Guys i need help

Omfg guys dont laugh im a pure n00b at computing lol... but whats linux? always watch G4 tv and they always talk about it on the screensavers and im always lost lol, i watched the episodes on the broken website for anyone who kno who they are, and there movies are awesome so thats why i wanna kno about computers and stuff now, what is overclocking too? i have tons of questions but i dont wanna get on too many peoples nerves for bein a complete n00b


~X~

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks.
I suggest you consider trying out knoppix. You can run it from the cd, without installing it to your hard drive. The minute that you reboot your computer (and take the knoppix cd out of the drive), your computer goes right back to the state it was in, before the linux was booted

Here is a link to check out, if you are interested:
http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/cart.php/ba/pdtl/product/263

If you do like what you see, it can get a LOT better than that, too.

Be careful, though, because it is VERY addictive!

 

Nobody better to answer your question but

the Reb losbster Robster

he is the man to ask round here

 

Ha!
Hello, DI Endi!
X_40's_X:
I'm still a n00b, but, if you want to give the linux a go, "make some noise" here in the forums... We'll get you going...

Hey... and .... people who overclock stuff... usually eventually toast something... so, heads-up!

 

YO yo yo....

What up Rob

like they say in the hood

whatcha got on my forty

 

Well, he might just go for the *nix...
if somebody likes the knoppix, I'd say do the Slackware distribution next.
I love it.

Hey Endi,
you ever overclock anything (not counting
a motor bike)?

 

Slackware is a bit to complicated to go to from Knoppix IMO. Its all text install and you have to have partitioning knowledge, Knoppix is just load cd and hit enter and you have an O/S.

Anyone new would probably be better off with a grahical installer that knows how to partition their system. SuSe, Mandrake and Fedora have great autopartitioners that work around windows systems. Once you get more advanced then I recommend something like Slackware or Debian installs.

 

cannot say what I have clocked

 

Linux is just another operating system just like windows or the macintosh operating system. Fairly similar to windows except it has its own language on programs. ( Windows programs can't run on a linux operating system ) .

 

Hello, Wookie!
I can appreciate what you say here. But, our friend mgrist just installed Slack last night. It was a rough go, he has only been messing with the linux for a few weeks, but, he got it.
The thing is, it seems to me, (mind you, I'm not very experienced), that the Slackware runs much more smoothly. It seems so stable, that it just seems worth it to "hunker down" through the cfdisk routine,... the install, I think, was not really all that much harder... pick "install everything" (so as to not get bogged down with choices), the defaults seem to be most appropriate,... and just go...?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, you see... its just, I wanted to say that.

 

Linux is an Open Source operating system. Instead of Windows, where only Microsoft gets to mess with the code... fixing problems occasionally and charging out the a$$ for distribution, the Linux source kernel is available to anyone who wishes to fool with it.

there are a number of 'versions' of linux available, some free and some for a (relatively) small price. the difference is basically in the user interface, and some of the extra goodies included.

--

Overclocking is pushing extra juice into your hardware (like processor, RAM and Video card) to achieve slightly higher levels of performance out of them. It's very risky and never guarenteed to work, so unless you're extremely curious and can afford to replace a burnt computer... dont get any further into this

 

Linux is much more different than windows than the way software is run. Linux is a Kernel very similar to Unix. You can add a GUI that you can make look similar to windows. But other than that it is nothing like Windows at all.

 

Dont worry about different opinions, I dont try and force mine like alot of people do.

the CFdisk isnt to hard but from what ive seen of x_40_x theres no way he could do that himself. If he had help or a walk through no problem.

Slackware is definately a great distro and im planning on using it when I get a few extra parts to use as a game server. Just not as user friendly as the others. Im glad you had luck with it. Im suprised to see so many linux users here. Ive kinda been a member through all the diff messageboards that evolved into this and Never used to hear about Linux, I definately welcome seeing it since I started posting here gain.

 

Wookie:
What is your favorite distro right now?
(mine is Slack, of course).
I am anxiously awaiting the stable release of Debian sarge.
I bet it will kick butt!

Haha!
It is said that the new installer will "dance and sing" for you while it works, too...

Thoughts?

