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Linux for dummies...

Ok, wanting to dual boot Linux and Windows, got a partition set aside for it. Question is, what is a good Linux for a first time GUI-happy windows user? :D

Wanting something that I can use right off the bat, but also learn the command line end of things with.

Any suggestions?
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Comments

  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Ubuntu. No contest.
  • bobobobo (A monkey)
    I'm posting from Firefox on Ubuntu right now. This was my first Linux install and it was a snap. Software installer is wonderfully esay, and has large selection. I'm running on a PII 350 Mhz with no problems. Came with Firefox, Open Office, and can install Wine, but haven't tried it yet.

    Still working on getting video card to work, and can't watch most .wmv files, but no complaints otherwise.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Have a look around the ubuntuforums.com forums. There are some links there to a utility that grabs all the non-free codecs, etc for you so you can play mp3s, wmv files, quicktime etc. Much easier than installing them all by hand.

    What's your video card?
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    I've installed Redhat, Suse, Gentoo, and Ubuntu. Ubuntu is the best of them (unless you're a Gentoo super-customizer).
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Like me!

    Actually, I'd love to have a binary version of Gentoo that did everything the source version does. I just can't rip myself away from the nice clean configuration and scripts to use ubuntu though. :)
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Just out of curiosity, what do you guys actually do with linux at home, other than installing it? :D

    I had a dual-boot config on my laptop at home, but I hardly ever used linux, so I dumped it in two easy steps to get the wasted disk space back.

    Even though Ubuntu is quite popular among linux users, it doesn't seem like it's gaining a lot of ground around me, at least not enough for me to notice. Personally I gave it a fair chance, but I just don't get hooked. The same goes for the Mac OS.

    Maybe it's because I'm a PC gamer at heart and nothing better has come around to change that.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I work in it. All my work is done under Linux.
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    We use Mandriva at work as our GUI for the silly computer illiterate customers, we've got 25 Mandriva workstations (and 5 windows machines in the bakc, hidden, we're ashamed of them)

    I've heard good things about Ubuntu, Fedora Core 5 is pretty nice from a GUI standpoint.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    at [URL=http://freegeek.org/]freegeek[/URL] we use ubuntu for all the computers we refurbish and sell, largely because buying a windows licence for all the machines we rebuild would cost far more money than the organization gets in a year.
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    My advice, if you have the bandwidth to burn, go ahead and download all the live versions of the different linux distros, i know that both Suse and Mandriva have live CD versions, then you can pop it in your CD drive, boot to it, and give it a test drive before you waste time installing it.

    [url]http://www.novell.com/products/suselinux/downloads/ftp/mirrors_isos.html[/url]

    for the Suse Live DVD

    [url]http://www.mandriva.com/community/mandrivaone[/url]

    for Mandriva One

    i'm not sure if ubuntu or fedora have live cd versions.
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by croxis [/i]
    [B]at [URL=http://freegeek.org/]freegeek[/URL] we use ubuntu for all the computers we refurbish and sell, largely because buying a windows licence for all the machines we rebuild would cost far more money than the organization gets in a year. [/B][/QUOTE]

    thats why we dont use windows on our machines at the cafe, aside from the fact that keeping the windows machines virus/spyware/crap free is a full time job,

    we're a small cafe, we only have 35 machines, but 35 full windows licences is costly.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [i]My[/i] advice, ignore what Entil'Zha said about Suse and Mandriva. :p

    No, seriously. RPM-based distros mean you [i]will[/i] encounter dependency hell at some point. I wish RPM would go away and die forever.

    Ubuntu has a live CD. In fact, that's all you can get. You boot up the live cd, try it out, and if you like it, double click the "Install" icon on the desktop. The only question you need to ask first is do you get the Ubuntu (Gnome desktop - quite Mac-like), the Kubuntu (KDE desktop - quite Windows-like) or the Xubuntu (XFCE4 desktop - beautifully simple and tremendously customisable) live CD.

    Ubuntu has all the graphical configuration tools of other distros like Suse and Mandrake, but it also runs apt for its package management, which is soooooo much better than RPM.
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggles [/i]
    [B][i]My[/i] advice, ignore what Entil'Zha said about Suse and Mandriva. :p

    No, seriously. RPM-based distros mean you [i]will[/i] encounter dependency hell at some point. I wish RPM would go away and die forever.

