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Linux Distro Noob thread of Linux noobs

Marvelous

Member
Suitcase Test said:
Also, banner. (I'm bored, ok?!)

http://i46.tinypic.com/535onp.png[IMG][/QUOTE]

Nice banner!


To those of you that are using Fedora, have you tried the B-tree file system (Btrfs) yet?
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Marvelous said:
Nice banner!


To those of you that are using Fedora, have you tried the Btrfs yet?

Haven't tried it yet, but saw a big article on it online. They say it's gonna be the next big thang in terms of file systems, but I've heard that about a lot of things.
 

Marvelous

Member
Brettison said:
Haven't tried it yet, but saw a big article on it online. They say it's gonna be the next big thang in terms of file systems, but I've heard that about a lot of things.

Yeah... I think Btrfs is suppose to be the Linux equivalent of ZFS. (Not sure if I worded that correctly.)

Tworak said:
no, I still use ext3. :3

have you used it? if so, how is it?

Hehe, ext3? Why not ext4? :p
I'm currently using Btrfs and it isn't causing any problems for me... yet, lol. Unfortunately, it could be a while before all of the "big" features are ready for everyday use.
 
Okay, I installed Moblin Linux on my MSi Wind netbook.

Moblin (wiki) is "Mobile Linux" specifically made for netbooks running Atom, and it runs really well. It is growing in popularity at nice rates. However, it doesn't support the Ralink RT2860 that my (and some other) netbooks have. It's weird... It sees the networks, but can't connect to them.

What would be the best course of action here? Using ndiswrapper or something else? Apparently, if I use ndisweapper, I will need to compile it from source...


This is a great thread, btw.
 
emomoonbase said:
Don't run as root until you know what you are doing.
Don't use the root user, ever. It's an unnecessary risk. (even though Linux is a lot more secure than Windows, mostly because it's not as widespread) You can do everything you need to do as root with sudo or su (depending on your distibution).

Get to know the commandline (bash). It's extremely powerful, it's awesome for your nerd cred and it when your X-Server doesn't work, you have something to fall back on.

I haven't heard of btfs but B-Tree sounds good. (just wrote a program implementing a B-Tree for my Algorithms class)
 

Fireblend

Banned
Why would you do that? said:
Okay, I installed Moblin Linux on my MSi Wind netbook.

Moblin (wiki) is "Mobile Linux" specifically made for netbooks running Atom, and it runs really well. It is growing in popularity at nice rates. However, it doesn't support the Ralink RT2860 that my (and some other) netbooks have. It's weird... It sees the networks, but can't connect to them.

What would be the best course of action here? Using ndiswrapper or something else? Apparently, if I use ndisweapper, I will need to compile it from source...

This is a great thread, btw.
Why would you need to compile ndiswrapper from source? I'm not sure about Moblin Linux specifics since I haven't used it (although I have tried other "made-for-netbooks" distros) but ndiswrapper is usually very easy to use. There's even a very friendly GUI available, if I'm not mistaken.

And why not use the ones provided here? http://www.ralinktech.com/support.php?s=2

(Download the driver, extract it and run the "install.sh" script located in the extracted folder)
 

Trouble

Banned
Why would you do that? said:
Okay, I installed Moblin Linux on my MSi Wind netbook.

Moblin (wiki) is "Mobile Linux" specifically made for netbooks running Atom, and it runs really well. It is growing in popularity at nice rates. However, it doesn't support the Ralink RT2860 that my (and some other) netbooks have. It's weird... It sees the networks, but can't connect to them.

What would be the best course of action here? Using ndiswrapper or something else? Apparently, if I use ndisweapper, I will need to compile it from source...


This is a great thread, btw.
Ubuntu also has a netbook version (Hardware compatibility) that supports Atom processors. Not sure if that would help with your issue, though.
 
