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Jun 5th, 2004
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New to Linux

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Ok, so i want to set up a linux box but i need to know what i am going to need to set it all up. any help would be greatly appreciated. especially if i could get some help such as links to downloads, and tutorials on setting it up. thanks in advanced for any help you can offer.
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Re: New to Linux

Hello,

You are going to need the traditional things: keyboard, mouse, network card, computer, and electricity.

Seriously, you will need media to install from, and will need somewhere to put it. I suggest setting up one computer to do this.

My setup at home is a RedHat 9 Linux server, with 512 MB RAM, and a 5 GB Hard drive. You could setup RH with as little as 64 MB of RAM, but I would keep the minimal Hard Drive setup around 5 GB. You may have heard people brag on how they got Linux installed on 512 MB of hard disk size... yeah, you can do that, but such a configuration is highly customized.

If you want to go RedHat, know that it is "dead" as of version 9. Version 9 will install nicely, and will work for you, just realize there will be no more updates to it. The RedHat Project has migrated into Fedora, (fedora.redhat.com), but it seems that it is not ready for primetime yet.

I would download the CD's as .iso files, and burn them, and install from them. Or you can go to your local Barnes and Noble, and buy a linux book (I like the yellow and black RedHat Linux 9 unleashed) where the disks come with the book. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE .ISO if you only have a modem!

There are other distrobutions out there, and I am sure others will comment on them.

Good luck with your install, and let usknow if you have any snafus.

Christian
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Re: New to Linux

Quote originally posted by kc0arf ...
Hello,

You are going to need the traditional things: keyboard, mouse, network card, computer, and electricity.

Seriously, you will need media to install from, and will need somewhere to put it. I suggest setting up one computer to do this.

My setup at home is a RedHat 9 Linux server, with 512 MB RAM, and a 5 GB Hard drive. You could setup RH with as little as 64 MB of RAM, but I would keep the minimal Hard Drive setup around 5 GB. You may have heard people brag on how they got Linux installed on 512 MB of hard disk size... yeah, you can do that, but such a configuration is highly customized.

If you want to go RedHat, know that it is "dead" as of version 9. Version 9 will install nicely, and will work for you, just realize there will be no more updates to it. The RedHat Project has migrated into Fedora, (fedora.redhat.com), but it seems that it is not ready for primetime yet.

I would download the CD's as .iso files, and burn them, and install from them. Or you can go to your local Barnes and Noble, and buy a linux book (I like the yellow and black RedHat Linux 9 unleashed) where the disks come with the book. DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE .ISO if you only have a modem!

There are other distrobutions out there, and I am sure others will comment on them.

Good luck with your install, and let usknow if you have any snafus.

Christian
lol, i know that i need mouse keyboard and electricity , im on a cable modem so any downloading shouldnt be that intesive, but i like the idea of just purchasing the book, that way i shouldnt have to go searching for the documentation on it. ill post back with more info when i get the book (hopefully this weekend or sooner, with any luck i can pick up the C++ book too )
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Re: New to Linux

you can get the .iso files from http://www.linuxISO.org. That's where i got mine
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Re: New to Linux

Also, you can read about the various distributions of Linux at www.distrowatch.com. They have links with descriptions to TONs of versions of Linux.
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Re: New to Linux

One important thing: make absolutely sure that your hardware is compatible with whatever distro (and specifically, version of the distro) you decide to go with. Most distros have a Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) on their support site; check that out before purchasing/installing.

It's also a very good idea to have the detailed specifications for your video card, monitor, network card, etc. If your distro doesn't auto-detect a certain piece of hardware you may have to configure it manually, in which case you'll need that info to get things working.
DMR
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Re: New to Linux

Quote originally posted by oalee ...
you can get the .iso files from http://www.linuxISO.org. That's where i got mine
cool, the only problem with that site was that the transfer was extreemly slow (im on cable so it wasnt my internet). i think ill start before i go to bed or somthing like that.
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Re: New to Linux

If downloading is a pain, you might want to order CDs from www.cheapbytes.com. They've got quite a variety of distros available, and as their name says- the prices are cheap.
DMR
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Re: New to Linux

woop woop, just finished downloading Red Hat linux Version 9. (took a little over an hour, all i did was look for faster servers), but now i have a bigger question. how do i extract the ISO files, or do i just burn them to CD-ROM and their good to go. After burning them to CD-ROM, do i boot from them, or insert them while windows is running?? again im a wee bit lost on this. thanks for all the help and any future help that you may be able to offer me.
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Re: New to Linux

Exactly how you burn the isos depends on your burning software, but the general answer is this: you need to burn them to disk as images, not as just a straight file/data copy to CD. The isos are a compressed form of the full data structure (image) of the CDs, and when you chose whatever "burn as image" option your particular burning program uses, the image file will be properly extracted/uncompressed into the full file hierarchy that you would expect to see on a data CD. The issue of being bootable is taken care of as part of the process; when properly burned, the iso of the first install CD will make that disk bootable. When you are ready to install, insert the first disk into your CD drive, boot from it, and the install will proceed from there.

You can find instructions and information about the whole issue of burning iso images at www.linuxiso.org.

Have fun!
DMR
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