Which Distro?

[neilmunn]

I'm trying to find out which Linux distribution I should get.

Which distribution should I get? I've heard of loads, RedHat, SUSE, Caldera OpenLinux, Slackware, Mandrake, TurboLinux, FreeBSD to name a few.

Really, I would like to be able to run Win95, with Linux being ran when I run BootMagic or insert a floppy. I'm looking for something that easy to install really.

I had decided that Caldera OpenLinux 2.2 was the best one due to the installation program recognising that Win95 was also on the computer. But I've now found that I can only download the software. Unless someone sells just the CD's, or is willing to copy the CD's for me...

And is software compatiable between the distributions? It's just that I know some Unix distributions aren't.

Neil

[s4]

Linux is available from www.cheapbytes.com for very low prices. I am debating on whether to install Redhat or Mandrake. I'd like to know if it makes much difference. Thanks.

[Eccentric]

An endless debate has been going on about the best distro. All of the newest distros are pretty much the same. However, if you're new to Linux, I'd recommend RedHat6.0, not because of usability because all distros are pretty usable. But because of the simple fact that it is the "standard" Linux persay, so if you every need some software, and you don't want to compile it, you'll probably be able to find it for Redhat. You can use RPMS on other distros also, but I'm not sure if the come with RedHat's package manager out of the box.

[spacial_K]

Which distro do you think is used by the most people? I think it's probably Red Hat. Though Turbo Linux seems to have quite a market share.

[Big_daddy]

Mandrake is the most downloaded at TuCows

[Fulmitz]

Seems like no one is really using Caldera 2.4. Don't know why? But I'm thinking of switching to RH 6.2 or Mandrake 7.0 as more people are using it so it seems it would be easier to get help with it. I'm still haveing trouble figuring out how to get Enlightenment and or GNOME to work in Caldera.

Fulmitz

[DeBug~]

I use Caldera too,but it's a more "corporate" aimed distro,so not many people use it.I think i like it more than redhat.&-)

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"Your mother was a hampster,and your father smelt of elderberries!"!

[ST-Hack]

One thing's for sure... the differences between the distros (in everyday use issues) are so damned querky, and seemingly random, that it's maddening http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/mad.gif http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/mad.gif. I know, 'cause I've tried Slack 4.0, RH 6.0, Netmax Server, Mandrake 7.0, and SuSE 6.3 (soon to try Caldera 2.4).

I've been hearing a lot about Mandrake, 'cause most agree it's the easiest for first time use. So that one gets my vote for the most used.

I sure would like to see another BSD style Linux distro... Slack seems to be the only game in town for BSD inits (yeah, I know... besides Open/Free/SecureBSD themselves).

System V inits are a sack of sh!t http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/mad.gif. BSD seems a more logical set up, for me anyways. Maybe I should add Slack 7 to that list, hmmm?!

ST

[mstich]

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif slackware http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

it may not be used by most, but it sure is the best!


mike

[joweilee]

I really like RedHat 6.2. They're fixed a whole bunch of crap from 6.1 that wasn't working, so I've permanently made the switch.

Jowei

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<joweilee> apt: start a distro war
<apt> redhat owns!
* dpkg slaps apt around a bit with a large trout

[Strike]

I'd say either RedHat or Mandrake (definitely RedHat if you want to count all Mandrakes as RedHats). After that, probably Slackware. I've tried RedHat 6.1 and was pretty decently impressed by it, in fact, I might go back to it. Right now I'm running Mandrake 7, which has more up-to-date stuff than 6.1, but it also has a lot more annoying things about it (such as the mdk RPMs that don't like being upgraded to non-i586-optimized versions, I've found). I'm in the middle of putting Slack 7 and Debian Slink together, but the going is slow at best because of many other side projects I've got going. I've also got FreeBSD 4.0 installed, but have yet to use it ... I'm that busy http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Ryeker]

Used by which audience? Most people of all catagories will be fairly hard since most people using it would be system administators for serving. Most end-users? Another toss up...

Anyways, I'm guessing RedHat in the U.S. due to their publicity and services.



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ryeker@syscord.com

[mdwatts]

Using Caldera due to version 1.3 being included in the first book I bought. Had COL 2.2, 2.3 and now eDesktop 2.4

Never really had any problems installing them. IDE & SCSI drives, Desktop's and Laptop's all install with very little problems.

Enlightenment and VMWare to name a few, installed and worked the first time.

[--C4--]

Here's a little comparison provided by LinuxCare. Doesn't exactly answer your question (I don't know if anyone could really), but it may help you.
http://www.linuxcare.com/products/prodmore.epl?PRODUCT_GROUP=Linux+Distributions

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_.~=/ C4 \=~._
ICQ UIN : 13417170 - AIM : C4GodH8sMe
"So our buddy, Enki, the hacker god, has to bail her *** out of Hell."

[X_console]

I've tried Caldera on three different machines and to be honest, I've never gotten it to work. It always hangs at LILO at "LI". I've never had this problem with other Linux distributions. I've installed SuSe, Slackware, RedHat and Debian. All of them install fine and get past LILO with no problems. The partition settings were all the same but for some reason Caldera refused to cooperate.

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License Agreements are for people who have no confidence in their software.
http://xfactor.itec.yorku.ca/~xconsole

[Unruly]

<craig's propaganda>everyone uses Debian...everyone</craig's propaganda>

*ahem* sorry 'bout that

I used SuSE for a while, it's german..but I guess they do Beer AND Linux best http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

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Nathan
unruly@maine.rr.com
http://clanghostbear.tripod.com
ICQ:17744155

[valhalla]

i use RedHat and always have........

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yes, have some -- louis tulley

[usual]

Xconsole! hows it going.

I tried almost every dist under the sun except caldera actually....but I had the Exact same problem with slack 7 ..it hung at LI of lilo i tried it 100 times...no luck but all other dists i tried worked fine...strange.

but to stick to the topic I am a long time debian user that recently switched to Mandrake. I have tried pretty much every major dist and decided to stay with mandrake. I love debian but i realized all i liked debian for was apt and dpkg.

debian is is always behind and I got tired of that too . I figure why not use a very popular dist that gets more attention and not to mention It sucks to see a package you want and its in source and rpm and no deb. Its not hard to make a deb really but I got tired of it. mandrake with a system like apt would be great. and mandrake 7 beta looks NICE bout to try that when i get back to NY.
corel is for people that don't need or want to know whats going on. Stormix needs alot of work and it sucks cause its based on slink wich is debians fault for being behind again. redhat is redhat not much to say ..mandrake is redhat with alot of extras so if ya choose redhat why not use mandrake for the added features. suse pissed me off with there damn GUI install ...there were some options that wern't there. slack 7 wouldn't boot for me it froze at LI of lilo

[michaelr]

I like the Mandrake 7.1 beta... It autodetected all of my hardware at installation, including my USB mouse, and it would even let me use my ATAPI CD-RW without a kernel recompile.

[sposey1969]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by usual:
[B]Xconsole! hows it going.

I tried almost every dist under the sun except caldera actually....but I had the Exact same problem with slack 7 ..it hung at LI of lilo i tried it 100 times...no luck but all other dists i tried worked fine...strange.
***********************************

Not really strange, actually. It's caused by a bad Master Boot Record. Caldera says you should install to the first partition because the MBR isn't safe -- phooey! If the only OS installed is Linux, ALWAYS use the Master Boot Record. When the MBR is screwed up, you'll always get the "LI" prompt. In fact, if you've installed Linux, and then reinstalled Windows (for whatever reason, ok?) you'll get the "LI" prompt until you fix the MBR with a Windows boot disk and run "fdisk /mbr" to repair the MBR (simple enough?)

I've had great luck with Caldera's OpenLinux in the past, so keep trying. Personally, I prefer RedHat, but that's partially due to the fact that I live in North Carolina, where RedHat is based, so take my opinion for what it's worth, ok?

[javierm]

Hi there-

I actually did something interesting and bought every version from linuxcentral.com. After testing all of them, I have to tell you that right now, I am running OpenLinux 2.4 in one machine, suse 6.4 in another one and Mandrake 7.0 in my laptop. This is what I found in the early testing.

Corel Linux is nothing more than a "cute" toy that does not have many packages. Outside the nice wallpapers and overall looks, it's just too weak. Besides, adobe acrobat did not work in 1.0. I also have 1.1 but don't plan to use it much since it's still to "skinny" when it comes to the amount of packages.

Turbo linux 4.0 was the first one to recognize my interface in my laptop and allow me to connect to my lan. That gui was however too ugly. The new version was much improved and I give it great reviews except for turboprintcfg that does not seem to let me set up my printer right.

Debian is just a nightmare to se up and I don't want to bother. Plus, I personally like the rpm utility and their packages are different.

Mandrake is red hat with more tools. Althogh I don't like it when companies take somebody else's product, tweak it and call it their own, it's great since I can easily see Nt without having to reboot.

Red Hat has disappointed me. I have 6.0, 6.1 and 6.2 and none of those versions run on my compaq (the gui that is). I used it for a while in my dell but I've made the system crash a few times.

I can't get my mouse to work well with slack so I give it an incomplete review.

I personally like openlinux 2.4. Everything works well compared to 2.3 when I had some problems such as not finding the cdrom during the install although it was booting from it.
I am in the process to try to see if I can add more gui tools for it.

Storm Linux is another debian based tool that I never gave much of a chance to. The debian factor was it for me. The install was very good and simple.

I personally like Red Hat for my ultra sparc at work. Perhaps is due to the early lack of competition in that arena. I hear that other versions are coming up with their own (some have already).

The most popular seems to be Red Hat. That does not make it the best one though!!!
Originally posted by spacial_K:
Which distro do you think is used by the most people? I think it's probably Red Hat. Though Turbo Linux seems to have quite a market share.

[spacial_K]

The problem with your slack mouse is that you shouldn't install gpm. That screwed up mouse and their was no way I could configure it.

[toolie]

Which distro is used by most people depends on the chunk of demographics you want to look at. European market, SuSE. Pacific Rim, TurboLinux. America, its probably RedHat.

[dawookie]

I've heard that the amount of Turbo users in Japan is large. I think that if you look at the world RH and Turbo would be sitting at the top of the heap.

[EyesWideOpen]

RHat 6.2 in America here. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

--CAMS http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/wink.gif

[Dr_steinn]

hmmm.... Mandrake is cute, that is true. It has loads of stuff on it whern it lands on your lap. But it is for immaculate boxes (but let's face it, most have some conflict or anotehr) and it ties your hands during setup. If it crashes it has to restart allover from scrtch and you can do bugger all about it, even if you do your best, because simply it won't let you get to a konsole. I really hate this approach, as I did since win95 came out.

I want to try SuSE as it is very reputable here in the UK and the 6 CD bundle is s damn good temptation. It is rumored to be a very clena and neat install and reading this thread, it seems to be very stable. Does it have Enlightment? I do not know, yet I love the GUI and would have it wihtout a second thought. To damn futuristic, and I like the future. I have also read that it doesn't even flinch on PCs with UDMA66 controllers and HDDs, whereas Mandrake chokes and dies miserably (like it did not me!). I am unaware of its performance as 7.1, but I would like to see the update, if someone can provide the feedback.

If you guys wait for a week, I'm off to buy the latest SuSE. I'll tell you my impressions then.

But reading hte above, I am sure a real newbie would panic and steer off Linux due to the incompleteness of its nature. Just read teh problems guys. If you were at the stage that pressing the box's reset button suggested removing all the windows from the screen in win98se and permitted you to start again, then would you dare getting Linux? To me it sound really worse than Win98se... But I am determined to make it work....

