Some Newbie Linux Questions...

[epod69]

Hey, I have been using Linux a couple weeks now (Distro: Linspire) and I of course have been having many many questions.

Here is a list of questions that I can think of right now:

One of the reasons I am wanting to switch from Windows to Linux is because I heard that Linux is faster. The distro I am using (Linspire) so far seems to be running slower then Windows XP...and Linspire takes over 1 minute to load up. Is it just this distro or is it like this with the others? I heard you can put Linux on a Pentium 100 MHz system, I know this isn't possible with Linspire so then what would you use to run Linux on a old computer like that?

What exactly does a distro do? Couldn't you just download the Linux kernel and install processes to go with it to your liking?

And I know that there is still some issues with using wireless cards with Linux, is there any communities or any way of knowing the status on what is going on with trying to make more stable drivers?

My sound right now extremely sucks and the sound delays in some applications by like 2 seconds. I'm thinking it might be a driver issue but im not sure. Anyone heard of this problem before?

Well for right now thats all I can think of. Thanks everyone for the help!

[madcompnerd]

Generally speaking, most distros boot a bit slower than Windows. For many reasons, but suffice it to say: Windows has a more efficient boot process; allbeit less organized and easy to modify.

"What exactly does a distro do? Couldn't you just download the Linux kernel and install processes to go with it to your liking?"
Yes, google for LFS or "Linux From Scratch". I must warn you, this is a lot of work!

"My sound right now extremely sucks and the sound delays in some applications by like 2 seconds. I'm thinking it might be a driver issue but im not sure. Anyone heard of this problem before? "
Yes, I believe Linspire uses the Jack-audio-toolkit. Which has been frequently reported as sucking badly.... Most distros don't use this at all, and certainly not by default; but Linspire has picked something to make all its apps use for simplicity.

Linspire isn't geered around speed, efficiency, making sense, or anything like that. It's supposed to be easy to use.

I think you might feel more at home with Mandriva than you do with Linspire, it doesn't sacrifice as much. But you should be aware, that by default Mandriva doesn't install source packages, which basically just means you can't install applications except by Mandriva's means (which isn't bad for most, but most geeks or people trying to really learn *nix will have it).
You may also like Ubuntu, it's fairly easy without making as many sacrifices. The installer is curses (colored text) based, but it's not really any harder it just doesn't feature png's!

[timothykaine]

Originally posted by epod69
One of the reasons I am wanting to switch from Windows to Linux is because I heard that Linux is faster. The distro I am using (Linspire) so far seems to be running slower then Windows XP...and Linspire takes over 1 minute to load up. Is it just this distro or is it like this with the others?

Linspire is a more bloated distribution and is not intended for speed as much as ease of use. There are optimized distributions available like Arch that will increase your speed and source-based distros that will compile just for your system to there is a large speed increase, but these are not going to be as "user friendly" as Linspire. There are several other tricks you can use to manually speed up your installation like compiling your own kernel and prelinking libraries. A search in the site will reveal several tips from this same question.

I heard you can put Linux on a Pentium 100 MHz system, I know this isn't possible with Linspire so then what would you use to run Linux on a old computer like that?

Linspire is definitely not intended for that. There are lighter window managers and full distributions intended for older hardware specifically. Lightweight distributions like DSL are good and you can also do this by using a source based distribution or building your own Debian installation.

What exactly does a distro do? Couldn't you just download the Linux kernel and install processes to go with it to your liking?

The purpose of a distribution is to give a pre-packaged setup for your particular purposes, and for this reason variety is a wonderful thing. Some people run new hardware, some old, some want it easy, some want to learn the real gritty stuff, some like the command line and some like the GUIs and eye candy. Linux users range from A to Z and use them for all kinds of purposes outside of just desktops and servers, and lots of desktop users like different default setups.

Its not exactly as simple as installing a kernel and adding stuff to it, but if you would like to learn how to build one yourself you can check out Linux From Scratch (yet another distribution, kind of).

And I know that there is still some issues with using wireless cards with Linux, is there any communities or any way of knowing the status on what is going on with trying to make more stable drivers?

Find out the exact chipset of your wireless card and google for the project and watch their changelogs, forums, and documentation.

My sound right now extremely sucks and the sound delays in some applications by like 2 seconds. I'm thinking it might be a driver issue but im not sure. Anyone heard of this problem before?

This one belongs in the actual solution forums.

[Parcival]

Thread locked. Please split up your questions and post them each in its corresponding forum with a meaningful title. Thank you.