Well, I've tried RedHat 9, Mandrake 7, Suse 10.2, ASP Linux 11, Mandriva 2007 and I didn't like them (and didn't learn anything from them). The last installed distro was slackware, and I use it right now (I've finally deleted windows from my machine ).
You can try slackware too (it worth it), but it won't be easy (i'm serious), since it wasn't supposed to be "friendly". I've been reading manuals during the first month on that system and didn't have X working (it was installed, but wasn't tuned - I didn't know how to do it). During the second month I've finally understood how to tune Xserver for my purposes, learned iptables, made my own traffic accounting system, understood basics of system and where and how find answers, and started helping others on my local forums. And that's just after two month of using the system (how long it'll take on windows to start giving tech-support like advices? ). It wasn't very easy (since I had to learn basics of system, and GUI distros like Mandriva cowardly hide that information from you), but since I really didn't want to use neither WinXP nor WindowsVista anymore (because my machine isn't capable to run this system, because WinXP is too slow, to buggy, because WindowsVista has system requirements that shows that Vista wastes machine resource for no reason, because of DRM technology), I didn't have much choice . I just glad that some more experienced friend of mine (a windows system administrator, programmer, and hardware specialist, which don't use linux and still uses win2k) said (accidentally) that "slackware is the only distro worth looking at" (nothing personal).

Strange things happening in Windows:
I noticed recently that when I connect my mouse to a different USB port than the usual one under Windows XP, it doesn't work.
Does this require a system restart?

Oh, and it's a Microsoft mouse.

Is the user that's logged on limited? Limited users can't install hardware and if you move a USB device to a different port Windows has to run the New Hardware wizard.

If you are working in a limited user in windows (which you really should anyways, instead of admin), when hardware gets plugged in such as a mouse, it usually should popup a run as box and then you can give the admin password for it to setup hardware (this also works for printers, and I also install programs by right clicking and choosing run as). By the way, those who are now on Vista, why the hell is telnet gone!? (It could be just home, since I tried using telnet on my friend's pc which has vista home premium, but telnet was not there!)

After you've plugged it in the first time, unplug it, listen for the descending notes, plug it back in, listen for the ascending notes--if it only gives the same tones when you plug it in, repeat the unplug/plug thing until you hear the notes ascend when you plug it in. Then wait about 10 seconds, you'll probably see a little bubble pop up in the notification tray area. After that the mouse will most likely start working again. This is assuming it's a basic mouse and not one with 10 buttons of different types on it--if it is one of those mice then it may require the whole add new hardware wizard.

Actually, my biggest concern with my new laptop that comes with Fedora Core 6 installed on it is that it will be similar to my Ubuntu experience where nothing wanted to compile and i had to sudo su to get a damned root terminal. I only stayed with Ubuntu about a month because it kept locking up when I used programs with wine and I couldn't even kill x to get it working again. I really love playing around with my system and trying to get everything to work exactly the way I want it to, but the laptop needs to just work right out of the box so I'm hoping that FC6 will cut it for me.

You seriously complain about finding command options using the "man" command while posting this with a straight face?

Are those ascending & descending notes in C#?

telnet is deprecated; look into ssh.

Yeah, but you'd have to use something like PUTTY. 'cause I don't think MS would put ssh into any of their products. Although, I could be wrong.

Yeah, but what's wrong with PUTTY?

Yes.

You have to know all the names of things, and so many things do not have names that represent what they do. You also have to know what all the acronyms mean for when you use --help or get the usage for so many cli programs. SSZ = Sector SiZe, as an example.

And since the CLI uses monospace fonts (in addition to there not being any "real" text formatting), there's often no way to give columns their full names when listing devices, so acronyms are pretty much a given--this device that you only see as the raw name which can look like a serial number in some cases is in the "NDL79" column, which if you want to see more information on, you type zimzim [device] (HNR) (command), and if you want to edit the properties of the device, type primroses [device] (command). Yes, I'm making up these silly names to prove a point--that these kinds of things are NOT that easy to memorize, and the names many commands are given simply have no logic to them, it's just pure memorization, and most of all, that the help/usage that comes with CLI programs are often so cryptic, especially with the use of acronyms, that they're VERY difficult to read. Some help/usage don't even list what the "-l" or "-a" do, they just list the command names themselves--not exactly very "helpful".

No, I'd say that listening to tones and watching for a popup notification is easier than typing male human and knowing what one is looking at.


Don't get me wrong--this is no defense of the way Windows handles that: One should never have to keep unplugging it and plugging it back in to get it to work.



I just tried putting slackware on my small drive but lilo didn't take I don't have a floppy drive. I'm going to keep trying and trying until I get this. I've given up so many other times and I just don't want to this time.

lilo really likes floppy for some reason

Well, then create some aliases to make them easier to memorize =) (man alias...doh?)

"grep" hard to memorize? alias findthislineinfiles='grep'

"grep -v" hard to memorize? alias findotherlinesinfiles='grep -v'

Or put it in a script:

Put that somewhere on your path and you're set...now you can run 'findlines hello' to find all files in the current directory with "hello" in them, and what lines matched.

Sound like a lot of work? It certainly would be...but imagine the potential!

alias dir='ls -l'
alias ipconfig='ifconfig'
/*
A few more of these aliases, and my shell will act just like cmd.exe!
*/

Okay, so no one automagically knows every command and it's options. So what?
Why do people ask questions at all about Windows if they already know everything because it is all clear? Like, "How do I burn an ISO?". It's not completely clear to everyone that opens the program? No, it's not. People just do not automatically know all about a program when they open it in a GUI either. Why is explaining menu options to someone different than explaining command line options? Excuse me but I have heard people state performing tasks in the GUI is "too hard".
Hmmmm, but in the time it took to type that up you could have read about a command you need to use. Not every command there is, one you need to use.
Lilo did not "take"?
Boot the installation from the CD, check /etc/lilo.conf to be sure it is correct and run /sbin/lilo as root. Post your lilo.conf if you cannot make sense of "man lilo" or "man lilo.conf" (A new help thread).
Good Luck.