What the best distribution for a N00B? to learn?

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 18, 2006, 05:26 PM

What the best dirtrobution for a N00B? to learn?

....It's been quite a while.....It's that time again...When I take a stick ad
take yet another poke at useing linux

I was thinking of linspire (Debian-based) but I dont know...what the best distrobution
to try for someone who looking to try to play games and do everyday stuff? would
help being simular to windows as like linspire is....

Last distrobution I tried was quite some time ago and install of linux mandrake
that worked fine for two days, I did nothing but look around after the second
reboot it "kernel paniked" I don't know how to fix it so it was th end of my
adventure...

Randomletters · Mar 18, 2006, 05:34 PM

you could try Ubuntu. Easy to install comes with a wide range of programs already install and has a huge database of easy to download/install programs.

I think I may install it right now.

x0ph3r · Mar 19, 2006, 02:36 PM

I second that. Ubuntu is great for beginners, and more experienced users.

RIV@NVX · Mar 19, 2006, 05:04 PM

I third that. I'm using Ubuntu, SUSE, and Fedora and I must admit that Ubuntu was actually easiest to install and start with. But you won't fail with either of those three.

Vikingod · Mar 19, 2006, 05:30 PM

Definetly Ubuntu. I'm learning on it right now, and it is pretty nice that way. Support for is is also great too (seems better than the other distros) which is more important that the OS, probably.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 20, 2006, 12:44 AM

shoul I try the 5.10/ the last stable , or try the 6.04 beta? (it alot newer)

Pottsy306 · Mar 20, 2006, 12:45 AM

out of all the linux distros Ubuntu is far the best at the moment. Its based on debain which means its easy to install new programs. Unlike Fedora and SUSE its not bloated with loads of programs, and the community support is #1

RIV@NVX · Mar 20, 2006, 09:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Neon_Cowboy

shoul I try the 5.10/ the last stable , or try the 6.04 beta? (it alot newer)

5.10, as 6.04 beta has some problems and you might get wrong impression about Ubuntu generally if you look at it as final release.

Pottsy306 · Mar 22, 2006, 01:43 AM

i cant remember the last time i used a non beta linux version. Always using the unstable beta's. However they give nifty things like XGL

RIV@NVX · Mar 22, 2006, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pottsy306

i cant remember the last time i used a non beta linux version. Always using the unstable beta's. However they give nifty things like XGL

I used to do the same thing, but finally settled recently on using SUSE 10.0 final. I don't miss any new stuff from 10.1 betas except maybe KNetworkManager, but... I can wait.

PangingJr · Mar 22, 2006, 09:55 AM

i cannot seem to get the Ubuntu to update easily, but if you have a better internet connection than mine you probably won't have any problem with the Ubuntu updating. and if you have a high-speed internet connection you can easily download and try out many other Linuxes out there. many Linuxes have GUI installation now, so they're easy and fast to install...

the SUSE 10.0 for x86_64 is also a very good Linux, defaults to KDE desktop, easy to use and understand Linux desktops, maybe a few weeks of using it, hopefully it would almost like a Windows OS to use.
the built-in YaST2 online updater of the SUSE 10.0 and its mirror sites are pretty good and fast i can have it done under my slow internet connection. i won't need to use yum update under this Linux.

i like Fedora Core 4 (built for ix86) the most, i think it's just complete for what i wanted to see and use on Linux.
even though the Up2date built-in service does not go well with my internet connection, but the OS and software packages updating can still be done easily with yum and some of pre-downloaded packages from the official servers. update the FC4 on more than one machines in a networked are also easy. and you can also use both yum and apt to get more software packages if needed.
the FC4 install CDs comes with too many softwares, so you may have to spend some time with it before you can find what software packages you're really want to install and use them.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 22, 2006, 02:57 PM

I've yet to install, how would you go about updateing a install?

Reason I asked about the beta is it likely gp the latest drivers, apps, etc...
the less leg work for me the better for example I notices 5.10 has the an openoffice
beta, and 6.04 has an openoffice final... yes i could update it but still....

RIV@NVX · Mar 22, 2006, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Neon_Cowboy

I've yet to install, how would you go about updateing a install?

