Fedora Core 3 or Knoppix 3.7 ?

H2 · Feb 22, 2005

I want to learn Linux. I have played with Knoppix 3.7 on a bootable CD I made. So now to get more into it should I install Knoppix or Fedora Core 3 on my XP2500 as a dual boot system.
From what I read Fedora Core 3 won't be able to read my existing video or Mp3s because I have all my existing drives formatted NTFS.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I just want something easy to learn that when I get a couple of extra hours each night I can just pop in a new hard drive and be running Linux or use a dual boot system and not change out hard drives. Being able to look at my network might be nice, I just don't know if it is possible.
With the Knoppix 3.7 on the CD I was playing with I could see my NTFS hard drives but I couldn't write to them. It said they were mounted but it didn't work.

gruven · Feb 22, 2005

I would say Fedora Core 3 will be a good learning distro. You will be able to add mp3, video, and ntfs support, but you won't be able to write to ntfs. It is still very experimental, so it is not recommended.

You will be able to read from ntfs though.

H2 · Feb 22, 2005

When you get a hard drive set up and running well with Fedora core 3 how do you backup your hard drive so if it dies or if I mess something up I can get it back the way it was. Right now I use Norton Ghost 9.0 to make images on my other XP systems so if something goes down I can be up running with a new drive in less than 1 hour.
Maybe I shouldn't be worrying about that yet. Thanks for the help.
Are all of Linux distros not able to write to a NTFS ?

gruven · Feb 22, 2005

You will not find safe write support to ntfs. There is the captive-ntfs project, and they support writing to ntfs, but it has some strict rules. It can't change the filesize, no rename, etc.... Not worth it IMO. Just create a fat32 partition that the operating systems can share.

There are programs for linux that will image your install if you need to back up, but you shouldn't need to reinstall. You should always try to fix the problem manually first. It will teach you a lot.

But yes, if you can find the program, you can do what you asked.

H2 · Feb 22, 2005

Thanks gruven,

The last question I have on this is the DVD ISO is 4gig or there is 4 CD iso that total about 2.2 gig. Should I install from the DVD?
I have the DVD downloaded and CD 1,2,and 3 but so far I can't download disk 4 of the CDs. The server seems to be down. I am trying to get the Disk 4 of the I386 core 3 (Heidleburg) but haven't been able to for over a day.

gruven · Feb 22, 2005

I have all 4 disks, but I would have used the dvd if I would have had a spare blank dvd.

And, if you don't install all of the packages, you don't need disk 4. I don't remember what packages are on the disk though.

You should also look into SuSE if this is your first linux install. It is very user friendly, and should come with everything you are looking for. I like YAST better than yum anyway.

kaltag · Feb 22, 2005

gruven said:
You will not find safe write support to ntfs. There is the captive-ntfs project, and they support writing to ntfs, but it has some strict rules. It can't change the filesize, no rename, etc.... Not worth it IMO. Just create a fat32 partition that the operating systems can share.

There are programs for linux that will image your install if you need to back up, but you shouldn't need to reinstall. You should always try to fix the problem manually first. It will teach you a lot.

But yes, if you can find the program, you can do what you asked.

Actually the captive NTFS project allows FULL read/write capability on NTFS drives. It's not very fast but it does work perfectly since they use the actual Windows NTFS driver it's as safe as Windows itself can do it

. The built in kernel driver for NTFS is what has the restrictions you mentioned. The built in kernel driver can safely read at a decent speed all day long though. Your best bet is to create a FAT32 partition if you need to move files from linux to windows. If you don't need to do that and just read from NTFS don't bother with a partition and use the kernel's NTFS driver.

gruven · Feb 23, 2005

kaltag said:
Actually the captive NTFS project allows FULL read/write capability on NTFS drives. It's not very fast but it does work perfectly since they use the actual Windows NTFS driver it's as safe as Windows itself can do it . The built in kernel driver for NTFS is what has the restrictions you mentioned. The built in kernel driver can safely read at a decent speed all day long though. Your best bet is to create a FAT32 partition if you need to move files from linux to windows. If you don't need to do that and just read from NTFS don't bother with a partition and use the kernel's NTFS driver.

Thanks for the info, I didn't know they were that far along on the captive NTFS project.

I don't even mount my NTFS partition though. All it has is windows and a couple programs on it. I use the rest of the hard drive in fat32 to trade files between the two. The NTFS partition will be coming off soon though, just about the time I try out cedega.

H2 · Feb 23, 2005

Thanks for the help guys. I loaded the DVD version of Fedora Core 3. It is installed totally and working. I almost feel now like I did 12 years ago using dos 4.1
This will be a very slow process for me.
I used a computer that was on my Windows XP network. All I did was put in a new hard drive and install Fedora. Should I be able to connect to my Windows Network and copy files from my other computers that are running XP? Sorry for the dumb questions that should be obvious.

gruven · Feb 23, 2005

Yes, you will use Samba for your networking with Windows computers.
Just type "man samba" at the prompt for instructions.

H2 · Feb 23, 2005

I looked in the add and remove software and it looks like I need to add Samba-Common, Samba Client 3.0.10
Should that software be on the DVD I downloaded? The whole Fedora Core 3
I'm not sure when I get the software it is asking for.

gruven · Feb 23, 2005

If you installed everything, then yes, it should be there. If you didn't install everything, then it should be on the dvd.

You can always use yum to get it if you don't have it though.

rogerdugans · Feb 23, 2005

Someplace around here we have a great "How To-" article on Samba...
It might be a bit outdated now, I am not sure as I don't use windows much.

But I have used Samba in the past and it is the balls for a mixed Linux/windows network man. Well worth whatever time and effort you have to put into getting it working right.

H2 · Feb 23, 2005

Thanks for the help on the Samba. I am going to be too busy for the next 7 days to work on it much but I will hunt down the How-to artical Samba instructions. Good to know in the end it will be worth while.

Tech · Feb 23, 2005

Try this: http://www.hut.fi/~tkarvine/samba-quickstart.html

Fedora Core 3 or Knoppix 3.7 ?

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