    Ubuntu has a live CD. In fact, that's all you can get. You boot up the live cd, try it out, and if you like it, double click the "Install" icon on the desktop. The only question you need to ask first is do you get the Ubuntu (Gnome desktop - quite Mac-like), the Kubuntu (KDE desktop - quite Windows-like) or the Xubuntu (XFCE4 desktop - beautifully simple and tremendously customisable) live CD.

    Ubuntu has all the graphical configuration tools of other distros like Suse and Mandrake, but it also runs apt for its package management, which is soooooo much better than RPM. [/B][/QUOTE]

    whats wrong with urpmi? LOL.

    if you want to avoid dependancy hell, get a real OS like FreeBSD who needs frilly GUI's

    if Ubuntu has a live cd, then go for it. but i'd still reccomend trying out more than one to see which works best for you, oh, and Gnome, please, KDE bites.
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    ah decisions...

    I know I want both a Desktop Cd and a Server CD, but do I want the regular or the xubuntu....

    *Sigh*
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    You can install gnome/kde/xfce from any of the cds, just that the cd you get determines which WM you get initially.
  • SanfamSanfam I like clocks.
    Indeedy. The Specific variant only means that it will default to installing that confirmation, but it doesn't mean you can't load up the one you really want later.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    question, and I am sure the answer is yes.

    can different users run their own x-shell, so say one user will have gnome load up by default and another will have kde load up by default? I assume login will have to be done at prompt if so.
  • bobobobo (A monkey)
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggles [/i]
    [B]What's your video card? [/B][/QUOTE] ATI RagePro 128.

    I've hunted around ubuntufoorums.cm some, but not enough. That silly thing called "real life" keeps interrupting my computer time.
  • Thanks guys! :)
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    The r128 driver should work fine for that card. Look at the man page for it for more details (it's in section 4x).

    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by croxis [/i]
    [B]question, and I am sure the answer is yes.

    can different users run their own x-shell, so say one user will have gnome load up by default and another will have kde load up by default? I assume login will have to be done at prompt if so. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Yes. Before logging in, select the session type on the login screen. When you actually log in, it will ask if you want to make that the default window manager for that user from then on.
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Biggles [/i]
    [B]You can install gnome/kde/xfce from any of the cds, just that the cd you get determines which WM you get initially. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Just as an FYI, i've nothing against ubuntu, or any great love for Mandriva, i'm mostly using it now at work because thats what they used when i came in. I've been considering a switch over the winter when we're closed, and i'm going to give ubuntu a try (actually i downloaded it yesterday, i love being able to get the whole thing in about 9 minutes....)
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    I'm running Gentoo on my laptop and I love it. I still got Windows XP on my desktop just because I want to play Guild Wars.
  • croxiscroxis I am the walrus
    Yah but doesn't it take a couple of days just to compile gentoo alone?
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    Well, IMO compiling gentoo on my laptop has gotten much faster than about 2 years back.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by croxis [/i]
    [B]Yah but doesn't it take a couple of days just to compile gentoo alone? [/B][/QUOTE]

    It takes about 24 hours to install gentoo on my Athlon 2000+ laptop, which includes compiling the apps I need. Most of that time is unattended. With the new installer, all but the first 15 minutes is unattended.
  • StingrayStingray Elite Ranger
    Are we having any fun yet?? :D

    Darn, those distros are spreading like crazy... some I haven't even heard of....
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    Well guess I'll download the Desktop and Server versions of the Gnome default distro's.

    I have a question I can't seem to get an answer on though for the server CD...

    Does it come with a Firewall package like Mandrake did/does? I would assume so, but... hah hah

    I got Shorewall as a default piece of the LAMP install on Mandrake. And I also got ProFTP in that distro, what is default in Ubuntu?

    :)
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    I don't know what the default firewall configuration and FTP programs are in ubuntu, but you can easily install shorewall and proftp.
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    excellent then...

    known territory...

    :p
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    Now i remember why i didnt use Ubuntu... it really wanted to make me use a password, Biggles, do you know off the top of your head if ubunto can do a passwordless login?
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