Operating Systems > Linux and UNIX

I'm A Linux Wannabe!

(1/3) > >>

SabreEBJ:
Ok, after spending about a couple of weeks getting back into the internet (like...big time surfing!), I've been talking to friends about changing my OS. They suggested Linux. "Whats Linux?" I say. (bear with me  ;) ). So, 2 weeks of searching, getting info ect, led me to many different forums and so on. Then I found this site (Recommended by an online contact). Reading through the threads had me intrigued at how helpful some of you guys are (and dammed well down to earth!). Sooooo...I thought I'd register and make some noise  ;)

Right, so I have windowsXP and I want out. I've been sold the idea of converting to Linux for many various reasons. The two main ones being (I think) more secure? and the fact that I want to do a course at college involving various programming languages (Linux is good for that aint it?).
The only thing that troubles me, is that, there are so many different -types- of Linux (well, thats how it seems to me   ). I've got my eyes on Red Hat. Please bear in mind also, that currently I have NO programming capabilties!
What I hope you guys can help with, is that, I've heard/read that Linux can be difficult to set up (ie: hardware configs ect), is that true?
Also, what is a better -version- (Know what I mean?) of Linux over another. It just confuses me at times. What about windows games compatibility? I have a couple of games I really enjoy playing, would they still work?
The list of questions I have is pretty large, thus I dont expect all the answers, rather, a nod in the right direction of where to find the answers.
Sorry to go on, but the time to change for me is here. Just a few niggles I want to iron out. I'll think of some more in the near future  ;)
Regards.
Gaz

P.S: I thought to put the posting in this section as I'm not YET Linux'd up.

hoojchoons:
I really don't know where to begin from and you sure as hell have a lot of questions about Linux (or GNU/Linux to be exact). First of all, try to learn as much as you can about the GNU project and about Linux in general. Since you're using XPiss (or more specifically NT 5.1), you can go here for a comparison of Linux and NT. You could also read this excellent article posted at fuckmicrosoft.com.

To answer your questions in general, I could say, judging from my experience with Linux and Windows, that GNU/Linux is a more stable, secure, robust and powerful OS than M$ Windoze. Simply put, I've never (not even once!) experienced a crash or had to restart my machine under Linux. On the contrary, how many times did you have to press those three infamous (to Windows users) keys, Ctrl+Alt+Del?

A few words on Linux: When you mention Linux, you're not talking about an OS. You're more likely reffering to the kernel, or the heart of GNU/Linux. The Linux kernel, was first developed in 1991 by a Finnish computer science student, Linus Torvalds. Since then the Linux kernel has made storming progress reaching todays stable version 2.4.18. The Linux kernel is also distributed under the GNU/GPL license which simply means that, if it suits your needs, you can compile a new one. On top of the Linux kernel, run all those applications you come across when you download or buy a Linux distro. Most of them are free, others are commercial products.

Since you're thinking of going into programming, bear in mind that Linux comes with most of the programming languages available (Pearl, C, C++ etc), including the great C/C++ compiler. I can't give you any answers about games though, since I'm not much of a gamer my self, but some of the guys here could give you some hints.

As you wrote, there are many Linux distros, like RedHat, SuSE, Mandrake, Debian etc etc etc (the list is huge). I would recommend Mandrake, since you're a newbie in Linux. It has an extremely easy installation and great hardware support.

Good luck!!

hoojchoons:
There's a broken link in my previous reply. The correct URL is http://www.jimmo.com/Linux-NT_Debate

SabreEBJ:
Geesh :/ So much stuff to read! Thanks for the excellent links though, it sure does sound technical. But fear not! I'll suss it soon.
I think the only thing thats worrying me is the that I want to do a dual boot thingy for a while, as to just get used to possibly Mandrake as you reccomended (I'm going to look into that, thanks).
I still got questions, but I'll try to answer  them myself.
Thanks for your input :>

tr_one:
I would like to add one small point.If you can not run Mandrake on your system, do not give up on linux. Try a different distro maybe. While I tryed to run mandrake,it didn't like something (i can not remember what it was) about my system. I returned to the distro I was using before.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page