Re: Linux Recommendations

["Bruno Prior" <bruno@xxxxxxx>]

Tony,

The most user-friendly distros are usually considered to be Mandrake
(http://www.mandrakelinux.com= /en/) or SuSE (www.suse.co.uk). They have the
best installation tools, with the most comprehensive hardware support,
according to most reviews.

Personally, I prefer Mandrake. When I last tried SuSE (over a year ago), it=
tripped over a couple of pieces of my hardware, which Mandrake handled
perfectly, but it has probably improved a lot since then. SuSE's particular=
specialities were ISDN support and support for some more advanced graphics<= BR> cards, so if you find Mandrake gives you problems with either of these, the= n
SuSE might be the solution. But Mandrake has never given me a problem, and = I
would try it first, as long as you will be using it on at least a
Pentium-class processor. Mandrake is optimised for Pentium or equivalent processors (including AMD K6 and upwards, and Cyrix/VIA equivalents), and may marginally outperform less-optimised distros on these CPUs, but if you<= BR> want to use a 386 or 486, you will have to use something else (e.g. RedHat)= .
And if you want to go for a non x86 processor, such as the PPC, you will need a specialist version (I believe Mandrake and SuSE both produce PPC
versions).

All linux distros, including RedHat, can be obtained free. Typically, free<= BR> versions are available for download from their web-site. You will probably<= BR> have to download 2 or 3 ISO images to burn CDs from, and then install from<= BR> that. Unless you are on a broadband connection, donwloading 1200 - 1800Mb i= s
going to take a while, and cost you a bit (linux is free as in "speach= ", as
opposed to free as in "beer", although it is often both). The alt= ernatives
are:

(a) buy a boxed set, which usually includes extra CDs containing source
packages, commercial software and other less-used software, a manual and limited installation support.

(b) buy a cheap copy of the distro from a company that specialises in
downloading the latest versions and burning them to disk, such as
www.cheeplinux.co.uk or www.linuxemporium.co.uk (although this latter was not working when I just checked).

(c) buy a magazine with a distribution on the CD or DVD. For instance, Linu= x
Format magazine (www.linuxformat.co.uk) had a copy of Mandrake 8.2 on the DVD with the May 2002 edition.

(d) get a friend who already has linux to lend you their disks or burn you<= BR> copies.

Unlike with Windows, (b), (c) and (d) are entirely legal. However, as you are just starting off, the manual and support may be worth the price
(usually less than =A350 + VAT) of the boxed set.

Linux provides you with a lot of help, if you know where to find it. The principal resources that you can look at on your linux computer are the
HOWTOs (on Mandrake, you will find them in /usr/share/doc/HOWTO/HTML/en/) which give detailed explanations starting from a basic level of how to
achieve tasks with the software available, and the man pages, which are the=
manuals for each command (e.g. typing "man less" at a console wil= l bring up
the manual for the "less" command, so try "man man" to = see how the "man"
command works). Make sure you select the HOWTO and man packages when you ar= e
deciding which packages to install, or this won't be much use to you,
although you can also find them online at the Linux Documentation Project website (www.tldp.org). In fact, if you have sufficient disk space, I would=
install as much of the documentation as you can.

Despite the HOWTOs and man pages, it can be quite bewildering getting to know linux. Some things just work differently to what you are used to with<= BR> Windows. A lot of people assume that this means it is less intuitive than Windows, but if you had always used linux and then tried switching to
Windows, you would have the same problem getting used to Windows. It is
simply a matter of getting used to a different paradigm. Having said that,<= BR> as long as you are using a GUI like KDE or Gnome, much of what you see will=
look and behave very much like Windows - you won't notice the difference until you look under the covers.

To help you get used to linux, I would suggest a couple of other resources.=
In the linux world, O'Reilly books are the bibles (www.oreilly.com). Beside= s
the manual for the box set, it may be worth getting hold of an O'Reilly boo= k
such as "Running Linux" by Matt Welsh, Matthias Kalle Dalheimer a= nd Lar
Kaufman, and/or (if you decide to go with RedHat) "Learning Red Hat Li= nux"
by Bill McCarty, to explain the concepts. If you need individual help with<= BR> something you are stuck on, apart from the usual approach of web searches (which will turn something up nine times out of ten) and mailing lists, you=
could try contacting your local linux user group (LUG). If you get a copy o= f
Linux Format magazine, there is a listing of all the LUGs in the UK in the<= BR> back, or go to www.lug.org.uk.

One other thought, before you even think about installing, have a look at the Hardware-HOWTO, to check the compatibility of your computer's hardware<= BR> (e.g. http://www.doc-linux.co.uk/LDP/HOWTO/Hardware-HOWTO/index.html).
Linux's hardware support is becoming more and more comprehensive, but
unsupported hardware is still the most likely cause of frustration. In
particular, watch out for problems with WinModems. 90% of internal modems are software modems relying on proprietary Windows drivers to make them
work. There are projects under development to get these working with linux<= BR> (as LinModems), but at present this is still likely to cause problems. If you need to use a modem with your linux box, get yourself an external seria= l
modem (USB modems may also make life more difficult).

By the way, most linux users would see Microsoft as the Evil Empire, so you=
are now leaving, not joing the dark side. May the force be with you.

Cheers,

Bruno Prior

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Butler" <roaming@xxxxxxx>
To: <ukha_d@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, July 21, 2002 8:46 AM
Subject: [ukha_d] Linux Recommendations


> Much as it pains me to do so, it seems I will have to succumb to the > darkness and install *nix on a PC on my network.
> Anyone recommend a particular distribution that is
> a) Free
> b) easy to configure
> c) Most likely to work with any linux packages I download?
>
> I know some of you use redhat and I thought this was free, but it seem= s
> not to be now :(
>
> What about Debain - worth a look?
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Tony

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