Reason I asked about the beta is it likely gp the latest drivers, apps, etc...
the less leg work for me the better for example I notices 5.10 has the an openoffice
beta, and 6.04 has an openoffice final... yes i could update it but still....

Don't worry about that. OOo in 5.10 is new enough and similar enough to final version. Believe me, I used it.

PangingJr · Mar 22, 2006, 04:30 PM

you would use Ubuntu's built-in Update manager, once you have installed the Ubuntu and the system up and running you can do an automated update using the built-in Update manager, or with the Synaptic package manager (which is same as using sudo apt-get install commands) for updating or install more software packages.

any build of Ubuntu will do, i don't want you to worry about these things at this time, really.
don't mind me saying this... most likely you will install the Linux more than one time, you will not be able to get it to work so well for you at the first time. if you want to use Linux you'll want to know a lot of things about it, how things work in Linux and so on, and sometimes these things takes a lot of time to learn. until you have some of the things of Linux, then after picking the distro/build that suit you best you can then set the Linux system up again real good, and then keep it.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 25, 2006, 01:08 PM

Crap tried to install boots to CD , loads some things tells me some message
the 1st I resloved as it was invavlid IRQ for something I swicthed my mouse to PS2
solved that message. The other is the device (something on PCie buss) probe has an
invalid IRQ... I'm stuck at this point as the install stops

(trying the x64 version 5.10)

my system specs:
ATI X1900 XT 512MB, AMD 64 "X2" 4200+ , Asus A8R-MVP Radeon Xpress 200
(Crossfire), OCZ EL "Platinum" 2GB (2 x 1GB) @ 2-3-2-5-1T, HITACHI Deskstar
T7K250 250GB W/8MB Cache,Sound Blaster Audigy 4, ATI HDTV Wonder, NEC
16X DVD-RW Model: ND-3540A, Rosewill 450W ATX 2.01 Dual Fan PSU

I stuck in a 20GB Maxtor for instaling linux to for now (VS partitiong my main drive)

PangingJr · Mar 25, 2006, 01:35 PM

lol, don't give up man. maybe try loading BIOS default. normally don't see any problem while installaing Linux, FreeBSD or even Solaris.
but you use many different hardwares than mines, and has no experience on the problem either, so can't help. maybe try downloading other distros.

RIV@NVX · Mar 25, 2006, 05:35 PM

If your HW is so new, then 6.04 might be a better choice, but be warned - it's still not even close to final.

Pottsy306 · Mar 25, 2006, 06:38 PM

i like 6.04 - it needs work, ive had numerous errors. The flight 5 disc is also outdated quite abit, with over 120+mb of updates :s

i gotta say though, i never like FC, but FC5 is pretty damn sweet. If only it had apt-get, then....not that yum isnt as good, but i just dont like different repos files, it gets muddled. And apt-get dist-upgrade just ownz

RIV@NVX · Mar 25, 2006, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pottsy306

i like 6.04 - it needs work, ive had numerous errors. The flight 5 disc is also outdated quite abit, with over 120+mb of updates :s

That's normal with a dev version

Quote:

i gotta say though, i never like FC, but FC5 is pretty damn sweet. If only it had apt-get, then....not that yum isnt as good, but i just dont like different repos files, it gets muddled. And apt-get dist-upgrade just ownz

I agree; I'm using it on my laptop ATM and it's really sweet if you are GNOME person... (If you are a KDE person, then SUSE is muuuch better.)
Nothing beats apt, but new yum is really usable, I must admit. It's also much improved in terms of speed compared to 2.4, at least from what I have seen so far. I need to try it on something bigger like full update to be completely sure, but so far it seems improved.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 25, 2006, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PangingJr

lol, don't give up man. maybe try loading BIOS default. normally don't see any problem while installaing Linux, FreeBSD or even Solaris.
but you use many different hardwares than mines, and has no experience on the problem either, so can't help. maybe try downloading other distros.

hmm xcould it be I have plug and play OS enabled?
Vs disabled an the bios sets te IRQ's

Should I be useing the AMD X64 Version? or should I
use the regular i386 Version?

