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Old 10-16-2010, 08:51 PM   #1
vyver
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How important is " CLUE", Command Line User Environment?


Dear friends,
I have read many articles by eminent Linux users who laugh off, when they are asked "is a command line knowledge necessary"?. They go on to say that Linux Distros have evolved so much that the GUI is sufficient! I use my Win.desktop for 1)checking the news, 2)checking my e-mail, 3)writing a blog, 4)Listening to music, and 5)since i am a consultant physician, with specialization in diabetology,keeping up with the trends by visiting a few professional websites! So, my needs are few!Which Distribution would you suggest to a completely Linux-ignorant person,and that's me!
Thanks,
vyver
 
Old 10-16-2010, 09:26 PM   #2
mericet
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For your needs you will get away without needing much command line knowledge, the GUI can easily do what you need.
I would suggest Ubuntu
 
Old 10-16-2010, 09:29 PM   #3
GlennsPref
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Mandriva is the distro I recommend, But I'm biased.

Try the live One disk and see if you like it, before installing.

That goes for most distributions now-a-days anyway.

Or flash stick os's like knoppix, slax, mepis,,,,,,,.

There are a few desktop managers to choose from with mandriva, kde4, lxde, gnome, xfce, icewm, openbox, blackbox.....

And you may need to know your processor type (cpu) intel, amd, 32bit, 64bit, macintosh, spark...

You may consider dual booting for a while....

Mandriva comes with scientific and educational programs, word processing office software, filemanagers and web-browsers.
http://www2.mandriva.com/downloads/

A scientific distro is available too, although I have no experience with it.
http://www.livecd.ethz.ch/

Regards Glenn.

Last edited by GlennsPref; 10-16-2010 at 09:30 PM.
 
Old 10-16-2010, 09:34 PM   #4
vyver
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Thank you for the fast reply! The last article i read was this,after i typed in google"WHICH IS THE EASIEST LINUX DISTRO FOR A NEWBIE?". The article in question: http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/2...tribution.html.

The Blogger suggests either Kubuntu OR Ubuntu, which you mentioned!

Any other suggestions are most welcome (kindly cite the reasons!)

regards,
vyver.
 
Old 10-16-2010, 09:43 PM   #5
vyver
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To Glenn,
sorry,i missed your post while i was typing my reply to the first reply! Thanks a lot,Linux.Org is a real friendly melting pot, with so much help! Kindly tell me, for my needs (which i mentioned in my original post)whether Mandriva is needed ,or is it a bit of "overkill"?

regards,
vyver
 
Old 10-16-2010, 09:57 PM   #6
fbobraga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vyver View Post
(...) The article in question: http://thelinuxnewbie.blogspot.com/2...tribution.html (...)
note that this article is very old (from 2006) - current Ubuntu release is 10.10

... and, answering the question from the title of the topic: a CLI is almost "unnecessary" nowadays :P

Last edited by fbobraga; 10-16-2010 at 10:03 PM.
 
Old 10-16-2010, 10:54 PM   #7
joec@home
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I would slightly disagree with everyone in that the question is malformed. For the average desktop user and not a server of some sorts, the distro is not such a big deal. What the question should be is what X Server Environment is the most preferred. Like the two big ones are KDE and GNome but there are many others. The underlying distro is so far removed form the average user, the only time they will know a difference is if something goes catastrophically wrong. The X Server Environment however is right there in front of there face!
 
Old 10-17-2010, 12:06 AM   #8
vyver
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Unhappy

To, joec@home,
quote" the distro is not such a big deal. What the question should be is what X Server Environment is the most preferred. Like the two big ones are KDE and GNome but there are many others"Unquote.

Okay!So,vyver goes back to Google search and types"what is Linux server environment?" and the hits include 1)www.rack911.com/Linux-Server-Management/ - United States

2www.linuxforums.org/.../setting-up-a-server_118.html

3)www.redhat.com/rhel/ (redhat.com | Enterprise Linux-Open Source Application for Servers ...

4)www.yolinux.com/.../LinuxTutorialMicrosoftWindowsNetworkIntegration.html -

Since i am a physician, i cannot but help mentioning a quote from a great British Physician"Sir Hutchinson"--O Lord,May the treatment be not worse than the disease"!(NO OFFENSE PLEASE)I am more confused now!Since you mentioned KDE and Gnome, i am familiar with the terms.Please help me see the road to Linux( L--for liberation)more clearly!
regards and thanking you,
vyver.
 
Old 10-17-2010, 01:10 AM   #9
vyver
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joec@home,
I would not totally agree with you when you said "the question is malformed"!A Distro does matter and you are "very right"on hindsight when you talk about "server environment"--if i have understood you correctly! Kindly clarify which serves a newbie better, KDE or GNOME human interface(gnome)? Which distro provides or comes with pre-loaded Linux drivers and software for the needs which were mentioned in post1? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME (this was a good read).
 
