*big gulp* - I want to try linux again

[Dreaming]

Ok, just for fun guys. At the mo, I've got one massive 320gb NTFS partition across my hard drive which is just windows Vista. So I assume that's going to need to be resized? I'm not going to uninstall everything, because I anticipate linux will fail again (or, if you prefer, I will fail at linux ).

I've tried it many times before, every time I've had many issues. Wireless cards just don't work, I get the .inf I think driver files, try putting them in with the gui, no work, try doing it through the CLI, no work. Give up.

Next year, tried again, this time 'x server failed to load' on the first boot. I didn't even bother...

Now I think I've got a fairly linux friendly rig with an nvidia card not ati, but I do still use wireless (abits PCI offering).

What I'm coning here for is guidance. I don't want to make any mistakes *this time*, and by the end I hope to have CSS running on my linux distro. Would also like to play with beryl (or is that just for mac? I'm sure since linux is 'free' that someones done a good enough copy anyway).

So, first step - what distribution! (And also, how shall I format? I'll resize from 320gb to 280gb, giving 40 or so to linux. 4gb swap as I have 2gb ram, then what? I've been advised to have /usr /home etc. partitions and I'm used to organising my files via partitions, but more directories.

[peterb]

If you are using a 2.6 kernel you don't need to allocate double the RAM for swap. In my experience the 2.6 Kernel is far more efficient at memory management, and I rarely use more than 25% of my 2 G swap file.

Depending on what you intend doing with it, 40 GB should be enough (the boot and root file systems take up about 10GB so the rest is available for apps and user files.

Which distro? Tricky. Many will recommend Ubuntu, which is a debian based distro, and absolutely nothing wrong with that, although I haven't used it. Knoppix is another good starter with good hardware support, and I am using Fedora Core 6. All have their idiosyncracies, For example Fedora installs Logical Volume Management by default which is another degree of complexity to understand (although it offers many advantages - it is similar in concept to dynamic disks in Windows).

The three I have mentioned all have a live CD option, so you could try all three. The other question is which Gui - there are several to choose from, the two most popular being Gnome and KDE. Once you have a distro loaded, you can change and see which you prefer.

rom the point of view of readily available software and ease of installation, the graphical manager in Fedora (pirut) is excellent, but that isn't to say that other distros aren't just as good.

The secret is to take things slowly as you learn, and I would reccommend getting a distro specific book to guide you through the inistial stages. The three distros I have cited all have good books associaited with them - an Amazon search will find them.

Edit - I would add that whichever distro you use, dial up modem and wireless support can be tricky. If you want to use dial up modems, winmodems can be VERY hard to get working. (Use a basic serial port connected external modem). Wireless cards are a bit simpler, but the chipset used is critical. Wireless cards based on the Texas Instruments chipsets (eg US robotics) are very poorly supported, cards based on the intersil chipset are well supported. A Google search using something like "Wireless cards for Linux" will give lots of info, and there is a company selling cards that are known to work with Linux, with the drivers as a package, which takes the hassle out of sourcing a card and the drivers. That said, Fedora (and maybe the others) has built in support for many of the common chipsets where mfrs have made the interface/driver requirements available - obviously NOT Texas Instruments!)

[UltraMagnus]

personally, i would use ubuntu, it has always worked out of the box perfectly for me except for configuring extra buttons on my logitech trackball.

wireless is the biggest problem usually, it may be best to just buy a card with a well supported chipset such as an intel chipset

[godsdog]

Along with ubuntu, people often rave about PCLinuxOS 2007 (another live installable) "user friendly" "out of the box" new linux user orientated, decent active community and support etc. Certainly worth a download and test spin.

[UltraMagnus]

but I do still use wireless (abits PCI offering).

PCI? why, on earth, would anyone use wireless for a desktop?

[directhex]

anything with NTFSresize version 1.13.1.1 or higher (which is the first to support vista file systems) is fine. for example, ubuntu 7.04 is new enough, but previous versions will make vista unbootable (the data is unharmed, but vista will mistakenly think the partition has been accessed by windows nt 4, which is no longer supported, so it'll just block you).

the ubuntu installer will allow you to simply say "resize the windows partition down to $FOO gig, and sort the rest of the space sensibly". so don't worry about this. it's beyond your level of experience.