 

Yes, I'm just Starting to play with Knoppix, and it's very good. Tried a few other 'flavors', but I like this one the best!


Slackware is great if you're "top Guns' with your 'Nix commands.

 

Oh, and with Overclocking - just stick to the BOIS O/C'ing options to start with.

"Davey Pitch's" Overclocking Guide, by an Admin in this very board, is very good for N00bs.

 

Im using SuSE 9.1 Personal right now. YaST is a great config tool. Slackware will be my next install, I installed it on a really old machine once but its sittin in the corner cause I have had other things to work on on my own machine. I hoping to get a AMD 64 soon and I cant wait to compile a 64 bit Kernel I heard it FLIES. Then ill buy 64 bit UT 2004 and watch that framerate skyrocket, I really hope Doom3 is released with a 64 bit version for linux also. Once I get that new processor im gonna take my old one and turn it into a game server and probably use slackware or Debian. Ive been using Linux for about 3 months now and love it. My problem right now is I had to reinstall Windows and you get no control over anything so it overwrote my bootloader. I gotta figure out how to reinstall Grub so I can get to SuSE again.

Linux is definately something to try out. Its amazing how it came around and how big it has gotten.

 

Yeah, I think it is true. I LOVE knoppix. LOVE it!
You can install to the hard drive too. (Two different ways, at least...).

Yes. The first go, I would say... knoppix is just a thrill for the first-timer.
And, no risk to it!
Ha!


@Wookie:
Hey, I'm so new, that I didn't know you back then... It's great to see you post, though... Do keep coming back... You can tell us of your *nix adventures!!!



One day, I hope to learn C well enough...
Then, try to do the Linux From Scratch!!!
Ha!!!

 

Yes!

But, heads-up!
The "feathers may fly" soon... The "powers that be"... you know...
May launch a copy-right lawsuit frenzy soon. They know they can't take the competition, and the time is drawing near...

I saw a websight last night where a internal memo at HP was leaked. An HP spokesman responded.
Things may heat up. If the courts fall for it, its doom on U.S. The tech jobs will REALLY go overseas then, as soon as OSS comes into its heyday!

Brazil, they don't honor copyright laws, from what I have read, like we do... They'll be tweaking stable, and we'll be stuck with.... you know.

Geese. It scares me.



Ballmer, the gang...
Scary

 

One day I hope to know enough to Completely customize my system. I have recompile the Kernel, took a good 1.5 hours on a 1.7 celeron. Its amazing you can change a whole bunch of option, make kernel 64 bit then make bzImage and you got a whole new Kernel, just point your bootloader at it and your all set. Theres some great stuff out there check out superkaramba if you get a chance


Heres my desktop

 

Linux was pretty much underground for a long time. There are hundreds of thousands of copies of the source code out there. They can sue all they want but they'll never stop it. Thats the great thing about it, one company isnt in control.

Its complete B.S. the type of patents that the Big guys have been getting, the double click and all that crap. I cant believe How stupid it has gotten, its all some huge childish game. Thats a few of the reasons I am switching to Linux and telling everyone I can about it. A lot of Linux Distro's also arent American Based. SuSE for one is German and Mandrake is French I think. What holds up here Might not hold up over there. SCO (Unix) has already started the suing game, theyve been thrown out of court a few times now which has allowed people to exhale, the most recent I remember is They tried to sue Chrysler.

It makes me Sick thinking about it, but im sure Linux wont die if it does come down to that.

 

Yes, I used the
make xconfig
to make the kernel, with the GUI interface. I haven't done it on Slackware yet, I haven't had the time.

Someday, when I know enough about C, and the GNU compilers, and such things, I want to compile the whole thing, you know...
I may not be able to get a whole lot of performance boost from it, but, I would still like to do it.

I think Gentoo is big into that... compiling everything from source.
Its so cool, isn't it?

Ha...
There are some lawyers where I work. Tons of them, actually.
They all laugh at SCO. Looks like SCO is done for. Only a complete idiot would do business with them now.

Europe is moving, faster and faster, Brazil too.
Its worldwide. Just about to reach critical mass.
Its on!