Old 10-17-2010, 03:44 AM   #10
mericet
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Quote:
Originally Posted by joec@home View Post
... The underlying distro is so far removed form the average user, the only time they will know a difference is if something goes catastrophically wrong.
I do not fully agree with this, because for someone just starting out, the differences are important. For example, some, such as Ubuntu, are far easier to install than others. Also, different distros come with different applications installed by default, and differ in package management systems. So it seems to me that installing software may be easier in some than in others.

As for KDE or Gnome choice, that is purely a matter of personal choice. It's even possible to have both installed and choose which one to use at log-in. I prefer Gnome, but it's purely my choice. Be aware that software written for one interface will work in the other, it just won't look so good.
 
Old 10-17-2010, 08:43 AM   #11
vyver
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Smile

To Mericet,
Thanks for the post. The Ubuntu10.10 has so many pre-installed apps., that makes a NEWBIE like me wonder aloud,how can 693MB of an .iso hold so many apps.? KUBUNTU is for pre-school and school going kids to arouse enthusiasm for computer based learning and i am sorry that i mentioned it in one of my posts(and proves i am a newbie,but i will improve for sure)! Aha!Just noticed Ubuntu10.10 LTS(Long term support--3years).Please let me know what's your take on it? Thanks again for being most helpful!
regards,
vyver.
 
Old 10-17-2010, 09:55 AM   #12
fbobraga
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vyver View Post
how can 693MB of an .iso hold so many apps.?
... it shows how "bloated" popular OSes and apps can be: MS-Win7 DVD are much bigger than it, for just the OS

take a look at http://www.slitaz.org/ to be really impressed: the live CD, with some basic apps, have only 30MB (and you can even burn CD's with it: the boot CD can be dropped after bootup)

Last edited by fbobraga; 10-17-2010 at 09:57 AM.
 
Old 10-17-2010, 07:03 PM   #13
GlennsPref
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Distributions come with, generally, configuration GUIs.
RedHat has theirs, fedora has theirs, etc, etc, add infinitum.

One other Major difference between Distributions is the style of Program Install package manager, like .rpm .deb .src, etc. File systems also vary a bit....

Mandriva x86_64, even in my biased opinion is bloated.

But you don't have to install everything. In some cases there are 4 programs that are capable of doing the same job, but differently or with a different Window manager or look or function.

If you have a 32bit system, most of the bloat is gone, wine won't be as costly on dependencies (i586).

Mandriva is a complete Operating System. It's not overkill to have choices. It comes with 3 different office suits, not unlike M$Office.

As a Professional, you may not wish to hack your system to breaking point, you may not want to follow fashion, (A distro with ease of use may not hold the integrity you require for work) and popular distros are made so by beginners.

There's plenty of good advice here, Regards Glenn

ps.

The *ubuntus use a debian based package manager.

Are based on debian and knoppix (a live cd)

Other that using knoppix to fix errors and recover data with winxp (ntfs) I have little experience with .debs



On Another forum...
Guide to Linux distributions and Unix like OS's
http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index...howtopic=17565

Last edited by GlennsPref; 10-17-2010 at 07:25 PM. Reason: Guide to Linux distributions and Unix like OS
 
Old 10-17-2010, 07:52 PM   #14
vyver
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Lightbulb

To--fbobraga and Glenn,
Thank you! I have read that Linux is "USER-friendly and not"LAZY-friendly" or " IDIOT-friendly"! I presume a certain degree of "clue" IS needed to build confidence and get a grip on things while using either Ubuntu or other distros. Guess the first vote goes to ubuntu. Will torrent download the 32 bit bit version,TRY it and let you know! One final question. While trying out the live CD,is it possible to connect to the DSL connection i have(?silly)?
regards,
vyver.
 
Old 10-17-2010, 08:20 PM   #15
joec@home
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mericet View Post
I do not fully agree with this, because for someone just starting out, the differences are important. For example, some, such as Ubuntu, are far easier to install than others. Also, different distros come with different applications installed by default, and differ in package management systems. So it seems to me that installing software may be easier in some than in others.

As for KDE or Gnome choice, that is purely a matter of personal choice. It's even possible to have both installed and choose which one to use at log-in. I prefer Gnome, but it's purely my choice. Be aware that software written for one interface will work in the other, it just won't look so good.
Well perhaps I over emphasized this, it is true different distros are easier to install than others. On that I would say there are definitely a few distros out there that the install is very complicated. But my point was to try and stand back and look at it from a new user perspective. Those that know the differences are not new users and so it is easy to forget the very first exposure we had to Linux.

Now personally I like the "feel" of the GNome desktop when I am doing multi tasking. But there are a few tweaks to KDE and it "feels" just like GNome. So I forget the argument, I think KDE was more stable than GNome. Things like that can switch back and forth every 3 to 5 years.
 
  


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