At any case, would somebody provide a comparison between SuSE 6.4 (latest?) and Mandrake 7.01?

[tminos]

Most popular altogether: Red Hat and Turbo Linux. Red Hat includes all the other distro's that are based off of RH, like Mandrake.

The BEST (in my opinion): Slack.

[jarthur]

Dr_steinn,

I have both, so here goes...

yes, suse is awesome... drake is good too...

here are my plusses and minuses to both.

drake- plusses:

1. best supermount of any distro- period!! it really does work as well as windows, no lie, totally flawless, remove, insert, update, no mounting or unmounting whatsoever. you can actually be looking at a floppy, and eject it and put another in there and update like in windows... it is realy sweet.

2. 100% redhat compatable... for what thats worth...

minuses:

is a strange bird (very hard to explain what i mean by this... but if you use it for a while it will make sense: I guess what it is .. like they do things a little different than other distros, and put things in different places, and set up the kernel different... ect ect)

[jarthur]

oops, forgot suse:

plusses:

tons of software
yast

minuses:

tons of software
yast

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

[Radboy]

http://2cpu.com/OSs/Linux/linuxintro.html

I have Mandrake & Caldera 2.4 cuz i heard they were easiest to install. I am a real newbie. The review above says Slack is the best.

[Dr_steinn]

So Jarthur. Does that mean that Mandrake is more user friendly? Can't you make scripts in SuSE to supprot the mount unmount features you see in Mandrake? And BTW, silly question, but I assume that SuSE supports GNOME and Enlightment...

At the end of the day, which one do you run on your box, and why?

Is it worth waiting for MAnd. 7.01 or 7.1 or whatever? And does SuSE support RPMs (related to user frinedlyness question above...)?

[HuggyBear]

Anyone used Elfstone?

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"My young son asked me what happens after we die. I told him we get buried under a bunch of dirt and worms eat our bodies. I guess I should have told him the truth--that most of us go to Hell and burn eternally--but I didn't want to upset him."

Jack Handey

[Genghis]

I am making the switch from MS windoze to linux. I am posting form Caldera eDesktop 2.4. I have an old system (P-90, 32 MB, SB 16 sound, Stealth II-S220 video & 2 3.1 GB hard disks. My question is, which distro should I install on the second hard disk ?? (I do NOT have windows installed on my home pc, only at work)

I currently have Caldera eDesktop 2.4,(of course) SuSE 6.4, (full 6 CD package) Slackware 7.0, (for dummies set w/ source) Storm Linux 2000, (from mag) & Manadrake 7.0. (from mag)

Any suggestions for my old system ???

[pitr]

You already seem to have enough distros. Why do you want more?

BTW- few speed tweaks might be needed, check the "Speed Tweaks" thread in the Off Topic archives, just do a search for it.

It'll help on such an old machine. I use a P133 with 16 megs of ram and it runs quite well. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Genghis]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by pitr:
[B] You already seem to have enough distros. Why do you want more?

I am sorry - was a little unclear. I am currently ONLY running eDesktop 2.4. I have CD's for all others I listed. I am realy wanting to just test the waters, I guess.

Thanks for the speed tweaks tips. Will start on it immeadiately....

[wndwsH8R]

I haven't posted in about....6months or so, but i am going to need linux in the coming months. I would very much like to know how you guys feel about your linux distros, i would like easy installation, some good software bundles, etc. i have mandrake7, but i doubt i can find the cd. also, i have 2 hard drives, i plan to split the 2nd one have 4gb for linux, have the other 4gb for fat32. anyone see any problems with this (ie, can anything go wrong?)

thanx for the info

[klamath]

Please... no more questions like this... search the board --- there are literally 1000+ messages on this topic.

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- Klamath
Get my GnuPG Key Here (http://klamath.dyndns.org/mykey.asc)

[njcajun]

I'm with klamath... no offense, but put 'best distro' into the search link. Keep in mind it will only return a max of 200 links to posts... there are tons more.

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...meanwhile, I remain...
...The RedHatted Stepchild...

[Harvey]

nothing will go wrong with any of the distros you try. mandrake is easy. slackware is awesome.

[SolarFlux]

I agree with the others, do a search...

But, 'cause I'm a nice guy:

Libranet (http://www.libranet.com)

[forrest]

oh man, please not a flamewar...

they are all better than windows. there.

[ph34r]

Don't forget about the distro choice nhf - located at
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/nhf/intel/distros/distronhf.html

[2thumbs]

I wasn't going to post, but oh well http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

For ease of use: http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gifmandrake http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif
If you want tons of apps: SuSE

[Oolon]

> debian is is always behind and I got tired > of that too . I figure why not use a very > popular dist that gets more attention and > not to mention It sucks to see a package
> you want and its in source and rpm and no >deb. Its not hard to make a deb really but I >got tired of

You can't just install source, or do you just prefer to use packages?

>it. mandrake with a system like apt would be >great. and mandrake 7 beta looks NICE bout >to try that when i get back to NY.

I currently have my girlfriend in VA downloading the new Mandrake beta for me. I'm hoping that it's less quirky. I seem to have fewer problems installing programs from source than using RPM. I've tried installing several things via RPM and it just wouldn't do anything (although I've used it succesfully with some programs), and I've given up and just gotten the source.

Cheers!

[fuzzy]

Originally posted by usual:
Stormix needs alot of work and it sucks cause its based on slink wich is debians fault for being behind again.


Just want to let you know that Stormix hasn't been based on slink in a while. The most recent release (over two months ago) is based on potato. And the most recent debian, of course, is too. So I don't figure how you think debian/stormix is behind? Everything I'm using is up to date.

I need to add that apt-get keeps it up to date. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif I'd never go back.

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I spy with my little eye something that begins with "W"... oops, it's gone now.

[This message has been edited by fuzzy (edited 26 October 2000).]

[This message has been edited by fuzzy (edited 26 October 2000).]

[fuzzy]

Originally posted by javierm:
Hi there-

Debian is just a nightmare to se up and I don't want to bother. Plus, I personally like the rpm utility and their packages are different.


Storm Linux is another debian based tool that I never gave much of a chance to. The debian factor was it for me. The install was very good and simple.



How is it that rpms are better than debs? You run apt-get and it gets everything you need to make the package you want installed to work. With rpms, you have to get each one individually until you get it right. I haven't heard many people say negative things about apt-get / deb package management. It makes things very simple.

And what's this debian-factor? I'm fairly new to this stuff and debian (pure) is so-so to install but runs great! NO problems. And storm is the same thing with an "easier" install (looks nicer) and has some gui-tools to do configuring -- simply graphical front ends to debian configuration tools.
I would give it a chance because it isn't hard, folks. I'm not sure if you really know what debian is about because you seem to have mistaken it for another distro. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

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I spy with my little eye something that begins with "W"... oops, it's gone now.

[theflash]

Well, I'll probably get flamed to no end for this, but here goes.

I think Red Hat 7.0 has the potential to be a great distro. However, it's gots more bugs than a roach motel at a diner. I think if Red Hat can settle it down (Let's be realistic, it came with a patch CD in the box for Pete's sake) with the 7.1 and 7.2 releases, it'll be a really solid distro.

However, my previous experience still leads me to think Mandrake is one of the best out there. I'm not a huge fan of complete automation, but I don't want to have to baby the computer through everything- including mounting and unmounting drives when I simply want to copy files.

Mandrake is a bit quirky in that it uses some specialized stuff, and they're a bit idiosyncratic about where they like to keep stuff, but for my money- Mandrake is where its at.

[dcuster]

My world is all about Debian.

I thought the install was pretty simple (potato, ftp install). There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, as cool as apt-get and dselect.

[fuzzy]

Originally posted by dcuster:
My world is all about Debian.

I thought the install was pretty simple (potato, ftp install). There is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, as cool as apt-get and dselect.

'Nuff said. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

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I spy with my little eye something that begins with "W"... oops, it's gone now.

[ph34r]

I'd have to say that it is a close tie between Redhat 6.2 and Slackware 7.x.

Personally, give me either. If you have to give me Debian, that's fine, 'cause I'll just use it to make a LFS system (www.linuxfromscratch.org).

[andrzej]

At home and in the office I've 4 linux PCs.
2 of them are Caldera 2.3 (which was the best to detect my hardware, and lisa is just great), one is SuSE 6.2 (very good to support languages different than English, YaST is OK unless you want to upgrade the system), and finally Mandrake 6.1 (was best for my laptop - language support ok, installed on umsdos, detected all the hardware except graphics - huge amount of work to set it up, I even had to make changes to init scripts, but now works perfectly, obviously NO linuxconf! ).

I think that in Europe Mandrake and SuSE are the most popular.

[tamur]

RedHat 6.2 I'm kind of locked in now because this is a business machine, but I think that debian is probably the best way to go.

------------------
"...he only stands to reason."

The Callahan Chronicles

[Once-Ler]

Caldera 2.4 is the best distribution i have tried so far... and let me tell you I have tried almost all of them. For me everything works... and works well, so i would say you should go with caldera for your linux needs.

[MADHATter7]

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif RED HAT 7.0 http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif used here. I know its gotten a bad rap and is buggy, but with the RH Agent Update that has been fixed with no problem. The only thing I have had problems installing was KDE2, but otherwise it has been a breeze. (for the most part) I have a few hours of Caldera 2.4 under my belt, but I have not really "given it a test run" so to speak.

For my two cents worth, give Red Hat 7.0 a try, download the bug fixes (or wait for 7.1) and you'll be happy.... (I am http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif )

[MADHATter7]

I have an OLD (!!!!) AcerNote 730 laptop that has a 486sx - 25 Mhz with 4 MB memory & a 200 MB hard disk. Does ANYONE know a distr that will run on this computer. (!?!)

Hmmm.... this could be a challange !

[MADHATter7]

Sorry, I forgot to mention I have attempted to put more than one distro on this machine, but it pretty much ends up the same way:

"......no co-processor or math emulation found.
Kernel Panic......"

[bdl]

I'm quite sure Slackware (http://www.slackware.com) can accomodate you. I know there are many Slack users running on 486 machines, and you can check their forum (http://www.slackware.com/forum) beforehand to ask questions, get install support for your particular machine.

[ph34r]

I just put Slack 7.1 on a 486sx33 w/ 4mb ram - it is sloooow. But, it runs.

Check the 4mb laptop howto over at www.linuxdoc.org (http://www.linuxdoc.org) - it has the needed info to get the installer to boot, which is the hard part. Once it is installed, it works.

[bdl]

When the MBR is screwed up, you'll always get the "LI" prompt. In fact, if you've installed Linux, and then reinstalled Windows (for whatever reason, ok?) you'll get the "LI" prompt until you fix the MBR with a Windows boot disk and run "fdisk /mbr" to repair the MBR (simple enough?)



Anyone interested in LILO error codes? (http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/a1371.html)

BTW, slack rules... =)

[This message has been edited by bdl (edited 26 October 2000).]

[MADHATter7]

O.K, but.... two questions:
1. Am I good enough to use Slackware ? (I read on some review somewhere that Slack was difficult to install and configure)
Guess I could try....

