A reinstall sounds like a reasonable idea.
But you may actually want 2 installs. One you CONSERVATIVELY set up for your real computer needs and the other you do ANYTHING you want with.
There is a lot to be learned fooling with your system, but it is a drag to take it down so it is unuseable.

I have been using linux for 5 days. I tried all sorts olf distros as a total newbie(still am a total newbie). Gentoo, Debian, and red hat among others. I found that the knoppix live CD has been the easiest to get my feet wet. install was very easy just DL the KNOPPIX ISO from here-

http://www.linuxiso.org/distro.php?distro=44

burn it to a CD, place in drive, reboot and knoppix will start off the CD, If everything works correctly as it did for me press Control-Alt-F1 for a console and type knx-hdinstall.

couple things i have learned in the last fesw days.

KNOPPIX live CD will automatically use DHCP and your internet will work but when you install you'll have to run netcard config in the knoppix menu and select DHCP, i have to do it at every boot up as i haven't figured out how to set that yet. As for installing programs i've found it to be reletivly easy with ARK. I've installed AMSN, Firefox, and a bunch of other stuff that had to be compiled with the ./configure ,make, make install things to get my AMSN tray icon to work, but its been reletivly painless(nothing a bit of google couldn't solve) and a great introduction to the world of linux.



Just my 2 cents hope it helps.

Don't give up, Karupt. I've been messing around with suse9 for about a month now and I know how bad it can feel at times to have totally botched something. I've reinstalled the whole system about six times now, and finally, after spending a ton of time online (this forum is tops) searching the archives, I've finally gotten my system up and running for the most part. I've learned alot in the mean time. If you just started a few nights ago, then it is to be expected that you'll hit some walls. I don't know anything other than suse, so I'd try some of the free download distros that have been mentioned. If you don't like those, I'd recommend suse. It is really fairly user friendly (as long as you don't have a winmodem, multifunction printer like mine, etc...). Yast pretty much holds your hand throughout the installation. The headaches come in the details, but you should have a running system. The time you spend getting past these obstacles is time well spent.

tim s

thanks to everyone for your support...

yeah i was just being kind of a baby but it is difficult to learn anything new... i mean i remember when i was much younger getting my hands on my first PC... i had to learn DOS and that was even tough... then i got very familiar with windows 3.1, and loved windows95, but since then, microsoft has ceased to evolve despite huge financial power. that is why i am giving linux a try, and i know i cant get it in the first night, but i guess i just thought that 10 years of computer experience could have me installing an MP3 player on anything with a monitor. linux has taught me that i dont know it all... i just know crappy ass windows. so i left the thread and spent all day and up until now just TRYING to install SuSE from an FTP server... and im still at it.... but i will perservere, as long as i have good people who like to share their knowledge with others. i was mad because i want linux to be as easy to use as windows, but in a fast streamlined os that is secure and failsafe. is this an impossible dream? i sure hope not. i got old feelings installing suse from that old text-style interface, it reminded me of that blinking C:\ from my childhood... so i will stick with SuSE linux until i get it, im not flip flopping a distribution again... thank you all for ur support once again. see u in the threads

-karupt

"You got to pay your dues if you want to sing the blues, and you know it don't come easy" -- Ringo Starr. We've all been in the same spot bro, and it definitely can be frustrating when you just want something to work but it's still so new that it's difficult to use. Stick with it though, cause if you've got 10 years of comp sci under your belt, all you need to do is learn a slightly different way of doing things you already know how to do. If you've been with Windows since 3.1 days, I guarantee you have sufficient experience to handle Linux, it's just the initial learning curve that you have to contend with.

One suggestion - if this is your first stab at Linux, you may want to consider d/l'ing the CD images of your distro rather than to try to install over FTP. One great site that contains all the popular distros is www.linuxiso.org Assuming you've got a speedy ISP connection and a CD-RW, it may be a lot simpler just burning those CD's and then installing from them. Either way good luck and welcome to the most excellent world of Linux.

As for your very last question, IMO Linux is definitely as easy to use as Windows, and it is faster and more stable, but the security level depends on how *you* configure it. It's entirely possible for any machine running any given OS to be either highly secure or a virus magnet/security nightmare, but I'd say that at least out of the box Linux would be more secure, simply because Windows enables more things by default. -- J.W.

