Well, I got a Red Hat Linux 7.2 Bible today, from someone in a local computer group after he didn't need it anymore since he has 9.0 now, and, I'm prolly gonna install it pretty soon, but, I was wondering, should I reformat my HD? I want to do a dual boot system, with XP and Red Hat 7.2, I currently have a 80 gig HD, would 10 gigs for XP and 10 gigs for Red Hat be enough? the rest just for normal files so if I ever have to reinstall an OS I won't have to clear out all my data.

Or, should I download 9.0 off the web? Or can I download it later and patch it into 7.2 without losing any data?

Is Red Hat good for a total n00b to linux? Or should I try a new distribution?

Oh, and, can 7.2 or 9.0 play 3D games easily? Such as EverQuest or Americas Army or other games like that?

Well, I can't think of anything else at the moment, but, if I do, I'll be sure to ask thanks in advance.

10gb will be ok, make sure you use fat32 for the rest of the drive though, not ntfs. redhat will do you fine, but i'd suggest downloading to 9, as while 7.2 will work fine, things have moved on a fair bit and installing new software could prove hazardous to health.

for games, look at the transgaming site.this will not be relaed to your distro of choice.

Is there a downloadable patch that you can apply to Red Hat 7.2 to make it 9.0? I really don't wanna DL 3 700 meg CDs over a dialup, lol

Oh, and, if I do install Red Hat 7.2, could I apply a patch (if there is one) to it, without losing my data?

Thanks

Upgrading from 7.2 to 9.0 can lead to midsize disasters if you aren't lucky - and luck isn't for computers.
I am pretty sure that you can order the CD's for about 10 bucks.

Well, I installed Red Hat 7.2 on another comp that I have, an old Compaq from 96, just to test it out, see if I like it, ect.

Anyway, it's fun, I like it, it is slow, but, that's cause the comp sucks, only 80 megs of RAM.

I followed the bible on how to go on the internet, but, I can't connect, I think it has a WinModem in it, I checked a few sites about LinModems and such, tried an auto detect program from a site, wouldn't really work, tried an opensource driver for win modems, thought it would work on all winmodems or something, hasn't worked yet.

So, I opened the case, looked at it, and it said it was a Compaq modem, but, on a site I checked, it had no drivers for Compaq modems listed, I checked the Compaq site... took forever to find the page for a really old comp, and when I found it, it didn't have a hardware page listed.

The modem says "221507-001 S44" is that what kind of modem it is? There's also a FCC ID# "CNT75MPSBD7" on it.

Any more help is very appreciated thanks in advance.

If it is a winmodem try these links:

http://www.linmodems.org/
http://www.fatshady.co.uk/linux/modem.php

Hope that helps cause otherwise I'm clueless.

As a former RedHat user I'd suggest you give Mandrake 9.1 (or 9.2 if it's out now) a shot. RH is geared more toward the "corporate" enviroment and Mandrake is more for the home multimedia user. (in my opinion)
I've not tried the other distro's so I can't speak for them.

For the name muddy you sure do clear up the water a bit. Mandrake I think is better. More for home use. I still don't have it all installed and I do what I need to and then some. Probably still got over half left on the CDs. Don't even know what some of them are for.

Later



Oh, don't try Mandrake 9.rc2. Either use 9.1 or wait till 9.2 comes out. Had serious problems with that rc2 thing.

Well, if Red Hat won't work for me, I'll definitely try Mandrake, but for now, I'll try to get Red Hat working, thanks for the info though

I went to that lin modem site, tried the auto detector thing, wouldn't work, tried it from that other site too, I dunno how to execute shell commands yet, tried the help, tried function, perform, got something with function, it just had a > thing, tried to tell it to perform or something in it, it just said it didn't recognize that command, and it took me back to the normal shell thing.

Can anyone help me with shell commands please? I dunno exactly how they work, tried help, but it came up with a buncha gibberish I couldn't understand, thanks in advance