Official Redhat vs. FTP

[vaporx]

Hi everyone,

I'm another one of those new to linux people(Current Windows NT/2000 user
:o ).

I just want to know: what are the main differences between the official Redhat linux box set and the downloadable OS?

I downloaded the RH 6.2 iso from linuxiso.org, burned the image to a cd and installed the OS(as a server)...

However, I noticed that the installation differed from the 'pretty' gui of the official RH install guide(depicted in the documentation.)

And also the startx command is not recognized. Why?


Thanks!

[milanuk]

Well, I'm taking a SWAG (Scientific Wild-*** Guess), but is it possible that your hardware for whatever reason isn't X friendly, and the installer defaulted to the console mode? In all honesty, you don't need the 'pretty' installer (anaconda), and you don't need X on a server (many people prefer to keep X off most servers, as it is somewhat of a resource hog) If you absolutely have to have X, from the command line prompt, as root, type '/sbin/setup' and it should present you w/ a screen similar in color and function to part of the original install. You can setup various things from this screen, including X, if you are sure your hardware will work w/ Linux. I would recommend that you learn to run a Linux server from the command line first, because it's arguably the most effective way of bending the machine to your will ;) which is the whole point of the excercise, right. If you want a GUI, but can't/don't want to install X, you can grab Webmin from www.webmin.com/webmin (http://www.webmin.com/webmin) which is a web-based interface for administrating servers. It might be worth the time to make sure you build it w/ SSL enabled so as to protect yourself.

Monte

[Tyr-7BE]

Hrmmm...Nar...there shouldn't be a difference in the ISO's and the official CD purchased.

[vaporx]

Monte,

that's a good SWAG! :)

You're absolutely right: Just to check, I ran the setup on my other NT box, and the 'anaconda' installer initiated. So unfortunately it's a hardware issue. I'll probably reconfigure some things and later install Redhat on the 'X friendly' system.

Thanks.


BTW, i hear that O'Reilly's Linux in a nutshell is a good 'getting started' book. What do you think? Any other recommendations?

Thanks again

[ 02 March 2001: Message edited by: vaporx ]

[milanuk]

I can't really comment on the 'Linux in a Nutshell' book other than this: O'Reilly has an excellent track record of putting out great books (the only real exception to this is the 'Building Linux Clusters': The pretty much universal bad reviews kept me from buying it). The only problem is finding books that apply to what distro/release you have. The Linux world is moving at a high rate of speed, and makes a difficult target for book publishers to accurately lock in on (not that this stops them from selling butt-loads of books on Linux, btw).

I have spent a lot more than I should have on the big $49.99 'tomes' on "Joe-Bob's Linux Unleashed", etc. They try to cover too wide a subject range, and end up not covering anything in enough detail. I usually end up going to the Linux Documentation Project, and there is much valuable material there for free. The Unix-and-Internet-Fundamentals-HOWTO is a good read for an orientation on the Unix view of your machine and the Internet. There are many other goodies there, like the Rute Guide, which is outstanding (sucky license, though), and the Securing & Optimizing RedHat Linux (specifically for 6.1 & 6.2) Guide.

There's a lot of information out there, and a lot of it stays more current than any book.

Monte

[Tyr-7BE]

Originally posted by vaporx:
Monte,

that's a good SWAG! :)

You're absolutely right: Just to check, I ran the setup on my other NT box, and the 'anaconda' installer initiated. So unfortunately it's a hardware issue. I'll probably reconfigure some things and later install Redhat on the 'X friendly' system.

Thanks.


BTW, i hear that O'Reilly's Linux in a nutshell is a good 'getting started' book. What do you think? Any other recommendations?

Thanks again

[ 02 March 2001: Message edited by: vaporx ]

Agreed. O'Reilly has an excellent track record. I started Java programming with "Java in a nutshell" and I found it to be clear and concise, never once confusing me. O'Reilly generally makes sure that you're along for the ride and that you don't fall off, making it easy to learn virtually anything.

[The King Ant]

vaporx, you might want to try RH 7.0 on the computer you couldn't get 6.2 to work on. Not having your video card work with the GUI installer is something they tend to try to fix when upgrade stuff. I guess you could look at the errata or changes file on RedHat's website before you go and download the ISO though.

[blink]

Just got the book "Unix Power Tools" by O'Reilly, seems to have some pretty cool stuff in it....

Blink