Yet another request for advice on which distro to get
 

I have a masters in CS, and I have used and programmed computers for 25 years in lots of different operating systems and languages, including some serious UNIX stuff. I might be able to figure all of this out eventually myself, but I just don't have the time, and I figure perhaps some of you gentlepeople might have some good insight.

For some time (8 years), I have unfortunetly been using and working in Windows.

I have never used any Linux distro.

I now have a spare 100gb on my hard drive, and I would like to start using linux.

I want a distribution that is not huge - I think downloading 4 or 5 iso files and then running MD5 checks and then burning cds and then doing an install with them sounds horrendous. Are there any distros that allow me to just install from windows instead of burning disks and then installing from them?

I want a distribution that is relatively easy on my time (I have 4 kids, work, etc.)

I want a distribution that has a good mix of standard apps/packages/features, so that I can try using it for everything I do, but I don't need every different kind of every different app.

Also, are there any reasonable distributions that allow me to run them not as dual boot, but alongside Windows at the same time? Or should I get VMWare or something similar for that?

Thanks!

Try Fedora Core 5 test2 or wait until its Final release

nroose,

Nice to see you are begining your journey of computing enlightinment.

I always reccomend Mandriva for a new user, it is very user friendly, has a great Multimedia setup and needs very little configuration

Mandriva
http://frontal2.mandriva.com/en/downloads/mirrors

But To choose A distribution that is right for you I reccomend the Linux distro Chooser, it asks you a series of questions and you end up with a list of distros based on your imput

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/

You might also want to read up on all the different Linux OSs

http://www.linuxtoday.com/

they have very comprehensive reveiws of every possible Linux distribution

Hope this helps,

Jake

I know of no way to install linux from isos from windows, but it is possible to do it from another linux install. That means it sohould ultimately also be possible to do it from a (very small) liveCD. THer are also distros that offer net installs, meaning that you download a very small file (you'll probably still have to burn it to a cd to boot from though) and then get everything else straight through your internet connection.
In any case, even if a distro comes with 5 or 6 cds a minimal install can be done with just one and then the rest of packages you want can be downloaded once you set up a connection. However, I wouldn't recommend this method for a first install since it requires some specific knowledge (which you may or may not have).

Well...

I tried downloading Mandriva (free version), and could not get it. The main download site was too busy to accept another connection. The bittorrent was so slow it would have taken the better part of a week.

I tried to do the FC 5 test2 network install, but it hung up on me. (and it was very awkward to use, with me having to manually type in the ftp server and directory, and then the weird character graphics not really being aligned properly, so it was difficult to read)

I tried to get the SUSE 1 cd install, but the FTP server stopped responding.

I finally downloaded FC 4 on 4 iso files and burned 4 disks (of which I only needed two, apparently.)

Then I tried to reboot to run my new linux installation, and I got the Grub geom error. I tried fixing it with utilities on a Knoppix live cd. I tried reinstalling FC4.

Then I just did a fixmbr to restore my old windows boot record. So Now I am out several hours and not too happy with Linux.

Seems to me that there should be better info about what distributions are actually available, which actually work, and what disks you actually have to download and burn. And ideally there really should be a way to install from Windows (I found WinLinux 2003, but that is an old version, so I am staying away from it.) - that would have the potential of getting a lot of Windows users to actually try Linux.

I guess it probably would have been easier if I had paid money to Mandriva or Red Hat for better downloads.

I think I will probably try again when FC 5 goes live.

I recently reinstalled WinXPPro because of a HD failure. And I thought that was cumbersome. Whew.

hi,
for FC5 final release check http://fedora.redhat.com/About/schedule/

Hi;

I've tried many distributions over the years. Lately I've favored Ubuntu.

Here are some of the advantages you might want to consider:

- there are fewer packages , but a good well rounded bunch of them, and it will all work well (you can add more - when you learn more).

- the entire distribution comes on one cd and gets the rest from the net once the base install is complete

- it uses apt-get not RPM to install new software; with RPM based distributions you can spend a lot of time hunting for dependancies when you want to add new stuff

- it comes in two flavors: Ubuntu (Gnome desktop) or Kubuntu (KDE desktop)

- you can try it out before you install, there is a Live CD version of each (this will be slower and maybe glitchier than a normal install, but you can still get some stuff done, a fast machine with a fast cd device helps in this area)

The only thing I didn't like about it for me was that it doesn't accomodate any network services, and you have to activate the univers/multiverse selections to use these features.