If people are aprrehensive about repartitioning their HDD to try out Ubuntu, use the WUBI installer.

http://wubi-installer.org/

You run the installer. It has options with different Ubuntu installs. Pick one and tell it what size you want the Linux partition to be and it creates a virtual drive on you HDD on which Linux is installed. It adds options at boot time that lets you pick windows or linux to boot into. Removing Linux is as simple as going into Windows and uninstalling WUBI from 'Add Remove Programs'.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
whatsinaname said:
If people are aprrehensive about repartitioning their HDD to try out Ubuntu, use the WUBI installer.

http://wubi-installer.org/

You run the installer. It has options with different Ubuntu installs. Pick one and tell it what size you want the Linux partition to be and it creates a virtual drive on you HDD on which Linux is installed. It adds options at boot time that lets you pick windows or linux to boot into. Removing Linux is as simple as going into Windows and uninstalling WUBI from 'Add Remove Programs'.

That's how I currently have my setup with Win 7. Works like charm with 10.04.
 
Whew! Just did a big update to the OP:

- The list of distros is now pretty much doubled

- The list of distributions link provided by tokkun is now in the OP (I appreciated Cronos's contribution as well)

- "News" section is added with "OMG! Ubuntu" link provided by Cronos.

- Suitcase Test's awesome banner has replaced my shitty one in the OP.

I still know that there is more stuff to do but this kind of takes a while.

And thanks for the positive comments about this thread. :D
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Mad props for actually going through with the thread creation though! I'm a linux noob, but I'm glad we have a thread around here for us nerds! :D
 

ThatObviousUser

ὁ αἴσχιστος παῖς εἶ
WUBI is great but for some reason after I used it I kept getting a bunch of CHKDSK prompts on bootup, had to uninstall it.
 

O.DOGG

Member
My web server at home is CentOS, and I absolutely love it. I'd switch to a Linux on my desktop machine but it's still lacking software I can't do without. Also games.
One software recommendation I have to anybody using the console is Yakuake. It's a quake-style drop-down console you can toggle with a button. Extremely useful. It's the thing I miss the most on my Windows workstation at work.
 

WYWY

Member
Fedora - One of the most popular Linux distros. From my observation it seems to be inbetween simplicity and complexity.
Fedora is also bleeding-edge stuff. It's the one with the "latest and greatest", at the cost of being non-conservative. They are transparent about this, and most advanced users are aware of it.

See: http://lwn.net/Articles/358715/ (Also see the comments section)
 

Schrade

Member
As a FreeBSD nut, I just wanted to pop in an show my support for my Linux friends :)

Daemon says hi!
vhpyq8.png
 
Thanks OneEightZero, I forgot to do that. Thought I'd picked the right background color.

O.DOGG said:
My web server at home is CentOS, and I absolutely love it. I'd switch to a Linux on my desktop machine but it's still lacking software I can't do without. Also games.
One software recommendation I have to anybody using the console is Yakuake. It's a quake-style drop-down console you can toggle with a button. Extremely useful. It's the thing I miss the most on my Windows workstation at work.
Ohhh, yeah this one is so awesome. Really nerdy too. :lol
 

Billen

Banned
O.DOGG said:
My web server at home is CentOS, and I absolutely love it. I'd switch to a Linux on my desktop machine but it's still lacking software I can't do without. Also games.
One software recommendation I have to anybody using the console is Yakuake. It's a quake-style drop-down console you can toggle with a button. Extremely useful. It's the thing I miss the most on my Windows workstation at work.

Sounds very handy. Thanks for the advice!
 

suikodan

Member
Great threads guys! Thanks for all the resources. I tried several of them and I'm especially thankful for the Ubuntu Tweaks as I hate the buttons on the left, I prefer them Windows-style.

I like how Ubuntu let us install programs, either by the Software Hub or with DEB packages. I'm still green with this so when I have an archive which extracts the files "somewhere", I'm confused of what to do after because there's no desktop icons or entries in the "start" menu.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Oh speaking of Btrfs... Article!

It seems possible Btrfs could replace Ext4 as the default file system in Ubuntu version 10.10, code name "Maverick Meerkat". Developers attending last week's Ubuntu Collaboration Summit in Brussels discussed testing Btrfs as the default file system in an alpha version of Ubuntu 10.10. Ubuntu Developer Manager Scott James Remnant assessed the likelihood of switching to Btrfs as "a one in five chance".

Also...

O.DOGG said:
My web server at home is CentOS, and I absolutely love it. I'd switch to a Linux on my desktop machine but it's still lacking software I can't do without. Also games.
One software recommendation I have to anybody using the console is Yakuake. It's a quake-style drop-down console you can toggle with a button. Extremely useful. It's the thing I miss the most on my Windows workstation at work.

