bmbeeman Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 So I'm building my first computer do I can learn how things work. The end result of this whole project is hopefully a decent desktop I can use as an alternative to my laptop which I find cramped. I'd also like to keep my school/personal work seperate. So in an effort to avoid producing another windows machine, and save some money, I've decided to put Linux on my future creation. While I'm learning to build a computer I might as well learn a new operating system. Since this is my first foray into the Linux arena I'm a little overwhelmed. I don't know where to start, there are so many versions out there I don't know which to start with. I also have a few questions and comments that might help out in narrowing my options: Uses: Basic Desktop (internet/word processing) Second Life (I heard there was a Linux Client) Media center (movies/music) iPhone/iPod syncing (is it possible with Linux?) 1. How mch of a learning curve does Linux have? 2. What features are unique to Linux operating systems? 3. What hardware is [not] compatible with Linux? I don't want to put any in the box that won't work. If there is anything else anyone would like to add feel free. I just want to get some input before I dive headfirst into Linux. EDIT: I just realized I forgot to move back Linux client forum before posting. Moderators feel free to move this topic and sorry for the mistake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kalam_ Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Ubuntu. /thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robz0rz Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Linux has quite a learning curve, but with a little bit of feeling for the technical side, you should feel really at home once you get a better grip on things after a week or three max. Windows has a very different approach on myn things than Linux, so you might be a little lost at first. Don't be afraid to ask, in doubt, feel free to PM me even. Always glad to help a new Linux user! It doesn't really matter which distribution you use as a user if you go with one of the bigger ones out there (Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, openSuSE, etc). The main difference betwen them is their package managing, and which packages they provide by default. Packages are packages of software in the Linux world. In the end, you can install whatever applications you want, so it doesn't matter. Just try some LiveCD's, find out which distribution plays nice with your system from the beginning, and then go with that. There is multiple Internet browsers, Firefox being the most popular one of course. There is also multiple e-mail clients, torrent clients, etc. Linux also offers good Office suits, OpenOffice.org again being the most popular. Second life is just an application which you shouldn't have too much trouble installing. Also for music and movie, there is multiple players and library-organizers. These applications are all a bit different from eachother, just like you know it in Windows (foobar is different from WinAmp and iTunes for example). As far as I know, iPhones and the newest iPod's do NOT work with Linux, as there are no drivers for them yet. I used to have an older iPod Video (5th gen), that worked fine with Linux. However, I decided I'd rather go full Linux and not keep using iTunes for the few things that you can't do with iPods on Linux (syncing as nicely as iTunes sums it up). About hardware compatibility... This is always a tricky one. My desktop PC was one I built myself (ASUS mobo, AMD cpu, nVidia gpu), and it wouldn't work nice with Linux at all. After a BIOS upgrade, things worked very good though. However, on my Thinkpad laptop, Linux works flawless. I would advise not to go with too exotic hardware, since that might not have good drivers yet. I don't know which brand of MotherBoards plays good with Linux. I don't think it really matters what kind of gpu you chose, nVidia has drivers for their cards for Linux, and ATi even has open source drivers (something the Linux community really likes). If you want to be safe, try to design your hardware from specs from a prebuilt computer that you know Linux works on. Try finding some HP, DELL, Lenovo desktops that are similar to what you want hardware-wise. Look to see if they work with Linux and how well (what has major problems, what works out of the box). Then, try to choose your parts wisely based on that knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lechio Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 (edited) 1. Depends on what you want to learn. If you want to use it as a personal desktop it can be very easy to learn, GUI applications are used for those kinds of tasks, nothing to learn there. 2. Would say that unique features such as security, stability, portability and openness are key features from Linux and other UNIX-like Operating Systems. 