2. How about FreeBSD, would it run on this relic ? (Anybody know ?)

A WM or DE is out of the question... (duh !) Oh well, I could use the command line practice anyway ! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/eek.gif

[ph34r]

Anyone can use Slack - just keep a link to the LDP handy - www.linuxdoc.org (http://www.linuxdoc.org)

[hungarian]

I am using Red Hat 7.0 here in New Zealand and as soon as I installed it I downloaded all the updates, only a week old but feels very stable and fast. As far as NZ concerned Red-Hat, Debian and Slackware seems to dominate here in that order.
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

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http://homepages.paradise.net.nz/frankkru

[cotfessi]

I'm currently sharing an ADSL line between a few winbloze machines and a linux machine via a 4 port hub only. I've recently been give a fourth machine(75 pentium w 32mb ram).

Is this enough of a system to create a firewall/webserver/router??? I've been reading over the HOWTOs for all of the above mentioned functionality, but they never quite go into about a good distro to use. I have a 1.5gb HDD and I reallly don't want to run X on the thing.
Anyone have any suggestions on which to use?

[mandreko]

this must be the popular thing to do now... i recently did it too...

check out a sight called http://www.pointclark.com and look at their ClarkConnect software

it's a real good router/firewall/proxy and it runs in linux (a variation of redhat 6) and does not have X... it's very secure (at least i think so) and easy to setup. just beware of the installation. when it says it deletes all your data, it really means it.. it deletes all the partitions on your hard drive, unless you give it special instructions which can be found in their forums..

it will even run on a 486 with 16 MB Ram, and a 250 MB hard drive... so it would run good on your system, if everything's linux compatible

[bkurt]

I would definitely give Slackware a looking at. Checkout slackware.com. It is built more with stability in mind than being cutting edge, but it is also very current.

[stiles]

Debian seems like a natural for this. You could update weekly via a cron job to run apt.

[ph34r]

Any distro will do the job, but I would pick Slack or Debian.

[cotfessi]

thanks for the suggestions... I'm going to look into using either slack or debian.

[CP]

I have recently acquired a 486 DX2/66 with 12MB Ram and a 540MB HD. I need a fairly small, stable, fast *nix OS. Anyone got any suggestions. And I will also need a M$ compatible word processer. All the above applies.
Thanks.

[Tigger]

The 12 Meg will be your problem. You will barely get X to work let alone an MS compatible WP. If you can improve on the ram to at least 32 Meg, you will be in business.

CPU will be on the slow side for an office suite too.

I am not aware of any CLI wp's that are MS compatible and it seems your PC would be best suited as a firewall or just plain text console.

[mfghazi]

Red Hat is the most popular. That's why every one is using RPM.

------------------

[mfghazi]

Red Hat is the most popular. That's why RPM came into being.

------------------

[linuxraver]

SlackWare 7.1


what there is others?

heh http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[joeuser]

I need a distro to fit these requirements:

-pentium166 w/ 24mb ram
-1gig harddrive
-must be easy enough for a newbie

If someone could recommend a good distro that fits these requirements, I'd be very grateful http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif.

Thanks.

[Alex Ethridge]

Take a look at this thread:

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/Forum1/HTML/011429.html

Maybe it will be of at least some help.

[Evil Jeff]

You can have an excellent debian install under 200 megs. Slack can go pretty small, but under that, I'd recommend picobsd, or some other floppy distro.

Evil Jeff
www.hellincorporated.com (http://www.hellincorporated.com)

[XPL]

I've been told never to ask this, as it would start a flame ware: who cares! What is the best Linux distro for a newbie to learn on, something powerful with ease of use is what I am looking for. Please give me some detailed suggestions as to why it would be good for a newbie; it'll help with my choice of which one to go with.

Michael

[mattmorrow]

You're right, you'll probably start a war!
Any distro that simplifies the install and has supplemental help files (in addition to man and info pages) should do. Buying a distro ($29) gets you some hardcopy guides that are helpful.
RedHat is my choice because it eases the installation process. It will do the partitioning for you (if you want). It also offers several "canned" configurations. 1) Workstation, 2) Server, 3) Custom. With 1 & 2 you can a) have it select everything for that config, b) you can choose the groups of applications (file utilities, multimedia, development tools, etc) and/or c) selectively prune each package that is defaulted in (b).

O'Reilly has a RedHat Users Guide that is very good.

Also, search these forums for similar questions and responses.

Good Luck!

[Wonock]

Another good one is Mandrake (which is based off Red Hat). It has a really easy install and pretty much just takes Red Hat and changes it a bit so that it is a little easier to use. You can find both ISO's at:
http://www.linuxiso.org

Wonock

[cotfessi]

I just switched over about a month ago. I used Mandrake. I would suggest it for any newbie. The install is easy and it makes the transition from windows pretty easy... eventually you'll probably want to move to another distro with more features once you get the hang of linux.

[ph34r]

Check the distro choice nhf.

Any distro will work.

[elinor]

Mandrake is the easiest, I think. Buying Mandrake is worth it, as it comes with lots of documentation. I've tried other distros, but Mandrake was most agreeable about finding and using my hardware! I've had more hardware woes with RedHat and SuSE. I'm not giving up on using other distros, but I really think Mandrake is an excellent starting point.

[hsource]

I would like to add my 2 cents.

I tried mandrake7.1 and had frustrations with hardware setup. In the configuration, the hardware setup was missing were it said in the book to set it up. Gave up on that and went to "Red Hat Linux Bible" book that came with 6.1 . This was a very big pain, the book talked about things that wer not in the program when it was running, I found out that allot of it you had to install manualy with the RPM's. The book I found was not well organized, had to do allot of flipping. The netcfg still does not work for some reason to get my NIC working.
Anyway, I would also like to know if their is an easy step system to install and learn Linux. I prefer RedHat, and I want to learn to install a server. I do have a w95 network setup. Pointers would be greatly appreciated, I dont want my first experience with Linux to be a downer.
Thanks.

[Counterstrike]

Mandrake for newbies

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif Mandrake 7.1 http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

[vhg119]

If you'd rather spend time using the os rather than configuring the os, newbie or not, mandrake is a very good "desktop" distro for productive use. (word processing ..blah blah blah). But if you're a newbie that wants to learn how the os really works or the intricate (i think that's a word) details of the os then you should use something like slackware or debian. But my suggestion is to try as many different distros as you can or else you may find yourself dependent on certain tools provided by one distro that may not be available on every distro of linux.

[siqe]

you should make a hardware list and find people that have installed your hardware before. i think thats the hardest thing.

[pipe]

As a newbie you should ignore everything you read in a "distro war". Grab whatever Linux distro you can get your hands on (the newer, the better for hardware support) and install it. Mandrake would be a good one. Don't get a distro just because it seems elite or cool - unless your contribution to every distro or technical discussion will be something like:

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif Shrimptoast http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

The main thing you want to do is just get it working and see if Linux is your bag. If it is then maybe start looking at different distros.

[shmike]

I just installed Stormix.The best i have seen yet(comes loaded with apps).It is debian based.apt-get rocks!!! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gifHope you try the same distro.

[D-Termind]

Originally posted by XPL:
I've been told never to ask this, as it would start a flame ware: who cares! What is the best Linux distro for a newbie to learn on, something powerful with ease of use is what I am looking for. Please give me some detailed suggestions as to why it would be good for a newbie; it'll help with my choice of which one to go with.

Michael

I've had a lot of trouble getting Mandrake to install...BUT IT HASN'T BEEN MANDRAKE'S FAULT.

I did a lot of research before I picked out the distro I wanted and Mandrake is it. I finally got my puter to recognise A CD-ROM drive and am in the middle of a complete install at this very moment...so far it seems to be going very smoothly.

I picked Mandrake because:


The GUI install
The ability later to configure it how you want with TEXT.
I understand it's like RedHat on steroids.
RPM install but the tools to do it the hard way. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif
BTW, they just released 7.2 a couple days ago.
I wanted a distro that leaned more toward the USER than towards an ADMINITRATOR. (Sever, etc.)


And...lots more.

Good luck...





------------------
D-Termind

[XPL]

I have read horror stories about Mandrake, but even though I read them...I was not going to choose Mandrake as it is not for me. I am looking for ease of use, as well as powerful. I have a few distros on CD...the ones they give out at trade shows (so no manuals). And a few that I get with the magazine Maximum Linux ( http://www.maximumlinux.com/ ).

Michael

[dacoopsta]

Well, I dont know why this would start a war,
since the whole purpose is to help spread the *NIX loving ! I just started with *NIX also, and I have talked with Sun Admins / Red Hat Gurus and Debian Nerds and thank god the guys I have met, all told me to get a GENRAL UNIX book and look at "Running Linux" then just get a distro and install/reinstall/install/reinstall over and over and learn the file system and the basics...I keep watch on REDHAT cause of the deals they are tied up in.....but that could be a prelude to bad or good things. I have been intrested in networking and I have been told to look at the whole BSD realm (NetBSD) and FreeBSD the point is I dont think you can make a "BAD" Choice especially when all the distros "MUST" share a common thing and thats "POSIX". When and if you get into a new distro, pick up a reference for admins ect.......that tells what tools have a different name like "LINUXCONF" might be different in another distro (but it would still go by the same concept) .

I personaly am looking at FreeBSD/Caldera eServer/Mandrake 7.2 (testing)/Redhat 6.2

I dont think a war should be started over someone looking for KNOWLEDGE (no matter what a person thinks is the best Distro to use ect) the whole UNSELFISH part of learning is being is to be
NON-BIAS ........Hell I work on the MacOS platform 8 hours a day :0)

Man,thats my first post! and it was a doosy.

[XPL]

I do agree somewhat with the last post, but I don't have time to consulte people like he/she did; that is why I am online and asking. Yes, I will admit I work with Windows (and I love it), and I love Linux. But, I need to know the best of the best of the breed, the one with the most power and ease of use for a newbie. That is not asking much....

Michael

[daWabbit]

Power is irrlelvant until you learn how to use it. Trust me on this. What the others have posted rings true, in my humble experience. I would only add SuSE to their recommendations. Once you get it installed, which is easy, it seemed a little better to me than others. Now that I'm a bit more knowledgeable, I use Debian, too. But SuSE 6.2 is still on this machine and will soon be upgraded to 7.0.

[Scout255]

which linux distro will support the most of my hardware on install with the least ammount ofpatches needing to be applied (i'm a newbie, so the less trouble needed to get everything working the better)

Abit BP6 Dual 500's
256 PC133
Quantium LM 20 GB disk (on onboard ata/66 controller)
3com TPO+ 10baset network card
G400 MAX w/ syncmaster 900NF
Sound Blaster LIVE! value

thank you in advance for any and all sudgestions that you can give me.

[Beowulf_Ghost]

Abit makes a Linux distro called Gentus. It comes standard with an SMP kernel, and a program that displays fan speed and CPU tempurature.

AVOID IT LIKE THE PLAUGE!!!!!!!!

Gentus is a bastard child of Red Hat 6.1. Gentus was forged in the bowels of Mt. Doom by Suaron himself. Upon relizing how evil it was, he soon discarded it to finish work on the one ring. It was once reported to be in the possesion of Howard Hughes, shortly before he went into seclusion. A few years ago it was purchased by Microsoft from a one eyed gypsy woman deep in the Urals to be used in a FUD campain that would have finished Linux of once and for all. But Gentus never made to Redmond, because the plain burst into flames and disintigrated somewhere over the Atlantic. It was reported to have washed up somewhere on the shore of Belgium, were it was belived to involved in the deaths of 61 orphans. It soon fled to the Netherlands were it was picked up in the Amsterdam red light district by a rather unscrupulous vise president of marketing for Abit.

