Linux Questions

OK, well I will try to adress as many questions as I can for you.

First of all, if you have never used linux ever before, you should go ahead and download one of the versions that has a LiveCD environment that you can check out on an existing computer first. Distributions that have this ability would be ones like Knoppix or Ubuntu (where ubuntu is a little bit easier to use for newbs). As for ms/apple programs working on linux, I can only answer the MS half of that question.

There is a program that you can install called WINE which is a windows compatability layer that allows you to run programs like MS Office under a linux environment. I don't know if there is something similar for OSX programs to run under linux. As for the games, this is kind of a hit or miss situation at this point as there are not many native linux games. You can get some to run with wine, and for others you can always try "cedega" (but you have to pay a $5/month to use that program).

As for linux over XP, if you already own a copy of XP, you could put it to good use by setting up a dual boot system (which is pretty easy to do, provided you install windows first). Personally, I am trying to make a complete switch over to linux and I find myself using XP less and less these days, but in the beginning, it may be useful to have XP dual boot in case you hose your linux OS.

I highly recommend that you try SEVERAL different linux distributions and see which one fits you the best. Ubuntu is pretty good (and everyone and their mom seems to like it), but it is by no means the only solution for you. You should also try others like Knoppix, OpenSUSE, Freespire, Fedora, &c. and see which one will work best for you.

Depending on which distribution that you pick, you may have to use the command line more or less but I haven't seen any distro that completely nixes it (and I hope i never will because it is so useful!). Don't feel intimidated, just dive in, and if you make mistakes its ok because you can ask questions at forums like this one to figure out how to un-hose your system

Also, if you want to see nice linux features in action (i.e. eye-candy) go to Youtube and look up both "Beryl" and "CompizFusion" and you will see things that will put vista/OSX in their place (i.e. in the trash can!) ;D

Good luck to you.

-Zorak

@Zorak

You beat me to it while I was typing that small book

Wow, thanks a lot guys, that helps A LOT. I gotta go to work, but if I think of any more questions I will ask when I get home.

-Pyro

EDIT: Okay, so for the double or triple boot (whichever i decide on) how do I do that? I heard of something called Grub or something? Explanation?

-Pyro

Zorak nailed it

If you decide to triple boot you would have to partition your drive something like this:

/dev/sda1 /boot ext3

/dev/sda2 no mountpoint LVM

/dev/sda3 /xp NTFS


ext3 = Linux filesystem

LVM = Logical Volume Manager

NTFS = NT filesystem, XP, NT, etc use NTFS by default

GRUB and your kernels would install under /dev/sda1 /boot

/dev/sda2 would use LVM and you could split it into pieces for virtually any number of Linux distributions you might want to try or any other OS that can use LVM for that matter. For example you could create an LV for Ubuntu, another one for Fedora 7, one for Debian, one for slackware, etc. With LVM you can create, delete, grow and shrink LVs ( Logical Volumes -- think of them as virtual partitions ) so if you did try 7 or 8 distributions you could give them each an LV and if you decided to remove some of them later you could easily delete the LVs and then make the disk space available to the distro ( s ) you decide to keep.

the 3rd partition /dev/sda3 would mount under /xp under Linux, would be NTFS and you would install XP on it ( XP will blow away GRUB during the install if GRUB is installed so you either have to install XP first the Linux or install Linux first then XP then boot from a rescue CD and re-install GRUB after XP removes it ).

Photoshop yes with WINE or Crossover -- GIMP is a photoshop replacement http://gimp.org/screenshots/

iTunes no idea -- gtk-pod is an iTunes replacement http://www.gtkpod.org/screenshots.html

MSN IM no -- pidgin ( used to be gaim ) supports virtually ALL IM protocols including MSN http://pidgin.im/pidgin/home/ http://pidgin.im/pidgin/about/

Don't forget to mention aMSN, although I do prefer gaim myself (which was renamed to pidgin). Also, if you are using KDE instead of GNOME, you can try out kopete (another multiprotocol chat client)

Also, do you have to use iTunes? If you are just using it to play music, then there are WAY better programs than that like XMMS and Audacious or zinf, all of which aren't bloated like iTunes. If you really need an iTunes like program to import stuff on to your ipod (if you have one), I understand that it can be done through a program called Amarok, which is also a media player and can burn CDs for you. I guess as far as windows is concerned, i've always been a winamp guy to play my music and I use a different program to play my videos (like media player classic or mplayer).

Finally, getting more small drives might not be a horrible idea so that if your windows drive fails, at least you have your linux drive functional. Or what you could do is get like 2 or more disks and set them up in RAID (level 1 i believe) which will do an exact mirror copy of everything that is on one drive to the other on-the-fly so if one drive fails, you keep EVERYTHING intact.

Good luck.

-Zorak

well, just realize that you don't necessarily need multiple drives to accomplish that. You can get the same thing accomplished just by partitioning a large hard drive. Again this is something to consider.

-Zorak

FakeRAID ( onboard RAID ) is more trouble than it's worth in most cases.

Real hardware RAID is very expensive so unless you're building a server or very high end gaming machine it's not worth it.

Having 2 or more individual drives is probably a good idea and can improve performance, the major considerations will be cost and complexity. If your budget allows for 2 or more large drives then go for it.

