Member Avatar for PcPro12

OK, so for a while now I wanted to try out linux, so I did, first linux I used was ubuntu...but I did try Gentoo and Knoppix, knoppix I liked but had problems mounting the hard drive, so I went back to ubuntu and works better than before for some odd reason...

Anyway, I need a few suggestions, I'm new to linux and everything, but I'm a little bit familiar with ubuntu, I can work around it, I've checked out almost all the programs and looked around the OS, got new wallpapers, upgrading to version 8.04 right now, as I have a few months old Ubuntu Live CD...and used that to install ubuntu...

So first off, I've heard of 2 programs, emulators I think...Winetools and Yum...not sure if I got them right...But which one would you recommend to use...Winetools or Yum???

Second...I have another Windows computer in the house, it's a Windows Vista OS...and they both run on the same network...Ubuntu is on wired connection, and vista is on wireless...my internet connection is DSL...and how would I go about connection them together? Like making a network sharing folder if that is possible...as on this computer before I had ubuntu, I had xp...and I opened the Network folder, put files in there, and went on the other computer and took them out...Is this possible to do with Ubuntu and Vista???

The third think is that I want to learn about everything as much as possible...I'm wanting to learn to program, python, perl, C++, anything to make a program...and web design, html, css, php, mysql, javascript, anything...now I don't know what linux was programmed in...so any programming language I would want learn...I know ubuntu has python installed...so what would you recommend I continue in? html and css I've got down a bit, I can create a website but very basic...

And fourth, I want to make my computer into a web host...like part of it, to just host about 1 website of my own and make it public to the web, how would I go about doing that? I'm good with computers, just not the languages, so any steps and I can follow...any suggestions, programs to use...as long as hard coding isn't involved, I can get it done...

And finally, what else would you recommend I do with ubuntu, like any files to install or any tips, guides, recommendations...Computers is all I do and I want to learn as much as possible about linux as well, and lots of coding, web design languages...anything about computers I want to learn...

Thanks for reading...

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jbennet
Member Avatar for John A

>So first off, I've heard of 2 programs, emulators I think...Winetools
>and Yum
Neither of those are emulators. Yum is a package manager for Red Hat based Linux systems (such as Fedora), while Wine is a Windows compatibility layer for Linux. What this basically allows you to do is run some Windows programs directly on Linux, as opposed to running them in an emulator, where you're emulating an entire operating system, so theoretically programs that run in Wine don't suffer the performance hit that they take in an emulated environment.

You can try Wine to see if it will run your programs, winehq.com has an application database, so try that for tips on running software. If you need a real emulator, I recommend using VirtualBox.

>Ubuntu is on wired connection, and vista is on wireless...my
>internet connection is DSL...and how would I go about connection
>them together?
Use the Samba software on Ubuntu to connect with and share files with Windows-based hosts. The Ubuntu docs have a nice guide on setting it up:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpSamba

>now I don't know what linux was programmed in...so any
>programming language I would want learn...
Python isn't a bad language to start out in. It'll teach you the fundamentals of object oriented programming, it's fairly simple, and there's good library support for extending the functionality of your programs. You can use pretty well any language you want to on Linux though, so don't feel limited to learning with python.

>And fourth, I want to make my computer into a web host...like part
>of it, to just host about 1 website of my own and make it public to
>the web, how would I go about doing that?
The simplest way would be to just install and run Apache. Then go to /var/www and put your files in there. There's hundreds of guides on the net for setting up Apache, as well as PHP/MySQL if you require that as well, so Google is your friend.

Member Avatar for PcPro12

>Neither of those are emulators. Yum is a package manager for Red Hat based Linux systems (such as Fedora), while >Wine is a Windows compatibility layer for Linux. What this basically allows you to do is run some Windows programs >directly on Linux, as opposed to running them in an emulator, where you're emulating an entire operating system, so >theoretically programs that run in Wine don't suffer the performance hit that they take in an emulated environment.

ya, thats what I'm looking for, since I only used windows, so I have a lot of windows software...it's just that when I ran knoppix, in the applications menu it has EMULATORS, and in it was WINETOOLS...


>Use the Samba software on Ubuntu to connect with and share files with Windows-based hosts. The Ubuntu docs >have a nice guide on setting it up:
>https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SettingUpSamba

ok cool...thanks :)

>Python isn't a bad language to start out in. It'll teach you the fundamentals of object oriented programming, it's fairly >simple, and there's good library support for extending the functionality of your programs. You can use pretty well any >language you want to on Linux though, so don't feel limited to learning with python.

Cool, than I'll just continue learning...thanks...

>The simplest way would be to just install and run Apache. Then go to /var/www and put your files in there. There's >hundreds of guides on the net for setting up Apache, as well as PHP/MySQL if you require that as well, so Google is >your friend.

Ahh...ok, I have tried Apache on windows, but I didn't know if the same thing is ran under linux as well...

Thank you very much for answering my questions

Member Avatar for NYK007

Hi guys,

As a newly registered user I only want to say hi to everyone else who uses this forum.I want to make my computer into a web host...like part of it, to just host about 1 website of my own and make it public to the web, how would I go about doing that?

NYK
<snip fake sigs>

Member Avatar for jbennet

please make your own thread about this in the correct forum. also dont post fake signatures like that. Check the rules for more info.

Member Avatar for loyeyoung

Whole books have been written in response to your questions, so it's almost impossible to answer your post. Those who know won't have the time to answer such expansive and wide ranging questions, and those that have the time probably don't know. :-)

However, your interest in Linux and other open source technologies is encouraging, so I'll give you some pointers.

First, three readings will assist you greatly in your quest for knowledge:

1. "How to Ask Questions the Smart Way," http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html.
2. "How to Become a Hacker," http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html.
3. "Linux Distributions," http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution

Ubuntu documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/

With respect to your specific questions:
Wine(tools). Wine is used for running Windows programs on Linux. Wine tricks the software into thinking it's running on a Windows machine. It works for most Windows software and is improving week by week. However, Windows software that attempts to make direct calls to the kernel (an insecure and unstable practice not uncommon among Windows developers) will run less predictably on Wine. Games often fall in that category.

YUM: Don't use it on Ubuntu. Use Synaptic Package Manager or aptitude instead. YUM is used for cross distribution compatibility with RedHat and other RPM based software. Wait until you know more about what's going on under the hood before you attempt to use YUM.

File sharing: Samba. It's already installed in Ubuntu. See the Ubuntu help documentation.

Programming: "Dive into Python". "How to Become a Hacker". Leave programming Linux (the kernel of the operating system) until you know more.

Building a web server: Install the LAMP stack by running:
sudo tasksel install lamp-server
I'd recommend you use a Content Management System if this is your first rodeo with a web server. A good one to start with is Joomla. http://www.joomla.org. Don't make it Internet accessible until you understand the basic security issues. Download it here: http://joomlacode.org/gf/download/frsrelease/9294/34965/Joomla_1.5.9-Stable-Full_Package.tar.gz

"what else would you recommend?" Immersion. Use it for everything you do. Backup up often. Try stuff. Read your eyeballs off. Make mistakes. Break things. Fix them. Within two weeks, you'll be hooked.

Happy Trails,

<snip "fake" sig>

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