And the rest is history.

Short list of problems I've found...
The installation program stinks.
xf86config is nowhere to be found.
The pts filesystem is shot to hell.
AbitPerMon (the hardware monitoring program) core dumps if you use it for more then 14 seconds.

And why are you using PC133 memmory on a mother board designed to run Celerons? A CPU ment to run on a 66MHz FSB.

------------------
Silence is Foo!
------------------
Harry Browne for President

http://www.lp.org

[ph34r]

Try Mandrake - I think it is the only one that will install on ATA66 drives. Most of the other distros require patching to the kernel to get ATA66 to work.

[Avatar]

Another good newbie distro I found is easyLinux. (www.eit.de) Personally, I prefer Mandarke.

[Scout255]

I use pc-133 because where i bought it, it was actually cheaper than pc-100 (almosta year ago....)
also, thanks for the info on genetus, never knew about its origins http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif
thanks for your imput phear, i'll look into mandrake.
any other sudgestions?

[joeuser]

Thank you for the responses, but which one of these low requirement distros would be easiest for a beginner?

[stu]

I have tried Redhat 6.0-7.0, Mandrake 7.1,7.2, Suse(been a while i think 6.2 or 6.3, and corel. I am wanting to try out debian to see if i like it any better. Mandrake just pisses me off because it's all GUI friendly. Sure i like a few features. But not all of them. Redhat 6.2 outdated 7.0 is just jacked up for everyone i have talked to. Corel is justnot my type of Linux distro. Suse is just not my fav. either. Can someon please suggest a distro for a meduim level user? Would debian be a good idea?

[NumberOneSlacker]

The thing is that as much as some may claim to be the "best", there is no "best" linux, in my opinion (with the exception of the namesake of the oh so humble "BestLinux" http://www.bestlinux.org) Every distro has their strengths. However, from my experience, if you're a newbie, Mandrake would be best suited. It's a little bloated in relation to some of the other distro's, but it's far superior to windows, and that's what matters to me :-)

But if you want a linux that "claims" to be the best, I'm thinking bestlinux... I've never tried it though...

[TheGimp]

why not give slackware a try? http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Epyon]

Caldera is a good, general purpose distro, but I know this will be a Debian/Slackware flame fest, so I'll go fight Wing Zero now.

[evil_roy]

Joeuser : I've put RedHat 6.1, 6.2 and Mandrake 6.1 on a system very similiar in spec. Both worked well enough and are good for newbies.

[jbstew32]

Slackware is awesome. I was a Mandrake user for about a year and a half. I gave Slack a try, and now I will NEVER go back.In Slack, everything just works. It's really amazing and it doesn't kill your Hard Drive with all of Mandrake's clutter. It's fast, its stable, and so far I have gotten no errors when trying to compile things...uh hum...Mandrake *cough*

It's $2 for just the install CD (if you can't afford that, any one of a billion people here will mail it to you, including myself) and the boxed set with a book is only $30. A much better deal than $80 Corel or the expensive Mandrake and RH sets. If you need SSH apache, its FREE!

[jbstew32]

almost forgot:

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif Slackware http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

[Epyon]

I use Caldera on a P133 with 16 megs of Ram and a 1.6 gig HD.

Dosen't matter what distro you put on it, just make sure to do a custom install to minimize wasted space and do the various speed tweaks.

Use BlackBox on that machine too, unless you really wanna sit and wait for everything.

[stu]

Well i have seriously contemplated using both slackware and debian. One thing for debian is that it has a package manager like rpm. Which i am spoiled on. But if slack runs great i might lose the packing managers all together and go with it. I am right aren't i slack doesn't realy have a package manager except .gz and what not? Well if it has a different one i feel like a boob.

[ph34r]

Any distro will run in what you have. Read the distro choice nhf, pick one, and go.

As for truly low resouce machines, I have slack 7.1 on a 486sx33 that counts 3.75mb of ram, and slack only thinks it has 2068 *bytes* of ram. 200mb hard drive, and 100mb free space. It acts as a console window via ssh on my real machine so I can irc from the couch, etc.

[Scout255]

One thing i forgot to ask is this: does mandrake support ATA/66 natively (without a patch) or would i have to patch it?

[shad0w]

Use RedHat!

There is no substitute. System V start up scripts! You can't go wrong.

Use 6.2, 7 is really bad for anything other than an experimental box. I use 7 at work and it runs fine for me but I have seen and heard ugly stories...

------------------
"I'm so thoroughly trained I don't even have to think before I speak"

[starbuck8968]

I tried mandrake when I first starting out with linux.
To me, mandrake feels bloaty, like windows.
It gives a little taste of linux, but they try to hide it by making it kinda like windows. I guess corel is more like windows than mandrake, but it seems that mandrake is the favorite of a lot of people at this site.
I think if you really wanna try to learn about how to use linux, try at least red hat or one of the debian distros (suse, stormix).

I haven't been using linux that long, but I think I'm getting the hang of it. Right now I run Slackware, gives you more control and no sickly rpm's (ick!).

But the truth is that it doesn't matter too much on which distro you start out with, it really depends on how patient the person is.

[xhadow]

All distro will do, depends on what kernel version u use, and how u complied it.

[Evil Jeff]

I'm a debian user. Of course I'd recommend it (hell I figured it out). But it's *always* a distro war between slack and debian. Like the good and the dark side of the force. Why should I go slack? It looks just as good, but without apt-get. I don't think I could live without apt-get now. Does slack have a packaging system? What is the advantage? Just saying that "slack works" isn't enough. Hell, Red Hat "works" if you don't touch it. Someone sell me on it.

Evil Jeff
www.hellincorporated.com (http://www.hellincorporated.com)

[Beowulf_Ghost]

xhadow makes a good point. The first thing you do after installing Linux is to reconfigure it. The distros come with a pretty defualt install that works on most systems. But you always have to tweak things once it's setup. Closing up ports in /etc/inetd.conf, installing a better WM, or editing mount points in /etc/fstab. You will have to make some changes. For starters, you might have to recompile the kernel to support SMP.

I recomend getting a good solid distro. Something battle tested. Nothing too new. The new ones may have the drivers you need (like Gentus does) but it may have many other bugs (like Gentus does). Personally, I like Caldera. It's not to fancy, but it gets the job done. It's also one of the most stable distros I've used (it's aimed at the business market) Once you've setup Linux, download the drivers you need, and learn how to install them. I would recommend getting Running Linux from O'Reilly. It is _the_ Linux Bible.

Good Luck

------------------
Silence is Foo!
------------------
Harry Browne for President

http://www.lp.org

[jbstew32]

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif Slackware http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

It will teach you the most, and it just works better!

|
|
|
V

------------------
Mandrake est bon
Debian est meilleur Slackware est le meilleur

Des Questions?
Linux est la vie

Does anyone speak French, cause I can't understand what the hell I'm saying...

[jbstew32]

actually Debian and Slack come with RPM. They should be avoided for the most part, though. Sometimes they work, most of the time they don't.

There is another option though. RPM2TGZ will convert RPms to Slack packages. On Debian, there is alien, which converts any package (debs, rpms, whatever) to any other kind of packages. They both work pretty well. Many programs come in other formats besides rpm anyway. I haven't found package management to be a problem at all.

Personally I think Debian has a little too much dependency checking, RPM just doesn't work very well somethimes, and Slack has too little. Slack not having a lot though is a good thing.

Greatest to least on popular distros:
1. Slackware
2. Debian
3. SuSE
4. Mandrake
5. Red Hat
6. Corel

Those are just the ones i have used recently

[XPL]

Well, last year, I got the chance to see SuSe 6.2; and it seems like a good distro...I just didn't get the chance to use it. Right now, the distros I do have are the ones I got from tradeshows and magazines (for example: Maximum Linux: http://www.maximumlinux.com/ ); so none of them come with manuals. I have some of the ones everyone is talking about...but I need to find out in a detailed explanation why it is good.

Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[BLhobbes]

Slackware of course. Installs in seconds and you have a linux system... not a Red Hat or a Mandrake system. No offense to RedHat or Mandrake users... don't want to start a flame war. Just IMHO.

blhobbes

[BLhobbes]

Slackware of course. Installs in seconds and you have a linux system... not a Red Hat or a Mandrake system. No offense to RedHat or Mandrake users... don't want to start a flame war. Just IMHO.

blhobbes

[LoTekGuru]

Being a complete newbie to linux myself, I downloaded and installed Mandrake 7.2 on a suggestion from a friend of mine. After *trying* to use Redhat 5.0, 6.0, and 6.1, Mandrake is a dream to install and configure! Once I learn how to update drivers and install programs I'll be VERY comfortable with using this distro on a day to day basis!
Just my .02 http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Globalherald]

Well I picked up the complete Mandrake 7.1 distro a week ago for $10 and found it tremendously easy to install. But through a tremendous stroke of bad luck, the sections of the CD with both KDE and GNOME where BOTH defective. What are the odds of that?!?! I don't blame Mandrake, things like this happen, but until they send the replacement CD's I am stuck with the copy of RedHat 5.1 I got from the public library in LINUX UNLEASHED 3rd edition. Yes I know, it is an antique. HardDrake, deliver me! I'm suffering! And X is a joke on this dinosaur.

BTW, how easy is it to download and install the upgrade from Mandrake 7.1 to 7.2 without the luxury of a CD-R?

Can anyone give me any pointers on that?

[DJ-dOoK]

If you are even remotely thinking about going to linux, I personally think you just have to do your research. Ask friends, search all these websites, eg http://www.linuxplanet.com, http://www.linuxnewbie.org and so on, read reviews and then, if you are still not convinced, get a couple and try them out. It is only a matter of trial and error until you find one.

[conman]

Yeah Mandrake supports ATA66 out of the box. All you need to do to have it working from the boot onwards is to add "idebus=66" to the append part of your boot manager (lilo or grub). The kernel supports it.

[Scout255]

thank you for all of your help, you've been a great help and confidence builder.

[XPL]

I have some experience with Linux/UNIX, as a friend of mine would always tell me where to get free shell accounts (for example, http://www.twu.net/ ). But, I only know how to get around a little tiny bit; it's not the same as having a computer in front of you...and yes I'll admit I am a Windoze user; no I am not fed up with it, I want to try other options in the OS market.



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[Harvey]

best distro for a newbie to get up and running. Mandrake.

Best distro for a newbie to learn on.
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gifSlackware http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

[starbuck8968]

Exactly!

Mandrake is install is a breeze, but do you actually know what its doing when it installs?
I found that installation for Slackware was easier than Mandrake in fact, I guess cuz I've done it so much. Mandrake install takes like 40-50 min, cuz of all the stuff its got (useless), but Slackware installs in like 25 min. Quick and easy.

Just my $200.00

[javierm]

Based on your needs, I would stay away from Debian and Slackware. You said that you were
looking for a mid-level distro when it comes to being user friendly.

I suggest:
1. Caldera 2.4
2. Suse 7.0
3. Turbo Linux 6.0

Not necessarily my favorite ones, just a suggestion. Avoid Mandrake 7.1 (too bloated
and too many flawed apps). I finally like red hat (7.0) after hating 6.1 and 6.2 (better hardware recognition). My favorite, Suse 7.0 professional. It rocks!!!

[XPL]

I am not going to use Mandrake...I've read more horror stories about people installing it, than the success stories. Are there any other people who use some other distro besides Mandrake who use this BBS?



