Let's Talk Linux

I know, i had a similar topic afew weeks ago, but i just formatted my 80GB backup, and i want to put a Linux distro on there. Now, i am very new to Linux.. i had a friend who helped me install Mandrake on my last machine, but i would like a "real" distro this time. I don't want a watered down distro, unless that's what you guys recommend. I really want to start learning all the linux geek crap, so whatever distro is best for that is fine with me. I can read up on it all on windows, and then tinker in Linux.

Also, since this is on a totally different hard drive, will it still give me the option to boot to Linux at startup? It won't be on my primary hard drive, so i'm thinking it won't, as a guess. In that case, how will i access it?

Nos.

Linux distros vary quite a bit even though the Kernel is all Linux, how they handle the "world" or userland is what really differentiates the different distros.

The major ones are RedHat / Fedora, Mandrake, Suse. Other popular ones are Gentoo, Debian, and Slackware. I first used RedHat and have always liked RedHat even though many people don't. Although now RedHat is commercial and Fedora has replaced the free version, but the feel is the same. I've ran Slackware and really liked it, especially since I had used FreeBSD for a while before; Slackware maintains a more Unix like structure (which is well organised compared to most Linux distros - imo). If you are looking for support from vendors - stick to the major ones. Slackware for instance, has stuff ported to it, so you may not be able to get the latest software yet, until someone ports it or you do it yourself. Suse is not free (don't go with the free "personal" edition). But you just buy the disks for cheap, so it really isn't much. Mandrake is more like Fedora / RedHat now - you get a "free" version or you can buy it.

I've never used Gentoo, but have heard some good things about it. The ports system is based off of the BSD ports, which is a big plus in my eyes. The ports are a very intelligent method to handle application installs and dependencies. If you, for instance, install something by RPM (which is really sucky - don't go into RPM land) you will have a hell of a time if you run into any kind of a dependency issue (dependency hell), but with ports it handles and installs any dependcy issues. So you can build something large, like KDE3, on FreeBSD, just cd to /usr/ports/x11/KDE/ make install BATCH=YES clean, and come back a day later and you have KDE3 compiled for your system, with defaults, all depencies, etc... Occasionally there is a glitch. Nothing is perfect But I have yet to try out Gentoo's ports.

I installed Debian a few times, but never really ran it as a desktop. I find these distros to be so confusing. Crap gets installed all over the place. Unix type systems are so much better organised, but until you experience both, its hard to explain.

Also rebuilding the kernel in BSD is pretty simple and straighforward. Not necessary, but since it is a server OS, primarily - although FreeBSD is a decent desktop, you might need to compile a module into the kernel if you do not want to load it during boot. Like sound for instance.

The one good thing about Linux - especially the major ones, hardware is well supported and software is very current.

As far as startup goes, if you put a bootloader like Grub or Lilo you can run it off a second drive. You can even edit your boot loader conf file to run windows off a secondary drive - which M$ says it can't. When you install, it should ask if you want to multi boot.

My suggestion, find a distro you like and stay with it. If you bounce around between OS's you can be a bit scattered. You will get more out of getting to know one real well.

But if you want to really learn linux, I would go with Slackware or Gentoo. But for lots of vendor support I would probably stick with Fedora as I am used to RedHat.

Hope that wasn't too confusing!

No, that was great.. very informative.

I'm going to start with Fedora, then. I may also make a partition for Slackware, but i'll see. Downloading these ISO's will take quite awhile, anyway.

I'm still not sure how i will be able to boot to Linux, though. I googled for Grub and Lilo, and most sites said Grub was the best choice. However, when i found the download area for Grub, i found a bunch of files and i am unsure which ones i need.

Afew more questions:

• When i formatted i did so using NTFS. Should i reformat the drive with Fat32, or is NTFS fine for Fedora?
  
• I formatted my D: drive, as i said. Is it necessary to specify it as a partition, or can i just put in the boot disk and start installing straight onto a newly-formatted hard drive.
  
• I have an Athlon 64 3200+, so i figured it's probably best if i go with the 64-bit Fedora? Here is the downloads page, i am downloading the following files:
  
FC2-x86_64-disc1.iso
FC2-x86_64-disc2.iso
FC2-x86_64-disc3.iso
FC2-x86_64-disc4.iso


• Are any other files required to successfully install 64-bit Fedora?