PangingJr · Mar 26, 2006, 12:01 AM

i don't know this before, it's about the ATi chipset board and Ubuntu installation problem.

you may want to check this...
Ubuntu freezes during installation.
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=135270

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 26, 2006, 12:33 AM

Here is what happens with 5.10

Froze there... the red ius the flash through my finger, the shots collor red by my blood
freeky...

here is what happens with 6.04

froze there, though i can typwhat ever I want on the screen, LOL
I messed with my GF typed a buch of strage messages lol' had her look lol'

PangingJr · Mar 26, 2006, 10:16 AM

Neon, don't know how to help you. if you could download SUSE Linux 10.0 fast, try it. iits hardwares detection might work with your system on first install.

RIV@NVX · Mar 26, 2006, 03:03 PM

Also, if your bandwidth isn't a problem, I suggest to try FC5 too.

Pottsy306 · Mar 26, 2006, 06:58 PM

Argh!!! I had FC5 running fine, but i didnt have my wireless router - so i had no need to try and use ndiswrapper. Finally got my wifi router back, and tried adding ndiswrapper support - only to my disapointment the fedora kernel still uses 4k stack size, and the wifi drivers require atleast 12k. So i try to compile the kernel to support 16k stack, or try to patch it in, however i found very little support on the fedora forums. Which is why i ubuntu - excellent forums and community.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 27, 2006, 09:38 PM

Well this over all sucks............ I'll probubly put this all off for now ..

PangingJr · Mar 28, 2006, 06:27 AM

if you still want to look into Linux so you can see if you'll want to use it or not, maybe wait for a newer build and see if it comes out to work on your hardwares, better than this. or maybe get a low cost computer to use it as for studying Linuxes.

The_Neon_Cowboy · Mar 28, 2006, 07:18 AM

yea it suucjk I can't get it t run on my rig ...mabe when 6X come out of beta I'll have better luck

PangingJr · Mar 28, 2006, 08:41 AM

Mandriva 2006.x has also been good to new hardwares (but your hardwares are so new and i'm not sure about AMD64-based computer).
the download (free) versions of the Mandriva may have less softwares than Fedora Cores' or SUSE, but still plenty.
or just wait and occasionally check the Ubuntu forums, and try again after some more users have successfully installed it...

UberLord · Mar 28, 2006, 01:01 PM

If you're stuggling to boot a LiveCD, then why not try a Gentoo one? With ours you can enable/disable nearly every boot option that can cause trouble

http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/where.xml
Just click on your arch (probably amd64 or x86) and choose the Minimal CD, burn it, boot it. If you get to the prompt, you can install!

WARNING: Gentoo is not that noob friendly - you have to know some commands, but our handbook teaches you all that.

Mar 18, 2006, 05:34 PM	#2
Randomletters ))<>(( Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 2,418 Rep Power: 52	you could try Ubuntu. Easy to install comes with a wide range of programs already install and has a huge database of easy to download/install programs. I think I may install it right now. __________________ <----------- Sexy Budget Rig stats to the left.

Mar 19, 2006, 02:36 PM	#3
x0ph3r DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Finland Posts: 47 Rep Power: 0	I second that. Ubuntu is great for beginners, and more experienced users. __________________ - x0ph3r

Mar 19, 2006, 05:04 PM	#4
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 67 System Specs	I third that. I'm using Ubuntu, SUSE, and Fedora and I must admit that Ubuntu was actually easiest to install and start with. But you won't fail with either of those three. __________________ -- Vedran

Mar 19, 2006, 05:30 PM	#5
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,187 Rep Power: 109 System Specs	Definetly Ubuntu. I'm learning on it right now, and it is pretty nice that way. Support for is is also great too (seems better than the other distros) which is more important that the OS, probably. __________________ *How You Can Help DriverHeaven By Using Digg*

Mar 20, 2006, 12:44 AM	Thread Starter #6
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	shoul I try the 5.10/ the last stable , or try the 6.04 beta? (it alot newer) __________________

Mar 18, 2006, 05:26 PM	#1
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	What the best distribution for a N00B? to learn? What the best dirtrobution for a N00B? to learn? ....It's been quite a while.....It's that time again...When I take a stick ad take yet another poke at useing linux I was thinking of linspire (Debian-based) but I dont know...what the best distrobution to try for someone who looking to try to play games and do everyday stuff? would help being simular to windows as like linspire is.... Last distrobution I tried was quite some time ago and install of linux mandrake that worked fine for two days, I did nothing but look around after the second reboot it "kernel paniked" I don't know how to fix it so it was th end of my adventure... __________________