 

Theres some good libraries for creating interfaces across platforms. GTK I want to learn, GAIM (IM client) is written with GTK and works both under Linux and Windows. Gnome is writen with GTK also I believe. You just have to install the library, just like Visual Basic Runtime Library and any programs will work under both o/s's ( I use that loosely)

It supports quite a few languages Here is a list


Thats on my list of learning. A lot of the woftware I write for work is Windows based but id like to not have to boot under windows to write it, Linux has some great code editors. I like the idea of cross platform instead of limiting software to one O/S.

KDevelop is a great IDE for programming also. Supports alot of languages, is something like Visual Studio and is opensource and free.

 

Thank you for the link.
I know nothing of programming, but I want C to be my first, because the kernel is in C, and a geek buddy of mine said that the first language you learn is the hardest (of course).
He said that if I learn C, the others will come easier.

I want to also learn C++, and Perl.
I have heard that Python is such a good thing, too.
I want to get a second box, so that I can learn the network stuff, set up Apache and mess around with it.

Well, maybe if I write a piece of code in C that is nice enough, I will show you.

Take care, Wookie,
Good night

 

If you need any help trouble shooting code let me know. My First Language was Turbo Pascal. Then I learned C, they are very similar. Once you know C you pretty much know them all. Its just a matter of knowing the syntax and commands.

 

oo thanks, what do you mean by its own language on programs, and your sayin like windows media player cant run on linux? only windows operating systems can?

 

ooo thanks, i guess im never overclocking my computer then, my friends have done it but i dunno, thought lots of people done it... but im not i dont wanna break my comp lol

 

whoa last post for now anyways lol, but anyways what are you guys talkin about with these languages and stuff lol, i have NO clue what you guys are talkin about, i dident even kno what they were till i see people talkin about them on here lol

 

Well, Linux is cool and all, but I am a person who wants to sit down and use his computer, then go do something else, if I so desire. If I want/need an application/ or driver, I don't recompile anything. I install it, i use it, I move on. If I need support for a certain piece of hardware, I know I already have it, or if I need to, I can download a driver. No recompiling my kernel. Once again, I install it, I use it, and I move on.


I heard someone say some time back, and I believe it might have even been here,

Linux is free, if your time is worth nothing.

Its fun for tinkering, but if your current OS gets the job done 20-75% faster (no need to recompile anything from source code, etc), the question remains.

Why use it?

I was so proud of my noob-ish linux self when I recompiled Nvidia Nforce drivers from the source code. It took me a little bit, but not too bad.

Then I realized, even if I was an expert, if I needed this for Windows, I would have downloaded it, installed it, and been done with it before the compiling was done.

I'm finding that as I draw near to starting school, fulltime and working fulltime, also adding in the fact that I am exercizing and preparing myself to get back into Kenpo, my time is far too precious to waste on an OS that requires tinkering, just to get what I want/need to work.

 

I installed Slackware the other night, it went as well as Fedora 1 or Fedora 2 which are suppose to be easy. I like this slackware and I havn't had to "compile" anything. I loaded it and am using it. It has preloaded what would cost $1000.00 in windows (programs) I don't have to change any kernals I use the default and thats it.
As far as cfdisk, shoot that was a piece of cake. It's basically fdish in windows. Lilo which I loaded was easy enough also. I just can't find the other hard drive to do the duel boot. Windows would have it listed and point and clicking is the quickest way but also the most boring
To each his own, I like to tinker and play and learn. I like the challenge and the ability to change and load or unload what I like or don't like. Linux allows me to do that, choices, choices choices that's what it's all about for me.

 

oo there none of them last 2 or 3 posts helped me lol

 

Linux isnt for everyone.

but you dont have to "recompile" anything unless you make some drastic changes, such as the Kernel (which cannot even be done in windows)

Some software requires you compile it, it comes as source


Theres 3 steps involved its pretty simple

./configure
make
make install



Thats it usually.



Most stuff now comes in whats called RPM format. Pretty much you double click it and it automatically installs. Including Nvidia Drivers. Really you dont have to tweak anything unless you want to. A full install of Linux comes with twice as much software as WIndows and for Free. Openoffice, Bunch of games, html editors, chat client, a few browsers and loads of other stuff.

