[TheForge] Re: Linux

[Mike Spencer]

> I am sick of Windows...

Ah-HA!


> ...and am thinking of going to Linux.

An excellent preseciption for that malady.


> ...any suggestions, My HP Pavilion AMD p6-2133w 12 gb ram

If:  + you have no experience with Linux/Unix and

     + you have an old computer that still works, say a PII or newer

then you might try installing Linux on that and futzing around with it
during those long, dark days of winter. Then you can make lots of
mistakes without risk of wedging your precious main box.


I don't know if your shiny new "HP Pavilion AMD p6-2133w" is a laptop
or not.  Problems arise with laptop hardware compatibility or
configuration more often than with desktop machines.  There are
usually solutions or work-arounds but failure to "just work out of the
box" can be disappointing. In any case, Ben Barrett's suggestion that
you try to get or fix up a bootable DVD or thumb drive is good. Then
you can see if your computer has problems with a particular distro or
hardware (such as the wireless chipset or the on-board video).

If that seems like a barrier, you might be able to find a local Linux
User Group where one or more hotshot Linux users would fix such a
thing up for you. (Our local LUG here is full of nice, generous,
knowledgeable, helpful people.) You know, like how we send the "I
bought an anvil and wanna try blacksmithing" people to their local
ABANA affiliate or similar group?

As for a choice between "distros" -- Linux packages that bundle up an
entire working system intended to work out of the box -- we get into
the area of opinion. Here's some of *my* opinion:

Ubuntu appears to have been created to make things as much like
Windows as possible in order to attract defectors from MS. It forces the
user into it's pre-ordained approach. It actually puts barriers in
your way in the hope of protecting you from yourself. Not for me.

Slackware is at the other end of the spectrum. If you're the type that
takes your Christmas toys apart to see how they work before you've
even played with them or you fall into a frothing rage when Windows
says, "I'm sorry, I can't do that Dave", then Slackware might be for
you.  OTOH, if you're slightly intimidated by the move to Linux and
really don't want to scrabble your way up a steep learning curve,
maybe not.

In between those extremes is Debian. I've never used it but I know one
of the developers.  It has a superior selection of software packages,
good on-line support community and lacks obsessive mothering.  I think
it might be the best choice if you want neither pathological
hand-holding from Mother nor bare-knuckled encounters with details.

Try to resist the temptation to try out a dozen different distros.
You're likely to become mired in the differences between them rather
that getting quickly up to speed with the basic, useful stuff you
want.

I've been Windows-free [1] since 1999.  I use Slackware [2] on a
collection of machines from a Pentium-I laptop up to 3 P-IV
desktops. Back about 1996, I actually *bought* Windows 95 on
CD, then went to watch it being used on a friend's compter.  I hated
it so much that I never installed it.  Shortly thereafter, I bought
Great Fat Book with two Linux CDs, bought a cheap, used Pentium box
and never looked back.

HTH,
- Mike



[1] Wellllll, I still have an old laptop that dual-boots into Win
    3.1. It's because I also have a (very old) Kodak DC-40 camera and
    the only software to d/l photos is Kodak-proprietary for Win 3.1.
    Kodak never released the protocol specs for this cam so there's
    no FOSS that supports it.

[2] Yes, I'm one of the guys who often has more fun taking toys apart
    and putting them together again than just using them. As well, I
    came to Linux with 10 years a Unix user, albeit with no experience
    as an admin. So I was halfway up the learning curve to start.

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^