3. You are building the machine therefore you can afford to find out how is the hardware support for that device under Linux with a quick web search. There shouldn't be much problem with that, most of the hardware has support under Linux and those that don't aren't worth buying. The answer to what distro to use is in your signature and av... :) A Debian based would be, in my opinion, a good choice. Edited November 14, 2008 by Lechio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PL_ Veteran Posted November 14, 2008 Veteran Share Posted November 14, 2008 Moved to Client Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkz Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 ubuntu (Y) it's the most user friendly linux to the date, plus if you like debian, you'll be like a fish in the water (prolly you'll need to get used to sudoing tho) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cuban Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 ubuntu is easyer to grasp then vista, seriously. its linux for idiots, not humans :)(no pun intended) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkz Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 ubuntu is easyer to grasp then vista, seriously.its linux for idiots, not humans :)(no pun intended) humans are idiots but looks like you know that :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simsie Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Secondlife does have a Linux client, but I haven't used it. I also believe there is media centre software for Linux as well. Beware of your wireless card, as some can be very hard to set up, but a quick google can help you there. Unlike Windows, the Linux install procedure isn't "doucle click setup.exe". It uses a thing called a package manager, which is a large database of all software packages. You also use that to find new paclkages. And another random fact is things like WMA won't play out of the box on Ubuntu and some others, but a Google will help you enable it. Linux also has a UAC like feature (called Sudo). It works differently but it's the same underlying principle. Oh and don't be logged in as "root" when you don't need to. I'd say either Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS would be best for you... Enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capr Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 a quick tip is to not get frustrated with linux. everyone has already pointed out most things but the reason people get frustrated with linux is the same reason they get frustrated with UAC... when you get a fresh install of linux you will need to install a bunch of software, drivers, plug ins for firefox.... and a few others things and this is when you will need to learn everything and it is why there is such a high learning curve for linux. because right from the start you will need to do all this stuff and it will all be new to you... but if you manage to learn a few things and fallow a few guides till you get past your first few weeks and get everything working, you will be fine from there on. your every day tasks won't require to learn too much and it will be just like you are using themed windows.... stick with it, and there are pleasant surprises at the end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Frank B. Subscriber² Posted November 14, 2008 Subscriber² Share Posted November 14, 2008 I would suggest the soon-to-be-released Fedora 10. It's as user-friendly as Ubuntu, the package selection is just as big as that of Ubuntu (when you look at the sum of official package repositories and 3rd party repositories), and it is not hyped as much as Ubuntu. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkz Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 not hyped? i can't see how that changes anything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markwolfe Veteran Posted November 14, 2008 Veteran Share Posted November 14, 2008 1. How mch of a learning curve does Linux have? For using Linux, not much. Point and click. For administering Linux (including initial hardware and software setup), there may be a lot to do, but it also may be very minimal. Unfortunately, there is no way to tell ahead of time, as some is hardware, and a lot is personal preferences in your desired config. 2. What features are unique to Linux operating systems? Actually, the Linux user/admin account separation and security concepts will be familiar to you, if you have used Vista a bit. Microsoft has gotten on board the secure setup train, and the concepts of users and admins being separate is being pushed to the common computing users. I would recommend trying Ubuntu and post questions on the specific things you run into that you would like some explanation on, as it is hard to answer general questions like "what is different" here. 3. What hardware is [not] compatible with Linux? I don't want to put any in the box that won't work. As mentioned earlier, wireless can be hit-or-miss. Scanners and webcams may also require extra steps. I would advise looking for sane compatibility before plunking down $50+ on a scanner, if you were getting one. I would also put nVidia in as a recommendation for video card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fix-this! Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 try linux mint, its based off of ubuntu and has a ton of useful extra's and works out of the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnuman Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 I'll be the odd one here and suggest OpenSuse :) I never cared for Ubuntu. If you like a Windows style desktop, use KUbuntu which features KDE and not GNOME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