Thanks!

Nos.

With the ISO's there will be 2 types:
install and source. You only need the install discs.

Grub will be installed during your Fedora installation if you choose so. You don't need to manually add Grub at this point. You can install grub afterwards, but it'd be easier to install it while installing Fedora.

Typically your HD will be sliced into this type of dealy:
/boot
/swap
/root
/usr
/home
/var

But just stick to defaults. You can always adjust them. Swap should be higher if you have less ram. So if you have a gig of ram, no need for a gig of swap. Maybe 512MB would be fine. Boot only needs < 100MB, you can also add a bit more to root. Make it 512MB if you want.

etc... This is one reason I also prefer the BSD's as they do this:
Under one partition (slice): <--- this makes more sense to me - use one slice to install all the partitions
/
/swap
/usr

and it is cleaner. I never liked how Linux has all these slices so you end up using 5-10 extended partitions if you dual boot with anything else.

Remember:

Don't run X as root (bad habit). If I remember correctly, RedHat / Fedora will put root into X after an install. Just create your user and do all root activities by using 'su' into root or sudo.

I myself have started out on knoppix and slowly moved onto mandrake. I hated mandrake completely so I uninstalled it and restored the windows boot loader. Today I decided to install Fedora Core 2 and I LOVE IT. It is definately the best distro for me, altough it may not be for you. You should try Fedora and if you don't like it simply remove it and go for another distro. I hear good things about SuSe and Debian all the time, so you may want to check them out also.

Beware of FC2 64 Bit as my host had it running on a 64 bit server and had many problems. This may not be the case for normal PC's so you can go ahead and give it a try. Always remember to backup your drive!

NTFS currently does not work with the default Fedora kernel, and you will have to recompile your own kernel for Fedora with NTFS filesystem enabled. I have not tried this yet and I doubt I will as it is dangerous. Especiall with write permission.

I currently use GRUB and it is the only choice in Fedora installation so have fun with that ;)

Also let Fedora do the partitioning because it requires 3/4 partitions or such. I would recommend resizing your current partition to a different ammount and leave some space unallocated(as much as you want to use for fedora) and choose Automatic partitioning and Keep All Current Partitions and User Free Space. This will create partitions out of the unallocated space(at least for me it did). Have fun with linux

By default GRUB is installed to MBR and this will allow you to choose from windows or fedora or any other OS next time you restart. My windows was named 'Other' by GRUB tho :p

My name is Ryan Hall and I did everything you read here today... on Fedora.

In reaply to Marbles: I created an ext3 partition using partition magic and mandrake installed into that using just 1 partition so not all distros require more than one partition.

I am Downloading Fedora Core 2 right now, I already have all the ISO's for Mandrake, which I plan on using after Fedora. Good luck and have fun with linux Nos, and if you would feel more comfortable you could start out with a boot-disc of Knoppix. (that's what I did)

Remember that there has been some issues with FC2 and dual booting windows. Some people have hosed their MBR and could not recover their windows partitions, even when using 2 hdd's. Not sure if this was fixed yet or not. But it has been buzzing around the internet for a while.

[QUOTE=Marble]Remember that there has been some issues with FC2 and dual booting windows. Some people have hosed their MBR and could not recover their windows partitions, even when using 2 hdd's. Not sure if this was fixed yet or not. But it has been buzzing around the internet for a while.[/QUOTE]

I have also heard of this problem, but right now I am on a dual boot with windows xp and fedora core 2. Maybe it's just the unlucky few.

NTFS currently does not work with the default Fedora kernel, and you will have to recompile your own kernel for Fedora with NTFS filesystem enabled. I have not tried this yet and I doubt I will as it is dangerous. Especiall with write permission.

So should i reformat my D: drive? Using what?

Nos.

[QUOTE=Nostalgia]So should i reformat my D: drive? Using what?

Nos.[/QUOTE]

Well if you really want to, try FAT32

Partition Magic 8.0 works well as a partition manager program.

EDIT: Don't try to install xp on FAT32x, my mistake.