I'd recommend Tilda in the same vein. Yakuake is a great program based on KDE stuff and Tilda is based on Gnome.
 

Tworak

Member
Marvelous said:
Hehe, ext3? Why not ext4? :p
I'm currently using Btrfs and it isn't causing any problems for me... yet, lol. Unfortunately, it could be a while before all of the "big" features are ready for everyday use.
I'm definitely going to try Btrfs soon.

also, I... don't really know why I'm still on ext3. :lol
 
Oh, since it isn't in the OP, a quick tutorial on how to compile a program from source, using make and make install: (usually not necessary, but sometimes you won't find a pre-compiled package for your distribution of some application)

0. Check the requirements for the software you want to compile, what libraries or development packages does it require? Look for them and install them, it will save a lot of time later on.

1. Download the source, it's usually in a .tar.gz or .tar.bz2 archive, so just extract it with the default application (or, if you're feeling like console, type "tar xvzf package.tar.gz" or "tar xvjf package.tar.bz2").

2. Open up a terminal window (Gnome: hit Alt-F2 and type "gnome-terminal" or press Ctrl-Alt-F1 and Ctrl-Alt-F7 to get back to Gnome or whatever you're using) and browse to the source folder using cd /folder/folder/.. (for changing directories) and ls (lists the contents of the current directory)

3. Type "./configure", then type "make" and then type "make install". If you're lucky, your program is installed and configured. If not, look at the output of the compiler and google it.
 

Fireblend

Banned
Brettison said:
I'd recommend Tilda in the same vein. Yakuake is a great program based on KDE stuff and Tilda is based on Gnome.
There's also Guake, which is actually in development (I think Tilda's last stable release is from 2008; Guake's is from february and even makes use of Ubuntu's pretty notifications, just saying), you might want to factor that into your choice.
 

Marvelous

Member
Tworak said:
I'm definitely going to try Btrfs soon.

also, I... don't really know why I'm still on ext3. :lol

Just remember that it's still under heavy development. :)

Brettison said:
Oh speaking of Btrfs... Article!

It seems possible Btrfs could replace Ext4 as the default file system in Ubuntu version 10.10, code name "Maverick Meerkat". Developers attending last week's Ubuntu Collaboration Summit in Brussels discussed testing Btrfs as the default file system in an alpha version of Ubuntu 10.10. Ubuntu Developer Manager Scott James Remnant assessed the likelihood of switching to Btrfs as "a one in five chance".

I would be shocked if Btrfs becomes the default file system in Ubuntu first instead of Fedora.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Marvelous said:
Just remember that it's still under heavy development. :)



I would be shocked if Btrfs becomes the default file system in Ubuntu first instead of Fedora.

Quite frankly so would I. I expect to to come, but not this year. I'm thinking maybe by this time next year would be a better point of entry. I fully expect Fedora to hit the mark first on this one.
 

scotcheggz

Member
I just installed the latest ubuntu distro on my parents home PC, the istall went smooth but now it's up, it's running like shite. I checked the system monitor and the cpu usage hasn't fluctuated from 100% once in the last 2-3 minutes. Nothing is running.

Does anyone know if this is this a common, quick fix scenario or do I need to start playing around?
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
scotcheggz said:
I just installed the latest ubuntu distro on my parents home PC, the istall went smooth but now it's up, it's running like shite. I checked the system monitor and the cpu usage hasn't fluctuated from 100% once in the last 2-3 minutes. Nothing is running.

Does anyone know if this is this a common, quick fix scenario or do I need to start playing around?

Official Ubuntu Forums

That thread supposedly has the same issue as you and they have a fix somewhere in there. Not saying it'll work for you, but better than nothing! :D

Let us know! :D
 

Vic

Please help me with my bad english
scotcheggz said:
I just installed the latest ubuntu distro on my parents home PC, the istall went smooth but now it's up, it's running like shite. I checked the system monitor and the cpu usage hasn't fluctuated from 100% once in the last 2-3 minutes. Nothing is running.

Does anyone know if this is this a common, quick fix scenario or do I need to start playing around?
What's your CPU?

edit: How To Control Your CPU Frequency In Ubuntu
 

scotcheggz

Member
Well, that's wierd!

