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Which is a better Open-Source operating system? If Linux which version do you prefer? I don't really know much about OpenBSD....
I want a Unix based open-source operating system installed onto my computer.....
I currently have a Dell Dimension DIM4600 intel pentium 4 CPU 2.80 GHz 2.79GHz, 512mb of RAM.
I'm running Windows XP Professional.
I vote linux. There are several distributions, but I prefer Slackware. It's the one that is the most unix-alike. Though it isn't really user friendly, so I don't know if it's a good thing to start with if you are a beginner.
Mandrake or RedHat would have been a better choice I think. Much more user friendly, less configuration needed (that is more of it is done automatically) etc...
Debian is also a possibility. It stands somewhere between Slack and Mdk and RH. It is more difficult than the last two, but easier than Slack (at least in my opinion). It is though most remarkable for its package system. It is very easy to update/upgrade and install packages. It is done automatically through a server so you do not need to look for them elsewhere... The only thing you need to know is app's name.
You can also give Slax a try. It's a great live linux dist. It can run from ram, so you really don't need to install anything. Very nice design and many features of the full system.
Here are some links you can take a look at:
Slackware
Mandrake
RedHat
SLAX
haha... love the signature MathFan....
so which one has the best price? I know that through Linuxonline.org I can download a version of Linux....
You mean price like how much it costs? Well, all of the distributions above are free, like most of the linux distrivutions in general; there are exceptions though, like Suse, which is totally commercial. Mandrake and RedHat have also commercial builds. But those are mainly for larger companies etc. What you need is the free version. Just look at the links I wrote in the previous post (Yeah, I know, Mandrake's and ReHat's sites are rather hard to navigate, but eventually you will find what you are looking for). Mind you, the free RedHat dist is called FedoraCore. If you can't find where to download these dists, just google it and I'm sure you'll find them somewhere...
Here is a useful page for those who are downloading linux for the first time.
There is also a more or less full list of distributions here. (As you see, there are REALLY many of them :) )
If you are asking which of the distributions is best, well... There is really no answer to this question. You should try them for yourself and find out which one of them you like best. But for a beginner, I think Mandrake or FedoraCore would be great.
Hope this helps...
ok right.... but I have a 56k modem.... and... damn.... haha... its going to take forever....
Hmmm... now that's a problem... Like, Debian, it's on 9 (!) cd-s! Hehe...
But you can get linux otherwise, too. You can for example order a cd set of some distribution (may cost something like 6-10$) or you can buy some linux magazine (like Linux Magazine or Linux Format) - they very often include full distros on their cds/dvd. Or you can always ask a friend to download it for ya'...
hmm... yeah... maybe I can ask my cousin... he's got a pretty good connection.... thx though :D big help... I think Linux is the direction I'm heading...haha..
ok... another question... haha.... last one.. I promise....
I'm currently looking at the website linuxcd.org.... and I have found the cd that I want... I want to get the fedora core 4...
my question is... one has i386 and the other has x86_64.... I assume that I should get the x86_64 because.... it just sounds right... but I'm not all too keen on these things so.... which one should I get?
Just ask as many as you can come up with ;)Quote:
ok... another question... haha.... last one.. I promise....
Unless you have an AMD64 processor, choose i386...
haha will do....Quote:
Originally Posted by MathFan
I don't have an AMD 64 processor... :) so I take it go with the other one?
or wait.... unless I have an AMD64.... so I should get the i386? I miss read.... haha....
x86_64 is for 64 bit architectures (like AMD64, IA64)
you want the i386 (or x86). Pentium chips are x86.
haha yeah... ok... thx :D
Hold on a sec, isn't x86_64 ONLY for AMD64? Or say it the other way: The AMD64 IS the same architecture as x86_64 or simply x64.Quote:
Originally Posted by Perspective
IA64 (Instruction Architecture 64) is (as I understand) another architecture, which is different from AMD64.
Or am I totally wrong now?
your right, IA64 (Itanium) is not x86_64.. my bad.Quote:
Originally Posted by MathFan
x86_64 is for generic 64 bit x86 CPU's, AMD64 is the only commercial one at the moment, but intel is rumored to be making one.
linux yeah.. but what about mandrake? I installed mandrake 10.0.. but it's really really really slow.. much slower than windows xp pro.. I got celeron 2.4 ghz.. 512 mb ram and 128 gf video card.. what's the problem.. when I open an application it takes way more time to load it than windows would have taken.. even some dumb old calculator.. using kde 3.2
I like Ubuntu myself. Only used it for about 1.5 hours, but the installation on an older computer was pretty quick (faster than windows 98 anyways (I think)), and it has worked like a charm for me so far.
