View Full Version : Some Q's about linux
antipop
03-20-2004, 04:49 AM
I'm thinking about switching to linux for a try but i've some questions before taking the leap
1 - First what distro to use? I've mess up a bit with linux before and i've some basic knowledge of Unix (all my lessons are under unix here)
2 - Will i have a problem with drivers? my rig is a p4c, is7-e, radeon 9700np, hercules game theater. I plan to buy a sata drive soon.
3 - Will i be able to find all the codecs for video and audio? Like ogg or xvid?
4 - I still want to be able to play games, so i'll keep win2k installed, is there another way to do it?
5 - Except games, i use winamp, outlook (not express), IE, MSN Messenger, WM player, powerdvd, a bit of photoshop, .... What are the equivalent for linux?
6 - What i shouldn't forget to do before installing linux? I don't want to install and then see that i missed something
7 - Any other comments appreciated
ps i'll post more question again as i think about it
Originally posted by antipop
1 - First what distro to use? I've mess up a bit with linux before and i've some basic knowledge of Unix (all my lessons are under unix here)
RH9, fedora or Mandrake. mandrake is the easiest one
Originally posted by antipop
2 - Will i have a problem with drivers? my rig is a p4c, is7-e, radeon 9700np, hercules game theater. I plan to buy a sata drive soon.
mandrake 10 is the only official distro with kernel 2.6. you need kernel 2.6 for SATA drives, kernel 2.4 SATA support isn't very well I think. I'm not sure though. the graphics quality of radeon cards under linux is very bad. even gf2 cards do better
Originally posted by antipop
3 - Will i be able to find all the codecs for video and audio? Like ogg or xvid?
yep, all supported
Originally posted by antipop
4 - I still want to be able to play games, so i'll keep win2k installed, is there another way to do it?
all openGL games work under Linux. try RTCW:ET. it works under Linux, is very good and it's free!!
Originally posted by antipop
5 - Except games, i use winamp, outlook (not express), IE, MSN Messenger, WM player, powerdvd, a bit of photoshop, .... What are the equivalent for linux?
winamp: linux winamp OR the default mp3 player with the mp3 fix (ask me on msn)
IE: mozilla or so
MSN: gaim. there are others, try all of them to find the one that suits you best
powerdvd: i think the default player
photoshop: no idea
Originally posted by antipop
6 - What i shouldn't forget to do before installing linux? I don't want to install and then see that i missed something
backup your data! install win2k first, then linux.
Originally posted by antipop
7 - Any other comments appreciated
get a good linux book! :)
Originally posted by antipop
ps i'll post more question again as i think about it
don't hesitate to!
sjohnson
03-20-2004, 07:15 AM
Nothing wrong with the recommends by Teus, all good. For photoshop you probably want to stay with Win2k but the Gimp will do many of the functions of photoshop.
For a windows user it's more work up front but I'd recommend using the Windows boot manager rather than GRUB. Only because the windows boot manager seems to be more intuitive to windows users WRT maintenance, etc.
It IS highly worth it to learn GRUB and use it instead, much more flexibility and ease of setup (once you understand it, that is).
antipop
03-20-2004, 07:25 AM
I'll go with the mandrake distro as most people use it in my school so it'll be easier if i have a problem
I've starte to print the documentation on mandrake web site but hte printer ran out of paper so i'll finish printing on monday
Can you tell me more about GRUB what it is and what it does
How do i setup the windows boot manager to make it boot under linux?
I'll try to make some place on my hdd so i can have a 40GB free for installing linux on it, how do i format the drive what should i take into account? I'll use partition magic to make it easier
sjohnson
03-20-2004, 07:37 AM
For GRUB info, http://www.openbg.net/sto/os/xml/grub.html
(Edit) This GRUB link might be better, hard to say since I'm jaded by too many years in Linux :rolleyes: http://www.linuxforums.org/tutorials/grub-multiboot-howto/Multiboot-with-GRUB-2.html
To use Win2k's boot manager to boot Linux, http://www.tprthai.net/bootmgr.htm is a pretty good guide.
You don't need to do any partitioning other than one partion for windows and one for Linux. The Linux install will take care of any additional partitioning needed for Linux.
antipop
03-20-2004, 07:45 AM
10x i'll check the links later cause i'm pretty busy atm :)
Anyway i'm testing Gaim under windows but i've a few problem with it. It looks way better than trillian but i can receive nor send files and i can't use the webcam
Is there a soft that allows me to do this?
ps i tried to install linux once, 5 years ago but that was a big mess. Now it seems to be easier and better
antipop
03-20-2004, 12:44 PM
I'll reply to one of my question but that might interest anyone willing to change to linux
Here you can find the most used soft under windows and their equivalent in linux
http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml
sjohnson
03-20-2004, 02:19 PM
Nice list! Bookmarked, thanks :)
Dud3!
03-20-2004, 05:42 PM
I just have one thing to say about Redhat/Fedora/Mnadrake, one you install that junk and find that it's just that, don't get discouraged. Grab Slackware after you try those.
As for apps, get Firefox for your browser, Thunderbird for e-mail, XMMS for music, Xine for video/DVD and Mplayer for everything (plus win32 and quicktime codecs from the Mplayer FTP site).
As for drivers, building a 2.6 kernel with support for what you have should cover everything including the video card. Be warned that ATi's Linux drivers suck and that you can just use the drivers that are in X already. Don't expect great 2D acceleration and especially don't expect anything good in the way of 3D.
nVidia has great drivers though, really too bad their cards aren't as fast as ATi's....
