installing linux!!

[ayush_chh]

hi frnds!

After a long time finally i am going to install Linux on my PC. so, i need help regarding this. i have never used linux before so i don't know nothing. Consider me a noob and pls tell me step by step process for installing linux.

what i have and what i want

1) a PC with 3 HDD (40 GB, 40 GB, 200 GB) unpartitioned. i have win XP installed and don't want to remove it.

2) i know there is some File system problem so, i won't be able to see my XP partition from Linux and vice versa. But i have heard that there is some
File system which can be used in both XP and Linux

3) i have Red Hat Linux (3 CD)......don't know very well what it is...


thanks for your HELP

 

[Rahim]

Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" is ideal for starters. Download it or use Digit DVDs.
You can access your XP partitions from Ubuntu through ntfs-3g.
you can easily dual-boot XP & Linux.

 

[NucleusKore]

1) a PC with 3 HDD (40 GB, 40 GB, 200 GB) unpartitioned. i have win XP installed and don't want to remove it.

You do not have to remove XP

2) i know there is some File system problem so, i won't be able to see my XP partition from Linux and vice versa. But i have heard that there is some
File system which can be used in both XP and Linux

You can READ AND WRITE to windows filesystems (NTFS and FAT) from Linux, no restrictions there You can also read and write to ext3 filesystems of Linux from windows using a software. I do not recommend it though.

3) i have Red Hat Linux (3 CD)......don't know very well what it is...

Its a good distro, but I do not have any experience with the latest RedHat. I use OpenSuSE 10.3. I have a post here on how to quickly make your OpenSuSE multimedia capable.

Now before you install any Linux I would like to have a look at you partition table. In Windows, Please click on Start->Control Panel->Computer Management-> and in that, click on Disk Management System

You will see all your partition tables. Press Print Screen button on your keyboard and post the screenshot here. Will then guide you on the partitioning.

*img217.imageshack.us/img217/9472/pubthefuture2cisopen466cr4.png

 

[debsuvra]

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon is a good choice for everyone. Also you can try some other distros like openSUSE 10.3 and Fedora 8, they are also good and reliable.

I think most of todays distros have the NTFS 3g enabled by default and as a result NTFS partitions are not a problem to access.

Also if u have a moderate graphics hardware in your rig, then you can enjoy the full potential of compiz fusion in linux.

And if u want all the multimedia capabilities and codecs installed by default in Linux then u can install Ubuntu Ultimate.

Happy Linux Days!

 

[mehulved]

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon is a good choice for everyone.

You want to get me started again on this?

 

[praka123]

I suggest Ubuntu Gutsy as a n00b distro.else fedora 8(d00d,ur redhat 9 is affected by termites it is sooo old,damn trash those cd's ) which is RedHat changed their community distro name
*fedoraproject.org
and
Ubuntu @:
*www.ubuntu.com

always install GNU/Linux on a new partition and make sure a swap partition of 400MB is made.the File System preferred is ext3.

below site is useful too:
*www.linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

 

[nileshgr]

I suggest Ubuntu Gutsy as a n00b distro.else fedora 8(d00d,ur redhat 9 is affected by termites it is sooo old,damn trash those cd's ) which is RedHat changed their community distro name
*fedoraproject.org
and
Ubuntu @:
*www.ubuntu.com

always install GNU/Linux on a new partition and make sure a swap partition of 400MB is made.the File System preferred is ext3.

below site is useful too:
*www.linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

SWAP partition is not reqd. more than 1.5~3 times of RAM. Correct me if i am wrong.

and @ayush_chh trash those old CDs

Either download Fedora 8 from its webby or use DIGIT DVD. Fedora is a nice stable Linux distro.

 

[mehulved]

Fedora is a nice stable Linux distro.

Ever used Debian or FreeBSD?
I guess I am in a mean mood today.

 

[ayush_chh]

Either download Fedora 8 from its webby or use DIGIT DVD. Fedora is a nice stable Linux distro.

so can i directly install it from DVD or need to burn it on CDs

@Nucleuskore

i'll be posting the screen shot soon

 

[nileshgr]

so can i directly install it from DVD or need to burn it on CDs

@Nucleuskore

i'll be posting the screen shot soon

depends on the DVD. if its bootable, u can direct install.

@mehulved, why are always against Fedora ?

Even @praka123 isn't always against RH products.

 

[ayush_chh]

and one more important thing, i m doing this because i m learning UNIX in my college and they use redhat (that is why i have redhat)......can i do shell programming in Fedora?

 

[praka123]

^ofcourse man!redhat linux is a very old distro now.it uses old kernel 2.4 contains outdated gcc etc packages.

my advice is you choose either ubuntu or fedora and do ur shell programming.

infact fedora=redhat+community now.

 

[nileshgr]

and one more important thing, i m doing this because i m learning UNIX in my college and they use redhat (that is why i have redhat)......can i do shell programming in Fedora?

shell programming is supported on all *NIX (i doubt for live cds).

 

[gary4gar]

freebsd is crap.

 

[mehulved]

@mehulved, why are always against Fedora ?

I am using F9 Alpha. I can understand unstable apps and bad bugs, considering it's Alpha release only. But, the distro overall is slowwww. Yum takes ages, it even removed libnss and installed older version without my permission. It installed GNOME, though i explicitly selected KDE only and left out all GNOME stuff. It's better than ubuntu when it comes to stuff like programming and all. But, calling fedora as stable, well see Debian and FreeBSD, then you'll know what I mean. Well, CentOS/RHEL is stable, fedora no. Yeah, maybe since you come from MS users you may consider it stable.

 

[praka123]

freebsd is crap.

beware bsd guys can crap on u

freebsd is good..OK didja ever tried openbsd?the best (secure) OS ?

bsds are not focusing on user friendliness that doesnot mean that bsds sucks. bsd's are the world's best server OS.

though I agree that pc-bsd is real buggy.

 

[nileshgr]

I am using F9 Alpha. I can understand unstable apps and bad bugs, considering it's Alpha release only. But, the distro overall is slowwww. Yum takes ages, it even removed libnss and installed older version without my permission. It installed GNOME, though i explicitly selected KDE only and left out all GNOME stuff. It's better than ubuntu when it comes to stuff like programming and all. But, calling fedora as stable, well see Debian and FreeBSD, then you'll know what I mean. Well, CentOS/RHEL is stable, fedora no. Yeah, maybe since you come from MS users you may consider it stable.

Duh! I am using Fedora since last one year and never faced a problem like this. I agree that yum is a bit slow and its reason is Python. yum is written in Python which is damn slow on command-line ( i read this in a survey ).

 

[ayush_chh]

which one out of these should i D/L

*torrent.fedoraproject.org/

 

[mediator]

U can get this months digit as it gives u fedora 8. This one btw!

 

[mehulved]

Duh! I am using Fedora since last one year and never faced a problem like this. I agree that yum is a bit slow and its reason is Python. yum is written in Python which is damn slow on command-line ( i read this in a survey ).

yum refreshes the repos everytime you start it, unlike apt which is refreshed only when you ask it.
Secondly, yum uses database to store it's data, I believe sqlite whereas apt uses flat file system.