Which version of linux to get?

Phillip said Knoppix, as you can see Robster loves it, wont run for me right now, though I admit to limited time and not putting any effort in aside from just booting. I always liked Suse and Mandrake, they are very easy to install and learn, but give Knoppix a shot. Its not like a lifetime commitment, make a partition and try a few

 

You can preformat it as FAT if you want, your installer will let you know whats best, follow that.

 

I found today another interesting distro for Linux newbies: ASPLinux 9

ASPLinux 9 is fully compatible to Red Hat Linux 9

Here are the differences:
1) The default installation type (desktop/office) requires only the first CD. Good for dialup users
2) The nVidia 3D drivers are build in
3) It comes with multimedia support (DVD, VCD, DivX, MP3 etc.) out of the box.

ftp://ftp.oit.unc.edu/pub/Linux/distributions/asplinux/

 

Well.. My Lindows subscription expired, so I dont think I will renew since Lindows can cost more then most operating systems if you keep renewing. I ran 98 for 4 or 5 years and average CD cost me 80 bucks.

So, I am downloading this now to give it a shot and let it overwrite my Lindows install. Would really like to get Debian running when I have some time.

 

There are more Debian installation alternatives

For example: You can use Libranet (a free version is available here - http://www.libranet.com/download.html) as Debian installer. This distro is fully compatible with the original Debian distro. Even the Libranet Adminmenu (a collection of configuration tools) is working after a distro upgrade to the unstable branch.

A review of Libranet Classic (the free version) is here:
http://osnews.com/story.php?news_id=5061

 

You are. Like you, I used RedHat because it was better known, but it really lacked the user friendlieness that a LOT of distros are after. They finally figured out to go after the desktop market and still have a long way to go, but getting closer and closer to being a viable alternative. I decided to try Mandrake again, its been a while, downloading while I chow some turkey and wil ltry it tonight. My last experience with it was positive overall.

 

Let me know, I was tempted. Like I said, I liked Lindows a bit, but price was too much. Only thing these Linux distros needs is better driver support. XP rocks em on that and that was released how long ago? Even the latest versions lack support for VERY popular cards like the GeForce 4 or LCD monitors. Would make life much easier.

 

I really wanted to try Lycoris, but it freezes on install. Same with new Mandrake. Same with Debian. Same old "my hardware must be too new" thought because it always works on an older machine. Sigh. Oh, well, not too many other distros I am into, Suse 8.2 installed ok, maybe ill run that some more, it had nvidia drives, picked up Audigy 2 fine, etc.

 

It's not really a driver issue. Linux distro publishers can not include any available driver because of commercial license or patents

The nVidia 3D drivers for Linux are commercial and not under an open source license. However, nVidia has changed their driver policy recently. It is now allowed to include the drivers into distros.

What's your hardware configuration?

 

I got SuSE kicking again for now, got to login and look around some more because it says it updated, yet I am at 8.2 still. I would rather try Lycoris or Knoppix though.


Pentium 3.2 w\Hyperthreading
Intel D875PBZ motherboard.
512 megs dual DDR
GeForce 4 FX5900 Ultra (256 megs)
Liteon CDRW
Memorex DVD + - R
Sound Blaster Audigy 2
Linksys LNE100 TX
Logitech MX310 mouse
Logitech keyboard
Samsung yncmaster 213t (21" flat panel)
Maxtor 120 & 80 gig in EIDE mode, not using SATA
HP V40 Printer\fax\scanner

Then theres the camera, joystick, etc., but that does not matter.

 

GeForce 4 and GeForce FX are two different GPUs

To run Knoppix with a GeForce FX, insert the CD and enter at boot prompt: knoppix xmodule=nv (+return)

I think CUPS is installed with Knoppix. Try to access http://localhost:631 in your favorate browser

Packages in Debian 3.1 (Sarge) are hand selected and have already a pretty good quality. However, the difference between unstable (used in Knoppix) and testing is not big.

Btw, a beta netinst CD of the new Debian installer, which will be included in the final release of Debian 3.1, is now available:
http://www.mmweg.rwth-aachen.de/~sebastian.ley/d-i/netinst-image-i386/daily-2003-11-19/

It look very promising, but requires a broadband internet connection (network) for the installation. A review is here: http://articles.linmagau.org/module...s&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=455&page=1

 

Thats ok, bottom line, to get Windows to run with ANY hardware, you just run the CD

 

I was suprised when I saw your post earlier that said you loved Konqurer. I thught the only thing more horrible was the email program with it. Might be a KDE thing, I think I lean more towards Gnome myself.

Welp, anyhow Mandrake, or my own stupidity, trashed my partition today, my XP boots fine, but the C: drive was called "BAD" in Partition Magic. Did a format and recovery and created a new partition, going to try Lycoris again now.

