Linux Help

[mikeyp410]

I am a newbie to Linux. I have Red Hat and have had it for years but never really felt comfortable using it so I never really did. My question is, isn't there a Linux program that runs from a cd inside windows that I can use to get comfortable with it before I install it on a computer?? I remember such a thing but cannot find it anywhere. Please help I want to take back control of my PC!!!!

 

[linux_0]

There are many great Linux Live CDs and DVDs which allow you to run entirely from CD or DVD so you can play with the OS before you install it.

These include:

http://www.knoppix.org/ 700MB CD, 3GB DVD

http://www.ubuntu.com/ 650MB CD

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ 50MB CD


Knoppix is probably one of the best ones to start with.

damnsmalllinux / DSL is great for old systems.

Ubuntu is not as great as a Live CD it is meant to be installed.

GL :-D

 

[mikeyp410]

Thank you very very much.

 

[mikeyp410]

Ok, My only question is where do I dl the ISO from? The site is all in german or something

 

[linux_0]

Here's the CD:

http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso

and the DVD:

http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/knoppix-dvd/KNOPPIX_V5.1.1DVD-2007-01-04-EN.iso

Make sure you check the md5 and sha1 sums!

http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.md5.asc
http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.sha1.asc

http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/knoppix-dvd/KNOPPIX_V5.1.1DVD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.md5.asc
http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/knoppix-dvd/KNOPPIX_V5.1.1DVD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.sha1.asc

This is the procedure for checking the md5 and sha1 sums:

http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/using_md5sums.html

The procedure is the same for md5 and sha1 although you also need sha1sum.exe from: ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/binary/sha1sum.exe

with this sig

ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/binary/sha1sum.exe.sig

the source code is here:
ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/binary/sha1sum.c
ftp://ftp.gnupg.org/gcrypt/binary/sha1sum.c.sig

Fast mirror for downloads:

http://mirrors.kernel.org/

http://www.kernel.org/pub/dist/knoppix/


GL :-D

 

[mikeyp410]

Thank you once again.

 

[Zoron]

If you're at all familiar with RedHat, Fedora might be a good place to start once you decide you want to actually install Linux. I found it easy to install and easy to use... and I'm a complete Linux noob.

 

[linux_0]

hehe :-D


When you decide to install Linux on your PC I would suggest both Ubuntu and Fedora :-D

 

[mikeyp410]

Ok, I do have a version of Red Hat that I bought a few years back and played around with. Would you suggest that I use that or the Ubunto or whatever it is? Stuff I have read has mentioned using that to start off.

 

[linux_0]

I would strongly recommend Fedora Core 6, Fedora 7 or Ubuntu 7.04

If you have an AMD64 or other 64bit CPU:

http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/core/6/x86_64/iso/

If you have a 32bit CPU:

http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/core/6/i386/iso/


For ubuntu check here:

http://mirrors.kernel.org/ubuntu-releases/7.04/

GL :-D

 

[brw02005]

I've used both fedora core 6, mythdora which is myth tv on a stripped down version of fedora, and Ubuntu. It depends what your into.

I like Ubuntu because it's not as bloated as fedora. I am typing on a 400 mhz computer right now with 512 mb ram and the thing flies except for boot up.

Fedora is great for having the majority of the software already there but I don't like yum since it's slow and I hope will some day be able to compete with the speed of apt-get. Although I found installing mythtv went much better with fedora I'm sure Ubuntu is catching up. I heard the latest Ubuntu support most capture cards out of the box.

If you go with Ubuntu I suggest automatix if your looking for support of most media types, players, and some cool tools although the program is in questionable legal standing with some of it's add-ons like DVD support.