Keep in mind small drives and very large drives are disproportionately expensive so anything smaller than a 250GB drive or bigger than a 500GB drive will have a much higher cost per GB. If I remember correctly 400-500GB drives currently have the lowest cost per GB. Unfortunately while the cost per GB is always improving hard drive reliability has not improved significantly so you also need something to backup your important data onto ( external HDD ( s ) and DVD-Rs maybe? RAID is not a backup solution ).

Good luck

What's your config like?

It's a good idea to check to see if the parts you plan to use are Linux and open source friendly

nVidia is very Linux friendly, ATI is improving ( after it was purchased by AMD ) but is not there yet.

Since you said you were going with nVidia you're covered

It is important to check the rest parts for compatibility.

Something everybody can understand!!! Is there any problem with the CPU and MoBo?

-Pyro

Well, I need Wi-Fi, because wireless is my only option. The sound card is a good tip though, so thanks for that. Do you think it would manage with these componants? Or would I need something else?

-Pyro

Well, linux_0, thanks for setting me straight hehe.

Also Pyroflea, just consider this, I currently have an ASUS board and for my next setup, I plan on avoiding them like the plague! The board I currently have is sometimes good and sometimes HORRIBLY EVIL. I have had so many ACPI-related woes from this board that I don't know if I can trust a company that would allow itself to mess up that badly.

Just out of curiousity, have the new price cuts come into play on the intel camp? Today I checked the price of the q6600 over at newegg and it is cheaper than before, but not as cheap as I had read in different places that it should be.

-Zorak

Hmmm... Well, I'm kinda lost here now, so would you have any recommendations for a new motherboard? If possible, a little cheaper, because I still have to buy the wireless card on top of that, and I'm running damn close to my budget as it is.

-Pyro

EDIT: Also, does anybody know if there is going to be a price drop on the quad cores anytime soon? And is this all really worth it? I know that the setup I'm going with right now is good stuff, and I don't even know if I'm gonna stick with Linux, as I've never tried it. So is it all really going to give me that many troubles?

If you are going to go Intel, the ASUS P5N-E SLI is kinda interesting

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?p [...] tem=727&nu m=1

If you decide on AMD the ASUS ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe is nice although rather expensive

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?p [...] =766&num=1



If you are not crazy about those two check out the phoronix motherboard reviews:

http://www.phoronix.com/?page=cate [...] m=Motherbo ards&selection=1


They apparently did like the P5B Deluxe and said the WiFi works if you use NDISwrapper.

Sorry about the double post, but... Yet another question

So after I get Xp installed and clear, I install Ubuntu, correct? Or do I need to install Grub first? What do I need to do in order to get my triple boot setup? Thanks

-Pyro

Would you beleive me if I said I had another question?

When I install Linux, will Grub automatically install with it, or will I have to go to the website and download it afterwards?

-Pyro

Grub comes with Ubuntu as well. Actually, that makes me wonder if you can even really find a distro that doesn't come with some kind of bootloader.

-Zorak

Alright. What's this "GNOME" thing I keep hearing about?

-Pyro

Sorry for the double post.

http://www.kde.org/screenshots/

http://www.xfce.org/about/screenshot s

http://xwinman.org/

You might also want to check out ICEwm, fluxbox and fvwm.

The last one, as i understand it, is the ULTIMATE in customization as it pretty much has you program your own custom interface

You don't have to be that hardcore if you don't want, but the moral of the story is to try out many different window managers and see which desktop environment you like best. Unlike Apple and Microsoft, Linux OSes are all about choice. There may be some defaults for convenience, but no one is forcing you to only use one desktop environment or filesystem type or whatever. It is all about choices, and much like Burger King, you are encouraged to "have it your way".

just for a quick rundown for you here: KDE is more feature rich than GNOME is, so it is highly configureable. That is not to say GNOME is not configureable, it is just a more simplified/less complex interface.

Most people say KDE is more windows like and GNOME is more Mac-like, but personally I say this is all just a big line of bullshit. They are whatever you would like them to be, and it really doesn't take much configuration on your part to make them mimic either interface.

If you want to use eye candy on your system (i.e. CompizFusion/Beryl) you will have to use either KDE or GNOME as other desktop environments don't play nicely with these new abilities.

Good luck.

-Zorak

P.S. From what I have seen, XFCE is like a stripped down GNOME that is made to be lightweight and fast, which enables it to run well even on older machines.

apt-get? lol. New to Linux, so I really have no clue what I'm talking about Also, what is involved with using those programs? What type of skill level is required?

-Pyro

I don't know, that sounds rather difficult.....





-Pyro

All joking aside, apt-get is a package installer used in debian and ubuntu from the command line. Yum would be the fedora equivalent of apt-get.

You don't have to use either one of those tools if you don't want to. Ubuntu gives you two graphical options that do the same thing. Synaptic is the more comprehensive/advanced option, and "add/remove software" is the more watered down interface. As for fedora, you can use either yum-ex or pup to accomplish installing packages graphically.

-Zorak

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Linux [...] _the_shell

http://en.wikibooks. org/wiki/Linux_Guide/Linux_commands

Wikipedia to the rescue