Linux Newbie who needs some help.

[Ninjabass]

I apologize in advance for sounding like a noob, because I am one.

I installed Ubuntu 6.06 on a freshly reformatted hard drive. Everything went fine, it installed and runs. There are some funny graphical glitches, such as distorted colors and unreadable text, but these go away once the screensaver comes up and goes down. Not exactly sure why, but whatever.

I have noticed that Ubuntu runs considerably slower than XP32 did, there seem to be noticeable delays in different things, especially in Firefox.

Whenever I try to install things it yells at me and tells me I need a C compiler. I downloaded one, but it gives me errors whenever I try to use it.

The terminal is completely new to me, as I have only used DOS commands up to now. I figured out how to navigate through different directories and such, but I can't figure out how to actually run programs. I would think that just typing in the name of the file would work, but it doesn't.

Another quick question, if I had the Hard Drive with Ubuntu on it in the slave position, could I go into the BIOS and choose which Drive to boot from every start-up? Kinda like a simple dual boot solution?

Thanks in advance for the answers, I would really like to become a full-fledged Linux user. Any other advice or tips for someone new would be greatly appreiciated.

 

[digital_exhaust]

Just out of curiosity, why did you choose 6.06? I would recommend trying 7.10, it is very stable, fast and a lot of the problems with older distros have been fixed (graphics issues etc)

You could use the method you described above to manage a dual boot setup, but using grub, which will install itself, would be much easier... I'm assuming you would be dual booting with a Windows OS, and if that is the case, install XP or whatever first, then Ubuntu. When you boot you will be given the option to choose the OS you want to run...

You might want to head over to the Ubuntu Forums, they have a very big beginners forum, and there are a lot of really helpful members there. The best advice I can offer is read everything you can find, tutorials, how-to's, guides etc..... and then read some more. Learning Linux is a very rewarding experience, but it can also be very frustrating... the important thing is learning how it works, not simply how to use it...

Stick with it, you'll get there.

 

[Ninjabass]

I choose 6.06 just because I had the CD for it. I downloaded the ISO for 7.10. Guess my next step is to install that.

I'll have to try grub too, I guess. Does it do all the partitioning and stuff also? I chickened out of doing a dual boot off of one hard drive because I don't have the money to replace things if I screw up.

 

[Vital]

Whenever I try to install things it yells at me and tells me I need a C compiler. I downloaded one, but it gives me errors whenever I try to use it.

I'm assuming you want to build things from source (not the easiest way to install programs, but sometimes it's the only way).
Every program is different, but you can follow this guide:
http://monkeyblog.org/ubuntu/installing/

And Ubuntu Forums are also a great source of help, lots of threads there about almost every problem possible, and the community is pretty friendly.

Good luck with Linux, definitely a great OS.

 

[Vital]

I choose 6.06 just because I had the CD for it. I downloaded the ISO for 7.10. Guess my next step is to install that.

I'll have to try grub too, I guess. Does it do all the partitioning and stuff also? I chickened out of doing a dual boot off of one hard drive because I don't have the money to replace things if I screw up.

The worst that can happen is you'll screw up the MBR sector of your hdd, or maybe need to reinstall Windows/Ubuntu.

With 7.10, you can just install XP first, and then it'll automatically partition some space for Ubuntu and configure GRUB for dual-booting, all very simple.

 

[Bones]

I apologize in advance for sounding like a noob, because I am one.

We were all newbies once. You should only apologize if you were being a n00b

Whenever I try to install things it yells at me and tells me I need a C compiler. I downloaded one, but it gives me errors whenever I try to use it.

Use Ubuntu's package manager to install software. Do not download and install software from some random Internet site, at least until you get more comfortable with Linux. Ubuntu is not Windows; installing applications, drivers, etc. is handled differently (and better).

The terminal is completely new to me, as I have only used DOS commands up to now. I figured out how to navigate through different directories and such, but I can't figure out how to actually run programs. I would think that just typing in the name of the file would work, but it doesn't.

If executable is not in your $PATH, you must specify the full path of the file to execute. For example, "./file" or "/home/user/file" instead of just "file".

Thanks in advance for the answers, I would really like to become a full-fledged Linux user. Any other advice or tips for someone new would be greatly appreiciated.

tldp.org has documentation aimed at newbies. Some of it is worth reading.