Linux - I Need to be Educated
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Linux - I Need to be Educated
Standing by for links and reading recommendations. Thanks in advance.
You can interpret that however you would like.
Re: Linux - I Need to be Educated
No links for ya, but I can tell you about personal experiences?
Re: Linux - I Need to be Educated
Are we still talking about Linux?No links for ya, but I can tell you about personal experiences?
You can interpret that however you would like.
Re: Linux - I Need to be Educated
lol, yes! 
Redhat was relatively simple. Unbuntu was more fun, and you could really make your computer personalized. You should know a little code if using Ubuntu... I remember Redhat being pretty simple. I also remember having to hack/crack most programs to work with Linux, though, it was always possible.
Knowing a bit of coding helps... There are lots of online resources. I always went back to windows simply to save myself time.
Cheers,
Wolfie
Redhat was relatively simple. Unbuntu was more fun, and you could really make your computer personalized. You should know a little code if using Ubuntu... I remember Redhat being pretty simple. I also remember having to hack/crack most programs to work with Linux, though, it was always possible.
Knowing a bit of coding helps... There are lots of online resources. I always went back to windows simply to save myself time.
Cheers,
Wolfie
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200hr Wonder
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Re: Linux - I Need to be Educated
Well I have been using Linux since well before it was ready for desktop use. Ubuntu is a great start for newbies. Easy to use and a lot of help for people using it. Just download the live CD and give it a try. A live CD lets you use Linux without changing your hard drive to give it a whirl as it where. I currently use it as a firewall, a Personal Video Recorder, but do not have it on my desktop cause I like to play games. PM me if you want to know more.
Cheers,
200hr Wonder
200hr Wonder
Re: Linux - I Need to be Educated
Good place to browse distros (Linux slang for distributions) is at
www.distrowatch.com
Scroll down and look on the right side of the screen and you'll see the Top 100 distros list. Clicking on any of them takes you to a page on distrowatch that is all about that particular distro. Of particular use are the links to articles reviewing new releases of that particular distro as well as the "synopsis" section where they give you a very short description of why the distro even exists.
Surprising but there are a ton out there which all seem to do the same kind of thing - i.e. provide a desktop experience similar to that of windows. If you look at that panel I described above you'll notice that Ubuntu is number 1 and has been ever since it was first released in late 2004. We use Ubuntu 8.04 at work for Linux development and it's been very very good.
One nice thing about using Linux is that if you need some software you can simply use the search tool (called Synaptic on Ubuntu) to search for keywords, then download and install it for ... FREE
... For instance, if you wanted photo editing software you could use "photo editing" in the search and usually that will find you what you are looking for. YMMV.
Other distros similar to Ubuntu and worth a look are:
- Mandriva
- Fedora (not my fave)
- PcLinuxOS
Most distros these days offer "live CDs" as someone noted above. These are handy because you simply pop it into your CD-ROM drive and reboot your computer (may need to tell BIOS to boot first from CD-ROM if it doesn't already). The computer boots with the new Linux distro without ever touching your hard drive. If you like it you can decide to install it.
Ubuntu's Live CD is pretty cool because in addition to the above, it will also automatically install a Dual Boot option on a Windows machine. To do this you put the Live CD into the CD-ROM drive while Windows is running and then follow the prompts. I've installed and later removed Linux from the machine I am typing on without touching a hair on Windows' pretty little head.
All that said, you sometimes need to be patient and willing to do some research in order to get something going. For instance, I wanted to run a SAMBA server on my Linux machine at work so I could access its hard drive from my Windows machine. Took me a while, but I eventually found what I needed with Google and some experimentation. But the point is, you need patience, an interest in computers, and time.
Ubuntu and others like it usually don't bite for average Windows style usage, but sometimes the programs that come with it do cause headaches. Good programs you should be aware of are:
Open Office - Gives you all the office tools you get with Microsoft Office and even reads Microsoft documents directly with no problems
Skype - Who doesn't know what this is?
Gimp - Similar to Photo shop, but less powerful
Firefox - The browser
Minicom - Like Hyperterminal on Windows, but more for geeks I guess.
Etc.
One other thing before I go, you need to know about "sudo". This is a program which allows you to temporarily become god on your computer so you can execute certain kinds of commands. Linux is pretty secure compared to Windows. You as the owner of your computer should be allowed to do whatever you want. Logging in as Linux Root and doing everything that way is generally NOT recommended. Instead, you prefix commands with "sudo" and then when prompted you enter your user account password. Google it and you'll get a better description than I just gave.