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[ille_pugil42]

I've actually installed Slack 7.0 in 15 minutes, and that was install and configured and sitting in X... (but then again a 40x cdrom, 7200rpm HDD, PIII and 128MB ram helps... ) the install is easiest for me (but I've been with slack since 3.whatever, and I like the intsalls where I can 'get my hands dirty' playing with the settings - anything that installs for me is impressive, but unwanted). Just my 2 cents.

[toolie]

Jeff:

Slack uses SlackPacks which are distributed as .tgz files. They are uber-easy to use (installpkg, removepkg, upgradepkg). One of the maintainers (David Cantrell) is working on a program (script actually) called 'autoslack' that basically does the same thing as apt-get. One of the main differences is data reliability/security. AutoSlack *ONLY* looks at the Slack homepage, and only upgrades packages there (because those are the ones that Patrick has looked at and decided were stable enough to be included in Slack). You can't have 15,000,000 sites listed to look for packages, which means that you have a harder time accidentally picking up a backdoored copy.

If you want more info, lemme know and I'll be more than happy to help.

[Wonock]

By now I think I have used most all well known distros and I'd have to say Slackware is my personal favorite. I do miss Deb packages but tgz works fine for me! Slack is fast, pretty simple to install, and doesn't cram stuff in your hard drive that you don't want.


Wonock

------------------
Not everyone can be right
But everyone will decide!
-Face To Face

[Wonock]

I use Red Hat/Slackware and FreeBSD but started out on Mandrake cause it was the easiest to install and awsome to learn with. I don't think that many people on this BBS use Mandrake but I think many people (not the ancients :-P) started out with it.

Wonock

[slim]

Turbo Linux is pretty good. I personaly lean closer to UNIX so try *BSD.

------------------
Bring on the POWER!!!!

[XPL]

Let me make this easier, because of what my computer is (of course I'll be making slight upgrades):

486DX/66, 200MB HD, 20MB Mem

Of course I'll be upgrading the HD and the chip, as well as memmory. I don't know the full specs of the computer though (so please don't ask).



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[XPL]

Let me make this easier, because of what my computer is (of course I'll be making slight upgrades):

486DX/66, 200MB HD, 20MB Mem

Of course I'll be upgrading the HD and the chip, as well as memmory. I don't know the full specs of the computer though (so please don't ask).



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[JG]

XPL

At the risk of you not believing this, try BestLinux 2000 obtainable at www.bestlinux.net (http://www.bestlinux.net) - it seems to be based on RedHat with some Caldera thrown in.

It's away from the so called mainstream distros -Rehat,Mandrake, Suse, Slack, Debian etc etc, but to me seems OK and pretty well featured.

Just a thought.

If debian is your preference - I'd suggest StormLinux.

Just my 2c worth.

JG

[XPL]

I have Storm Linux 2000, on CD...but none of my distros have manuals; because I got all the CDs from magazines and/or tradeshows. I just need to find a good one, but I would like to use a mainstream distro to begin with. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[slim]

the best distro to linux "virgins" is mandrake. Even if your not a "virgin" to linux it is an excelent distro, with lots of capablities.

------------------
Bring on the POWER!!!!

[twofoolish2b]

Well being a newbie to I thought I would just add my 2 cents also. I just installed SuSe 7.0, and man it is great. I have used RedHat 6.1 and Mandrake 7.1 some before and they also are good newbie products, but I would have to give it to SuSe so far. I also have tried to install FreeBSD 4.1, Slackware 7.1, and TurboLinux Server 6.0, but they are to diffcult for a newbie like me to fool with right now.

[CRT_Monkey]

I just D'loaded and installed Stormix and I like it!! It was easy as hell to install and saw all my hardware! I was up and running and online in 20 minutes. Plus it looks great too!

I just need to learn more about how .deb works. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif I think im sold on it. I was using Mandrake 7.2 yesterday but Storm may be a permanent fixture on my /dev/hda! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

Ya just can't beat a freely downloadable OS that works this good....

[tminos]

1. Slackware
2. Debian
3. Mandrake
4. Stormix
5. Caldera
6. Red Crap
7. Linux One

[CRT_Monkey]

4.Stormix http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

[fuzzy]

Yeah, Stormix is debian-based and apt-get is truly a delight.
Yeah, with debian you can have it access anynumber of sites to grab packages to install or upgrade and that's what makes it great!
You can limit what apt scans for (such as those packages only on debian's stable tree) or have it go to cutting edge sources to get the latest/greatest/unstablest (I know, not a word) stuff for your system. You decide.
I'll agree, Stormix is a good medium-level distro with all the power of debian.

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif Debian http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

------------------
I spy with my little eye something that begins with "W"... oops, it's gone now.

[XPL]

Someone is telling me I should use something named Monkey Linux, I've never heard of it...plus I'd rather go with a more mainstream distro.



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[mangeli]

You need to check this link out. Read the article.
http://www.tinyminds.f2s.com/article.php?sid=21

------------------
http://www.tinyminds.f2s.com

[fuzzy]

Okay article but seems a bit out of date. I don't see any current versions of these distros mentioned. It mentions Mandrake 6.1.
Check out the NHF here on LNO.

------------------
I spy with my little eye something that begins with "W"... oops, it's gone now.

[Shad]

I would suggest one of the small distros like Peanut Linux or Vector Linux.

However if you have some money a decent system can be put together for about $400. With only 200mb HD, you are going to be feeling cramped with most anything but a like a floppy distro. Though I hate to suggest it, Slackware might be a good choice as you can do a floppy install.

------------------
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life

[This message has been edited by Shad (edited 10 November 2000).]

[XPL]

Well, I bought Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop 2.4 (does anyone have any experience with eDesktop from Caldera?), I need to upgrade my computer, as a 486 can only run a 1GB HD, so I am going to get a P2 motherboard and go from there.



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[XPL]

Well, does anyone have any experience using Caldera's OpenLinux eDesktop...if so; please be kind and tell me?! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[freehtml]

Personally I had installed Mandrake 7.1 and 7.2 and Red Hat 6.2 and 7.0 on my AMD K6-2 400 , 128 MB system with 4GB Hdd dual boot with win ME.

I still think Mandrake 7.2 is the most easier to install and navigate.

Just my $0.2

------------------
chin
Web Admin
Sitzone (http://www.sitzone.com)

[XPL]

Mine is going to be a single boot system, and only run Linux; when I get enough money I'll buy a machine and run M$ Windoze on it. But, my question is still going unanswered...does anyone have any experience using Caldera's OpenLinx (if so then please speak up!)?



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[Wonock]

I've wondered for a little while which one is more popular: Debian or Slackware. It seems mandrake is pretty darn big, but of the earlier two which is more wide spred? Just a question. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

Wonock

------------------
Not everyone can be right
But everyone will decide!
-Face To Face

[wmHardRock]

The real question here is: who cares? Try them both and stick with the one that suits you best. I tried them both and Debian suits me better. Some people like Slack better. So just get them both (2$ at compUSA or whatever)

wmHardRock

[ph34r]

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif Slackware http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif Debian http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif
http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif LinuxFromScratch http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif


Well, I would have to say Slackware, based on 1 thing: its damm hard to figure out how/where to get a recent ISO of Debian. Also, the Slackware install is a tad nicer, imho. Why not go read the distro choice nhf?

[This message has been edited by ph34r (edited 12 November 2000).]

[David Anderson]

I'm getting a IBM Thinkpad 390X laptop. It has a Celeron 400mhz processor, 64mb RAM (I'll be upgrading it to 192mb) and a 4.6 gb hdd. Don't recall the video off hand, but I've read that it has X support.

Okay...I've been playing around with Linux for years now. Both at home and at work. At work I've built an apache server, installed Samba, setup scheduling, etc. I'd describe myself as an average user, only slightly above beginner status. However, I'm quite capable of searching forums/newsgroups, reading HOWTOs, etc for help.

I'm starting college next year (as an FYI, I'm 24 - going to college for the first time) for Computer Science. I got this laptop for college. I've decided to do what I've always wanted to do on one of my machines - install ONLY Linux. I'm quite certain I can do this on the Laptop, since Linux will give me everything I need in terms of applications. I do plan on using X a lot - MP3 player, browswer, word processing, ICQ, etc.

Now, on to the main question - which distro do I go with? I've been considering Slackware, since it's supposedly very powerful and doesn't try to do things in its own proprietary way like Redhat does (or so I hear). I'm comfortable compiling/installing applications, though I've never compiled the kernel.

If I do go with Slack 7.1, I was going to order it from Cheapbytes for $5.99 (3 CDs). My only concern is this - I'm not very comfortable with installing/configuring X. It looks like Slackware 7.1 comes with Xfree86 v4.0, but from what I've read it's best to get up to v4.01. If I get Slack 7.1 and install X v4.0, how hard is it to upgrade to v4.01?

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome!

------------------
David W. Anderson - dave@horrordvds.com
Webmaster - www.horrordvds.com (http://www.horrordvds.com)

[configure]

You don't have to install XFree4.0 package that slackware has given you. You can download Xfree4.01 from Linux Mafia (www.linuxmafia.org) or maybe Slackware's Official FTP site. It's only installpkg <pkgname> that's all http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif Well I assume that you download the slackware package not the source http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

Word Processing - Star Office ( http://www.sun.com/products/staroffice)
Koffice (www.kde.org)
ICQ - Licq (www.licq.org)

Web Browsing - Konqueror (www.kde.org)

Mp3 Playing - XMMS (www.xmms.org)

Those programs may satisfy your needs under Linux, good luck! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

------------------
..and Bill Gate said, "Just a few billions bugs, aint that nice?"

[This message has been edited by configure (edited 14 November 2000).]

[JuanTanamera]

Originally posted by David Anderson:
I'm getting a IBM Thinkpad 390X laptop. It has a Celeron 400mhz processor, 64mb RAM (I'll be upgrading it to 192mb) and a 4.6 gb hdd. Don't recall the video off hand, but I've read that it has X support.

Okay...I've been playing around with Linux for years now. Both at home and at work. At work I've built an apache server, installed Samba, setup scheduling, etc. I'd describe myself as an average user, only slightly above beginner status. However, I'm quite capable of searching forums/newsgroups, reading HOWTOs, etc for help.

I'm starting college next year (as an FYI, I'm 24 - going to college for the first time) for Computer Science. I got this laptop for college. I've decided to do what I've always wanted to do on one of my machines - install ONLY Linux. I'm quite certain I can do this on the Laptop, since Linux will give me everything I need in terms of applications. I do plan on using X a lot - MP3 player, browswer, word processing, ICQ, etc.

Now, on to the main question - which distro do I go with? I've been considering Slackware, since it's supposedly very powerful and doesn't try to do things in its own proprietary way like Redhat does (or so I hear). I'm comfortable compiling/installing applications, though I've never compiled the kernel.

If I do go with Slack 7.1, I was going to order it from Cheapbytes for $5.99 (3 CDs). My only concern is this - I'm not very comfortable with installing/configuring X. It looks like Slackware 7.1 comes with Xfree86 v4.0, but from what I've read it's best to get up to v4.01. If I get Slack 7.1 and install X v4.0, how hard is it to upgrade to v4.01?

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome!


Hay !! check this out : http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

[David Anderson]

JuanTanamera

Yeh, I've checked that site out before. I know the 390x will work (except the modem, which is unknown), but that site doesn't really give me a recommended distro.

I think I'm just going to try Slack 7.1. I won't have it install Xfree86 v4.00, so that way I can install v4.01 myself.