Mandrake IS linux. It's a so-called distribution.Quote:
linux yeah.. but what about mandrake?
That's odd. Usually it's the other way...Quote:
when I open an application it takes way more time to load it than windows would have taken..
May be something with the video drivers? If you try to google it and nothing helps, try to upgrade to a newer version of Mandrake. Or may be choose another distro.
You can try a live cd, too, if you prefer not to install anything on your computer.
SuSE is not totally commercial; there is a "personal" edition that is free, but in my experience (several installs), it's not worth running. My soundcard, printer, and NIC wouldn't work with the personal edition; the soundcard and NIC both worked perfectly as soon as the professional install was done, and the printer only took a few minutes to configure.Quote:
Originally Posted by MathFan
Ubuntu will send you a CD (or multiple CDs) free of charge if you ask. It will probably take a few months to get it, since they only ship once they've accumulated a large number of requests, but it's free. http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org/
Yeah, but isn't it some kind of evaluation thingy with practically no packages?Quote:
SuSE is not totally commercial; there is a "personal" edition that is free
No, why bother to get Suse when you can get another linux distro for free without any restrictions and much more software :DQuote:
it's not worth running
Well, you can encounter such problems with any distro. While windoze users are used to that everything is done automatically, you can't expect the same of linux. It's not really hard to fix it either (in most cases) - just install the correct drivers and it'll work fine.Quote:
My soundcard, printer, and NIC wouldn't work with the personal edition;
I had needed to install drivers, change settings, recompile kernels, etc with other distros to get my hardware working before, and I tried for several hours with SuSE personal to work with my hardware. It was a no go. SuSE professional, however, is very good; it provides wizards to accomplish many things, but I still find that using vim is often the best way to go. It's not based on debian, so you don't use apt-get, but there's YaST, which is somewhat similar (but more limited), and you can compile anything you want from source, which IMO is one of the beautiful things in Linux. So who cares about packages and inefficient precompiled binaries when the source for all of it is free and as easy to install as typing "./configure && make && sudo make install" and your password when prompted?
Surely not to install the printer or the soundcard?Quote:
recompile kernels
You are kidding, right? Several hours?!? I used to spend days and weeks configuring, tweaking and installing things to get all the hardware and os-specific stuff right. And now I've got not only an OS that is configured totally by myself, but also knowledge about the OS itself.Quote:
and I tried for several hours with SuSE personal to work with my hardware.
You just can't give up trying after an hour. That's just not in the spirit of linux :D . Also shows a nasty windoze attitude - "if I can't get it to work from the first try - screw it..."
Well, let's take one thing at a time. Who cares about the packages? I do. The more my installation cds include the better. If slackware supplies 2000 progs with their distro, it's good because I don't need to go looking for practically anything online. I just use a couple of hours to install slack and everything the cd-s include - and off we go. Again, I don't need to fetch anything from internet.Quote:
So who cares about packages and inefficient precompiled binaries when the source for all of it is free and as easy to install as typing "./configure && make && sudo make install" and your password when prompted?
I usually don't use packages otherwise. I use Slackware, which doesn't have a good packaging system anyway. (at least it can't compare to debian's)
But, c'mon, precompiled binaries and packages CAN be useful in some cases. What if you can't make a tarball source compile, but need the package NOW and have no time to go about debugging the source. Packages CAN help (though not necesseraly of course).
And one more thing: you are (totally) omitting package/source dependencies. What if you are going to compile something from source and you run into a dependency list which is way too long to fit on a page. Then you can't just type "./configure && make && sudo make install", right?
But I agree with you in a way. You are right when saying:
It surely is. I wouldn't have traded it for anything ;)Quote:
you can compile anything you want from source, which IMO is one of the beautiful things in Linux
Why, in that case you use Gentoo, of course :)Quote:
And one more thing: you are (totally) omitting package/source dependencies. What if you are going to compile something from source and you run into a dependency list which is way too long to fit on a page. Then you can't just type "./configure && make && sudo make install", right?
Hehe... ;) Yeah, I've heard that package management with Portage is like heaven. Haven't tried Gentoo myself though.... (may be I should....)Quote:
Why, in that case you use Gentoo, of course :)
You definitely should. It is indeed heaven.
