where to pick up linux?

Vincent

Where can i get a copy of linux? and what version is considered to be the best? i'd probably like one thats the most compatible with windows i'd guess and good driver support and all that aswell

phaxx

Ohh great you've just started another holy distro war.

None of the distributions of linux are considered "best", it's a topic that people argue over regularly everywhere.

In >my< opinion, I'd say stay away from redhat/mandrake/corel (they're just cráp )

I started out with Slackware, and I have to say it's great. Clean, organised and no fancy rubbish with a gui installer or anything.

Recently I've been getting into FreeBSD (it's not linux, something similar) and I'm finding it far nicer, but it's more complicated

Although I haven't used it yet, I have only heard good things about Debian (debian.org or something.)

As for where to get it, best thing to do is find a linux-person with a cd burner. (I don't have one. If I did I'd be more than happy to give you a copy of slackware )

[edit] Actually I have a few copies of slackwre 7.0 laying about - if you'd like one, let me know. [/edit/]

[This message has been edited by phaxx (edited 11-07-2001).]

logic1

Yeah I have a copy of Free BSD stable 4.3 sitting here actually which I must install over the weekend if you wanna try a real unix it's the one to go for! as for linux I believe the ilug (www.linux.ie) have a few copies on cd for people to borrow or you could take phaxx up on his generous offer prolly the handiest way to get it and slackware is indeed one of the better distros!

.logic.

flamegrill

I'll second what phaxx says, and ill add some info about debian, which i have to say r0cks. it is by far the best distro that I have used. its update package is very good.
its easy to install, it has everything you will ever need in a *nix distro. all the packages are .deb packages similar to rpms from mandrake/redhat. so for any piece of software you ever want/need you can almost always get a .deb, which are so easy to install. u can use the update program to retrive each package and all its dependencies and not have to worry about it working.

The next best thing that has been released lately is Slackware 8.0 and its on its way to me in the post 2 cds of pure *nix .


one other thing a good place to get a list and links to a lot of *nix distros is http://www.linuxiso.org


[This message has been edited by flamegrill (edited 11-07-2001).]

Loomer

Its like Martial Arts. Theres no best Martial Art - Just good Martial Artists

Repli

I don't know about this starting off with slackware., he's never used linux before, in my opinion he should use redhat to get to grips with linux and then move on to slackware, debian etc.
They are harder to install and configure, and sometimes that can turn new users off linux altogether

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What is now was once only imagined.

phaxx

Well I dunno, I'd say that starting with a no-nonsense distro like slack will make you see that there's no need for GUI installers and such, so these people probably won't contribute to the problem by writing bloatware.

I mean, look at windows, all these cutesy sounds installed with windows NT! It's a BUSINESS operating system, and we have lovely little welcome sounds wasting disk space!

Ah you've gone and got me worked up over bloatware now. Going to go home and sit at the freebsd prompt and recover.

Vincent

where can i order it? i'll probably go with redhat cos its nearly the only version of linux i've heard off they can all run quake ya? and alrite with asus ta? thnks

Hobbes

GUI based installers (much like Gnome/KDE) are there for the people who aren't used to console text.

Scary but there are students in collages who don't even know what a console/Dos box is and would wet themselves if they had to use it.

Bard

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by phaxx:

I mean, look at windows, all these cutesy sounds installed with windows NT! It's a BUSINESS operating system, and we have lovely little welcome sounds wasting disk space!

Ah you've gone and got me worked up over bloatware now. Going to go home and sit at the freebsd prompt and recover. </font>

A 'quip' posted in Bugzilla by a Unix/Linux fanatic I used to work with...: "I heard if you play the NT-4.0-CD backwards, you get a satanic message. == That's nothing, if you play it forward, it installs NT-4.0!"

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Bard

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I've got a plan... and it's as HOT... AS MY PANTS!!!" - Lord Flashheart.

flamegrill

Nice one Bard

Vincent: go for anything other then corel and redhat, do yourself a favour in the long run

Vincent

i dont mind using console, i used console alot in dos and if qw/quake3 counts i've used it alot aswell

flamegrill

Quake 3 doesnt really count. But the console is the way to learn and to get familiar with
*nix. You say u have used dos, well the unix console is a multitasking environement dos is not and Ms windows does a damn shabby job of it. so the power of the *nix console is unimaginable to you, and i think that perhaps this experience will do you a great deal of good.

But if say you have a voodoo 3 3000 and you want to play Quake3 in linux nice and smooth with Glide and all, i suggest that you use Mandrake 7.2. this is gona kill phaxx (sorry charlie) but mandrake will support glide and opengl for this chipset right outa the box and its as easy as pie to install. very fat though, lots of stuff that you dont really need or will ever use.

logic1

Yeah it's not really the distro that governs whether it has support out of the box for voodoo 3d cards but rather the version of Xree86 that thew distro comes with.

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">XFree86 4.0 (or later versions) includes 3D acceleration for the following graphics hardware:


3dfx:
Voodoo3 3500 TV
Voodoo3 3000 AGP
Voodoo3 3000 PCI
Voodoo3 2000 AGP
Voodoo3 2000 PCI
Voodoo Banshee
Velocity 100/200 </font>

So any distro which comes with Xfree86 4.0 or later is fine... usually around the redhat7.*, Suse 7.*, Mandrake 7.* versions will all have it.

There used be a linux.3dfx.com site up but it seems to be gone now

.logic.

Vincent

i have geforce mx btw, and any sites where i can order linux from? irish preferably

logic1

Chalkmore anddddd micromail as recommended by linux.ie

.logic.

Jack

I use Suse think i its good.And validated for Oracle 9i.

phaxx

I've ordered from micromail before and it was grand, arrived a couple of days later.

Ordered slackware 3.6, where I started.