Mar 20, 2006, 12:45 AM	#7
Pottsy306 DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 133 Rep Power: 0	out of all the linux distros Ubuntu is far the best at the moment. Its based on debain which means its easy to install new programs. Unlike Fedora and SUSE its not bloated with loads of programs, and the community support is #1

Mar 22, 2006, 01:43 AM	#9
Pottsy306 DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 133 Rep Power: 0	i cant remember the last time i used a non beta linux version. Always using the unstable beta's. However they give nifty things like XGL

Mar 22, 2006, 09:55 AM	#11
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 69	i cannot seem to get the Ubuntu to update easily, but if you have a better internet connection than mine you probably won't have any problem with the Ubuntu updating. and if you have a high-speed internet connection you can easily download and try out many other Linuxes out there. many Linuxes have GUI installation now, so they're easy and fast to install... the SUSE 10.0 for x86_64 is also a very good Linux, defaults to KDE desktop, easy to use and understand Linux desktops, maybe a few weeks of using it, hopefully it would almost like a Windows OS to use. the built-in YaST2 online updater of the SUSE 10.0 and its mirror sites are pretty good and fast i can have it done under my slow internet connection. i won't need to use yum update under this Linux. i like Fedora Core 4 (built for ix86) the most, i think it's just complete for what i wanted to see and use on Linux. even though the Up2date built-in service does not go well with my internet connection, but the OS and software packages updating can still be done easily with yum and some of pre-downloaded packages from the official servers. update the FC4 on more than one machines in a networked are also easy. and you can also use both yum and apt to get more software packages if needed. the FC4 install CDs comes with too many softwares, so you may have to spend some time with it before you can find what software packages you're really want to install and use them.

Mar 22, 2006, 02:57 PM	Thread Starter #12
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	I've yet to install, how would you go about updateing a install? Reason I asked about the beta is it likely gp the latest drivers, apps, etc... the less leg work for me the better for example I notices 5.10 has the an openoffice beta, and 6.04 has an openoffice final... yes i could update it but still.... __________________

Mar 22, 2006, 04:30 PM	#14
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 69	you would use Ubuntu's built-in Update manager, once you have installed the Ubuntu and the system up and running you can do an automated update using the built-in Update manager, or with the Synaptic package manager (which is same as using sudo apt-get install commands) for updating or install more software packages. any build of Ubuntu will do, i don't want you to worry about these things at this time, really. don't mind me saying this... most likely you will install the Linux more than one time, you will not be able to get it to work so well for you at the first time. if you want to use Linux you'll want to know a lot of things about it, how things work in Linux and so on, and sometimes these things takes a lot of time to learn. until you have some of the things of Linux, then after picking the distro/build that suit you best you can then set the Linux system up again real good, and then keep it.

Mar 25, 2006, 01:08 PM	Thread Starter #15
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	Crap tried to install boots to CD , loads some things tells me some message the 1st I resloved as it was invavlid IRQ for something I swicthed my mouse to PS2 solved that message. The other is the device (something on PCie buss) probe has an invalid IRQ... I'm stuck at this point as the install stops (trying the x64 version 5.10) my system specs: ATI X1900 XT 512MB, AMD 64 "X2" 4200+ , Asus A8R-MVP Radeon Xpress 200 (Crossfire), OCZ EL "Platinum" 2GB (2 x 1GB) @ 2-3-2-5-1T, HITACHI Deskstar T7K250 250GB W/8MB Cache,Sound Blaster Audigy 4, ATI HDTV Wonder, NEC 16X DVD-RW Model: ND-3540A, Rosewill 450W ATX 2.01 Dual Fan PSU I stuck in a 20GB Maxtor for instaling linux to for now (VS partitiong my main drive) __________________ Last edited by The_Neon_Cowboy; Mar 25, 2006 at 01:14 PM.