It's not nearly as complicated as everyone thinks, it is different and takes some getting used to. A lot of people are put off by the fact they have to learn something all over when they already know windows.
When you run into a problem you do not want to deal with it. But in real life you have probably run into ALOT more problems with Windows but were forced to fix it because you coulnt just boot into another O/S. So when you run into a problem with Linux you just boot into windows and forget about it.


Butlike I said its not for everyone, and if you dont like it simply don't use it.

I don't know what type of Computer work you do adryn, but it might be worth your time just to learn it for future use. Linux gets used by more and more people each year. That was my primary goal was to learn it because in my job ive come across a few Linux servers where I had no clue what to do and I was pissed at myself for not knowing. It felt sickening that after all my years working with them I was staring at a command propt with not a clue what to do. After learning it I decied I liked it better and I liked the concept a whole lot. It gets better every year and more driver support is surfacing, perhaps one day you will find you like it, perhaps not.

 

I'm an MS tech, for now. I'm going back to school for Computer Engineering (not to be confused with comp sci), and a math degree.

The chances of me ever being at an advantage of using it are slim.

Even if I was to get into a nix, I wouldn't consider Linux, I would go FreeBSD.

IMHO, Linux is a knock off of a superior OS.

Some people love it, but I like the time I have free not using it, too

 

http://www.li.org/linuxhistory.php

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/history.html


Linux actually started about 2 years before BSD and is written from scratch. It was made to be *Unix Like* but to be free. You can call it a knock of Unix but definately not BSD. I would consider Unix Inferior to Linux because its controlled by a corporation and not by a communitites. But thats opinion. Linux definately has more potential.

 

Unix has been around for a lot longer, though.


FreeBSD is a type of BSD. It is free and open source.

BSD= Unix

BSD=Older than Linux

 

I don't see how Linux has more potential.

Linux controlled by the communites, AFAIK, is the reason its more a toy, than anything else for the average user.

 

One more thing.

Actually, yeah I can.

BSD, which is Unix, has been around longer.

 

OMG... lol where did you guys learn all this stuff at, when i go back to school im taken computer repair, but you guys are talkin about BSD, OS im like wtf is all of this stuff, completely lost here lol

 

To add to this, FreeBSD is a Unix distribution.

Just like Slackware is a Linux distribution.

The Linux OS as a whole, being older than a distribution of Unix, is irrelevant.

I merely said I would go with FreeBSD before I would go Linux.

Linux is a knock off of Unix, not FreeBSD. FreeBSD is a distro of Unix, but is still Unix.

Sorry, I should have been more precise.

 

its still confusing and UNIX is a operating system too rite?

 

Unix is an OS, yes.

www.freebsd.org

If you want to check out the FreeBSD distro.

 

kk what does BSD mean (probably somethin simple but hey! lol) and why would i wanna use that OS and not windows

 

BSD:

Berkeley Software Design

It is a branch of Unix.

FreeBSD is a version of it.

Regarding why you should use it:


You tell me.

I mentioned my own thoughts a while back on that.

Why use Linux or Unix, when Windows does the job fine, if not faster?

 

ya your rite lol, heheh, well why do people use em then? b/c there free? (i think) or what?

 

BSD originally = Berkeley Software Distribution

 

Oops, I just popped in what Webopedia said.

 

Hey X!
Are you hanging in there?
There's a lot of stuff to this, isn't there? It blows me away, sometimes. LOL!
It would seem to me that nowadays, there is so much to computering, that noone could learn it all! Haha!

You know what? I like to try to learn when I can. Alot of the people here on this board know SO much. Adrynalyne is in the business. Others are too. Pros.
If we heed their tech advice, we have no other alternative but to be on a collision course with greater computer knowledge.

My view... its like another "big wheel" around here said...
Me, I tweak without fear... if push comes to shove, I'll reinstall. Won't kill me, I have no "precious data" that is not backed up.

So, I just try stuff... so what if I don't get it right or mess something up? This is not a mission critical box I'm messing with... Its my home rig. Its all good.

Anyway....
Pick a horse, and ride it. If you want to pick another horse later, do it. Just don't miss out on the ride, haha!

 

im tryin lol, and it feels like everyone here are pros lol

 

Don't get me wrong, X, if you want to try Linux or Unix go for it

Those were simply my views.