[diehrd]

Windows boy here ! !

But I keep hearing Linux this Linux that..

So here is my new rig soon to be up and running and possibly on Linux.

X2 4400
Dfi Sli Dr Main Board
GSkill 4400
7800Gtx
74 gig Sata.
Water cooled not that it matters.

Plug and Play Devices
DSL Modem External (Frontier)
USB Hub (May not ned it)
HP 6110 Office Jet.
Intel Video camera.
Zio Memory card reader
Telex H-531 mic and head set.
Viewsonic LCD 19 Inch.


I have no clue what to run when I hear Linux.Is there a Linux for Dummies ? One where I can get drivers for the above hardware and add on components?

Any one want to help convert a windows fan boy ? Here is your chance...

[Midnight Dream]

http://fedora.redhat.com/

Fedora Core, the community maintained open source Red Hat. Its what I really started learning Linux in (Mandrake didnt count, it was a small stint that never fully worked.) And, welcome to the Linux world.

[rogerdugans]

My friend, you know I would be happy to help you get away from the dark side.

You may recall that my hardware tends to be on the old side, so I am not sure what issues may exist for you with newer stuff, but know that most IMPORTANT stuff gets support pretty quick...

A few suggestions to start off with:
Try a LiveCD- like Arkaine's Overclockix. Runs purely from the cd and will also help let you know of any hardware issues you may have to resolve. nOte that LiveCDs are slow by nature- their speed is NOT indicative of a regular hard-drive installation.

Look into the "n00b friendly" distros. These tend to be as easy to install as Windows and can be a good way to get hooked on linux enough to try a faster, more advanced one. The problem with these distros are that they tend to be more bloated and have thier own distro-specific tricks needed to install and run, especially when dual-booting. (I know nothing about dual-booting anymore. I don't do it.)

If you make it out to the LAN next month I would be more than happy to help as well- and so would {pms}fishy and SewerBeing, I'm sure.

[diehrd]

Ok I just got my main board and CPu So I wil look into your suggestions...

[odin8yoshi]

Before you install anything, at all. READ. Read everything and anything about unix, Twice.
Heres a link to the FreeBSD Handbook, it covers alot of general unix information, and is writtin very very well. Once you know some of the basics, you can examine some different distros and choose what you think is right for you, the more bloated distros usually have simpler installers, but in the end will not be as rewarding as far as learning the OS goes. Knowledge is power.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO...ook/index.html

[MRD]

OK, if you are a total linux newbie, I would definitely give Xandros OCE a shot. The install is as easy as or easier than windows, it has the best hardware autodetection out there, and it uses the debian apt-get package system.

Gentoo is a fantastic OS, but its install is quite challenging, especially for the linux noob. Xandros will just work.

Fedora will install nicely, but you'll go nuts adding software later, so I don't recommend it. Too many people are put off by the difficulty of installing stuff (I myself almost gave up on Linux because of Red Hat, which is basically the same as Fedora). Mandrake, Suse, and a few others also use rpms and hence are impossible to install new software in.

You can download Xandros free (by bittorrent only) from www.xandros.com. Look for the OCE. It has some silly restrictions you can easily get around later.

[Vertical_Zer0]

I second that... get your feet wet with Xandros and eventually move to Gentoo when you get comfortable enough.

[Flamed_Chip]

I'd also recommend having a look at Ubuntu or Kubuntu. They are very easy to install, based on Debian and have apt (a great package manager).

[Gnufsh]

Originally Posted by diehrd

Windows boy here ! !

But I keep hearing Linux this Linux that..

So here is my new rig soon to be up and running and possibly on Linux.

X2 4400
Dfi Sli Dr Main Board
GSkill 4400

AFAIK these should be supported decently

7800Gtx

Nvidia generally has decent linux support. They should have linux rivers for this soon, if they dn't already.

74 gig Sata.
Water cooled not that it matters.

If the controller works, the drive will work.

Plug and Play Devices
DSL Modem External (Frontier)

may be a problem. Do you have a specific model so I can look and see if drivers exist?

USB Hub (May not ned it)

supported

HP 6110 Office Jet.

mostly supported: http://www.linuxprinting.org/show_pr...OfficeJet_6110

Intel Video camera.
Zio Memory card reader
Telex H-531 mic and head set.

I don't know about these. The mic/headset is probably supported.

Viewsonic LCD 19 Inch.

supported

I have no clue what to run when I hear Linux.Is there a Linux for Dummies ? One where I can get drivers for the above hardware and add on components?

Any one want to help convert a windows fan boy ? Here is your chance...

There actually is a Linux for Dummies book. I have a 4 or 5 year old version. Personally, I prefer gentoo. I wish I'd skipped all the mandrake and redhat crap that I tried before that. On the other hand, the install may well scare you away.

[ToastedToad]

HP 6110 Office Jet

I can verify that under debian, I have the printer and scan functions working properly. Haven't tried fax yet.

[diehrd]

Question will BattleField 2 run on these Operating systems ? ?

[WingsofGOD]

No, guess it's back to windows eh...

[Kendan]

my vote is for a debian based distro. Once you install it go thru these lessons to get the basics of what you can do with linux and the command line.

http://www.linux.org/lessons/

[diehrd]

Yikes..No Battlefield 2 support ? ? ? Ok well i am not happy with that..One company keeps an eye on ya the others allow ya to run limited programs....Not good..

[Flamed_Chip]

It's BF2 that doesn't support Linux, not the other way round. You could probably get it to run using Cedega though, but as I dont own the game I can't verify that.

[Gnufsh]

I believe that there is a linux server version of it.

Programs are written to use the API of the OS they are designed for and generally don't work on other OSes. Many programs are compiled for multiple OSes (eg firefox, openoffice, etc). Linux doeesn't support BF2 because it doesn't use the win32 API. IMHO, that is a good thing.

[MRD]

More and more games are being released now in Linux versions. For now though, many linux fans who are also gamers use cedega and a dual boot system for those games cedega still won't run.

I have a win 2k install I use for a few games while I use gentoo for everything else. I won't give Microsoft another cent, but seeing as I already bought win 2k, I'll use it when I need to until it's completely obsolete/useless.

[Keiron]

I would go with Ubuntu. I'm also new to linux and Ubuntu has been quite friendly. The only real issue you have with it right off the bat is, it's apt-get is limited to the "ubuntu universe". A simple bit of NANO'ing will fix that (don't ask how, I got PhoenixMDM to do it, but it took him all of 35 secs to do it) by switching it over to the universal Debian apt-get repository.

[Audioaficionado]

Knoppix and Overclockix both are Debian based and fairly easy to install. No harder that XP IMHO. I'd just do the dual boot so you can run those windows only programs if you want. A bit of a hassle but boot times for your hardware won't be slow.

If that DSL modem just hooks into your NIC port like my cable modem does, it won't be a problem. Even easier if you go through a router/switch. Linux will interface with the NIC and then it's standard protocalls from there.

[MRD]

I use DSL with linux without any issues, but my router handles all the ppp/login/password crap. So, essentially, it's just an ethernet connection to linux.