Quick! What kind of Linux?

Posting Whiz in Training

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Quick! Tell me what Linux would be best for exploring Linux itself, and for programming languages and gaming?

It all depends on your user-level. If you've never used Linux before, you need to decide how much patience you have. SuSE or Mandriva = low patience level. Slackware or Gentoo take much more patience, but can be more rewarding. Any Linux distribution will allow you to explore Linux, allow you to program and game. They're almost all identical in that sense.

Vampirical Lurker

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Well, alright, I'll look those up when I gather my bearings, and then I'll decide how much patience I have.

But what about Debian? How does this community rate it? (that's the only one I've ever actually seen in use)

Posting Whiz in Training

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But what about Debian? How does this community rate it?

That's one I forgot to mention. The install is relatively easy, although it will be in text mode (no GUI). Once it's installed, it's very easy to set up, and it runs FAST.

Vampirical Lurker

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Fast, huh? I like fast... Any particular features that are lacking in other versions?

Posting Whiz in Training

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Dont Use Debian "sarge" 3.1 - Its Too Old

Instead Download Debian "testing" - Codenamed "etch" It Will Be The Current Version In Only A Few Months And Is Much Better. I Have An Etch Install And It Uses Only 64mb Of Ram And 166 Mhz Of Cpu

jbennet

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:eek: That's nice! Especially if you consider that I was planning on running it on V-PC. (Don't worry, I checked, Debian runs on V-PC. I think i have to modify a config file to get the sound to work, but it should work)

Posting Whiz in Training

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other than audio debian runs fine on vpc, for audio you use these instructions (there for ubuntu but work too) https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToConfigureUbuntuForMicrosoftVirtualPC2004

jbennet

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Hey, I guess I am a little too out of it to really do this quite yet.

So, how do you install debian 'etch'? I goto the download site and there are so many things that I could download! Can I install this in a windows environment, or would I have to boot from the disc? and why do the downloaded files I get so small, do you think?

Posting Whiz in Training

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Depends on what kind of install you want to do. The first type listed is the latest "release". The first option listed in a NetInstall, which is small because it only contains the base system--all the packages are downloaded as you need them from the Internet. So you should only choose this option if you have Broadband or something fast. For example, when I installed Debian Etch, I used the NetInstall image for i386 .

The next option is BusinessCard CD image, which you probably don't want.

If you don't have steady broadband, you will probably want the 3rd option. It's the full CD/DVD set, for almost every architecture. There are also options below that allow you to download it different ways (eg., Bittorent).

The other types are "snapshots" which are basically more updated versions of Etch, but can possibly contain more bugs than the latest Release. You should only use this if you are testing different versions or something similar.

Vampirical Lurker

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Alrighty, thanks. I will give it a shot, now that my system has become more stable.

Posting Whiz in Training

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alrighty, well, I have another question (that may not have an answer)... how come when I download the DVDs, they say the files are going to be around 4.x GB, but when they are finished downloading they are only 150 ish MB? They appear to still work... but I have absolutely no idea why or how.

OK... well, now that I have it on a disk, regardless of the last question's status, how in the name of everything good and holy does one go about installing it?

Posting Whiz in Training

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alrighty, well, I have another question (that may not have an answer)... how come when I download the DVDs, they say the files are going to be around 4.x GB, but when they are finished downloading they are only 150 ish MB? They appear to still work... but I have absolutely no idea why or how.

Quite often the server's sector sizes are different than the average user, but that still wouldn't explain the massive difference. If the image is only 150 MB though, you may end up having to download some of the packages, as that is not nearly enough to hold all the programs that Debian comes with.OK... well, now that I have it on a disk, regardless of the last question's status, how in the name of everything good and holy does one go about installing it?
Pretty simple. I'm assuming you know how to configure your BIOS to boot from the CD-ROM if it isn't doing that already. Check out the tutorial I wrote for more information on installing Debian: http://www.daniweb.com/tutorials/tutorial58286.html

Hope this helps

Vampirical Lurker

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yep! got it.

Although the netinstall was a bad idea... It didn't have the GUI, and I (still) couldn't get the wireless to work or even the LAN, so I ended up killing windows, and having to reinstall debian.

Obviously, though, because I am here, I did get it working. I do have some general questions about it, but I'll check later if this forum is where I would ask that. Thanks a lot, guys!

Posting Whiz in Training

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Although the netinstall was a bad idea... It didn't have the GUI, and I (still) couldn't get the wireless to work or even the LAN, so I ended up killing windows, and having to reinstall debian.

You blame the netinstall on that? At the moment, there is not graphical install, it's text-only or nothing for Debian... Basically the only difference between the full CD/DVDs and the netinstall is that the installer downloads files as it needs them, whereas the full thing you download everything all at once.

Glad to hear that it's working for you!

Vampirical Lurker

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if you want a gui: (assuming internet is working and you correctly configured sources.list)

login
apt-get update
apt-get install xserver-xorg
apt-get install gdm
apt-get install gnome
reboot
startx

jbennet

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When he said "netinstall was a bad idea... it didn't have a GUI" I assumed he meant "no GUI for the installer", as Debian has a text-only installer. Now I'm not sure what he meant.

Vampirical Lurker

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I meant that neither gnome nor kde was installed that time. ^_^U sorry about the confusion.