Hello I need some help and direction

Count_Zero99uk

Count_Zero99uk

Count_Zero99uk

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Joined
27 Jul 2006
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675
Location
Huddersfield
Hi there,

With the release of the Raspberry Pi and the fact that its going to be using Linux of some flavour. I have never used Linux, I think that I have allways been a little scared of it :confused:

But I have a strong intention to get hold off one of these Pi's and to help get my newphew, who's 10, involved in comuters and computing beyond the control pad of his console.

As there are some big waiting lists to get a Pi i thought my first job would be to get to grips with linux and find out what kind of things I can do on it, and why it is used by some people in prefferance to Windows.

Ok, so my plan is this I have a Dell Laptop that i dont use, as it came with vista and only 1gb of memory and has never run very well. So Im happy to wipe it clean and install Linux on it. However I have no idea how to go about this or what flavour of Linux to use. I believe the Pi is using the Debian one so it may be prudent to use the same one.

I guess my first project will be just to get the Laptop working in a stable way with Linux. If someone could point me to some kind of guide which goes through this step by step. I assume that i will need to make a list of all the hardwear that the laptop has in it.

My second project will be getting to grips with Python, which is the language of choice for the Pi but thats something for another forum.

Once I am comfortable with all of this ill need to find some project for my nephew and I to do, so if anyone can think of any sites or books that are pitched to this level then that would be great.

Thanks in advance as allways for your help in this
Brian Moran.
 
The likelihood is that the majority of mainstream distros will install/work without issue on the laptop, its often as easy as download the ISO burn it to CD/DVD (or USB) and boot from that media, click next about 5 times and you're done.
 
See this is what you get when you use a public library with books at least 6 years old i was expecting to have to find drivers and all sorts. Well thats the first part sorted easy enough.

Any sugestions for the other aspects of my post, or anyone with other comments?

Thanks again.
Brian.
 
Count_Zero99uk said:
I assume that i will need to make a list of all the hardwear that the laptop has in it.
Click to expand...

This couldn't be further from the truth ;)

Dell's tend to use pretty standard hardware, and nowadays the Linux kernel has a lot of drivers ready to use - my laptop is a Latitude D620 and everything works flawlessly from the word go with Linux and has done as long as I've owned it. Contrast this to Windows XP, when I do need a list of all the hardware and appropriate drivers!

Anyway, as said, just download a distro and burn it to disc. It will most likely boot to a live environment (meaning it is running from the CD) and there will be an option to install to your harddrive.

Python will undoubtedly already be installed as part of your distro and running a python script is as simple as opening a terminal window (command line) and typing python <filename>

Other than learning python, one of your biggest hurdles will probably be to "get" the filesystem - it's quite different from Windows, and you won't find things where you expect them to be, but it is fairly straight forward, configuration files tend to be in /etc, program files tend to be in /bin or /sbin, program data tends to be in /var, and all your own stuff will be in /home/yourname. And installing software is nothing like Windows either. Rather than downloading an installation file and executing it, you tell the OS's package manager which program to install, and it will go and get it, along with any other programs it requires to run it, and install them for you. Simples :)

In terms of which distribution you go for, choosing Debian because Pi will use Debian isn't necessarily as logical as it seems. I would suggest Linux Mint. It is based on Debian, so things like what kind of configuration files are used and where things are saved will be very similar. What you learn from Mint will be very transferable to Debian. Mint is far more user friendly for beginners than Debian in my opinion.

Whichever distro you choose, there will most likely be a step by step guide to installing it for beginners, on the website.

Have fun :)
 
Thanks for that.

A quick question about this live environment. The laptop at the moment has Vista on various Dell softwear that came with it. When the live environment is active will i be able to do anything? For example could i make a document and save it so that the next time i run the live environment its available.

The reason i ask is that ive read that Linux and Windows deal with data differently so im not sure what the purpose of a live environment is - other than just to look and go oo thats nice :).

Thanks as allways
Brian.
 
If you wish to make a document in the live environment you could always save it to a USB stick, then it would be available for you next time. Or you could even mount your Windows partition and save the document there.

If you saved it on the desktop however, the document would dissapear as it is only saved in RAM.

The purpose of a live envirnoment is many things, just to name a few:

- Test hardware compatibility
- Test the distribution to see if you like it
- Do system administration tasks such as recovering files or partitions
- Have a temporary environment with which to install and test software without risking your main install

and the list goes on...

The main difference I believe you are referring to in how Linux and Windows manage data is the filesystem type. Windows uses NTFS, which linux can read, but linux (usually) uses ext3/ext4 which windows cannot read without additional software.
 
Excelent, thanks Jack.

Looks like my current tasks are as follows.

- Look up various types of Linux see which i like
- See if they run in live environment on my lappy
- Install
- Run to forum screaming about my laptop being on fire / trying to start nuclear war.

Cheers as allways
Brian.
 
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