------------------
David W. Anderson - dave@horrordvds.com
Webmaster - www.horrordvds.com (http://www.horrordvds.com)

[ph34r]

Slack 7.1 uses X 3.3.5 by default, and depending on your video card, that may be all you need.

Configuring X 3.3.x is easy - install the X server your card needs, the VGA16 X server, and XF86Setup - then run XF86Setup.

Don't install framebuffer support or opt to try other console fonts.

[hswoolve]

Linux on Laptops is more of a portal than a review site. So far as slack w/o X 3.3.5, if you can make it work (sometimes I think Linux has a learning cliff, not a learning curve), if you can make it work, write it up and submit it. That's how I got on it.

[David Anderson]

Well....why would I only want to use X 3.3.5 over X 4.01?

------------------
David W. Anderson - dave@horrordvds.com
Webmaster - www.horrordvds.com (http://www.horrordvds.com)

[ph34r]

Well, in my case, I stick with the 3.3.5 because it has better game support for my Voodoo3 card - likely not a issue for your laptop.

My view is if it aint broke, and you don't need the newest features (your card may/may not), then don't upgrade.

[Muzzafarath]

why would I only want to use X 3.3.5 over X 4.01?


Not all 3.3.x drivers are yet available in version 4.x. That's why http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

[David Anderson]

I agree with 'if it aint broke don't fix it'. However, since I'm not currently running Linux on the laptop there's no X at all, which is why I assume it better to get the latest on there with the initial install.

I know this isn't always true, but I guess I'm just thinking 'newer = better'.

According to the Xfree86 site, it looks as if I'm all set with supported video drivers under v4.01.


20. NeoMagic

3.3.6:
Support (accelerated) for the NeoMagic NM2070, NM2090, NM2093, NM2097, NM2160 and NM2200 chipsets is provided by the XF86_SVGA server with the neo driver.

4.0.1:
Support (accelerated) for the NeoMagic NM2070, NM2090, NM2093, NM2097, NM2160 and NM2200 chipsets is provided by the "neomagic" driver.

Summary:
All chips supported in 3.3.6 are also supported in 4.0.1.


I don't know the actual chipset, but I know the video card is: NeoMagic® MagicGraph 256AV(TM) 256-bit video. Judging by the summary, I'm all set either way - if it worked under 3.3.6 (I've read numerous posts that it does) then it works under 4.0.1.

------------------
David W. Anderson - dave@horrordvds.com
Webmaster - www.horrordvds.com (http://www.horrordvds.com)

[XPL]

Well, does anyone have any experience using Caldera OpenLinux eDesktop...if so, please speak up (because this is the distro I bought); and I need to know how you liked it.



------------------
Michael
XPL Group, Founder
http://www.xplatypus.com/
http://www.egroups.com/group/xpl/
http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/xpl/

[ph34r]

The neomagic is no problem at all - just be sure to only define the 1024x768x16bpp setting - others supposedly don't work, or if they do, the fonts are garbled. The actual settings will depend on your laptop monitor, etc. but on the Dell CPIa series, it is the 1024x768x16bpp.

[David Anderson]

Well, the Thinkpad I'm getting only goes up to 800x600.

------------------
David W. Anderson - dave@horrordvds.com
Webmaster - www.horrordvds.com (http://www.horrordvds.com)

[kslaguardia]

I believe it is safe to say that if no one replies after four days or so to your message, you could assume that no one has used it. Just a guess, I use 'drake 7.2 myself.

[redline]

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gifRedHat http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

redline

[MADHATter7]

Granted, I'm still a newbie... And granted, I've only been using Debian for about one day and Slackware for about the same. But, I have used RedHat (still am) and Mandrake. (not anymore) Here is what I'm wandering -- is there another distro with an apt-get type tool ? Sure, RedHat & MDK has the rpm, but they don't even compare. Plus, Debian is in the true spirit of Free Software/Open Source, created by thousand of volunteers and is, I don't know, PURE.

In one day of installation, updating and use, I can already tell I LOVE Debian. I am notorious for formatting partitions and installing trying new distros, but I can say this... Debian will ALWAYS be on my system from now on.

With this in mind, why would anyone use anything else ??


MADHATter7 http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

[X_console]

I wrote a "apt-get" tool for Slackware: http://it.yorku.ca/~xconsole/download It's not as good as apt-get obviously, but it does it's job.

As for why anyone would use anything else, well... if you check out the discussions on distribution wars, I'm sure you'll find the reasons there.

[ph34r]

Both Storm and Libranet are based on Debian, and I have heard a lot of good things about them. I have also sent in a new version of the distro howto, so keep your eyes open for that shortly.

[Unruly]

I'm using debian right now, and if it wern't for apt-get, I would have chucked this distro for another bloated peice of crap. But now at least I can trim back and run minimal without worrying about too much bloat.

It definatly hast it's quirks, but in the sprit of true FREE software, debian can't be beat.

Not that I don't like other distro's as well. Like slackware and it's minimalistic-yet-functional view of things... tre cool. Mandrake although it's bloated, it's fun, and simple, gave me less headaches and let me relax for a while... definatly a good idea http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

Now that I got quake3 working http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif linux has made a perminant residancy on my hard drive.

------------------
Nathan
Q: How many existentialists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Two. One to screw it in and one to observe how the lightbulb itself symbolizes a single incandescent beacon of subjective reality in a netherworld of endless absurdity reaching out toward a maudlin cosmos of nothingness.

[Gweedo]

I here drake and bloated used often. I would agree if you load it and do not change anything. I do disagree though if you take the time and customize and optimize it. I have Drake on my machine and it runs like a stripe-ed *** ape. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

I know people have a hard time with rpms but I think they a pretty good. Sometimes you goto at smart a package but other than that I have no problem withem.

------------------
Dubbie..Dubbie..Do..
Watch out.. or the Penguin will get You http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/wink.gif

[This message has been edited by Gweedo (edited 19 November 2000).]

[fuzzy]

I love Debian. Storm is a great "rendition" of it. Apt is a great tool and get's only better. But overall, debian's also the distro that's made to most sense to me (vs. redhat, drake, suse...). (Slack makes sense, too, but debian won't let go of me! http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif )



------------------
"Suppose you were an idiot... And suppose you were a member of Congress...But I repeat myself."
--- Mark Twain

[ndelo]

I don't want to start a flame war here, but I have the same age-old question--which distro should I use? I just want to run a web-mail server--sendmail, pop3, apache, and little else. No GUI, just a command prompt, linuxconf and the absolute least amount of packages needed. Any good, solid suggestions?

[Ice0]

The answer is, check out all of them, what is good for one person may not be good for another. You can get cheap Linux cd's for around $3/4 at LinuxCentral.com or CheepLinux.com I believe.

Try them all out and decide for yourself, and save us from the flame wars http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

Or else, you could search for distro, and have a look at what's been posted on the issue.

Personally, I use RH... http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

Ciao, Jamie
jamie@inetezine.org
Power to the penguin!

[Muzzafarath]

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif Slackware http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

Seriously though, any distro will do. They're all Linux-

[Lovechild]

I have been using Mandrake 7.1 for some time now.. Still being a fresh faced newbie, I decided to get Drake 7.2.

And boy was I disapointed, It was slow and buggy. Drake 7.1 ran fine on my laptop and I was very happy with it, but I craved the goodness of KDE 2.0.. Soo I did a fresh install...

This piece of Sh.. is soo SLOW, my windows install is much more stable than this.. and faster.

I have now decided to go on a Distro quest, I was think of getting Debian (APT-get sounds cool) but I heard that it is very different from the newbieish Drake series. or SuSE ...

There are the demands..

1. Has to run KDE 2.0. (unless this is what is causing the slowdown or the unstability)
2. Has to have Packagemanager (RPM or DEB).
3. Has to be fast !!!!
4. Has to have XFree 4.0.1 or better.
5. Stablity, ohhh the goodness.
6. Fairly easy is prefered..
7. Has to have access to a 'free' wordprocesser with a GREAT, EASY Formula editor. I rather liked StarOffice, but the formula editor is to hard to work quickly with.

---
Remember TUX, there is no GUI.

[lad24mx]

Then, what you want is SuSE.
SuSE 7 comes with StarOffice 5.2,gnome, kde 1.1.2 and KDE2 (beta), but you can download the stable version from their ftp site, it's all prepackaged in rpm format.
It comes with kpackage,yast (system manager and more), Netscape 4.75, real player plugin, tons of different window managers,Xfree 4.0 but as I said before you'll have to download the rpm upgrade if you want Xfree 4.1

My two cents.

[witman]

Sheee-it man!! You don't ask for much http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/rolleyes.gif

Why not install KDE2.0 on Drake 7.1?

------------------
Use the source!
The WITMAN Cometh!

[Lovechild]

I tried to update Drake 7.1, but I failed miserably.... Now my windows partition won't boot... and I have a paper due for tomorrow... I was writing it in Word 97... CRAP..

SuSE.. U say.. I will give it a shoot !! WAIT... It's expensive, it will have to wait until I have some money again...

"Christmas + need to give gifts = NO MONEY"

Can I get debian running with KDE 2.0 ?? since they don't like nonGPL software and KDE only just a few months ago was GPL is it avail. ??

I "F U C K I N G" HATE MS..

---------------
Dear Santa..

Can I have Microsoft removed from the face of the Earth for Christmas.
I'm not asking for anything big just a TAC nuke. I have been nice all year :-)
---------------

[veloctTX]

Sure you can. It's in woody, but you can update potato to run it.

[inktoast]

KDE2 is proably what is slowing you down, in my expirence i found KDE2 to be much slower than anything else i have tryed.....

[Pierre Lambion]

Hi,

for a formula enabled wordprocessor, try latex or its frontend Lyx!

Pierre

[Lovechild]

I tried Lynx... and I found it to be very bad, I rather like the Equation Editor from Word 97. Has this been ported ? or is a similar proggy out there ?

KDE 2.0.1 is slowing my system down, Kicker is using 15% of my 64mb memory, drake uses about 45-50% of the memory for caching and buffers.. I only have 1.6 mb free memory !! that was what was slowing down Tux....

Why is it important to use all my memory on caching and buffering? Can I reduce this amount =

[Shad]

Linux will use all the available memory for processes, but a small amount. This intelligent handling of memory is what makes Linux usually seem quicker than MSwindows. The only time you should be concerned about memory usage is if you actually use the swap file. And I mean alot of swap file not just a couple megs.

KDE 2 is rather slow. Use a different Window manager/Desktop. I prefer Gnome, but sometimes use just Sawfish or IceWM if I want something really quick.

For Formulas, you might try Abiword. I am not sure what all you need but reading the Abiword-lists, most people seem quite satisfied. I know from experience that handles super/subscritp well enough.

------------------
Just a Tuna in the Sea of Life

[grendel_khan]

Have you tried running WindowMaker? I switched from KDE2 (on Mandrake 7.2 BTW) about a week ago and I'm never going back. Boots quick, runs like a champ, very easy to get the hang of, looks very elegant and crisp.

[Lovechild]

The problem is that I'm in love. In love with the crisp surface of KDE2.. I would rather buy more ram than switch desktop :-?

But I'll give WindowMaker a shot.. otherwise I go back to KDE 1.1.2 and play ball from there !

I just gotta sit back and kick it, till KDE makes a lighter edition of KDE2... Ohh damn it had all the features I craved.. like the remember the mimetype to the filetype thingy.. Ohh I missed that in KDE1. Making global mimetypes with the root user everytime I had to use a new program with a new filetype... DAMN, I hated that!