I had a feeling it was something to do with the graphics drivers, so I re-installed (or installed?) the graphics drivers for ATI and it's running perfectly now!

Thanks for the quick suggestions guys!
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Xyphie said:
http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

Good application for linux noobs wanting to try out various distros if you don't have burnable CDs available and only a USB stick. Simply select USB-HDD (or something similar) in your BIOS as the first boot device once you're done.

Yeah I forgot to mention this. This program is AWESOME to the MAX! It's the easiest way to test out a ton of different distros if you have a descent usb stick. Not to mention it's handy as hell to have a distro around if you need to gank some files from a broken windows install.
 

deadbeef

Member
Anyone have any advice for me? I tried to install Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit edition as a Virtual Machine inside VMWare Workstation 7.0 but when I go to the log in screen, it won't accept any keystrokes. If I right-click the password field on the log in page, my Input Method is set as System (IBus (Intelligent Input Bus)).

Help?
 

Trouble

Banned
Green Biker Dude said:
i want to try freebsd. should i download version 8 or 7.3? 7.3 is newer, but 8 should be better in theory since 7 is afraid of 8 and all that
Holy shit @ FreeBSD being on version 8. I used to work at a FreeBSD shop back in the day and 5 was released right before I left. I haven't touched it since then.
 

harSon

Banned
I installed XP and Ubuntu 10.04 (I was still using the Windows 7 Release Candidate and finally got sick of my system restarting every two hours :lol), and I have to say, I'm really digging it. I still haven't gotten completely used to it, nor have I managed to get everything to work, but as it stands now, I wouldn't mind using it full time. It's definitely a lot better than the last time I used it, which was a few years ago. I'm glad they got rid of the old desktop theme, there was something about that brown that was almost nausea inducing.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
Can I just say the tightly integrated feature set of the Gwibber + Empathy + Notification system is like 1000 times cooler than I ever would have imagined. I didn't think much of it when they were talking about adding that stuff in before release, but god using it day to day is bad to the ass. Makes me think doing that stuff in Windows is gheto.
 
scotcheggz said:
Well, that's wierd!

I had a feeling it was something to do with the graphics drivers, so I re-installed (or installed?) the graphics drivers for ATI and it's running perfectly now!

Thanks for the quick suggestions guys!
Yeah, there seems to be something goofy with the software graphics drivers in 10.4. Stole a core from my i7 (yes okay not a huge deal but still) until I'd installed the proper ATI driver.
 

itxaka

Defeatist
Elfforkusu said:
Yeah, there seems to be something goofy with the software graphics drivers in 10.4. Stole a core from my i7 (yes okay not a huge deal but still) until I'd installed the proper ATI driver.


Mine had some issues with the nvidia drivers. Had the latests installed (195?) and activated compiz and the system started to look for new drivers, downloaded and installed the old ones (175). Had to remove them all and reinstall them.

Still I don't know why the goddam plymouth looks like ass. Fucking 800x600 resolution for no reason. I got plymouth on Arch with nvidia drivers and the resolution is higher.

Edit: Oh wait no, I just remembered, I got plymouth on the eeepc, with an intel card that supports KMS. Goddam.
 
itxaka said:
Mine had some issues with the nvidia drivers. Had the latests installed (195?) and activated compiz and the system started to look for new drivers, downloaded and installed the old ones (175). Had to remove them all and reinstall them.

Still I don't know why the goddam plymouth looks like ass. Fucking 800x600 resolution for no reason. I got plymouth on Arch with nvidia drivers and the resolution is higher.

Edit: Oh wait no, I just remembered, I got plymouth on the eeepc, with an intel card that supports KMS. Goddam.
Oh. Mine did the same, but I solved it with this: http://news.softpedia.com/news/How-...ly-Plymouth-Logo-in-Ubuntu-10-04-140810.shtml
 
close to the edge said:
3. Type "./configure", then type "make" and then type "make install". If you're lucky, your program is installed and configured. If not, look at the output of the compiler and google it.

I thought you typed "sudo install "name of app"" or something?
 

harSon

Banned
I'm absolutely loving Ubuntu 10.04, if it wasn't for the fact that not everything works on it, I'd make a complete transition.
 
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