[chesman]

ok, i have always wanted to learn Linux, but never had the chance, but one of the teachers at my school is allowing me to build a rather small computer form spare computer parts there, it is going to be maybe a p1 166, not surte of the rest yet.

But will that be ok for red hat?

and the reason i want to learn it now is that i am going to be competeing in the skills canada IT Support competition in february, and linux is my only weak spot, and i mean WEAK.

lol

so willthis be fine?
hope it is

and do i just install linux on one partition or how does it go? what specs am i going to need and stuff?


thanks in advandce

[chesman]

and a few other linux related questions:


1: what is a distro?
2: can i use windows based programs? or do i have to get linux based?
3: can i use same drivers i have for my hardware now?
4: i can still use the current codecs i have now such as divx correct?

and whatever else you wanna throw in would be geat!

[nomad]

a distro is different versions of linux(redhat,mandrake,slackware)
linux uses mostly different software
alot of drivers supported

[chesman]

ok, can anyone else answer my other questions?

thanks!

[Shakie]

Originally posted by chesman
and a few other linux related questions:


1: what is a distro?
2: can i use windows based programs? or do i have to get linux based?
3: can i use same drivers i have for my hardware now?
4: i can still use the current codecs i have now such as divx correct?

1. A version of Linux, ie. Mandrake, Redhat, SuSe
2. No. You have to use Linux based programs on Linux, unless you use some type of virtual machine.
3. Nope. You do use different drivers for your hardware, but many versions of Linux have them just like Windows does. You may have to hunt one or two down though.
4. You can use divX codecs, but they are for Linux. You can't use a Windows codec on Linux unless it supports both OSes.

[ADZ]

I know slackware will run on your machine, that is to say if u dont have all the fancy bells and whistles and you use a less graphic intensive desktop(cant remeber the proper word for it)

[chesman]

thanks guy, But will it run on a p1 166?

i will be installing red hat 8 i beleive, just to get used ot it because they are going to be useing redhat linux in the competition i am going to be competeing in soon.

and u ahve to buy red hat now, and well frankyl, i aint buying it, lol

[Shakie]

I think it will, I am not 100 percent. A good source of info for the different flavors is distrowatch.com [though it seems they are down right now].

If it does... it won't be 'blazing' fast... lol

[chesman]

ya, i did not think so, lol. But it will be fast enough.

who knows maybe ill hit gold when i am searching throughthe computers at school today.
lol

[gruntwerk]

I dont know if redhat8 will run on a 166 or not...
you can download several distro(butions) from http://www.linuxiso.org

You may want to check out KNOPPIX - I have not tried it, but it is a distro that runs off the cd-rom - linux experience without the formatting, That way, you can learm about linux without trashing the windoze machines...

You may also want to check out Cygwin it is a unix like environment for windows...GNome and KDE desktops are both available with it...

You can run some windows programs under linux with a package called WINE - runs on most distros..

Linux has drivers lots of things, your current drivers probably wont work..

google is your friend... google search for the codecs and linux you are interested in for more info on them...

Good luck and let us know if you have anymore problems/questions...