I'm a CS major and I just realized something tragic: I know nothing about Linux. So, I've decided that during this summer, I shall reformat my hard drive and install a dual-boot of Linux and Windows XP (emoticon edition. Not to be confused with Windows XD). Anyhow, I need to decide what to install. I know some people who have had good luck with Debian, and I know a guy who has gotten insane errors with Gentoo that he claims nobody on the Gentoo message boards had ever seen before. However, Gentoo looks all pretty and shiny, but I'm pretty sure that I've read that Debian has a stable version out.
Anyhow, keeping all this in mind, I want to know what sort of Linux you of the 4chan programming board would advise me to get. I imagine that this thread will probably dissolve into a flame war about ephemeral characteristics about each version that make it "better" such as "Only noobs use Gentoo!" or "Redhat sucks!" or perhaps "Real men use Debian!" But! In the moment between the first posting of this and the eruption of a flame war, I imagine that information might be able to be gleaned upon the subject by me. So, thanks ahead of time.
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Anonymous2008-03-18 7:25
>>1
Rather than pissing about with dual boot hassle, get a shell account, or a Linux virtual server. I would advise the latter, with a cheap one such as vpslink.com or similar.
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Anonymous2008-03-18 7:26
>>2
I forgot to mention, that way you can test out several distributions without the annoyance of having to wait ages for the install to finish.
But if you want to actually install them yourself, I recommend VMWare Server or Virtual PC rather than a dual boot.
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Anonymous2008-03-18 7:37
>>1
Don't use some shitty (popular) distro, go with Arch Linux like a real man. Or Debian if you like bloat.
You could also use Chubuntu if you want a lot of problems and a forum of support for newbies by newbies. On the upside, you'll quickly learn how to add new package repositories, because that is the solution to every problem in Chubuntu.
Build the whole fucking system from source. I'm doing it inside a virtual machine. I can just let it compile in the background while I do other stuff. There's definitely something encouraging about putting stuff together and then watching it boot to a shell.
>>5 I can just let it compile in the background while I do other stuff.
BECAUSE YOU CANT DO THAT WITH GENTOO, HUH FAGGOT!!!!!!!!!!!?‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽
IMMA KILL U!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Anonymous2008-03-18 8:36
coLinux .
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Anonymous2008-03-18 9:49
Buy a second hand ThinkPad. Install FreeBSD.
Proceed to become in love with both and turn into an elitist asshole.
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Anonymous2008-03-18 10:34
Start with Ubanto (best for Lunix beginners), then switch to Zenwalk or something.
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Anonymous2008-03-18 10:41
>>10
Hi, I'm having problems booting Ubantu.
I loaded Ubantu and had Grub installed to the MBR (I would have preferred it in the Linux partition but was not given a choice). After installation the machine booted OK and I was able to access Win98. On the next boot and everytime afterwards I got a error 17. Particularly frustrating as I couldn't access the net from the live Ubanto disk. Not being able to resolve the error 17 problem I reinstalled Windows and Boot Magic.
As predicted the Linux option on Boot Magic failed to load Ubantu so I have just followed instuctions and loaded Grub to (hd0,5). I presume this is the correct partition as Ubantu is on hda6. Installation went OK as per messages. Boot Magic on the MBR should then open Grub and hence Ubantu, according to posted messages.
Unfortunately Ubanto still doesn't boot from Boot Magic. So have I put Grub in the wrong place or is the error 17 still the problem? I notice that Boot Magic lists Linux as Primary Partition 4, Partition Magic has it as the 6th listed (logical) partition, and the partition table in Ubantu has Linux as ext3 hda6 while hda4 is an almost empty ext2 Linux partition.
I've installed Grub on to a floppy. This also gives an error 17 when Linux is selected.
Any ideas? This is my first attempt at Linux so please don't assume I have prior knowledge.
Thanks
OP should make a small partition and try some distro's on it. if he really wants to know everything about how shit works he should also read a lot of manpages/howtos/whatever (someone has to do it).
as soon as he finds something that works, he should drop XP entirely -at least for a few weeks- because there will be times when he wants to switch back, hang in there OP!
as for which distro you'd use for this; i'm using ubuntu, but if you like tinkering with your computer i would go with gentoo. try both KDE and Gnome (KDE tends to be more advanced IMO).
a linux install doesn't need much space on the harddisk, so it's not expensive to have many of them on your system.
i'm thinking of buying a new laptop (this one is not fast enough to properly run ableton) and in the process switching to BSD, can you recommend some models which are completely compatible?
then after you feel okay with kde/gnome, switch to fluxbox. it took me quite a long time to feel "okay" with even having multiple window managers installed, I thought maybe it was this HUGE waste. but uh, they're pretty tiny really. I strictly use fluxbox now, it's very nice.
IF U WERE DROPPED TO /opt TOMORROW, I WOULDNT GO 2 UR DELETION CUZ ID B N UPSTREAM BUGZILLA FLAMIN DA CUNT THAT MADE UR EBUILD! __
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WE TRUE NERDS
WE OPTIMIZE OUR CFLAGS TOGETHER
WE TALKIN ON IRC WITH www.opera.com TOGETHER
send this PENGUIN to every thread you care about including this one if you care. C how many times you get this, if you get 256 your A TRUE NERD