I tried Red Hat Linux four years ago and never did figure out my way around it and then dumped it. I would like to try it out again and see what happens. Any recommendation on which Linux I should try out. Keep in mind I know next to nothing about Linux.

Thanks

Larry

Red Hat is probably the market leader and is my favourate distro. My extensive installation instructions here:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthrea...=&threadid=214

...were written with Red Hat in mind. There's plenty of info there on installing and on guiding you through some of your initial hurdles that you will probably find, as we built the thread up with several members installing Red Hat and posting in with any problems that they found. AFAIK there were no unresolved problems.

Red Hat has come a LONG way in the last 4 years. I remember installing Red Hat 4 years ago and its nothing like it is now. You will find that a lot of the installation is done for you just like Windows 2000 type of thing. You will of course require some unpartitioned HDD space before beginning but the thread tells you all about that.

I really think that if you are curious, you should give it a go. Its really another world and there is a lot to learn about computing from installing and using Linux.

Post back here with any problems, but it might be better if you posted to the thread http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthrea...=&threadid=214 instead of here to avoid any duplication. Its best to keep all of people's first experiences and first problem solving in one thread and as to provide a resource for future users. I also attached a .txt file which as a far as I remember was printer friendly which contained all of the instructions, you will find that in the thread too. Good luck and please feel free to post back with any questions. I can't promise that we will have all of the answers but there is a good community here who will give it their best shot.

Thanks for the reply and all the usefull information, it always appreciated.

Larry

Talking of Linux... a new version of Lindows is now out, though they have changed their initial approach I've heard crap about them, not that I'm a linux user though, any comments on that?

I would try Linux out...but Phantasm! C'mon!!

I don't think I'd try Lindows out. I dunno why...

A comment on Lindows: It seems I can't even try it without paying $99.

Opposite of what Linux is about then huh?

Is Lindows bloatware?

Bah. Paying for Lindows. What are they trying to pull anyway?

Bringing choice to your computer!
So basically it's (trying to be) like Microsoft® Windows and GNU/Linux combined in some obscure way. I'm not sure if I even want to test it now..

I've just re-formatted my HDD (It's a pain). Now my system's quite empty. I've completely forgotten about Linux until when I tried to find links for my favourites (I've forgotten to backup my favourites...), that's when I stumbled upon Planet Mirror and saw links where you can download the CD image from.

Curious, I came over Techspot to look for you guys for help I'm very cautious now 'coz I'll be installing Linux for the first time in my 17 years of living in this polluted planet. I figured that I needed help in selecting an easy-to-use OS boot program. I've fixed my eyes on RedHat Linux 8.0. I'm kinda worried about hardware compatibility... here's a general stats about my rig:

[SIZE=1]
Current OS: Windows 98SE
Mobo: Elitegroup P4ITA2
RAM: 4 x 64mb SamSung PC800
Chipset: Original Intel 850
Gfx: ABiT Siluro GeForce 4 Ti4200
Sound: Creative SBLive! DE 5.1
HDDs: SeaGate U Series 20410 (ST320410A) 20gb; Quantum Fireball 6.4gb
Additionals: Acer 16x10 CD-RW (16 x 10 x 40)
[/SIZE]

I noticed that there isn't a linux version of Intel Application Accelerator, nor is there a chipset driver for my i850. I found a Linux version of my Gfx drivers, but not for sound card. I used Nero for my CD-RW, but I'm not sure if there's other Linux software that's compatible with my Acer 16x10. Additionally, WarCraft III is a Windows application .

Is it advisable for me to try Linux? I use the computer mainly for games like WC3, RA2, HL:CS and emulators, school work like Java, ASP, HTML and to surf the web in addition to IRC.
If yes, any suggestion on drivers?

I'll like to different from my peers , and I'll like to try out non-M$ products

Linux kernel has support for i850 already, so additional "drivers" aren't needed.
Same here - the kernel has EMU10k1 support (the chip your soundcard has), so you should be able to get sound easily, new distributions of Linux detect these things automatically.
cdrecord should work with it, there are some graphical user interfaces for it too but I can't name any right now
It might work with Wine, just like HL:CS.
Of course it is

Have you tried any "Live" Distros of Linux. For example The UT2K3 Demo is available on a Live Gentoo Linux distro, or Demo Linux offers a full Linux install with X, KDE/Gnome etc. plus loads of accessories/apps all on 1 CD.

Haven't try that. I found 5 CD images of RedHat 8.0 on Planet Mirror. I wanna save up enough cash for CD-Rs. Thank you both for you advises.

Hmmm... What if I want Linux AND Windows? Which boot program will you recommend that has easy UI and moderate functionality?

Linux' GRUB will let you boot from both Linux and Windows if you have them on seperate drives. It's called dual booting.

RH8 is 5 CD's?

This can be understood in many ways - GRUB lets you boot multiple OS's even they are on the same hdd. It's also possible to make Windows' bootloader (at least NT's) recognize Linux too but I'd say GRUB (or LILO) is easier. Others are allowed to have different opinions

I was thinking of installing them on a single disk. My second hard disk drive is only 6.4gb and is for storage of personal files and backup.

I think RH8.0 isn't 5 CDs, but the CDs include utility programs as well

To install Red Hat 8.0, you only need the first 3 CDs.

CDs 4 and 5 contain the source code.

The usability for non-UNIX people isn't much better in most of the latest distros. Don't expect it to be much easier to use; better yet, think of it as a way to learn something new.

See my other post in this forum for Lycoris Linux. I'll try it out and let you know how it goes. It appears to be the best Linux for Windows users who don't already know UNIX or Linux. I'm loading it to see if it's as good as the reviews it gets. It only requires 1 CD to install...amazing!

Yeah but its not even worth trying out anyway. Amazing what u can find on p2p these days

As for the Windows compatibility, all it is a copy of Wine built into the OS, and as everyone knows Wine's compatibility is rather poor - should have seen the poor machine die when I tried to load Diablo II

I've got Linux RedHat 8.0 to work... but then, I was bewildered when I saw the log in screen. I don't know what is the default log in username!!! I tried to erase the Linux Partition away, but the Linux boot program won't go away until I formatted my PC again and reinstalled Windows!

- What is the default user name and password (If there is)?
- What's the proper way to remove Linux and GRUB?

I went through the Linux installation itself and I comment that the graphics is sweet, it was better den the classic o' win98 I'm using now. I just didn't get a chance to get into the core program manager though... can't get past the log in screen