Totally new Linux user....what should I expect?

beedubaya · 02-19-2005, 12:48 AM

I just inherited a PC thats a Pentium 3 1.2GHz with 128MB of RAM, and I have decided to make it a Linux box, just to see what the fuss is about. I got it installed great and everything. Now, what should I do, get, or know to make the most of my Linux box? Keep in mind I have never touched Linux till yesterday, so you might have to explain how to do some things.

P.S. All you Linux geeks, excuse my noobness, but I want to learn!

uchiha · 02-19-2005, 04:38 AM

expect a crash-free enviorment.

Borgmeister · 02-19-2005, 05:55 AM

Hair-tearing frustration at the start, then a pleasant powerful, and good looking if u use gnome environment.

horndude · 02-19-2005, 06:42 AM

http://www.tldp.org

http://www.linux.org

If you thought you knew about computers, you dont, but you will if you use linux for awhile.The learning curve can be a bit steep at first, but with a little work and some reading it gets much easier.

Ralph · 02-19-2005, 09:27 AM

1MB? Or 1 GB? I would guess that a PC of that vintage would normally have about 128 or 256 MB.

Just curious what distro you used and how easy it was to get it running if you have no prior unix or Linux experience. I had unix experience when I started mine up, so I'm curious how easy it was to get started for people without unix experience - I guess it is fairly similar to DOS.

So far I have just used mine for web surfing and learning more about Linux. I think I'll look for some simple games next. Maybe something like emulated arcade games from the 80s.

beedubaya · 02-19-2005, 10:28 AM

LOL, sorry, it was late. I mean 128MB, not 1MB.

turtile · 02-20-2005, 09:26 AM

Hey, KDE has a bunch of simple games, like the old asteroids, etc.

Sevoma · 02-20-2005, 04:07 PM

If you keep at it, using and learning linux, you will never turn back to windows (unless you play games). You never have to worry about viruses (mabey in the furture, it is getting more popular), or any other malware. You don't have to wipe or reinstall your os becuase of windows messing everything up. You don't have to defrag because of the advanced file systems. Almost all of the software i totaly free too.

I like to have a prog called super karamba (search in your software database), it allows you to have things like weather info, hardware temperatures, hardware info, and more on your desktop. For your office suite, I recomend no other than open office. I like to use gaim as a aim/icg client (set up the plugin guifications too), others may like something such as kopete . For video and othe multimedia-type files, I recomend mplayer. To get full codecs for windows media player, realplayer, and avi (plus others), you have to compile it your self. I also like kde better than gnome.

What distro are you using?

bigbmxdave · 02-22-2005, 11:47 AM

at the start it might be a bit frustrating using Linux for everything you used to do on Windows because a lot of programs do not have Linux versions. but after a while you get used to it and find that most Linux versions of programs are slightly better than their Windows Versions (Take MSN messenger and its Linux brother AMSN for example), its worth the effort.

geffin · 02-23-2005, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sevoma
If you keep at it, using and learning linux, you will never turn back to windows (unless you play games). You never have to worry about viruses (mabey in the furture, it is getting more popular), or any other malware. You don't have to wipe or reinstall your os becuase of windows messing everything up. You don't have to defrag because of the advanced file systems. Almost all of the software i totaly free too.

Very good thought! anyway, you can try using a live cd distro of linux, www.linux.org you can search for a linux OS that fits your comp, and comes in liveCD form. this way, you can see what versions you like best. HAVE FUN WITH IT!!! Linux is secure, and free, the best of both worlds.

Member Login