New to Linux

[Killer_Typo]

Ok, so i want to set up a linux box but i need to know what i am going to need to set it all up. any help would be greatly appreciated. especially if i could get some help such as links to downloads, and tutorials on setting it up. thanks in advanced for any help you can offer.

[kc0arf]

Hello,

You are going to need the traditional things: keyboard, mouse, network card, computer, and electricity.

Seriously, you will need media to install from, and will need somewhere to put it. I suggest setting up one computer to do this.

My setup at home is a RedHat 9 Linux server, with 512 MB RAM, and a 5 GB Hard drive. You could setup RH with as little as 64 MB of RAM, but I would keep the minimal Hard Drive setup around 5 GB. You may have heard people brag on how they got Linux installed on 512 MB of hard disk size... yeah, you can do that, but such a configuration is highly customized.

If you want to go RedHat, know that it is "dead" as of version 9. Version 9 will install nicely, and will work for you, just realize there will be no more updates to it. The RedHat Project has migrated into Fedora, (fedora.redhat.com), but it seems that it is not ready for primetime yet.

I would download the CD's as .iso files, and burn them, and install from them. Or you can go to your local Barnes and Noble, and buy a linux book (I like the yellow and black RedHat Linux 9 unleashed) where the disks come with the book. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE .ISO if you only have a modem!

There are other distrobutions out there, and I am sure others will comment on them.

Good luck with your install, and let usknow if you have any snafus.

Christian

[Killer_Typo]

Hello,

You are going to need the traditional things: keyboard, mouse, network card, computer, and electricity.

Seriously, you will need media to install from, and will need somewhere to put it. I suggest setting up one computer to do this.

My setup at home is a RedHat 9 Linux server, with 512 MB RAM, and a 5 GB Hard drive. You could setup RH with as little as 64 MB of RAM, but I would keep the minimal Hard Drive setup around 5 GB. You may have heard people brag on how they got Linux installed on 512 MB of hard disk size... yeah, you can do that, but such a configuration is highly customized.

If you want to go RedHat, know that it is "dead" as of version 9. Version 9 will install nicely, and will work for you, just realize there will be no more updates to it. The RedHat Project has migrated into Fedora, (fedora.redhat.com), but it seems that it is not ready for primetime yet.

I would download the CD's as .iso files, and burn them, and install from them. Or you can go to your local Barnes and Noble, and buy a linux book (I like the yellow and black RedHat Linux 9 unleashed) where the disks come with the book. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE .ISO if you only have a modem!

There are other distrobutions out there, and I am sure others will comment on them.

Good luck with your install, and let usknow if you have any snafus.

Christian

lol, i know that i need mouse keyboard and electricity :P, im on a cable modem so any downloading shouldnt be that intesive, but i like the idea of just purchasing the book, that way i shouldnt have to go searching for the documentation on it. ill post back with more info when i get the book (hopefully this weekend or sooner, with any luck i can pick up the C++ book too )

[oalee]

you can get the .iso files from http://www.linuxISO.org. That's where i got mine

[alc6379]

Also, you can read about the various distributions of Linux at www.distrowatch.com. They have links with descriptions to TONs of versions of Linux.

[DMR]

One important thing: make absolutely sure that your hardware is compatible with whatever distro (and specifically, version of the distro) you decide to go with. Most distros have a Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) on their support site; check that out before purchasing/installing.

It's also a very good idea to have the detailed specifications for your video card, monitor, network card, etc. If your distro doesn't auto-detect a certain piece of hardware you may have to configure it manually, in which case you'll need that info to get things working.

[Killer_Typo]

you can get the .iso files from http://www.linuxISO.org. That's where i got mine

cool, the only problem with that site was that the transfer was extreemly slow (im on cable so it wasnt my internet). i think ill start before i go to bed or somthing like that.

[DMR]

If downloading is a pain, you might want to order CDs from www.cheapbytes.com. They've got quite a variety of distros available, and as their name says- the prices are cheap.

[Killer_Typo]

woop woop, just finished downloading Red Hat linux Version 9. (took a little over an hour, all i did was look for faster servers), but now i have a bigger question. how do i extract the ISO files, or do i just burn them to CD-ROM and their good to go. After burning them to CD-ROM, do i boot from them, or insert them while windows is running?? again im a wee bit lost on this. thanks for all the help and any future help that you may be able to offer me.

[DMR]

Exactly how you burn the isos depends on your burning software, but the general answer is this: you need to burn them to disk as images, not as just a straight file/data copy to CD. The isos are a compressed form of the full data structure (image) of the CDs, and when you chose whatever "burn as image" option your particular burning program uses, the image file will be properly extracted/uncompressed into the full file hierarchy that you would expect to see on a data CD. The issue of being bootable is taken care of as part of the process; when properly burned, the iso of the first install CD will make that disk bootable. When you are ready to install, insert the first disk into your CD drive, boot from it, and the install will proceed from there.

You can find instructions and information about the whole issue of burning iso images at www.linuxiso.org.

Have fun!

