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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,630
Moderator-Avaya, Nortel
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Moderator-Avaya, Nortel
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,630 |
I have determined that with only a wife, kids, job, house, family, etc..etc... that I have too much time on my hands and I need something to keep me busy.... :rofl:
Okay..not sure why, but I want to play around with Linux. I have several older computers laying around and I want to find a use for them somehow... I have a couple of older p4's and AMDs. I thought I would load Linux on to one of these... but which one? and where do I get it? Can I download an ISO? I hope it is still free. About the only thing I truely need is a computer I can setup with a couple of larger drives to provide additional backup storage for music and photos, but I have a Win7 machine to use for that as well. I just figured it is time to learn Linux and see what is out there. Maybe I will find that ultimate hacker program that will allow me to backup all my Wii games!! or Firewall maybe? Or do I just turn them all into paperweights...
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 9,429 Likes: 3
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 9,429 Likes: 3 |
Ubuntu is a decent one to start with...it is free and you can download it or they will send you CD's.
Jeff Moss
Moss Communications
Computer Repair-Networking-Cabling
MBSWWYPBX, JGAE
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 631
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 631 |
Most are free and will run well under any P4. You could also run Sun's VirtualBox software on the W7 system then load Ubuntu as a virtual machine. Both are free. You can then download and run any other version of Linux such as Mint and run them as additional VMs. No need to wipe the system clean and reload a different flavor. BTW, Mint may be the better choice for you if you want to work with a lot of multimedia stuff.
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,951 Likes: 2
RIP
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RIP
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,951 Likes: 2 |
Redhat and FreeBSD are good choices. You might also consider burning yourself a "live" CD or DVD (depending on how complete you want the kernel to be) of Knoppix, Ubuntu, SUSE or whatever.
What "live" means is that you strap your PC or Mac to look to your CD or DVD burner for an OS image and load up a realtime flavor of any of several UNIX-like systems. It doesn't require you to setup dual boot or anything fancy...you simply drop the disc in your existing machine and let 'er boot.
Nothing could be easier to experiment with; AND it has very little overhead. Discs have all the needed drivers, so there's nothing to configure. And with stuff like KDE desktop as a GUI, you'll find that the ramp-up time is nil.
"Press play and record at the same time" -- Tim Alberstein
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 2,106
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Joined: Jun 2007
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I started with Slackware but in retrospect I am not sure if that's advisable. What I can tell you is that using CentOS or Ubuntu will teach you how to use CentOS or Ubuntu. Learning how to use slack will teach you how to use Linux. The downside being that it's like drinking from a firehose.
If I were going to suggest a distro it would be Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, or CentOS (even though I hate CentOS). These all have decent documentation, active community, and some automated config tools. My preference is OpenSuSE but that's as subjective an opinion as they get. I might as well tell you my favorite color is blue too.
Best of luck with your endeavor. Hopefully you can learn it and add some new skills to your repertoire.
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 9,429 Likes: 3
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Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 9,429 Likes: 3 |
I learned on ubuntu, though in class we did everything through the command line so I'm not sure how that differs from distro to distro.
Jeff Moss
Moss Communications
Computer Repair-Networking-Cabling
MBSWWYPBX, JGAE
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Joined: May 2007
Posts: 5,059 Likes: 6
Moderator-1A2, Cabling
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Moderator-1A2, Cabling
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 5,059 Likes: 6 |
Way back I had used SCO Xenix and then went on to Unix and then OS/2. After IBM dropped OS/2, like everyone else I went to Windows.
When MS pissed me off enough I tried a variety of Linux flavors, eventually settling on RedHat with either the Gnome or KDE desktop (I could never make up my mind). Then I went to the Mac OSX. It's Unix (the best, most bulletproof OS out there) with the best desktop ever.
But if you're looking for something to use those old PCs for then I would go for Redhat. It was free and if you got into it you could spend a few bucks and get real time tech support if you needed it.
Sam
"Where are we going and why are we in this hand basket?"
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 894
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ive been using centos on my "backuppc" and "vmware" machines and am quite pleased.
Jay, a recovering IT guy
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Joined: Sep 2008
Posts: 142
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Joined: Sep 2008
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start with ubuntu, then graduate to debian. Like Kumba I started with slackware, but there weren't that many options. I still will run slackware if all I need is a hardware router, but for a 'real' computer nothing beats ubuntu's ease of use and compatability. I keep a bootable pen-drive linux with ubuntu 9.1 on it for linux on the fly.
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,630
Moderator-Avaya, Nortel
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Moderator-Avaya, Nortel
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 3,630 |
Okay, I will start with ubuntu.. where should I download it from? What about drivers?
What is the main difference in versions of Linux? is it like versions of windows? ie... home, pro, ultimate....etc?
Do you guys use Linux because it is free?
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