champdouglas
07-10-2002, 01:01 PM
hi there --
a little while ago i posted a question about running linux apps under windows 98. after reading/considering the suggestions offered by various forum members (thanks, btw), i have decided to just go ahead and install a linux distribution on my pc while keeping windows 98 on there also (there's no telling what the sibs might do to me if they discovered one day that their aol IM and music dl capabilities had disappeared because i deleted windows 98 so i could "try something new" with the family pc).
so now my question is one of choosing a linux distribution that i, a relative novice with regard to computers/OS's/programming, etc., can install and use without wrecking this pc and/or going insane. let me say that while i am most definitely a "newbie" with regard to this kind of stuff, i think i can also be kind of a fast learner, since i'm getting really interested in computers, programming, etc, and therefore am willing to devote a good deal of time and energy to my proposed linux adventure. and when i say "a good deal of time," i mean it -- i've got a *lot* of free time on my hands ever since i became the newest victim of our nation's (the U.S., that is) sagging economy (got laid off at the coffee shop cause they couldn't afford to pay me).
i've spent a lot of time browsing the www, trying to get information about the various distributions, and frankly all i can show for it is that i know the names of a lot of the popular ones ("red hat!" "mandrake!" "caldera!"), but am still relatively clueless as to what distinguishes one major linux dis. from another (caldera is good for offices? red hat for servers? who knows -- not me). basically, i would like to get hold of a dis. that would be good for a pc workstation, capable of doing high-speed internet stuff (not running a server or anything, though), some gaming, and in particular one that would be good for running higher-level audio processing software, since i am into digital recording/computer music, all that stuff.
as you can see, i'm not a high-level "techie" who's going to be managing super-duper web servers and things of that nature, but i am getting into programming, etc., so i don't know that i would necessarily prefer a linux setup that would just act like windows so i wouldn't have to learn anything about OS's and how they work (one of the main reasons i want to switch to linux is because i can't stand these microsoft programs and resent MS's boring, "big-brother-ish" stranglehold on my personal computing experience.
so anyway, this computer i'm talking about is an hp pavillion 8660c with a pentium iii 533 MHz cpu and 128 MB of RAM. the other thing i'm thinking, if it is possible, is to install a linux dis. (preferably the same one as on the hp) on my toshiba satellite notebook computer, whose specs are considerably less impressive (AMD "K6" cpu (?), 32 MB RAM, and little else -- it's really more like a typewriter than a personal computer).
so with the above considerations in mind (and i do apologize for my long-winded writing style), does anybody have any suggestions/advice as to which linux dis. i should go for? as of now, i'm thinking maybe mandrake would be the best one for me (lord knows why), but in reality i'm basically clueless and in need of advice from someone who knows the ins and outs of these sorts of things. thank you for listening/replying/tolerating the book-length exposition of my computing concerns.
thanks,
champdouglas
a little while ago i posted a question about running linux apps under windows 98. after reading/considering the suggestions offered by various forum members (thanks, btw), i have decided to just go ahead and install a linux distribution on my pc while keeping windows 98 on there also (there's no telling what the sibs might do to me if they discovered one day that their aol IM and music dl capabilities had disappeared because i deleted windows 98 so i could "try something new" with the family pc).
so now my question is one of choosing a linux distribution that i, a relative novice with regard to computers/OS's/programming, etc., can install and use without wrecking this pc and/or going insane. let me say that while i am most definitely a "newbie" with regard to this kind of stuff, i think i can also be kind of a fast learner, since i'm getting really interested in computers, programming, etc, and therefore am willing to devote a good deal of time and energy to my proposed linux adventure. and when i say "a good deal of time," i mean it -- i've got a *lot* of free time on my hands ever since i became the newest victim of our nation's (the U.S., that is) sagging economy (got laid off at the coffee shop cause they couldn't afford to pay me).
i've spent a lot of time browsing the www, trying to get information about the various distributions, and frankly all i can show for it is that i know the names of a lot of the popular ones ("red hat!" "mandrake!" "caldera!"), but am still relatively clueless as to what distinguishes one major linux dis. from another (caldera is good for offices? red hat for servers? who knows -- not me). basically, i would like to get hold of a dis. that would be good for a pc workstation, capable of doing high-speed internet stuff (not running a server or anything, though), some gaming, and in particular one that would be good for running higher-level audio processing software, since i am into digital recording/computer music, all that stuff.
as you can see, i'm not a high-level "techie" who's going to be managing super-duper web servers and things of that nature, but i am getting into programming, etc., so i don't know that i would necessarily prefer a linux setup that would just act like windows so i wouldn't have to learn anything about OS's and how they work (one of the main reasons i want to switch to linux is because i can't stand these microsoft programs and resent MS's boring, "big-brother-ish" stranglehold on my personal computing experience.
so anyway, this computer i'm talking about is an hp pavillion 8660c with a pentium iii 533 MHz cpu and 128 MB of RAM. the other thing i'm thinking, if it is possible, is to install a linux dis. (preferably the same one as on the hp) on my toshiba satellite notebook computer, whose specs are considerably less impressive (AMD "K6" cpu (?), 32 MB RAM, and little else -- it's really more like a typewriter than a personal computer).
so with the above considerations in mind (and i do apologize for my long-winded writing style), does anybody have any suggestions/advice as to which linux dis. i should go for? as of now, i'm thinking maybe mandrake would be the best one for me (lord knows why), but in reality i'm basically clueless and in need of advice from someone who knows the ins and outs of these sorts of things. thank you for listening/replying/tolerating the book-length exposition of my computing concerns.
thanks,
champdouglas