Use ReiserFS or XFS for your partitions. Using ext2/ext3 is like using FAT16 with Windows XP. I use Reiser on mine.
Umm, other then backing up your HDD first, just go for it!
antipop
03-21-2004, 08:04 AM
Dud3! i'll keep windows for everything related to 3d and games, at least this is something where windows beats linux :)
I'll use mandrake 10 first cause it's easy to install and that'll help me to learn more and make an easy transistion from windows to linux
Dud3!
03-21-2004, 10:17 AM
Yeah, only because that's what everyone writes the games and video drivers for, not because Windows is better at running games...
antipop
03-21-2004, 11:14 AM
Originally posted by Dud3!
Yeah, only because that's what everyone writes the games and video drivers for, not because Windows is better at running games... Yeah but in the end windows is better at running games but once there'll be a lot of gamer and more game it'll change :)
Dud3!
03-21-2004, 11:20 AM
Uhh, ok. I think I need babblefish..
Twisted
03-21-2004, 11:47 AM
yea,once you get use to the basics go to slackware its the pimp of the linux distros
antipop
03-21-2004, 01:14 PM
Originally posted by Dud3!
Use ReiserFS or XFS for your partitions. Using ext2/ext3 is like using FAT16 with Windows XP. I use Reiser on mine.
Umm, other then backing up your HDD first, just go for it! I'll install it on one of my hdd that i'll format first so there's no risk of losing data
ps do u know a good manual on how to use linux ? Something that i can print?
I've printed the manual on mandrake page but it doesn't goes in depth, and it stays on the graphical interface but nothing about command lines
Originally posted by Twisted
yea,once you get use to the basics go to slackware its the pimp of the linux distros
or gentoo
antipop
03-21-2004, 01:33 PM
What's the difference between two linux disto?
ps i know that i can emulate some software using wine, is it possible to emulate soft like messenger to use the webcam?
Originally posted by antipop
What's the difference between two linux disto?
ps i know that i can emulate some software using wine, is it possible to emulate soft like messenger to use the webcam?
gento is linux in another way. you can make all choices yourself. it's very fast, but a fully optimised install from scratch takes days to complete. even on a very fast PC
I haven't got experience with wine
antipop
03-21-2004, 02:02 PM
I mean between slackware, debian mandrake or red hat?
in the meanwhile i explained antipop debian is a cluster of software. it's a group of small programs that form the OS, debian soft works under every other OS like other distros and Novell Netware (not under windows though). so you need to get everything working together.
I haven't got knowledge about slackware though
sjohnson
03-21-2004, 02:33 PM
The differences between Linux distributions are in the installation procs, what is installed by default WRT user and system software, the system update methods and many lower-level choices that a Linux guru can make WRT how the system is installed.
Dud3!
03-21-2004, 02:56 PM
www.linuxcommand.org will help with the command line.
sjohnson
03-21-2004, 03:54 PM
Another link for Linux info, howto's, etc etc: http://www.linuxjournal.com/resources.php
Demon_Hunter
03-21-2004, 07:32 PM
SlackWare rox all but is not a distro for who is starting, try some kind of configuration first in other distro before go to slackware beucase you are probably going to need to do some configurations that in the others distros is automaticaly.
see ya
antipop
03-22-2004, 10:20 AM
alright 10x all i'm reading a lot, i've checked the documents at the debian website and i think i'll print them, but i don't know if everything under the command line is generic for every linux distro (like the apt-get command line??)
ps here a lot of guys are using debian, is slackware better? Anyway i'll start with mandrake to get use to and then i'll move to another distro
Demon_Hunter
03-23-2004, 10:15 AM
apt-get change in some distros, like in the slackware that you need to download one software that is like the apt-get but better, the big deal in the slackware is that is linux to run in a 486 fast (in text mod) and it doesnt have all the crappy programs that come in other distros, it makes slackware faster and better because when you update you kernel some programs can give problems because some kind of change in the kernel and stuff like that.
see ya
antipop
03-23-2004, 11:09 AM
what about the other commands (i know there's a lot) like if i print a manual about debian will i be able to use msot of the commands in another distro?
Demon_Hunter
03-23-2004, 02:37 PM
yes and no, some commands will work in almost all distros but some distros change some commands but not to much
see ya
apt also exists for other distro's. apt.freshrpms.net
YUM is the same but handles dependencies better.
basic commands are the same for all distros. some stuff is different from distro to distro, but if you know the commands from distro A you'll be able to handle distro B easily
antipop
03-24-2004, 12:31 PM
10x teus, if i've more Q's about linux i'll ask you directly on msn cause i don't know what will happen to the forum (sadly)
Anyway 10x all of you for your answers, i can see more clearly linux now :)
I'll install linux on my bro comp this week end, i can't wait to try mandrake :) I'm waiting for my comp to work again to make the switch myself. I cross fingers and hope that everything will go alright :)
antipop
03-24-2004, 12:32 PM
ps it's so true that linux people loves to abreviate, i haven't seen so much abreviation in a book before reading a manual about linux and this thread :D :D
sjohnson
03-24-2004, 04:35 PM
The UNIX abbreviation fetish comes from the days of 110 baud terminals mixed with the geekishness of the original users.
"cat" is short for concatenate - you concatenate the file to the screen buffer.
"ls" for list
"cd" for change directory (this one made it into DOS lol).
"rm" for remove
"grep" for generalized regular expression parser
etc., etc.
The shorter commands were quicker to key in at low baud rates and the erudite nature of the inventors/users made for some non-obvious word choices.