Complete newbie
 

Complete
:newbie:
................................ guilty as charged!!!

Just a few questions. I have a PC currently running windows Many Errors.

I would like to try out LINUX. But where to start??

I have read that LINUX is optimised for INTEL processors. I have an AMD Duron, will this be OK?

There are a couple of options open to me according to a magazine. I can run LINUX on a slave hd or partition my hd. The magazine makes the process of setting it up on the same drive as windows unappealing "This is no trivial matter...."

What would people recommend?

Kind Regards,
dat_chibi

linux will run on most architectures, it is not optimised for anything, that is down to the distribution itself, especially if it is a precompiled one, i.e. 95% of them. but pick a PC based distro (95%) and you'll be fine

please search this site for opinions on which is best, this has already been asked 3 tiems today.

Start with the understanding that you will spend a lot of time and effort getting a Linux machine as productive as your Windows machine is. Perusing this board will tell you there can be a number of opportunities for learning as you work through the challenges of Linux! Understand that you are going to screw it up and then have to fix it (most of us like the challenge and call this fun!)

Specifically, for your questions. There is no better place to start than just picking one and starting. I would recommend trying several distros to see which one you like best. I'm using Red Hat 8.0, but would have never guessed that I would have liked it. I would guess that most people on this forum are not using the first brand of Linux they tried. Personally, this is my fourth. The two most popular for beginners transitioning from Windows are Red Hat and Mandrake. Licoris and Xandros have received some praise also.

Don't worry about your Duron chip. The only thing I run Linux on is AMD and don't have a problem. Make sure you are using a distro that has kernel 2.4 (all of the current releases do) and you don't even have to do anything special during the installation.

I find it strange that you would have come across a preference to use two disk drives instead of one. Most of my rantings on this forum are how to make Windows play nice with a non-compatible second disk. Personally, I would put them both on the same disk and use a Linux boot loader. From what I glean from the postings, this approach has the fewest problems.

Hope this helps--good luck.

see i really disagree, keeping them on seperate drives is really easy, and much more stable, and also makes linux vastly easier to remove if you want to. why on earth should you want to though?

Wow, look at that! Nine minutes to get a disagreement!

Actually, dat_chibi, Chris and I (and a whole bunch others, for that matter) could, and do, dedicate numerous postings to such disagreements/discussions. That's the best part of this--everyone has a different idea. Everyone will consider different things important. For example, Chris thinks the tradeoffs for a dual disk system are more than worthwhile, while I do not. Who's right? We both are. His system with two drives works fine. Mine with one works fine.

Again, just jump in and try something. If you want to try two disks, try it.

By the way, there is a link at the bottom of Chris' posts on how to ask a good question. Not enough people read this and it is well worth the few minutes it will take. Give it a shot.

Ok, I agree with deabug about trying a few sitros before picking one... personally I use Mandrake 9.0 and it works perfectly (pentium III 800MHz, 128MB DIMM, TEKRAM SCSI adapter + quantum SCSI disk, and an IDE for storage).

I use two disks, one with windows2K and the other with MDK9.0. Perhaps it is not the best option but since I already have them... what would I do with the extra disk...

My experience tells me that installing Linux on SCSI isn't such a good Idea if you have the option of installing it on an IDE... however it would work perfectly.

I think not long ago a few people started a threat about which distro was better (mandrake or redhat), try n find it. If you can't find that thread pos one in Linux General asking what distro they consider better... You'll have a lot to read. You can also try www.google.com and search there for specifications of all distros (again, a lot to read).

Get used to 'a lot to read', you'll find pretty soon that with Linux it's all about reading enough and understandig what you read.

Save the penguin :Pengy: