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Post by Mr. Sassy Pants on May 5, 2008 2:26:16 GMT -5
so i created a dual boot system, with vista and linux, specificly ubuntu.
i guess my question for you guys, prolly sir in particular, is if thats the best free version of linux to run? or should i just reformat that partition and go with someting else?
i still got a lot of messing around to do in it...cause its kinda for experimentation on my part, as i havent messed around with linux much at all, so its a learning experience...sooo, any pinters you can offer as well?
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Post by ŞíŘ on May 5, 2008 5:55:50 GMT -5
I've run a few distros... the most experience I have is with Debian and Red Hat web servers since I SSH for like everything.
Ubuntu is fine for a desktop user. Don't rely on the GNOME desktop environment (it's what makes everything pretty) for everything though, learn some command line, or when things break you'll be helpless.
If you have any questions on how to do things just PM me or somesuch.
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Post by Chim on May 5, 2008 8:03:05 GMT -5
I haven't done a lot with linux. The most experience I have is with Red Hat and I hated it... =P.
Sir is right though, definitely learn the command line. The GUIs aren't very sophisticated (at least when I used it - that was about 5 years ago hehe).
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Post by ŞíŘ on May 5, 2008 14:16:18 GMT -5
The GUIs are extremely sophisticated nowadays. If you throw in Compiz, it almost ends up prettier than Windows (at least pre-Vista I guess).
(nothing is as pretty as OSX)
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Post by Mr. Sassy Pants on May 5, 2008 18:44:52 GMT -5
yeah, im typing this on linux at the moment and it seems to be a very well done GUI, im noticing some limitations, for obvious reasons, but im starting to get a lil more used to it at the moment...
im gonna be messing around with this for a while i think...=D
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Post by ŞíŘ on May 5, 2008 18:49:44 GMT -5
Once you discover software repositories/package managers you'll be in heaven. Since all of the software is free/open source, you can download and install it from an online repository straight from the OS GUI.
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Post by Mr. Sassy Pants on May 5, 2008 22:24:11 GMT -5
know any good places to look sir?
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Post by Jayne, The Hero of Canton on May 6, 2008 15:12:54 GMT -5
im gonna be messing around with this for a while i think...=D More accurate words were never spoken. "Messing around" is exactly what you usually end up doing with linux desktop. Linux is fairly usable as a desktop environment, but you will run into a number of things that won't work for you. You'll spend hours on various forums trying to get help and randomly tweaking things to get them to work. Eventually, you will realize that you spend more time working on your system than actually working with your system. It can be a lot of fun if you're into that, but don't expect it to be the most efficient conduit for productivity. It just isn't there yet. Cheers, -Jayne |
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Post by ŞíŘ on May 6, 2008 15:28:14 GMT -5
^ As a beginner, sure. It also appeals to tinkerers for that very reason.
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Post by Mr. Sassy Pants on May 6, 2008 18:18:44 GMT -5
and thats kinda why i set it up as a dual boot system, so i could keep vista as my primary OS, but if im in the mood for something to tinker or something that boots up really fast...ill use linux. ill prolly cruise around online for lil things to mess around with on it, but it seems as though not a lot of 'normal' programs run on it, sooo...yea...
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Post by Jayne, The Hero of Canton on May 6, 2008 18:45:49 GMT -5
Don't get me wrong. That wasn't meant as a deterrent. I've spent many hours with several Gentoo installations that could have been better spent doing something else. I know how much fun it can be. I wish I still had the time to goof around like that.
It's too bad Gentoo went so far down hill. For a true learning/tinkering/custom experience, it used to be the best distro there was.
There are only a couple things that keep me from using linux as my primary desktop. Poor Phoenix bios support (no ACPI on toshiba laptops), poor wifi support, and photoshop as the primaries. Of course, one can always use VMware or equivalents for the latter, but it always was a hog on resources and seemed more convoluted than it should be.
Anyway. Best of luck to ya.
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Post by Mr. Sassy Pants on May 7, 2008 11:26:40 GMT -5
so back to the question thatwasnt answered...<.< Once you discover software repositories/package managers you'll be in heaven. Since all of the software is free/open source, you can download and install it from an online repository straight from the OS GUI. do ya know of any places to look sir? |
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Post by ŞíŘ on May 7, 2008 11:53:42 GMT -5
When you go to "Install More Software" (or whatever the menu item is called), that's using a package manager on a repository.
In command line you'd do APT though. APT stands for Advanced Packaging Tool... by default it has configuration on what repository(ies) to check for the program name you give it.
For example,
Actually you'd probably have to
(system user do -- it will prompt you for an administrator password in order to elevate permissions)
There are more APT-related commands (they're actually programs that you're passing parameters to) like update and etc. However the default package manager GUI works just fine.
All kinds of fun utilities ship with Linux and many of them don't have a GUI. If they don't have a GUI there's a half-decent chance that they are meant for more advanced people and consequently were not given a GUI for mainstream use. Still, it's good to know them.
Oh, and you're going to absolutely love grep. And pipes. (Look it up)
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