Linux help wanted!

Originally Posted by Jabba

For an easy install try SuSE.......

My first SuSE install...

It didn't recognise my graphics chipset, so dumped me to a terminal after install (at this point I didn't even know the 'ls' command). It also didn't know anything about my whopping 33kbps Dial-up modem, so I had no internet to research things! There were also NO manuals that described anything other than the GUI & a simple how to use it.

It took me around 2 months to get X installed, and after that, I still had no mouse support. Nice!

A few weeks later, I had mouse support, and even my printer! Next job was to get it to dial out to my ISP. My ISP knew nothing of anything other than Windows, so they were no help.

I managed it in the end, but things have got a hell of a lot easier since then!

Personally, I'd recommend Ubunu or Fedora Core for beginners. FC is a little more heavy weight, and feature packed, but supports things like bluetooth networking right out of the box and the installation has something like 4 screens with options, and that's it!

(It also helps that the nice Linux dev's have fixed the kernel core faults when inserting or removing USB devices!)

EDIT: Timwilky, CLI interfaces are all well and good on servers, but GUIs have a place too. Try teaching someone how to do graphics manipulation, or charting graphs in CLI and then outputting it to a printer. (For sake of argument, I regularly maintain servers - both Linux and BSD based which have no GUI).

Originally Posted by timwilky

But gui and linux?. learn to use a command line, you never know when the only interface you may have is an ascii terminal on the end of a serial line or ssh connection

No. Sorry, but I disagree with this idea. Given that I know nothing about linux, doing it all from the command line is going to make the learning curve too steep. If I can't get what I want done in a reasonable time frame, then I'll abandon it. Learning linux is a scendary objective for me. I want this machine running so I can surf the net and run a file server.

Fedora Core or CentOS (free rebuild of RHEL) are pretty straightforward & well documented.

Originally Posted by Baph

My first SuSE install...

It didn't recognise my graphics chipset, so dumped me to a terminal after install (at this point I didn't even know the 'ls' command). It also didn't know anything about my whopping 33kbps Dial-up modem, so I had no internet to research things! There were also NO manuals that described anything other than the GUI & a simple how to use it.

I've had similar problems with SuSE refusing to play nice with hardware that other Linux distros have no problem with. Even the latest release of SuSE refused to recognise my SCSI card.

[Kylie]

Fedora Core is good, I'm using FC3 at work at the moment but will probably upgrade sometime. Tis very easy to install and get going. Install everything and it'll have all the tools you could possible need.

As for command line versus GUI, spend any time on a *nix system and you'll learn to love the command line, its pretty much all I use (well, that and xemacs), but you still need the GUI to manage lots of shells. And GUI way better when you're starting.

WRT to picking up hardware, Ubuntu picked up everything I had on my laptops, my servers, and work machines *except* for one instance with a new server which was using a very new RAID card.
Other than that its been plain sailing.

Emm, Fedora, yeah, I was a fedora man for a while, and then I found rpm flakey, I found the whole failed dependencies a pain, I didt like RedHat ELat all, and I just found it becoming awkward in general. I was moving to Debian, because everything just felt more solid, when I learned about Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is just so easy to use, and clean, and easy to install, when it picked up and configged my laptop wireless card that was it for me . I just can't be bothered mucking about any more. Everything just works with Ubuntu more than any other distrib i have used. (And I have used about 15.)

WRT only using the CLI. I do more or less only use the CLI because... I dunno, its just sort of there, I dont have to look for anything. But I completely do not believe that all Linux users should only use it, or even know about it. My gfs ma never touches it on her machine. She has no need to. Horses for courses.
(I actually think its damaging to propagate this hardcore CLI for tough guys myth.)

Shrug.

[northwind]

If it was me, I'd beat everyone who'd ever told me "<Linux> is so simple man, it's the best OS ever" until they **** candy. Then I'd reinstall Windows, it might be utter rubbish but at least I know how to switch it on.

Originally Posted by northwind

If it was me, I'd beat everyone who'd ever told me "<Linux> is so simple man, it's the best OS ever" until they **** candy. Then I'd reinstall Windows, it might be utter rubbish but at least I know how to switch it on.

Candy? Go home yank.

Em, I dunno man. Seriously, my *wifes* ma, I should remember we are married as of a few weeks ago, never switched on a computer 2 years ago.
We bought her one, and she had it wrecked with spyware and trojans with in 6 months.
I lashed on Ubuntu over dinner, and that was it.
End of problem. She doesnt know a terminal from a ducks ****.
At this point the amount of work it takes to keep a Win machine safe is so huge, I think Linux is easier to use.

I do have guilty nerd pleasures... ie Perl. But, that's another story. I would never tell anyone to use perl. I usually tell them to keep away in fact.

Originally Posted by northwind

If it was me, I'd beat everyone who'd ever told me "<Linux> is so simple man, it's the best OS ever" until they **** candy. Then I'd reinstall Windows, it might be utter rubbish but at least I know how to switch it on.

Switching on my computer and landing in Windows XP actually takes more effort than to land in Fedora Core.

The FC installation was easier (and quicker) than Windows, and it supports just as much (from my POV).

Originally Posted by philipMac

She doesnt know a terminal from a ducks @rse.

How about this?