White Cuban Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Secondlife does have a Linux client, but I haven't used it. I also believe there is media centre software for Linux as well.Beware of your wireless card, as some can be very hard to set up, but a quick google can help you there. Unlike Windows, the Linux install procedure isn't "doucle click setup.exe". It uses a thing called a package manager, which is a large database of all software packages. You also use that to find new paclkages. And another random fact is things like WMA won't play out of the box on Ubuntu and some others, but a Google will help you enable it. Linux also has a UAC like feature (called Sudo). It works differently but it's the same underlying principle. Oh and don't be logged in as "root" when you don't need to. I'd say either Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS would be best for you... Enjoy! ubuntu install is like windows/easyer. Secondlife does have a Linux client, but I haven't used it. I also believe there is media centre software for Linux as well.Beware of your wireless card, as some can be very hard to set up, but a quick google can help you there. Unlike Windows, the Linux install procedure isn't "doucle click setup.exe". It uses a thing called a package manager, which is a large database of all software packages. You also use that to find new paclkages. And another random fact is things like WMA won't play out of the box on Ubuntu and some others, but a Google will help you enable it. Linux also has a UAC like feature (called Sudo). It works differently but it's the same underlying principle. Oh and don't be logged in as "root" when you don't need to. I'd say either Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS would be best for you... Enjoy! ubuntu install is like windows/easyer. Secondlife does have a Linux client, but I haven't used it. I also believe there is media centre software for Linux as well.Beware of your wireless card, as some can be very hard to set up, but a quick google can help you there. Unlike Windows, the Linux install procedure isn't "doucle click setup.exe". It uses a thing called a package manager, which is a large database of all software packages. You also use that to find new paclkages. And another random fact is things like WMA won't play out of the box on Ubuntu and some others, but a Google will help you enable it. Linux also has a UAC like feature (called Sudo). It works differently but it's the same underlying principle. Oh and don't be logged in as "root" when you don't need to. I'd say either Ubuntu or PCLinuxOS would be best for you... Enjoy! ubuntu install is like windows/easyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Behemoth Posted November 14, 2008 Share Posted November 14, 2008 Another vote for openSUSE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tym Posted November 15, 2008 Share Posted November 15, 2008 Myself being brand new to Linux as well I followed the advice of most users. Once you have time to play with a few pick one and stick with that one. No one release is perfect. Every one will have its little quirks I myself found ubuntu works fine on my machine. The guys and gals in this forum or super at helping us new users. I had a little program I wanted to install. I am sure I drove them crazy but they stuck with it and helped me out tons. I finally got the program installed. The big one is the desktop you wanna use. KDE or Gnome. If your a rotating cube, wobbly windows lots of flash kinda person. Kde is the one for you. If you want it to look nice and simply work, Gnome would be a good choice. Gnome works better for me. Easier to find stuff, Looks nice, Works great. Backing it up is always a wise choice. I use Norton's Ghost 14. It allows me to play with different ideas and such, once the problem is solved I back it up. That way if My next attempt to mess with this or that fails, No worries I can restore it with Norton's Ghost. No matter which version you go with. Once installed I really suggest this web site for your first visit. http://www.howtoforge.com/ . That Will help you get your new Linux set up quicker and more prepared for Internet usage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barney T. Administrators Posted November 15, 2008 Administrators Share Posted November 15, 2008 Installing most current distros of Linux (SuSE, Ubuntu and other Debian versions, Fedora, and Mandriva) are really easy. Using them is also a breeze. Learning other things (like the command line) are great to know, but mostly not necessary with the great package managers of today. Pinned threads on which Linux distro is best can be found: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=40533 https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=512334 As I have always said, you get out of Linux what you are willing to put into it! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tym Posted November 16, 2008 Share Posted November 16, 2008 Yea I for sure agree with Barney. The whole Linux is only for geeks is a thing of the past. I would put it on my mothers and grandmothers computer no problem. Every release gets it one more step closer to the average user having no problems installing and using. I think most will not put Linux on the computer out of fear you gotta be a hardcore geek to use it. Gotta know command lines, and all kinds of geeky stuff. What most really don't understand if you just a Internet, surf and check e-mail put Linux on your computer. Linux so easy A caveman can use it..........wait that ones taken. Linux so easy your grandmother could use it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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