and for wireless, as is usually the case, linux doesn't care who makes a card - it cares who makes the chip on the card. the same way you get nvidia drivers for windows from nvidia.com rather than gigabyte.com or xfxforce.com, linux only cares about the chips used. as far as i can determine by poking around the windows drivers, abit airpace cards are based on an Atheros AR2425 (802.11b/g) AR5007EG, which should be supported out of the box on Ubuntu using the open-source "madwifi" driver

beryl is old hat - the beryl and compiz projects have merged to form compiz fusion, which is enabled by default on supported hardware on the upcoming ubuntu 7.10 (and is a little hairy for long-term use on anything older, due to assorted nvidia bugs)

edit: nope, whoops, looks like abit have no interest in helping get the card supported, it's marked as unsupported as of may this year. hurah, looks like time for the almighty hack of loading windows drivers on linux :/

[usxhe190]

would also recommend ubuntu - you can even try it out downloading their program into a cd and running the whole thing from the cd with the need to install anything on your current OS.

[Dreaming]

PCI? why, on earth, would anyone use wireless for a desktop?

Because my PC is in a different room to the internet connection? I mean if you want to go to the expense of wiring the whole house up (we've got 4 PCs in different rooms) then fair enough, but wireless is much easier and works well.

Going to download a distro and get it sorted tomorrow I'll let you know how it goes :/

[godsdog]

If you've got the juice and time, I'd grab a few ISOs to try out. Operation "suck it and see"

[directhex]

the problem most people face with this kind of experiment is "difference overload":

* different apps
* different user interfaces
* different paradigms

a lot of people learn things, not generic processes - for example, they learn msword not word processing, or outlook express not emailing. for them, so much change in one go is too hard

remember, linux is completely and totally not windows. in any way, shape or form. you talk about running CSS on linux - it's possible, but that's technically incredible, given you'd never expect xbox 360 games to run on a ps3 or vice versa. if you approach this from a "here is how i do something in windows, i want to do precisely the same in linux" perspective, you're doomed to fail, as often direct parallels simply don't exist. many of the things people complain about in linux are actually wonderful - for example, the command line is infinitely faster & more powerful than the gui. want to resize 10,000 pictures across 30 folders with random filenames? no problem, it's a 1-line command. things like that. i have a high-end pc with compiz fusion enabled, but half of what i do is in a terminal, because it's just faster

[aidanjt]

the problem most people face with this kind of experiment is "difference overload":

* different apps
* different user interfaces
* different paradigms

a lot of people learn things, not generic processes - for example, they learn msword not word processing, or outlook express not emailing. for them, so much change in one go is too hard

remember, linux is completely and totally not windows. in any way, shape or form. you talk about running CSS on linux - it's possible, but that's technically incredible, given you'd never expect xbox 360 games to run on a ps3 or vice versa. if you approach this from a "here is how i do something in windows, i want to do precisely the same in linux" perspective, you're doomed to fail, as often direct parallels simply don't exist. many of the things people complain about in linux are actually wonderful - for example, the command line is infinitely faster & more powerful than the gui. want to resize 10,000 pictures across 30 folders with random filenames? no problem, it's a 1-line command. things like that. i have a high-end pc with compiz fusion enabled, but half of what i do is in a terminal, because it's just faster

++

The above is a picture perfect example of when people fail with trying to get into Linux (or any *NIX).

[rysz]

I am going through a very similar process at the moment, I am using Ubuntu 7.04 as it is easy and the hardware support is excellent - the comment above regarding the chipset on the WiFi card being the most important thing is true, but try it and it may well suprise you, the community at http://ubuntuforums.org/ are excellent and very friendly, believe me there are a lot of people in a similar situation to you.

I fully intend to get cedega running on my PC this week to run CSS and hl2 as these are great favourites of mine!

Don't be put off because it is too scary different, just take it slow and a bit at a time - the help is there if you look for it!

One of my mates at work, being a complete linux n00b, installed Ubuntu on his Sony Vaio laptop and got this working with Compiz Fusion wireless et al in a couple of evenings!

Try the live distro - it costs nothing and could well pick up your card - suck it and see!

[geezerone]

Apart from the latest version of Ubuntu (7.04, Feisty) you might want to consider 6.06 (Dapper) which is Long Term support (LTS).

[benwoodcock]

If you've got the juice and time, I'd grab a few ISOs to try out. Operation "suck it and see"

Please tell me that is nothing whatsoever to do wit the "pull down your pants" sig!


Ubuntu, but you've probably decided by now anyway.

[pollaxe]

Another thumbs up from an Ubuntu-using Linux noob!

[godsdog]

Please tell me that is nothing whatsoever to do wit the "pull down your pants" sig!

lol. nah. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Sidney_Freedman - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Sidney_Freedman#Quotes