Looking to try linux..

Dark_Angel

Dark_Angel

Dark_Angel

Soldato
Joined
12 May 2005
Posts
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Hey,

Anyone have some suggestions of a Linux version to install on my system (E4300 @ 3.2GHZ, 2GB of ram, 8800 GTS, P5N-E 650I SLI M/B)

I have not really used linux, other than like 5 minutes on a friends laptop, but really would like to have a play around.

I currently have windows Vista on one drive (on a 80GB partion, and the rest of the space of the drive is like 370GB of unused space, so I could make another 80GB partion for Linux). And another drive that is partioned in 2 for windows XP SP2 and just a regular data partion, finally I have a 120GB drive that has no partions.

So basically, the 500GB drive that has the 80GB partion I want to add another partion and plop a linux version on... suggestions of what one to try :D
 
Ubuntu is probably best suited to new users, however if you want to take the plunge for something with a little more depth that will teach you more, yet is still easy to use give OpenSUSE 10.2 a try.

Whichever distro you decide on, any partition 15gb+ will be perfectly fine, keep in mind that you will probably use a multiple partition layout for your install, at minimum a root / filesystem and a swap partition, however the installer will guide you through all this and explain whats what. So don't worry too much about partitioning before you start the install.

Also as you have vista already installed, if you let the installer install the bootloader (probably GRUB) to the Master Boot Record of the drive that your bios is set to boot then it will give you the option to boot to either linux or vista, again this should be configured automatically by the installer, and is pretty easy to customize should you need to.

OpenSUSE is also very good with hardware support, one of the best IMO. Most of the time it will detect and set up all your hardware with little need for futher configuration and novell have great support documentation for everything. All you normally need to do is install graphics drivers, as i don't think these are installed by default.


Hope thats some help,

Jack
 
Very helpful :)

What are Linux drivers for 8800's like? I guess that Linux wont be exactly able to game, but then again I can at least mess around with it...
 
Luckily Nvidia have very good linux driver support, if you look on their driver pages, they have full support for the latest 8800s for both 32bit and 64bit versions of Linux.

Nvidia drivers come as a single file to install, but involve patching the kernel, generally though its just a case of following the documentation and its all easy enough :).

There are various games for linux, unreal tournament has a native linux version, I think quake does as well. There is also a good 3d linux multiplayer FPS game which i cant remember the name of :p, but generally graphics drivers provide 3D Acceleration for your desktop environment which means nice effects :)
 
Well at the moment I am downloading opensuse, the DVD 5 version. I am getting the X86_64 (which I assume is the 64 bit version) and will install it tommorw :D

Thanks for the help mate :)
 
64bit variants of linux are missing some compatibility at the moment especialy with Flash websites, there are ways to make flash work but unless you know what you are doing then it can be very hard work.

As for what distro Ubuntu is very good and you can even use the live cd/dvd and test it out before you install it, also the install method of Ubuntu is very easy and will guide you thru the hard bits. :) hope that helps.
 
You need to consider partitioning before installation. You will need three partitions for linux, one for root (where linux is installed), one for swap file and one for home (like windows 'my documents').

Primary (logical) partitions allow only four partitions on a disk so this would mean using the whole disk for home. Assuming you don't want this, you need to install Linux to primary partition 2 and then create an extended partition, which will contain your other partitions, such as swap file, home, spare partition..

I highly recommend that you install ubuntu to begin with as it's easier to use and configure. Do not expect that because you know your way around windows that the same will be true for linux, you will very quickly realise that all too often, 'nothing just works' and get sick of it very quickly. Making things tougher for yourself will only increase the chances of you giving up, which would be a shame because using linux eventually alters your mindset toward open source plus it's a nice feeling being in control of your system, not paying for/pirating software and learning how an operating system works.

Also, you would be part of a huge community where you can learn lots.

Plus: Open Suse was bought by MS.
 
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likwid said:
one for home (like windows 'my documents').
Click to expand...
This is not true. /home will happily live on the same partition as /. You need at least two partitions. One for swap and one for everything else. I, however, usually put /home on its own partition just so reinstallations are easy when things break. :)
 
As you say, given the nature of linux i think it would be ill advised to not have home on its own partition.

:)
 
BigBoy said:
As for what distro Ubuntu is very good and you can even use the live cd/dvd and test it out before you install it, also the install method of Ubuntu is very easy and will guide you thru the hard bits. :) hope that helps.
Click to expand...

bah, it is only easy if you can get it load the installer properly... i get I/O errors and it wont start.
 
A quick search of ubuntu's forums, a forum which for example has 4500 users currently online, will show your experience isn't common. IO errors suggests hardware error or your own burnt cd.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
This is not true. /home will happily live on the same partition as /. You need at least two partitions. One for swap and one for everything else. I, however, usually put /home on its own partition just so reinstallations are easy when things break. :)
Click to expand...

not true either. having the /home is important to new users and swap isnt important if you have plenty of ram.
 
Hey,

I used to use Linux quite some time ago, installed it on my K6-400 in 1999 back when I was using Windows 98. I think I was using SuSE 6.0 and various distros like Corel and Mandrake.

I was on a Windows 2003 Server course the other week and one bloke there said I should give Ubuntu a try as he uses at as a main OS.

So I installed it on another rig,

A64 3000+
512mb Ram
64mb Nvidia Geforce 3 Ti200
60Gb HD

I was Very pleased on how it when, so easy, Never used to be that easy :)

Ubuntu glides along once I enabled the Nvidia drivers, I get all the effects and 3D Acc in games.

My problem with Linux when I used to use it was that installing anything on it was a right pain. But now its so simple, theres a site called 'Get Deb' where you just click on the program you want and it downloads and installs. Perfect.

'It just works!'

screenshotpv2.jpg


Will be using this more and more now. Take the plunge ;)
 
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Have been using various distros for a while now... last few that I was using were Sabayon, Kanotix and the bog-standard Debian. Out of these, I prefered Debian the most, but it's a bit behind the times in some aspects, due to the extensive testing they perform (which is good from a stability point of view, but means you have to wait ages for some stuff).

Kanotix and Sabayon were great fun to play around with but I found myself always fighting to get something to work exactly how I wanted it to. There always seemed to be something not quite working properly which meant I didn't really get to enjoy just "using" it.

Then just for the hell of it I installed Kubuntu the other day... have used Ubuntu a while ago and never really got on with it. The lack of a root account used to really get on my nerves, but I'm giving it a go again and finding it not as bad as I first thought.

I can see why it's so popular with newcomers to *nix because things do just seem to work straight away with Ubuntu. If you don't get on with OpenSUSE, then give Ubuntu (or Kubuntu if you prefer KDE like I do) a go.
 
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