[horndude]

I like diversity too, but my feeling is its gotten a little out of hand.Its not a problem really as long as the most common distro's stay with relatively the same kernel series and library sets.They get way out of synch and it causes huge problems compatibility wise.Linux being a kernel built and linked to a toolchain based on certain libraries means if they get really far apart you start having very serious issues.

Cant say im much of a redhat fan either, I had some real bad experiences with rpm and dependency ****, and just bugs in general, fedora has fixed many of those, but im still not a fan really.Cant say I like people making money off of it like redhat either,bound to happen, and understandable, but I still dont like it.

[patrickc284]

horndude, in your experience, which Linux distros do you favor? (out of the four main distros).

[m3trj]

Oh I can tell you he loves Slackware. Just look at his pic.

[horndude]

Slackware mostly, for a variety of reasons.Its straight forward and to the point, its complete, its well supported, and its the most popular.Checking websites is a very good way to see whats going on.Having checked mandrake,redhat,debian, and slackware what do you see when you go to their websites?The differences are pretty startling actually.Most are marketing fluff and hype, then there's slackware, very direct and to the point.Every piece of software in it is available online and you dont have to go searching all over to find it.It doesnt have to sell itself like the others, the software does the job just fine.Not that the others are bad really, underneath they are all essentially the same, but slackware moves from release to release in a very orderly predictable fashion with a minimum of bugs and problems.Sure there's bugs, 40 million plus lines of code and your gonna have bugs, Ive found some myself.It also doesnt rely on GUI setup tools to get things configured, many think thats a bad thing, well, when one of those GUI setup applets doesnt work, you end up here or somewhere else talking to a guy like me, learn slackware and linux in general and that becomes a non issue.Personally I'd much rather the developers spend time improving the things that matter rather than making my life easier by taking the need to think away from me.I converted to linux cause wanted more freedom and control, not less.I wasnt looking for a windows replacement, I was looking for an OS that just plain works with minimum of problems, I dont need eye candy, I need results.Ive tried redhat,mandrake,Suse, and sun's new desktop OS among others.They all work, but most do not come with everything I need, Suse personal for example does not come with GCC, thats something you have to install from elsewhere, to a guy like me thats a serious mistake, sure its easy to fix, but try explaining that to a newbie that doesnt even know what GCC is........Ive done that here on this forum numerous times.I would much rather have to go back and uninstall stuff I dont want than have to track down stuff I need especially with linux due to all the dependency issues, that is the number one problem newbies have with linux.

The RPM system keeps a journal and checks for dependencies, but its far from foolproof, and when it screws up it causes massive problems for the uninitiated, slackware's solution, dont do dependency checking.Sometimes, "less is more", and the keep it simple stupid principle really does work.I could go on and on and on, bottom line, once you know and understand linux, they are all the same really, but its much easier in my experience to get slackware the way I want it vs the others, so I use it, and when I have a problem, it has the biggest user support base by almost double any of the others.

[patrickc284]

Sounds logical to me. I definitely appreciate things being "to-the-ponit."

I've read the first 45 pages out of the 72 on the Linux Online under Beginner. So in a few days I might try and partition my HD and install XP and Slackware.

I think Slackware might be a good place to start since it's stable so far as I hear, but requires more than the ability to click "Next" or whatever comes up in your common GUI installer.

Would anyone recommend any other sites, guides, or books about computers, OS's, or Linux for a newbie such as myself?

[horndude]

Its actually fairly easy, it does have setup utilities, but they are like what you'd see in DOS.

Usual procedure is, install, it will prompt for network setup during that, and usually try to detect your ethernet card if you have one.The slackware site does have step by step guide.

Then reboot.

Then setup X, thats easy, as root type with the recent edition xorgconfig, answer the questions and follow the prompts

then pick a GUI, type xwmconfig and hit enter

if you want at anytime to redo some things, just type pkgtool as root and follow the menu, it will allow you to change most things and uninstall or install software

after that, just type startx and your graphic provided you configured X the right way
open a terminal or console window
at this point type alsaconfig and setup your sound hardware, again follow the prompts and menu, after that, open a mixer--->alsamixer is fine, or rexima,or aumix, or whatever and adjust the volumes

then add a user--->type adduser <desired name> and follow the prompts

log out of X

log out as root
log back in as reg user you just setup, type startx, your now graphic and logged in a reg user, thats all there is to it

if you have problems with your hardware they are usually pretty easily fixed provided you know what steps to take AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, youve done your homework and know that your hardware is supported

its really not that tough, what gets most people in trouble is they pick funky hardware,and dont check beforehand if its compatible, then they get in even more trouble by not following instructions TO THE LETTER when it comes to setting up other things, linux is very literal, there is no room for bad decisions

For example if you have an nvidia video card like a geforce or whatever that needs nvidia drivers for 3d support, you must absolutley follow the directions to the letter or it will not work, period,linux does not deal with user error well, its right, or it doesnt work at all.