-------
Still I'm dreaming... Anything can happen -Astral Projection

[LinuxAnt]

Gnome is just as crisp as KDE 2.0 and is quicker. It runs well under Mandrake 7.2

[veloctTX]

Enlightenment is great also. And you can run it with gnome. Blackbox is good also.

[xpccx]

It would be nice to get a litte more info on the type of system you have. If you're running a 486 with 64M of RAM and you want a highly configurable GUI that's also really fast, you're probably not going to get there.

What processes are running in the background? A lot of Linux distro's tend to have many processes running in the background by default (type: ps -aux). They don't take up much RAM individually, but they could add up if you have a lot of them running.

You have to realize that the more you have running -- X && Window Manager && Desktop Manager && et al -- the more bloated your system is going to be. You'll see a definate performance hit if you don't have the RAM or the processor speed to handle it.

Slackware has a package manager, but it uses .tgz packages and does not check dependencies. Some people don't like that but it allows you to compile programs from source and not have the package manager complain about failed dependencies. It comes with a utility that will convert .rpm files to .tgs files, as well.

Slackware 7.1 comes with XFree86 4.0 in the /contrib directory of one of the CDs.

I use Enlightenment as my window manager (I don't bother with either Gnome or KDE) which I find the most visually appealing as their are plenty of themes for it at e.themes.org. You might want to give that a try.

For GUI word processors, there's isn't much. Star Office, Abi Word (part of Gnome Office) and KWord (which has KFormula). You can take a peak at screen shots of KFormula at http://www.koffice.org/kformula/screenshots.html

I run Slackware 7.1 with Enlightenment 16.4 and XFree86 4 on a PII 350MHz with 128Meg of RAM and I have a very nice looking setup that's also very fast.

[cs25x]

peanut
8.2 has all you need.
8.1 has all you need.
KDE 2 is buggy, that is probably where you are having trouble.
peanut will be releasing ( ? ) another early next year, it will ( ? ) have a 2.4 kernel and KDE 2.x After kde becomes stable.
In any case you should look at 8.1 or 8.2 from ibiblio.org, and other sites.
peanut 8.2 has kernel 2.2.18 amongst other goodies, there is also a 2.4.pre kernel for the adventure and excitement.

[ph34r]

Peanut is also based on Slackware. Of the bunch, I'd go Slackware tho... just nice having that CD with everything you need on it (compiler, etc.) that Peanut leaves out to keep the size down.

Why not take a look at the distro choice NHF?

[bin]

Debian's apt-get is a real advantage, plus the fact the Debian stuff is rock solid - not bleeding edge, but so easy to upgrade. On it's own Debian is a little cranky to install - but so is Peanut. The real answer is at www.stormix.com. (http://www.stormix.com.) This is a customised Debian based distro. Hail v2.06 has the latest Debian stuff. They've added KDE if that's your bag and the install is a total no brainer. I've tried Suse, Red Hat, Caldera, Peanut, Definite, Turbo, and various other distros, but honestly Stormix is streets ahead - and sssooooooo easy.

------------------
"The more I learn, the less I realise I know..."

[cs25x]

Everything is on the large peanut iso. It has soem things that slackware doesnt -- here we go distro wars -- e.g. mc is used as the great big stick. It installs rpm tgz and the others.
The small iso is about 60M & lacks compiler and docs but nobody reads the howto anyway.

[veloctTX]

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif DEBIAN http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

[pointreyes]

KDE2 works fast and is very easy to install in Slack 7.1. Slack uses packages instead of rpms but you can get the packages for KDE2, Netscape 4.76, and XFree86 4.0.1 at www.linuxmafia.org (http://www.linuxmafia.org)

[Lovechild]

Slackware, you say ...
SuSE, you say...
Debian, you say...

Can any1 hook me up with some cds ? I don't feel like ordering from Cheapbytes and paying 8 buck to have them shipped to Denmark.

[Muzzafarath]

Go to Linuxstore (http://www.linuxstore.se). They have really low prices and will ship to both Denmark and Sweden. They'll also answer questions by phone if you have any problems installing a distro...

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif Linuxstore http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/cool.gif

[This message has been edited by Muzzafarath (edited 19 December 2000).]

[cs25x]

has anybody managed to remove just one package from a debian installation yet?
This is a most serious problem and the reason I gave up on Debian.
I used to use slackware from kernel 1.2.1 thru 2.0.36, I still regard it highly but peanut is a better way to go. It has enough to satisfy most players, and if you take the plunge and drop all fat* filesystems down the pipes, it installs very simply and fast.
If you need a reason for peanut, look at the office suites packages.

suse ? has got a real speed problem on all their sites. I have to wait for an hour just to load one of their pages. I gave up looking at them months ago. Never did have enough time to get to the download position.

But then there is no accounting for taste, I prefer a simple life.

[Lovechild]

Originally posted by cs25x:
If you need a reason for peanut, look at the office suites packages.


What is this peanut that everybody is talking about ??
The only peanut, I know about is the ones that can be eaten http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[milanuk]

Assuming you're serious, it means 'Peanut Linux', a small but fully functional distro based off of Slackware

Monte

------------------
There are basically three kinds of men. There
are the ones who learn by reading. Then there are
the few who learn by observation. The rest just
have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

[Lovechild]

Originally posted by milanuk:
Assuming you're serious, it means 'Peanut Linux', a small but fully functional distro based off of Slackware

Monte



why would I not be serious ?? I really didn't know what it was... I figured that it was a distro, but I hadden't heard of it before..

I'll go investigate..

Bye the way... I switched to Gnome 1.2 .. and it's working out great.. not as great as KDE2, but it is much faster..

---
Why would anyone make a GUI that wouldn't run nice on:

Celeron (2?) 500 MHz /w 64 mb ram, and a nice HD.. (Linux sleek, yep -- KDE, don't think soo)

It blows me away..

[cs25x]

ftp.ibiblio.org etc etc etc /distributions/peanut is approximately where you will find peanut


the 8.1 pkgs office suites directory contains:
abi wordperfect
applix
gx-edit
hancom word pro
k-spellcheck
klyx-word processor
siag office suite
star office suite
vi editor 5.7
word perfect.

It installs to about 170M but not with all that loaded. Some people find this "better" than the gigglebytes some of the other distros use. You could almost reformat the other's swap space as e2fs and drop peanut in to test it.....
I like it because it boots with mc whereas i didnt even get command history in slackware's ash. the distro mc is the extended version with package handling and it permits you to remove just one package. At this point it should be clear that slackware does too with its pkgtool, but the extended mc is very neat, you go to /var/packages put the cursor on the package you want to remove and hit f2.

realy it is very well thoughtout and put together. Is it slackware? weeellll i dont think it is anymore. there is a lot of debian compilation in there. It is similar to slack in that it is a bsd style directory structure.

000000000000000000000000000

[Lovechild]

Thanks everybody. cs25x just, gave me the final piece in the puzzle... Debian is the way to go.. Im looking forward to apt-get'ing .deb packages..

Thanks !!!

The distro quest is over, for now !!!

Gnome 1.2 and Debian !! that will be a damn fast system !!

http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif debian ? http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/smile.gif

[Dep]

I just had a friend give me a 486 laptop with Windows 3.1 on it, but its damned painful to use Win3.1. I was wondering how one would go about installing linux on a 486 laptop. I've messed around with Mandrake 7.0 a bit, but nothing much. All I'm looking for is a console basically, no GUI or anything, since the laptop only has a 200 MB hard drive or so. It's either this or an old DOS, which I don't really want to do. Thanks.

[cs25x]

ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-4.0

ftp://ftp.freesoftware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-3.9/README39

Probably 3.9 will do it. 4.0 is where the bloat set in.

I have run 3.9 in less than 100M with X. Try xfce for your window manager. I used that and fwvm95 on a 486. Some people say xfce is ugly, i say different is the word. After all what are we? We take M$ stuff and use it no problems so why are we so picky when it comes to Linux?
Slackware can be installed over a network, use the net boot disk and plug a modem into your laptop.
It would help if you got a copy of tomsrbt, a small 1 floppy thing, that will assist in setting up your laptop. Also the peanut boot-root floppies have mc on them, that is a "good thing" to have as you setup your new box.
ftp.ibilio.org/pub/linux/distributions for the other distributions. Hope i remembered that url.

Peanut runs in less than 200m and it gives you KDE but no compiler. You can hack KDE out of it and get it down to about 90M Then you can add another win manager, as an alternative.

01010101010101010101010101010010101001

[lynch]

I run Caldera OpenLinux 1.3 on a 486sx-25 w/o xwindows.Takes about 90MBs.
lynch

[jscott]

VectorLinux (http://www.ibiblio.org/vectorlinux/) 170MB with almost everything you'd need. (Including X!)

Or try Linux from scratch (http://www.linuxfromscratch.com) good stuff.

[BioHaze]

I am gonna be building a box strictly for a firewall. What distro is the best for this and I thought of Debian but if anyone can suggest anything better or more reliable please let me know.

[mdwatts]

Actually any of them can be setup to be firewalls. Although there are some distros that are specifically meant to be firewalls. I think Storm has a firewall version.

[MkIII_Supra]

<A HREF="http://www.coyotelinux.com/coyote.html" TARGET=_blank>Bark like a *****![/URL

Then kick yerself...</A>

[url="http://www.inet.no/dante/"]Then rejoice the gifts given... (http://www.linuxrouter.org/)

I am feeling a bit psychotic tonight.... can ya tell?!?

------------------
The Dragon is swift and powerful. Beware his wrath...
Honor your family and yourself. Speak not out of passion but out of wisdom and temper the fires of war that reside in you, and you shall then reach your full measure as a man of Honor, Courage and Integrity.
http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/MkIIISupra/ (http://www.angelfire.com/wa2/MkIIISupra)

[mikeylikesitz]

OK, i got a old Craftsman XT 8088 and would like to use it for a print server. It has no CD-ROM and a old 5 3/4? floppy, and a 20mb HDD. So the only way without adding to much is to get an ISA eithernet card and install from the net. Is the a version that will fit on that small of a drive that i can d/l from the net. Right now it has no OS on it, so im at a loss on where to start???

------------------
Welcome to the Revolution!

[mangeli]

Search the board for peanut linux.

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by mikeylikesitz:
XT 8088


i don't think most/all distros will run on pc's older than 386
www.kernel.org (http://www.kernel.org)

seems to say the kernel runs on 386 or higher

also see
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch-hardware-req.en.html#s-hardware-supported

"However, Linux will not run on 286 or earlier processors"

i guess there could be some special way to do this?

[This message has been edited by FoBoT (edited 08 January 2001).]

[milanuk]

Don't even bother. There used to be a project (ELKS?) to get Linux running on a 286 or even an 8088/8086, but I've not heard much out of them for at least a year or more. You need at least a 386 or better to use the features of Linux. You might have some luck w/ RTLinux, or one of the other embedded linuxes, but otherwise, you are probably sol. Sorry.

Monte

[mikeylikesitz]

Thats what i kinda figured, oh well, how about a cheap place to get components??

------------------
Welcome to the Revolution!

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by mikeylikesitz:
how about a cheap place to get components??


www.compgeeks.com (http://www.compgeeks.com)

[This message has been edited by FoBoT (edited 08 January 2001).]