[Killer_Typo]

so far ive gotten two of the discs burnt, but the third one is being a tad bit crappy about it, and im not sure wheather or not its the crappy 50 gallon jug of cds that im using or the fact that i might have downloaded a bad ISO file. so far its failed on two discs at different percents so im guessing it had to do with the cd's, and both time right when it goes to fail it makes some weird noises in the CD-Burner drive, so again im guessing its a crappy cd!!! hope i can get this to work.

[DMR]

OK- sorry I forgot to give you this info before, but look through the linuxiso.org link I posted earlier for information on how to verify your iso downloads with the MD5sums program. You also want to use whatever "verify media" option your burrning software has just to make sure that you don't have a batch of duff CD blanks.

[Killer_Typo]

ugh, that third iso is still giving me problems, ive downloaded it from several different locations (about 4, which took me a total combined time of around. TO FREAKIN LONG!!! sorry about the caps, o and one server disconnected me at 96%, i was 4 freakin percent from finishing the download. and amessage poped up, You have been disconnected from the server! BAHHHHHH BAHH IT ALL TO HECK and BACK!!! sorry again about the caps.) and each time i burned it failed after 18 percent. and on one of the burns it made it to 23% and then just hung for over an hour. im not sure what to do anymore, other than just go out and buy a copy of red hat linux, which is not what i want to do.

are there any places that you know of that offer faster downloads than 100 KB a sec, im hoping to get a server that allowes at least 250KB a sec transfer rate.

[kc0arf]

Hello Killer_Typo,

I think the long art of "downloading overnight" has been lost. I remember my first days of getting Linux -- MKLinux for the PowerMac 7100 to be exact -- that I called my ISP up on the telephone, and asked him not to disconnect me while I downloaded the 300 MB file or so on a dialup line. He kindly killed the script that night that knocks people off after 8 hours, and well, I got my product the following morning.

One thing with Linux that you will need to develop is patience. You are coming from the XP world where things operate a certain way, and in Linux, they operate (in my opinion smarter), but they are different, and you are going to need to develop different ways of thinking using this new Operating system.

I also hope you are not burning direct from the FTP session to the CD-R. That is asking too much.

Find a good stable server, such as gatech.edu (I think that is it), and let the process flow naturally.

Personally, I tell my existing linux boxes to go and get them overnight, and I deal with them the following day. I might grab one .iso from different sites to mix it up a bit, but am not overly worried about it. What happens happens.

Christian

(PS... internally, on my network, you could download them at full-duplex 100 MB/S)

[Killer_Typo]

well i started the Red Hat install today, i finaly got the thrid install disk to work. well about half way through the install it gave me an error message about a package being missing from the cd. so i thought, well what else can i do but go and buy a copy. well i didint exactly go out and buy a copy, but i got a book that came with fedora Red Hat, and im installing that right now. im looking forward to this new learning experience. Anything in particular that any of you have to say about fedora?

[kc0arf]

Hello,

Fedora is a continuation of Red Hat. While I am not sure you can call it Red Hat 10, it is going to be developed with Red Hat, and well you can read the legal stuff.

I have not run anything with Fedora yet, but am planning on it once Core 2 is stable... perhaps wait until Core 3. With the types of servers I have running here, I do not need ot upgrade that quickly.

If you are into reading, I would check out the black and yellow Bibles out there for Linux. I have used mine for RedHat Linux 7.2 and 9.0 I will probably end up grabbing one for Fedora once I start planning the migration. They come with CD's, and are written in quite a useful fashion. I also like the author Mark Minasi, and I think he has a Linux book out there too.

While installing, if you have a large enough hard disk, go for just about everything. It reduces your dependancy scenerio that may hinder your progress. I think somewhere you said you wanted to program... be sure to grab the development packages so that you can compile and run with them.

Christian

[Killer_Typo]

yup, i installed all of the packages except for the server packages (i dont plan on hosting any servers untill i can get my own place and get a connection such as ADSL because i hear its good for running servers).

so far the only problem ive run into with linux is this.

Monitor issues, it was out of sync with my monitor (it was trying to run at 1280x1024 at 80mhz refresh rate) i was able to solve that problem.

getting the darnd thing online. i supplied it with an internet connection, but it wont go to any web pages. do you think that could be related to not knowing the onboard nic card that i am using? what can i do to resolve this issue.

New issues. how can i remove the little graphics next to all of the text in the linux version of the start menu, while their nice little graphics they are to busy for my eyes are cunfuse them often.

i hope to get good enough with linux to be able to use it with the same ease and flow i use windows (ive been running windows since 95, and a little of pre 95, so i know my way around windows like the back of my hand :))

the book i got for linux was called "Official Fedora Companion" Your Guid to the Fedora Project
its by redhat press. so i figured that it must be a good book to get, and it was by far the cheapest (at a remarkebly low 19 somthing) where as the other books were in the 39-49 range, heck if i wanted to spend that much i would go out and buy a new game.

[DMR]

i supplied it with an internet connection, but it wont go to any web pages. do you think that could be related to not knowing the onboard nic card that i am using? what can i do to resolve this issue.

