Reply #23: Linux and Stuff

[RoyGBiv]

I don't want to lead you astray, so let me say up front I am still mostly a Linux newbie. I used Unix years ago, so it wasn't a complete shock to my system, but at that time Linux/GNU was still in its infancy, and a graphical interface was just bizarre for me to contemplate.

But, from that perspective, I might offer a couple words of advice.

As you're no doubt aware, there are many different distributions. All have their strengths, some their weaknesses. Some are better for beginners, others better for seasoned sysadmins. It felt like a jungle to me when I was making my choice. When it boiled right down to it, I settled on SuSE 9.2.

The reason for that is fairly straightforward. I could go to the bookstore and buy books specifically for SuSE. That may not be the best recommendation in the world, but, for me, I process information better through reading. I have collections of references for dozens of things. Community support, which all the major distros have in ample supply, is great, but there's nothing quite like having a handy reference work sitting right there. Also, using a professionally written reference avoids the "fanboy" syndrome and accidentally ending up in the middle of an argument between two old pros about how things "should" be done.

So far, SuSE has worked very well for me, aside from some issues with my graphics card that I've mentioned in other threads and that would be present no matter which distro I used. It's a Linux/Driver/ATI thing. What I know how to do with the command line, I can do. What I absolutely do not know how to do and have been unable to figure out quickly, SuSE, somewhere, has a graphical interface for it. It's a bit daunting, and the learning curve for a newbie is extremely high, but it works and is secure as all get-out.

I also tried Mandrake, Slackware, Fedora Core 3, and Knoppix. (Another great thing about Linux is you can install it then delete it all and not worry about the crap involved while installing Windoze, particularly XP.) All were fine, although I had a few problems with Fedora and the install. It didn't like my 4 extra USB ports, and I had to guess a bit during the install process to get them to work. I did it, but if I hadn't had some idea what was happening, I probably would have gone on to something else right then. I chose SuSE over Mandrake and Slackware because, as I said, I could buy books.

Something to consider: SuSE has a LiveCD version you can download and burn to a CD as a boot disk. You can then fire up your system using only the CD and test it out a bit. (This is what Knoppix is good for as well. I only tried the LiveCD version of it.) It'll recognize your Windoze drives and pretty much let you browse the system and see how it works, making sure all your hardware works reasonably well. If your Windoze drives are formatted in NTFS, you don't want to write anything to them because it could destroy all the data on your drive, but other than that, it's a great way to test things.

Other distros have this as well, but I'm not sure which ones.

Here's a link to a great resource:

http://www.linuxiso.org/

It has ISO images of all the major distros, including the LiveCD version for those that have it. They are huge, so we're talking about some serious download time, but worth it if you're looking to convert at any point.

BTW, what I've done for the moment is install an extra hard drive. One has Linux on it, and the other has Windoze. You can partition your existing drive so it has both, but I'm paranoid, and this let me not worry about such things as accidentally killing my Windoze stuff. (I do NOT want to go through another WindozeXP install. I'd rather run naked through the Alaskan tundra in February.)

One final word of advice: When you have a weekend free and want to give it a whirl, read all instructions carefully, look around some support forums for install advice, and plan what you're going to do. It may seem tedious while doing it, but it will save you tons of time later.