Linux is fun and the price is definitely right. Plus, you can grow it into whatever you want for FREE, learning a lot about computers in the process. And if all you want to do is use it as a desktop replacement and not be adventurous, you can do that too. Plus, it will resurrect that 5 yr old desktop or laptop machine, possibly giving it years more life where today it would be unusable with Windows.
One last note, you can install Linux on a small USB memory stick and take it with you. As long as you can find a computer which will allow you to boot from one of these, you can borrow anyone's computer, plug your stick into it and < presto > your desktop is before your eyes. That can be very handy if you are travelling and don't want to schlep a heavy notebook around. But another cheap and handy alternative is to look into something like the ASUS Eee computer.
'Nuff said for now.
Cheers,
Rory
Vancouver
www.distrowatch.com
Scroll down and look on the right side of the screen and you'll see the Top 100 distros list. Clicking on any of them takes you to a page on distrowatch that is all about that particular distro. Of particular use are the links to articles reviewing new releases of that particular distro as well as the "synopsis" section where they give you a very short description of why the distro even exists.
Surprising but there are a ton out there which all seem to do the same kind of thing - i.e. provide a desktop experience similar to that of windows. If you look at that panel I described above you'll notice that Ubuntu is number 1 and has been ever since it was first released in late 2004. We use Ubuntu 8.04 at work for Linux development and it's been very very good.
One nice thing about using Linux is that if you need some software you can simply use the search tool (called Synaptic on Ubuntu) to search for keywords, then download and install it for ... FREE
... For instance, if you wanted photo editing software you could use "photo editing" in the search and usually that will find you what you are looking for. YMMV.Other distros similar to Ubuntu and worth a look are:
- Mandriva
- Fedora (not my fave)
- PcLinuxOS
Most distros these days offer "live CDs" as someone noted above. These are handy because you simply pop it into your CD-ROM drive and reboot your computer (may need to tell BIOS to boot first from CD-ROM if it doesn't already). The computer boots with the new Linux distro without ever touching your hard drive. If you like it you can decide to install it.
Ubuntu's Live CD is pretty cool because in addition to the above, it will also automatically install a Dual Boot option on a Windows machine. To do this you put the Live CD into the CD-ROM drive while Windows is running and then follow the prompts. I've installed and later removed Linux from the machine I am typing on without touching a hair on Windows' pretty little head.
All that said, you sometimes need to be patient and willing to do some research in order to get something going. For instance, I wanted to run a SAMBA server on my Linux machine at work so I could access its hard drive from my Windows machine. Took me a while, but I eventually found what I needed with Google and some experimentation. But the point is, you need patience, an interest in computers, and time.
Ubuntu and others like it usually don't bite for average Windows style usage, but sometimes the programs that come with it do cause headaches. Good programs you should be aware of are:
Open Office - Gives you all the office tools you get with Microsoft Office and even reads Microsoft documents directly with no problems
Skype - Who doesn't know what this is?
Gimp - Similar to Photo shop, but less powerful
Firefox - The browser
Minicom - Like Hyperterminal on Windows, but more for geeks I guess.
Etc.
One other thing before I go, you need to know about "sudo". This is a program which allows you to temporarily become god on your computer so you can execute certain kinds of commands. Linux is pretty secure compared to Windows. You as the owner of your computer should be allowed to do whatever you want. Logging in as Linux Root and doing everything that way is generally NOT recommended. Instead, you prefix commands with "sudo" and then when prompted you enter your user account password. Google it and you'll get a better description than I just gave.
Linux is fun and the price is definitely right. Plus, you can grow it into whatever you want for FREE, learning a lot about computers in the process. And if all you want to do is use it as a desktop replacement and not be adventurous, you can do that too. Plus, it will resurrect that 5 yr old desktop or laptop machine, possibly giving it years more life where today it would be unusable with Windows.
One last note, you can install Linux on a small USB memory stick and take it with you. As long as you can find a computer which will allow you to boot from one of these, you can borrow anyone's computer, plug your stick into it and < presto > your desktop is before your eyes. That can be very handy if you are travelling and don't want to schlep a heavy notebook around. But another cheap and handy alternative is to look into something like the ASUS Eee computer.
'Nuff said for now.
Cheers,
Rory
Vancouver
