows you to choose your casper size for persistence without any special setup. Just choose a persistence file size, and voila.

And rest is good. I'm guilty of keeping long hours, myself, and its bad news on the nerves. See ya in the AM, bro.