linux question

C

cnagot5onit

n00b
Joined
Mar 16, 2004
Messages
3
if i want to setup a linux system to learn on can someone give me a list of all the software i will need, and how will i go ahead installing it. i need something like AIM, IE, Explorer, mail client, and the OS.

Whats a good startup linux OS to start on?
 
Well, there's an Operating Systems forum here where most of these questions are asked. Just saying in case you didn't know, noticed this is your first post, so just giving you a heads up. http://www.hardforum.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=16

Anyway, you might wanna check the stickies there, and read around since these questions are asked pretty frequently. When it comes to the software, most beginner-friendly distributions will come with all you need right out of the box (IM programs, browsers, mail clients, and much more you won't even need). So you should probably just worry about which distro to pick, first. For beginners, the general concensus is Mandrake, Suse, Fedora... not sure which else. I personally have used Slackware and Gentoo, and I love both. These do require a bit more reading and more time to get used to, but if you're willing to really get into Linux, you will have to read documentation left and right. However, these beginner-friendly distros make the Windows to Linux transfer nearly painless, but you still have to read and be willing to look stuff up and not get frustrated easily.~
 
as said, Suse or Mandrake or Fedora are all going to come out of the box with just about everything you need. However, in my experience installing more is a bitch. RPMs suck, which all 3 of those are based on (rpm is a binary installation file format, but it has enourmous dependency problems to start, hence creating hell for the user).

i personally am a follower of Gentoo, and if you start to get into linux and delve a little deaper than just the standard "lets immitate the horrible M$ desktop way" and start to customize things on your own, you'll see what i mean. Gentoo gives the user incredible power over their machines yet its easy to maintain and install new programs and updates. The only bitches of gentoo: 1) if you're not good at following directions/learning from text documents it's hell^2 to install 2) you need to know what programs you want 3) you have to be comfortable (atleast starting) with editing text config files.
The rewards for passing the above 3 (to me and many others) surpass all the ease that distrobutions like Suse and Mandrake and Fedora give you for installing (and imo no mercy after that). What i also liked about installing gentoo for the first time - it forced me to learn some command line and get comfortable with it. When shit breaks now, i often know how to fix it. confusion=learning. gentoo teaches you a good deal of basic linux system administration. other distros could easily as well but gentoo forces you to learn it. as a new comer to linux, it however isn't very recommended. its harsh at first. try fedora? (i've heard great things, never tried it)

www.distrowatch.com
www.gentoo.org
forums.gentoo.org (an incredible community - yet another strength of gentoo)
www.linuxquestions.org (all around type of forums)
www.freshmeat.net (great application database)
packages.gentoo.org (application listing for portage specific programs. 95% of what's on freshmeat, maybe extras too)
check out some of the operating systems threads and arguements as well
 
Fedora has nice package managers available like apt-get to avoid those RPM dependcy problems.

Knoppix is also a good distro to play around with. It is based on Debian and will run directly from the CD, without installing to a hard drive. Naturally its a little slower when run 'live", but its an absolutely safe way to play wioth Linux. It offers at least 6 different GUI's and very good hardware detection as well as plenty of applications. It makes an excellent rescue disk if you take some time to learn how to use it. It can also be installed to a hard drive relatively easily.

I prefer Gentoo, Debian/Knoppix, or FreeBSD. But I also spent time learning on Redhat (now fedora) and Mandrake.


Programs-

file and/or web browsers- konqueror, mozilla, opera, firefox
IM- kopete or gaim (multi-client chat programs like trillian)
irc- xchat
msoffice equivalent- openoffice
mail clients- kmail, thunderbird
mp3 player- xmms
media player- mplayer


Because I can- this is a desktop pic from custom live CD I made based off of Knoppix. It has been installed to my laptop and tweaked a little.

snapshot20.jpg
 
I think for the linux beginner who wants everything (or almost everything) installed that they need to start using Linux, SuSE, Fedora, or Red Hat would be some nice distros.

However, I am a big fan of Gentoo and Slackware, and I have Gentoo running on all my systems. It takes a long time to install if you do stage 1 or stage 2 and build all your programs, but being able to customize the system and installing only what you want makes the Linux experience so awesome. I'd have a screenshot to show (with super sexy XFCE4 window manager), but currently the main gentoo box is compiling open office (takes a lonnnnnng time).

Some Programs I like:

IM - Gaim (Windows has Gaim too, it's a client that can interface with AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, MSN Messenger)
Office - OpenOffice
Media - Xine, MPlayer, XMMS, Ogle
CD-Burning - xcdroast
Firewall - iptables
File browser - I use command line, so I don't have input
Mail client: evolution, Mozilla Thunderbird
Internet Browser: Mozilla Firefox/Firebird
 
Heh, I compiled OpenOffice on my gentoo partition a couple of days ago. Didn't time it, but definitely took a while. I messed the whole OS yesterday somehow, though. After having to do a cold boot (don't remember what I was doing at the moment that caused me to do it), the kernel wouldn't find many modules, my fstab was reset to the prototype one that you edit during the install (with BOOT and SWAP instead of the actual devices) and all my KDE configuration was messed up somehow. I'm still a newb, but I like to think I'm learning fast.

I remember buying Mandrake 6.0 shortly after having read about this wonderful Linux thing. Was about 15 at the time. I read the manuals through and through, and couldn't get the damn thing to work. I don't remember what I was doing wrong. I barely knew anything about computers back then... even though I thought I did. Hell, I thought I was a hacker because I could control people's computers with obvious trojans. God, people were naive... I still have that Mandrake box with all its contents, may bust it open someday just for the hell of it.

Bleh, I forgot the actual purpose of this post. Sorry if it seems like it pointless, even if it is. All this brought back so many memories.~ I wish I knew why I was having problems installing Windows 3.1 on my 386... And if I had internet back then... man, I could've learned so much earlier on. More memories >_< I'll stop now.
 
im not sure if you're new to linux, but I was and I installed Redhat 9 a few days ago. It went pretty smooth, but it takes time to install stuff. Just realize it's nothing like windows so the sooner you realize that the better. Installing stuff can be complicated, but it's worth it after a while. I'm still new to it, but I'm getting more comefortable using it everyday.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top