To install the sound drivers for my soundcard I would of had to recompile my kernel as well. Instead I put in a livecd of SLAX (based off of slackware right? Hopefuly slackware recognizes it as well) and had it work. Without a constant internet connection in front of me it can be a hassel to do things with Linux it seems.Quote:
Surely not to install the printer or the soundcard?
gentoo!!!
gentoo rulez... besides the portage there is another heavy wight advantage: gentoo is compiled in your own computer... that makes it work damn fast.... Incredibal... its dam fast.
Hmmm... Ok, I just haven't heard of such problems before. (but, then, I've got an inegrated sound card, so... :D )Quote:
To install the sound drivers for my soundcard I would of had to recompile my kernel as well.
Yeah, it's based on the newest slackware distro and 2.6 kernel (if I don't remember wrong). Well, I'm not really sure if slackware will recognize it, but since it works in SLAX there may be a good chance for it.Quote:
Instead I put in a livecd of SLAX (based off of slackware right? Hopefuly slackware recognizes it as well)
It seems like your problems may be kernel version related. If you had to recompile the 2.4.x kernel (if it was that what you used to have), but it worked in 2.6.x, just upgrade to a distro that uses a 2.6 generation kernel. Slackware 10.1 is supplied with both a 2.4.29 kernel and with an alternative: 2.6.10.
Oh, yes, it is. I used to have a modem connection, I remember how painful it was. You need internet to find info, to download packages/tarballs, download new distros etc. So, yeah, it's almost like linux requires a good internet connection.Quote:
Without a constant internet connection in front of me it can be a hassel to do things with Linux it seems.
All right, all right, you managed to persuade me ;) I'm doanloading it now... heheQuote:
gentoo!!!
gentoo rulez... besides the portage there is another heavy wight advantage: gentoo is compiled in your own computer... that makes it work damn fast.... Incredibal... its dam fast.
Just be aware that if you choose to compile the entire system yourself, it will take quite a while, relatively speaking with regards to how fast your system is. With an old PIII 450 you would be looking at *days*... :)
Yeah, I understand that ;) But I'm willing to try it if the results are as good as many claim. If I can get a much faster system with gentoo, I'm happy. I hope the compilation to be a bit faster than several days though :) (I've got a much faster computer, so hopefully, it won't take more than a day)Quote:
Just be aware that if you choose to compile the entire system yourself, it will take quite a while, relatively speaking with regards to how fast your system is. With an old PIII 450 you would be looking at *days*... :)
Well, I have never timed my Gentoo install - but with my Athlon64 3500+ I would say in the neighbourhood of a day by the time I get everything the way I want it. Might be less, but its hard to say the exact amount of hours as I begin bootstrapping and then go to bed...
Yes, I'd say that several hours of running through the procedures that have worked and continue to work with other distributions and the professional edition of SuSE is enough time. It seemed that the personal edition is actually incapable of recognizing more than one NIC; at the time I was trying, I had three installed. Personal lacks several other key features as well; the biggest of these is that it installs no compiler by default. You need to click the right buttons during the install (it's buried deep in sub menus) to install GCC, and if you don't install it at that time, there seems to be no way of getting it later (GCC is only distributed as source). I've spent days/weeks/months configuring my system the way I want it (I'm using SuSE 9.0 Pro for now), but that doesn't mean I didn't want to start with a good framework.Quote:
Originally Posted by MathFan
I installed The GIMP 2.0 from source, and its list of dependencies I didn't have went seven layers deep. It was hours before I got to the point where I could actually try compiling GIMP again ... but I didn't need a binary.Quote:
Originally Posted by MathFan
Has anyone here done Linuxfromscratch? I've been thinking about it.
Yeah, read an article about it in Linux Format. They said that it was a really good distro. It costs money though....Quote:
I'm using SuSE 9.0 Pro for now
You COULD have used rpm-packages for all dependencies, which would have probably made it much less time-consuming ;)Quote:
but I didn't need a binary.
I have not done it, but I have been thinking about it too - apparently it is a really good way to get to know Linux internals better...Quote:
Originally Posted by confuted
Please read this before uttering another word about Gentoo. You're only contributing to giving Gentoo the undeserved bad reputation it already has among developers...Quote:
Originally Posted by PedroTuga
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-309752.html
http://www.funroll-loops.org/
heh - that was good for a laugh - good linksQuote:
Originally Posted by ^xor