 

Well, I am going to play with Slackware live, as if I have nothing better to do

I think I am going to wait a week or so for Xandros, which is by the Corel guys, has a Debian core (see, Phillip, I listen) and supposed to work with some Windows programs. If they pull this off, the rest of the distros should be very afraid, but we shall see if the hypes all that.

http://www.xandros.com/

P.S, for a headache, heres a list of most distros:
http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions/

 

Bah, I like Acronis's stuff too, but I bought Partition Magic and I am sticking with it Got your PM on this too, thanks. Never considered it. I might try it again, but then again, might wait for Xandros or whatever its called. I keep a image of my drive, so it really just cost me 15 minutes to restore to be sure everything was ok. Ahhh well.. Thanks though! Good tip!

 

Long Babble....

Have you tried Evolution, I love it. As for a browser, I use, and am using as I type this, Galeon 1.3.8, based on Mozilla for the browser. Not a big fan of Mozilla, it simply does not display web pages and fonts correctly. Its not off by much, but minor things, many would not notice. I am assuming your using KDE and not Gnome? Tell me which you like and if you tried Gnome yet?

I own, Unix, Apache server, PHP MySQL for dummies and much more. Before MajorGeeks (3dfiles and tweakfiles) I did all my own Unix work there including server work, getting files with wget and more. Times have changed with MaorGeeks, its been databased and I have not spent the time to learn it. We got Phillip as an admin and Jim, who has spent a lot of time learning and doing, so I stick to what I know, adding files, moderating the board, reviews and general prostitute of the website Its fun being the guy who does a lot of the content work, but at the same time, without Phillip and Jim, we wouldnt be here. Not even close. So, I got rusty where I should have been reading, but time is limited.

Wait, I wandered off topic, point was I know DOS real well and Unix a bit, its just that the command line, for the most part, is and should be, 95% dead and only used as rarely needed, like computer diagnostics. I think if I was to talk to someone doing a Linux distro, I would have 2 major suggestions that dont apply to ALL distros, but in general:

1: Make it easier still (p.s reading #2 might help this whole train of thought) Your getting there though! I want my Nvidia drivers without reading a FAQ, downloading, downloading an archive tool, extracting and running a command line. Not everything is like this, but a lot is. If your a distro, at least offer the popular drivers for easy download and install (click and run *cough*) Install needs a bit more simplifying in many distros, but its pretty slick now. Then again, unless these guys are blind, they see people having problems installing drivers for many different hardware. Its the most amount of posts on the average distro forum.

2: Heres my BIGGIE. Chill out on the whole "look like Windows" thing. Macintosh does not go around bragging on their cool Windows XP look, do they? And people LOVE the Mac look, including Windows users. Take the hint, be bold, be original, get a BRAND NEW look. The current one sort of sucks. Its like a bad Windows 95. Make it so you can see Windows partitions (some now do!) but make it your own. Currently Linux feels like an OS thats copying Windows and is about 6 years behind, yet so far ahead in a few areas. People coming to Linux have to re-learn some things. Rather then wrap it in a Windows wanna-be look, give them a new, easy to use interface. Windows is not the most user friendly operating system either, in many ways. Think about it.

Its come a long way, this Mandrake 9.2 is nice and is the new Suse and others, but I still feel better back in Windows.

 

I am no longer sure Xandros whether is a good choice for you, after reading your posts. Xandros is mainly a KDE distro and is not GNOME based.

Other suggestions: Libranet 2.8.1 seems another nice Debian distro, but expensive. At least the official nVidia drivers are included according to the reviews - http://www.libranet.com/reviews.html . They are offer also 30 day money back guarantee and up and running support.

Speaking of emulators. SuSE has announced last week an addon CD for SuSE Linux 9.0 which includes Crossover Office (for Windows programs), Crossover Plugin (for IE plugins), and WineX (for Windows games like Max Payne 2): http://www.suse.de/en/private/products/suse_linux/winerack/index.html

The problem are the missing Windows fonts and not Mozilla. To fix this, put all windows fonts (*.ttf) into the /usr/share/fonts directory and run the command "fc-cache /usr/share/fonts". Then restart XFree.

Here an example screenshot: Mozilla 1.5 (left) and Internet Explorer 6.0 (right)

 

I know about the fonts, especially Stencil, the problem may be in part due to a 21" monitor at 1600 X 1200 but IE displaies it fine, Mozilla everything looks stretched. No problem with Opera or anything else in XP. Again, another possibility is an inproper driver, have not installed the nvidia driver because the steps to take are annoying to simply install a driver, or fonts, as shown in your post on installing simple fonts. Im betting that will help.

The last version of Suse, I thought, I could see my NTFS drives, liked that a lot. Makes it easy to eventually migrate if you can access your old OS for me.

P.S I have the nvidia driver, just have not gotten to it.

 

I just found another interesting Debian/Knoppix based distro "Mepis Linux 2003.10", which includes the official nVidia drivers

Review:
http://www.pclinuxonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=8075

Download:
ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/mepis/mepis-2003.10.cd1.iso
ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/mepis/mepis-2003.10.cd2.iso

 

I see that runs KDE by default too, not a big deal. Xandros is using KDE exclusively? Im suprised that they dont offer the alternative, or do something original themselves, that would be sweet.

P.S Going to try out Mepis now for kicks, sounds nice.