I hear ya. Linux is as easy as Windows its just that the entire world has basically been hooked on the "Windows" way of doing things. I mean folder names are different, exe's become rpm's, and there is SOO much more you can do with Linux than you can with Windows. Your not stuck to one GUI either. If you want to learn Linux I just recommend picking up a few PDF's off the internet and reading the Linux manuals, I'm particularly fond of the SuSE 9.0 Admin Manual, and basically read as much as you can about Linux to make that transition a little bit easier. Also if/when you find that pic of Bill Gates getting rammed by a penguin...be sure to let me know. I would like to add that to my anti-microsoft memoribilia.
Now chant with me...DOWN WITH PROPRIETARY...OPENSOURCE RULES!

Don't give up buddy, we're all in the same boat. I haven't read all the threads but I'm sure that someone has told you that people who switch from Windows to Linux expect a smooth transition and that people who use (or used to use Windows) expect Linux to be LIKE Windows ... NOT TRUE. Windows is Windows and Linux is Linux ... not the same!!!! Good luck in your InterGalactic travels.

I to am new to this,been at it for about 3 months,befor you leave windows make yourself a copy of knoppix so you can always get online and it is a great repair CD,also buy a book and they come with aCD plus you have the book.Keep at it and in the end you will be rewarded it took me a week to get my printer to work but I learned alot along the way.All the imformation you will need is in this forum use the search feature and google is a lifesaver.david

Just to give you an idea, I picked up my first Linux distro and installed it on my old ADM k62 three years ago this month.

The distro was Redhat 7.0. I was a Windows loser, I had never even touched a non M$ OS in my life prior to that. There were many headaches and trials and late night phone calls to friends before I could even do so much as open a text file in Linux. Now after 3 long years I am finally to the point that I feel I can contribute something here but I still consider myself a newbie.
Most of my experience has come from trial and error and alot of googling.
But the more I think back the more I realize how much I have enjoyed it. The thrill of getting it to finally work makes it all worth it to me. I realize that many in the Linux community are being forced into learning it (they recently announced where I work that everyone has to move to Linux) but I imagine there were the same grumblings when everyone moved to MS DOS from Unix. My how things have come full circle.

karupt,
I had the same problem. Someone in this forum was kind enough to spell it out for me, and now I "get" the whole 'rpm/library' thing. Check out this thread and don't give up:
"Noob losing his cool"
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...9&goto=newpost

if you did a proper install of Mandrake, most of the stuff on your shopping list will already be there by default.
1. Music: use XMMS, same GUI as WinAmp
2. movies: XINE, the new version plays pretty much all DivX and AVI type files, including MPEG-2(WAY!)
3. streaming video: XINE again
4. Desktop Customization<-- you need to know and understand Mandrake
5. EASE OF USE - GUI<-- you need to know and understand Mandrake

so you dont need to download much if anything right now. You just began with linux and you already want to install software and run it. Woa, stop and slow down. You need to learn your system first. Do you even have any idea how your system is structured, where your major files are what your major folders are?
Nope, sorry, but installing new apps on linux is NOT the "point and click on the .exe file" affair in Windoze. Do you even know that each major distribution has its own set of of files each specifically designed for it? SuSE got their RPMs, Mandrake their own set and so on. Forget tar balls and all that. Stick with RMPs.
What you need to do is cool it, make sure you got XMMS for your music and XINE for your movies. That will do for now. Time is now to begin studing your system by reading up manuals on the Mandrake's site of maybe even go to the bookstore and purchase a nice book on general Linux use and read it. Don't try to run before you can crawl.

Thanks everyone for your help, I now have suse linux installed, have a basic understanding of the filesystem, have mplayer for all my video needs, and xmms is great with its nice winamp like interface. i have custom desktop, terminal, xmms, boot screens, login screens, the whole bit. The only reason i ever venture back over to windows is for gaming. I wish linux could develop a streamlined version of DirectX that works 100% *and they are getting close. I think MoZilla should offer a plugin package with its distribution as well because it is a pain installing each plugin. I use RedCarpet for my rpm installs and I have run installs from shell files in the terminal as well. I think linux is great, but if they ever want to topple microsoft, or even put a dent, they have to make it a gaming machine. Many computer enthusiasts are gamers, and we still need to dedicate hard drive to windows just for that. Also, I think that a Linux machine would run a game faster than a Microsoft machine for the same reason it runs better video and servers, it is more streamlined, which means more FPS for gamers.

and again thanks for ur patience and help.