As to that: Here- smoke one of mine: :)

http://www.stevewolfonline.com/Downloads/DMR/Doc/Linux/Network/NICConfig.txt

Let us know the specifics of what you get you get from those steps and we'll take it from there.

<edit>
Sorry- I forgot to mention that your DNS nameserver IPs need to be entered in your /etc/resolv.conf file. If that file has no entries for the server IPs, you can edit the file to add them (it's a plain-text file as are most Linux config files). The format of the file is as follows:

search <your ISP's domain name>
nameserver <IP of your Primary DNS server>
nameserver <IP of your Secondary DNS server>

[Killer_Typo]

well i got it pretty much up and running, and i was able to resolve the internet error by setting some of the things for autodetect (like IP, DNS, and other things) and i gotta say im pretty impressed it actually turned out better than i thought it would. now thats not to say that im gunna dump windows...heck me and her been dating since my first computer :P (gosh im such a nerd). and thank you but no thanks, i dont smoke :P. thanks for all the help. Im running the KDE GUI interface over the GNOME because it looks so much better (in my humble opinion).

New question.

im trying to get mplayer to work. so far ive gotten flay and mozplugger (i plan on using mozilla because i didnt like the other browser that it came with) but when i try to intall it all i get is errors. i go like this

Prompt> su -i
Prompt> Password:
i enter my password.

i go to cd home/..../location of .rpm file

and i type

./name of rpm file.rpm

and i get an access denied error. so i thought well that sucks. so i look in the book, and hey what do you know theres a thing there on how to intstall it.

it says use

rpm -i --nodeps nameofrpm.rpm nameofrpm.rpm
which i didnt get. like this is what the line looked like

mplayer-1.0pre3.i386x.rpm mplayer-common-1.0pre3.i386x.rpm

so does it want me to use the one that matches my version or do both. but when i do both i get errors. so what do i do to install this thing. thanks in advanced to any help that you can offer. :)

[DMR]

and thank you but no thanks, i dont smoke :P. :)

Hey K_P, just a Fig Newton of speech. :mrgreen:

More on the rest tomorrow; I need to finish browsing the forums to do my mod duties for the night and then log off.

[Killer_Typo]

roffles, i realized i put flay instead of flash!

[Killer_Typo]

finaly got mplayer installed...i think i did at least. having a little fun with linux. just a question though. is everything i install going to have to use the terminal?? i mean i hear alot of talk about how far its come and how you dont use the terminal as much, but so far for everything that i have done with linux i have had to use the terminal, install stuff, unzip stuff, tell linux to open certain files. not a bit issue, i just wanted to know if there are more things out there that are more for the GUI version of linux (even some of the GUI things i downloaded had to be installed via the terminal)

[DMR]

Most distros do come with GUI utilities to handle these sorts of tasks, but the names of the programs can vary between distros and between GUI environments (Gnome, KDE, etc.); you just kind of have to poke around your program menus and get familiar with what you've got there.

[Killer_Typo]

are there any good tools for removing adware/spyware from linux, or is there not any to begin with so no reason for the tools, how about virus scanners? any of those for linux? im sure there are, but i just gotta dig for em. thanks for all the help, hope that i can get this machine up and running at top performance soon (just gotta get a new monitor for it, because this one is sooo fuzzy that it hurts my eyes to read the type.)

[DMR]

There are virus/worm utilities out there, but due to the fact that there are so few viruses written for Linux, there are only a few utilities as well.

As for spyware, I've never heard of any of that stuff being able to infect a *NIX machine.

[Killer_Typo]

There are virus/worm utilities out there, but due to the fact that there are so few viruses written for Linux, there are only a few utilities as well.

As for spyware, I've never heard of any of that stuff being able to infect a *NIX machine.

schweeet 8)

[DMR]

schweeet 8)

Yar,matey- schweeet she be!

Actually, that's saved my butt more than a few times, and saved my clients' systems more than a few times too: if I have to troubleshoot a system/network that I know to be riddled with "nastyware", I can just boot my laptop into Linux and plug into them for a look-see without having to worry about their nastyware coming back down the pipe and blasting my system. :mrgreen:

(There are also some cool Linux tools that you can use to troubleshoot Windows systems!)

[TKSS]

Unfortunately, I do have something to say about Fedora...Run away!!! Run Away!!!

Fedora Core 2 has problems with dual booting...rpm package management with redhat/fedora does not have dependency resolution...'official' repositories are no longer available from redhat...

If you are a new user there are only three real Linux experiences you should have:

1. Knoppix
2. PCLinuxOS
3. MEPIS

My fav is MEPIS but the other two are kick arse as well. Great for beginners and those wanting to learn.

[Killer_Typo]

i dont plan on dual booting any time so i should be good for now. but if i ever plan on putting it on my main machine ill make sure to check those other ones out.

[kc0arf]

Hello,

I hope you created a second user, and am not running around as root doing everything. If you are, it is time to slow down, and start using a normal user account instead of the God account.

If you were to catch a bug, or malicious program, and you are running root, you can torpedo your box. One of the big features of Linux security is NOT to run normal programs as root.

IN the windows world, you almost always need to be a member of the Administrators group in order to do things. Not the case in Linux.

Christian