At least with deviding the package repositories into sections it makes it easier to decide which other programs you will add:

- if you can install it from the "Add Applications" it will very likely work on your system -- less worry if it will work

- if you activate the universe section, you can add these programs at your own risk using the Synaptics Package Manager

- if you activate the multiverse section, you can add any programs with non-free licensing

Ubuntu seems to be quite enligtened about all things free, that alone is worth a lot to me.

My biggest complaint with Linux in general is no fault of any distribution: hardware support can be terrible. Scanners, printers, sound, web-cams, and more can be a real pain. If Linux had a bigger share of the market, more manufacturers might consider ensuring that their hardware is supported. That is my greedy reason for advocating the wide spread use of linux.

A lot of people don't like the lack of games, especially the kids. Again this is Linux in general.

Good Luck

jer

nroose,

My own biased opinion for a Linux distro running within Windows is Slackware's ZipSlack. See http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/
for brief information on this. Since you already have some UNIX background (wow, even a CompSci degree!), Slackware's/Zipslack's similarity to BSD *NIX's should ring a bell from the past.

Here are ZipSlack's more extensive webpages:

- System Requirements, http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/sysreq.php

- Get ZipSlack, http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/getzip.php

- Installation, http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/install.php

- Booting ZipSlack, http://www.slackware.com/zipslack/booting.php

- ZipSlack FAQ, http://www.slackware.com/faq/do_faq.php?faq=zipslack

Just follow the above ZipSlack Installation and Booting instructions and you should be ready to roll in Slackware. It is fairly easy to add software apps (called "packages" in Linux terminology) and even to upgrade the system within Windows from ZipSlack's minimal version of Slackware.

The only caveat is that you must drop into real-DOS mode to run ZipSlack (Slackware) from inside Windows. This is fairly simple: from Windows9x, you just select 'Shut Down and Boot into MS-DOS'. Plenty more info on ZipSlack in the LQ Slackware forum. There is also another Slackware variant called Amigo-XP which claims to run from Windows NT/2000/XP/Server2003's NTFS or FAT partions. See the Amigo LQ forum and http://amigolinux.org/amigoxp/aboutxp1.htm for more info on this latter distro.

Hope that this can help as it has helped me and others!

You may wanna look at Pardus.
www.uludag.org.tr/en

Some screenshots

http://www.uludag.org.tr/eng/ekran-g...eri/index.html

Well, I was anxious for news about Fedora, and I couldn't find any, but I saw some stuff about Ubuntu, so I decided to try to install Ubuntu. Didn't work. Got Grub error 18. Didn't want to blow away my WinXP to get it to work, so I blew away the Ubuntu to get WinXP working again.

Here is what I now think I would like in a Linux installation:
Standard packages, but not too many of each thing.
Install that runs in Windows from an exe file, instead of having to burn even one disk.
Fat32 file system. Yea, I know it sucks, but my windows installation would be able to read it and I think it would be a no brainer for the distro install to create a fat32 partition from within windows.
Use NTLDR as the boot loader - it is already on my machine, so I know it works (so far the boot loader problem has been the one thing that has prevented me from successfully setting up a linux partition), and the install would apparently just have to add one line to it.
I would think that you could have a pretty small exe file that simply downloaded (preferrably compressed) files it needed from somewhere. This would even be friendly to the servers because only files that were actually being installed would be downloaded.

It seems to me that a distro like this would be very popular, given that there are so many people with windows boxes. Please tell me why this doesn't make sense.

nroose

Grub error #18 is probably the most common affliction. Check out this LQ wiki page:
http://wiki.linuxquestions.org/wiki/GRUB#Error_18

You will run into this error with any distribution you try to install. From the article:
nycace36 suggested ZipSlack, that is the only way I've heard of that lets you run Linux on a fat32 filesystem.

Another alternative, if you really want to avoid installing Linux, is cygwin. It is an emulator type thing. I've used it, with the shell only. I've read that you can get Gnome running with it, I've never tried it though.

I don't know much about this stuff. The filesystems that Linux uses have permissions and other attributes not supported by fat or nt filesystems.

Good Luck
jer

My WinXP installation is on the partition that is at the beginning of my disk.

That's normal, you have to be willing to move things around (risky, I hope you're all backed up if you do that). Another alternative is to put another drive in, I hate suggesting that people throw more money at a problem.

A nice partition program like Partion Magic (more $$) help to make the process less difficult.

jer

Partition Magic has messed things up for me more than once. You can get the same functionality (except for moving ntfs I believe) with the free QTParted. Resizing an ntfs partition can also be done from within windows with the cli tool DiskPart.

Exactly.

"Free" os requires users to take risks and spend money.

I only want to use it to try it for my personal desktop machine. I don't need the powerful permissions. Seems like it would be great (for users and for the prospects of Linux adoption) to have a simple install.