[dhkimboa]

im gonna try to install linux as my secondary OS but where do I get it? i heard there are different versions of it

 

[Kirby]

there are quite alot of them indeed....

since I'm seeing you have no previous experience with Linux, Mandrake or Fedora will be the best choice for you. Learn the command line a little and you can move up to Slackware or Debian

http://distrowatch.com/mandrake
http://distrowatch.com/fedora

 

[tookers]

check this link too... gives a brief overview of the popular distros
http://distrocenter.linux.com/
can find what matches your needs.
as kirby said, mandrake, fedora or even suse could be a good starting point to learn basic command line

 

[WindHydra]

Try http://mepis.org/ ! I think it's pretty fun to use for some reason (probably because of the run-from-the-cd os and the quick installation)

 

[dhkimboa]

yeah Im a total noob for linux that is why Im asking for help hehe
im checking those links right now
any more suggestions let me know please

checked those links already but which one is the easiest linux for a noobest linux new user like me?

 

[kof2k]

Mandrake and fedora are both very good distro. I would recommend you use Fedora, it uses Gnome as its main desktop. And if your dont feel that Fedora is right for your, give mandrake a try. mandrake uses Kde as its main desktop. If u wanna try mandrake w/ out installing it, try there live cd to see if u like it.

 

[KillerShots]

Yeah, Mandrake and Fedora are probably your best bet. However, if you want to do any serious development, you probably won't touch Mandrake with a 10' stick - the environment is royally frelled. You have to give the exact path to each and every library you decide to use (instead of simply -lSDL, say), and the debugger... just plain and simply doesn't work (gets lost on "hello world"). However, the setup for the OS in general is really nice and easy - really hard for the user to screw themselves up.

 

[Proto]

Again, if you want a taste of linux you could get a live cd... personally I think knoppix is the best one around.

 

[dhkimboa]

what you guys mean with the live cd?
I dont wanna be a developer
I just wanna be a regular linux user
damn... so much trouble for a linux

 

[RF]

I use FC2. FC3 is soon to be released which also comes with XFCE which should be cool to try out.

Overall FC2 has given me the least grief when installing on an older system.

 

[Ipswitch]

XFCE is , it has all the nifty parts of gnome in a lighter and standards-compliant package.

 

[Scar_T]

Yeah, Mandrake and Fedora are probably your best bet. However, if you want to do any serious development, you probably won't touch Mandrake with a 10' stick - the environment is royally frelled. You have to give the exact path to each and every library you decide to use (instead of simply -lSDL, say), and the debugger... just plain and simply doesn't work (gets lost on "hello world"). However, the setup for the OS in general is really nice and easy - really hard for the user to screw themselves up.

So you're saying that Mandrake sux for development . If you have to give the exact path for every library, is not a problem of Mandrake, it's YOUR problem, you doesn't know how to add simple instructions to gcc for search libraries.

And the debugger doesn't work??????, I really don't know what debugger you use but "GDB rules".

 

[tookers]

I started out on Redhat linux 7.1 (now fedora) found it real easy to use... installation is simple, choose your setup type (e.g. workstation) choose your hardware and it kicks off into the install. Everything is user friendly, on first boot you get a guide to help you through. the GUI is set as default so you dont have to mess about.
I last used Redhat 9 and it suited all my needs and is good for beginners upto intermediate users.

 

[RF]

I have one question...

Ok, I webdev on my windows machine. My linux machine runs apache. I run samba just fine, and would like to share my www root over it so its easy to copy files to the server. I setup the samba user under my normal user account, but cannot get access to wwwroot without going SU of course, so how do I let my user have full access to a certain folder? I tried to chmod the folder to 777 but that didnt work. Thanks

 

[Kirby]

Ok, I webdev on my windows machine. My linux machine runs apache. I run samba just fine, and would like to share my www root over it so its easy to copy files to the server. I setup the samba user under my normal user account, but cannot get access to wwwroot without going SU of course, so how do I let my user have full access to a certain folder? I tried to chmod the folder to 777 but that didnt work. Thanks

you have to change the owner of the folder to your username....

from su:

chown owner linuxhq
(owner = the username you want to give ownership to
linuxhq = the directory/file you want to apply)

another way is to make a new group, add the user to that group, and add the directory to that group:

chgrp group hello
(group = group name
hello = the directory/file)

 

[RF]

you have to change the owner of the folder to your username....

from su:

chown owner linuxhq
(owner = the username you want to give ownership to
linuxhq = the directory/file you want to apply)

another way is to make a new group, add the user to that group, and add the directory to that group:

chgrp group hello
(group = group name
hello = the directory/file)

Ah, thanks kirby-san

Edit: Is there a way to list the groups on the computer? Wouldnt it just be easier to add myself to the root group?

Edit2: Got it working, used the system-config-users tool add myself to the root group and it worked

 

[KillerShots]

So you're saying that Mandrake sux for development . If you have to give the exact path for every library, is not a problem of Mandrake, it's YOUR problem, you doesn't know how to add simple instructions to gcc for search libraries.

And the debugger doesn't work??????, I really don't know what debugger you use but "GDB rules".

You are correct, I do not know how to add library paths to gcc without screwing up the few that it knows to begin with. I've tried to -L to the path, but then it forgets about where iostream.h is. Really gave me a lot of problems, and I found the best solution was to simply supply the library file in the command line.

As far as the debugger, yes I use gdb. It works fine in Gentoo. It doesn't work in Mandrake.

 

[Chrono Archangel]

what you guys mean with the live cd?
I dont wanna be a developer
I just wanna be a regular linux user
damn... so much trouble for a linux

Live CD means Linux will boot off the CD and will never touch your HD. All you need is around 256MB of RAM. With a distro like SLAX, you can send all the content of the CD to the RAM and be able to remove the CD.

Check it out, ive been using this for a while now
http://slax.linux-live.org/?lang=en

SLAX is only 180MB so it can fit on a Mini-CD and it can be loaded up to the RAM easily. Of course you dont have to load it to RAM if you dont want to but it does make things a little faster since it doesnt have to access the CD all the time.

 

[Proto]

Well yeah, Knoppix will only fit on a regular cd, but it got a helluva applications enbbedded, and a even better peripherical detection that some of the other regular distros lack... well then again it's a matter of tastes

 

[salam_azad]

Well I recommend you Suse linux.. only one which worked perfect for me and it's ony 1cd with all progs you will need

Your,