[mtasack]

I would like some opinions from Linux users who use Linux on a laptop to do the majority of their work. I realize getting Linux to work on a laptop may be more difficult than a desktop system, which is why I am asking if there is a distro that may be more recommended than others for compatibility reasons (as much "out-of-box" compatibility as possible). I own an IBM ThinkPad A20m and will be dual booting with Win98.

Thanks very much...

[OS]

I run Mandrake 7.1 on a Toshiba Satellite 2100cds and it's okay. I am going to try SuSE 7.0 when I can get the cash. Linux on laptops isnt a big deal anymore...just watch out so a winmodem doesnt bite you.

Owen


------------------
Owen Stampflee - info@1320web.com
1320webmedia - Affordable, High Performance Internet Solutions.
AOL Screenname: info 1320web - Website: www.1320web.com (http://www.1320web.com)

[bleg26]

I haven't tried any others, but Mandrake 7.2 reconizes almost everything on my Gateway SOLO 9100. USB support is compiled into the default kernel, but I had to set up my USB NIC manualy. http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/Forum12/HTML/000374.html

[evil_roy]

I've got a 486 laptop with 4megs of ram - I use it to smash cd's to bits. It's quite robust and serves this purpose well. Just smashed 3 potato cd's and 15 f/d's to bits.

[hswoolve]

I took a look at Linux on Laptops ( http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/kharker/linux-laptop/ bookmark it!) to see if your model was listed. There are three listed.
1 ( http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~bdonovan/linux/ThinkPadA20.html ) is running Redhat 6.2
2 ( http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~bdonovan/linux/ThinkPadA20.html ) which is listed as having had several distro's installed.
3 ( http://main.nc.us/~cd/a20m/ ) which has debian on it.

It looks like the system you've got is a rather linux friendly one. Congratulations and welcome to linux.

[eperch]

If you had asked IBM to install Linux without specifying a distro, they would have installed Caldera e2.4

I've tried RedHat 6.1, Mandrake 7.1 and Caldera e2.4 No problem with any of them.
(ThinkPad i1410)

[This message has been edited by eperch (edited 14 January 2001).]

[Evil Jeff]

Everything I've tried has worked beautifully on my dell inspiron 7000 except stormix, which can't seem to remember to every start pcmcia services or remember that my nic is a pcmcia card.

I'd personally recommend debian or conectiva, both have apt-get and are very cool.

Evil Jeff
www.hellincorporated.com (http://www.hellincorporated.com)

[teeitup]

I use Debian on my Compaq Armada.
Ethernet, Modem, and scsi pcmcia adpaters.
I love it.
Dell get high marks.
Check the video chipsets and sound chipsets before you buy. Getting a laptop with well supported chipsets will pay big dividends.
Understanding pcmcia is key to your enjoyment.

Good Luck,


------------------
Don't take life to seriously, You'll never get out alive!
-Bugs Bunny-

[Diwakar]

comrades! can you please provide me the following info?:

+] which is the best Linux distribution for i810 machines? i'm using pentium celeron system.

+] which is the best Linux distribution for someone like me who's not a techie and wants to switch from Windoze to Linux, and who's no familiar with DOS either.

(hey, i've been a Linux advocate for a long time. it's time i started using it! there's nobody here to help me, so *i* have to install it)

cheers!

- Diwakar

------------------
Give Linux a voice at our IT mailing list. To subscribe, send a blank mail to: it-subscribe@lists.tamil.com

[Helius]

It doesn't matter wich distro you'll use I think. I would prefer SuSe 7.0 Prof. If you have a fast connection and a CD writer go to www.linuxiso.org (http://www.linuxiso.org) and test some distros...

[Diwakar]

thanks Helius! is SuSe friendly to a non-techie linux newbie? i heard Caldera and Corel are good for i810, but wasnt sure about it, that's why posted those questions.

- Diwakar

Originally posted by Helius:
It doesn't matter wich distro you'll use I think. I would prefer SuSe 7.0 Prof. If you have a fast connection and a CD writer go to www.linuxiso.org (http://www.linuxiso.org) and test some distros...



------------------
Give Linux a voice at our IT mailing list. To subscribe, send a blank mail to: it-subscribe@lists.tamil.com

[Helius]

SuSE is very user friendly I think. With Yast(2) you have a good tool for configuration. It incluedes much of software. The evolution version you could download consits only of 2 CD's...If you like it, you should by it!

Mandrake is good too, but I prefer SusE...

[Diwakar]

thanks! yesterday i visited http://www.linuxnewbie.com and saw a lot of postings recommending Mandrake 7.2 and decided to install it in my machine ("newbie" is the keyword!). only it takes some time to find the local distributor.

------------------
Give Linux a voice at our IT mailing list. To subscribe, send a blank mail to: it-subscribe@lists.tamil.com

[Shadoglare]

I'd probably have to say whatever distribution has updated their Xwindows install to 4.x, which I don't think is any yet http://www.linuxnewbie.org/ubb/wink.gif

[Joshie the CK]

Alrighty-roo.. Screw RH7.2...
Wow.. That was poetic.. :-)

Anyway, RH7.2 went buggy on me, and ended up FUBARing.. Upon further research, it's apparently because of my Athalon chip, and the 2.4 kernel..

So I guess I *COULD* reinstall RH7.2, and get everything going again.. Apparently the kernel thing is fixable..

But the real question is, do I *WANT* to..

SUSE looks pretty nice, and I've *ALWAYS* wanted to run Debian..

But, I quite like the tools, and installer in RH.. I've *NEVER* (other then this kernel thing) had a problem with RH.. Always seems to run nice'n'dandy..

Problem with SUSE, is that I really can't afford the $80 right now.. And it might take a while to get CD's from the people I know that have it. (I disklike the idea of an FTP install.. Even over my speedy DSL.)

Problem with Debian, is that the installer is somewhat frustrating, and all the packages are older anyway, so everything needs to be upgraded. (Which apparently is pretty easy with APT)

I have deb 2.2r3 on CD's.. So it'd be a right-away install.. Which would make me a LOT happier then waiting for SUSE..

I just don't know what to do.. :-) I was hoping we could have a nice civilized discussion about this, that WOULDN'T instantly degenerate into a "my distro is better then yours" war.. I'm actually trying to figure out what's better in the long run..

I'm running an ATHALON 1.2Ghz, with an old PCI VooDoo(doo) banshee for GFX. 512 RAM, and I got 60Gigs to play with for hard disk, so no worries there.. I was actually thinking of installing several distros, on different partitions, just to play with stuff..

Did I mention, that I don't want to spend fscking YEARS tweaking configurations? "I just want a computer that WORKS" is my motto.. :-)

----
Josh

[killerasp]

If you like the RH 7.2 install and want something like that, DONT GO TO DEBIAN. Ive tried it and it was such a hassle. RH install is the best thing on the market. Its one of the main reasons why it does so good.

[scanez]

I disagree. There's nothing wrong with the Debian install. NO GUI, but you don't really need one. Just have to follow the questions.

My advice, try out a few distros you are looking into. After playing with a few, you can reinstall the one that fit you best, and only that one. That's how I settled on Debian :)

Most importantly, have fun :)
SC

[danrees]

Funny you mention this, because I reinstalled SuSE 7.2 over my new RedHat 7.2 setup (on an ASUS A7A266/Athlon XP 1600) because I noticed RedHat behaving a little bit biggy and I really couldn't be bothered to try fixing the problem, when I know SuSE works fine for me.

You may as well do an FTP install because you'll end up doing that with Debian anyways - besides, most of the packages in 7.2 (7.3?) are out-of-date now and need updating.

[ 23 January 2002: Message edited by: danrees ]

[Okie]

yeppers, i bought Redhat 7.2 just a few day before that rumor about the AOL buyout of Redhat hit the net, it installed nice, and was for the most part ran great on my primitave 400MHz celeron, but i have just a few bugs in Redhat7.2 that bothered me that i wiped it off and went back to Redhat7.1 which seems better than 7.2...

i tryed Slackware 8 and it installs good and xf86config configures everything fine except my mouse, but i copied the mouse info in the Redhat xf86config-4 file from redhat and edited it in Slackware's xf86config file and it got the wheel to work (PS2 wheel mouse).

so i oreded Debian2.2r3 from linuxcentral.com and i am going to give it a try, hopefully it will do better than Slackware for me, if not i will be sticking with Redhat7.1...


i read at linuxtoday.com that the 2.4 kernel does have some bugs related to the Athelon CPU (bummer for the Athelon users) too bad those are good CPUs...

[Psycho]

Actually the problem is in the Athlon it's self. There is a memory paging issue with the agp systems. With the kernel parameter append mem=nopentium it's easily avoided.

I have had no problems at all with RH 7.2 since adding that.

[Joshie the CK]

I suppose I'll probably go back to RH 7.2... It's just that I keep thinking that one of the other distro's might be 'better'.. I mean, SUSE looks pretty good, what with the tools it gives you and such.. (and has some pretty cool looking games included too.. But I haven't researched if I can get those separate.. :-D)

I guess there's something a pride issue too.. :) I get tired of the local linux guys sneering at me for using RedHat. :D But I suppose I should just go with what works...

Here's a thought... Can I have 3 partitions, one of which is / for RH, one of which is / for SUSE, and one of which is /home?

That'd be a fun way to try a couple of different distros... I'll have to think about that one.. hmm..

[TC]

A lot of people have trouble installing Debian from Debian.org for the first time. Libranet has a distro of Debian which installs as easy as Mandrake/Redhat but has all the power of Debian. Why not give them a chance, then once installed you can learn to administer Debian.
http://www.libranet.com

JMHO

:cool:

TC

Have fun computing

[Frith]

yea, go with Libranet...that would probably be best for someone new to Debian.

when you're ready for a challenging distro, try installing Potato and upgrading to Sid :cool:

[TC]

Firth, Libranet is potato with a 2.4 kernel and 4.0.2 Xfree

Just to clear up any confusion.

;)

TC

[thor420]

Here's a thought... Can I have 3 partitions, one of which is / for RH, one of which is / for SUSE, and one of which is /home?

Of course you could do that. I orginally had redhat 7.1. I decided to install Slackware 8.0 on the end of the disk, and gradually fell in love with that distro. My setup was Redhat 7.1 with lilo on the mbr taking 17 gigs, 1 gig swap, 11 gigs slackware. Now I like one distro over the other, and will be slowly taking space away from redhat. I did not have a separate /home partition so I can't exactly answer your question.

[Taizong]

Seems a no brainer to me. If you want a system that can be installed, configured, and going as a production workstation in less then an hour, you should go Mandrake 8.1, regardless of what desktop you want to use.

[Frith]

Originally posted by TC:
<STRONG>Firth, Libranet is potato with a 2.4 kernel and 4.0.2 Xfree

Just to clear up any confusion.

;)

TC</STRONG>

I knew that; the point I was trying to make was that Libranet was less challenging overall than Real Debian(TM). ;)

[TC]

Sorry, I agree.

:D

TC

Have fun computing

[PimpHolic]

why not try slackware if you are considering debian. i found the slackware install MUCH friendlier than debian's. X refused to work for me with debian, but with slack (and im not going to lie, it took a bit of time to configure) everything worked.
but your looking at some configuring time with debian, and you do have a 60 gb harddrive...*drool*

but if you want somethign that basically works out of the box, stick with redhat / mandraek / suse
or even try OpenLinux http://www.caldera.com
a very nice distro in my opinion, only, it comes with kde only which is pretty annoying because i think the majority of people use gnome / whatever else.