Mar 25, 2006, 01:35 PM	#16
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 69	lol, don't give up man. maybe try loading BIOS default. normally don't see any problem while installaing Linux, FreeBSD or even Solaris. but you use many different hardwares than mines, and has no experience on the problem either, so can't help. maybe try downloading other distros.

Mar 25, 2006, 05:35 PM	#17
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 67 System Specs	If your HW is so new, then 6.04 might be a better choice, but be warned - it's still not even close to final. __________________ -- Vedran

Mar 25, 2006, 06:38 PM	#18
Pottsy306 DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 133 Rep Power: 0	i like 6.04 - it needs work, ive had numerous errors. The flight 5 disc is also outdated quite abit, with over 120+mb of updates :s i gotta say though, i never like FC, but FC5 is pretty damn sweet. If only it had apt-get, then....not that yum isnt as good, but i just dont like different repos files, it gets muddled. And apt-get dist-upgrade just ownz

Mar 26, 2006, 12:01 AM	#21
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 69	i don't know this before, it's about the ATi chipset board and Ubuntu installation problem. you may want to check this... Ubuntu freezes during installation. http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=135270

Mar 26, 2006, 12:33 AM	Thread Starter #22
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	Here is what happens with 5.10 Froze there... the red ius the flash through my finger, the shots collor red by my blood freeky... here is what happens with 6.04 froze there, though i can typwhat ever I want on the screen, LOL I messed with my GF typed a buch of strage messages lol' had her look lol' __________________

Mar 26, 2006, 10:16 AM	#23
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 69	Neon, don't know how to help you. if you could download SUSE Linux 10.0 fast, try it. iits hardwares detection might work with your system on first install.

Mar 26, 2006, 03:03 PM	#24
RIV@NVX Freedom is a feature. Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Croatia, Rijeka Posts: 4,476 Rep Power: 67 System Specs	Also, if your bandwidth isn't a problem, I suggest to try FC5 too. __________________ -- Vedran

Mar 26, 2006, 06:58 PM	#25
Pottsy306 DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2004 Posts: 133 Rep Power: 0	Argh!!! I had FC5 running fine, but i didnt have my wireless router - so i had no need to try and use ndiswrapper. Finally got my wifi router back, and tried adding ndiswrapper support - only to my disapointment the fedora kernel still uses 4k stack size, and the wifi drivers require atleast 12k. So i try to compile the kernel to support 16k stack, or try to patch it in, however i found very little support on the fedora forums. Which is why i ubuntu - excellent forums and community.

Mar 27, 2006, 09:38 PM	Thread Starter #26
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	Well this over all sucks............ I'll probubly put this all off for now .. __________________

Mar 28, 2006, 06:27 AM	#27
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 69	if you still want to look into Linux so you can see if you'll want to use it or not, maybe wait for a newer build and see if it comes out to work on your hardwares, better than this. or maybe get a low cost computer to use it as for studying Linuxes.

Mar 28, 2006, 07:18 AM	Thread Starter #28
The_Neon_Cowboy HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: U.S.A. Posts: 16,009 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	yea it suucjk I can't get it t run on my rig ...mabe when 6X come out of beta I'll have better luck __________________

Mar 28, 2006, 08:41 AM	#29
PangingJr Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Posts: 5,989 Rep Power: 69	Mandriva 2006.x has also been good to new hardwares (but your hardwares are so new and i'm not sure about AMD64-based computer). the download (free) versions of the Mandriva may have less softwares than Fedora Cores' or SUSE, but still plenty. or just wait and occasionally check the Ubuntu forums, and try again after some more users have successfully installed it...

Mar 28, 2006, 01:01 PM	#30
UberLord A Legend in Underwear Join Date: May 2002 Location: Unknown Posts: 5,255 Rep Power: 70	If you're stuggling to boot a LiveCD, then why not try a Gentoo one? With ours you can enable/disable nearly every boot option that can cause trouble http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/where.xml Just click on your arch (probably amd64 or x86) and choose the Minimal CD, burn it, boot it. If you get to the prompt, you can install! WARNING: Gentoo is not that noob friendly - you have to know some commands, but our handbook teaches you all that. __________________ Gentoo Linux - Developer (baselayout) Read my blog "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." Stephen Roberts