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For a first time linux instalation I would suggest Mandrake.
Version 10.1 is excelent.
This is what I started with and i think it will be ok for you as well.
The instalation is very easy and everything should work fine after you are done with it.
After the instalation u should read a few things about the console commands and stuff.
there are a lot of excelent guides and tutorials out there.
Also if you do install mandrake, after you are done installing search google for
easyurpmi this site will give you all the info you need in order to setup urpmi and have all the latest apps and updates just by typing urpmi "appname".
hmmm nothing more to say right now really.
Good luck and welcome.
I too am a professional photographer and as far as your photoshop questions:
1. Crossover office will let you run Photoshop, I use version 7 but I hear CS runs about the same, though I would get a trial version before you
purchase Crossover office and see if all the tool you use work like you are use to. One big problem I noticed is that because the alt key is used
as a system key in the Linux distros Iv used, you will not be able to use any function in Photoshop that requires the alt key.
2. As far as Photoshop vs GIMP; GIMP lacks the spectrum of keyboard shortcuts that Photoshop has which makes GIMP annoying and time consuming
compared to Photoshop. GIMP also lacks a Lab color profile and although I understand the latest version does let you change to CMYK mode, it is
not nearly on par with CMYK in Photoshop so if you shoot for press than you will want to stay with Photoshop.
Really the best way to determine if GIMP will work for you would be to download a copy and try it out, they do have a copy for Windows that works quite well you can find it at GIMP.org
I started out with a new second harddrive in the new year of 2003 iirc, with Mandrake 9.0 PowerPack set (comes with manual and support). Since then I've been running a dual boot system of win98 on my primary drive and Mandrake 9.0, then 9.1, 9.2 and 10.0 on my secondary drive. I highly reccommend Mandrake as an easy start into linux and distro to stay with for all your regular needs.
I've just ordered the Mandrake 10.1 Official 4cd set from fastdiscs.com and they have a fantastic bundle deal of 24 discs for £30! This is all the major distros latest releases posted to your door and no need to worry about corrupt downloads/burned cds. Plus there's some LiveCDs so you can play with linux without writing anything to disc, as well as the OpenCD of OSS for windows, and even a BSD distro!. So you can slowly move over to using a *nix OS with no worries about having to make perminant changes to your system.
Edit: P.S. Mandrake is compiled for i586, which is anything newer than a pentium1 iirc. Also, nvidia's drivers are excellent for linux, games like UT2k4 work fine while I've heard nothing but complaints from the official ATI driver users.
I started with Mandrake but disliked the marketing - isn't linux free? - so looked round for other distros, I tried most avaliable on torrent and mirrors etc. finally settled on Fedora as It just suits me nicely.
That's a bit ironic, using RedHat because Mandrake seemed a bit corporate, now there's only RedHat Enterprise Edition or Fedora.
FYI Mandrake has the Download and purchase versions of each of its latest releases, which have been of a 'Community, then rebuild with updates as Official' pattern.
If you have seen a mac running you have seen linux, as far as I know Mac OS X = comercial version of linux.
Sounds great, the Mac at work just works all the time, verry stable and verry good. Better then Windows for a work staton aswell.
Quote:
I suggest SuSE 9.1 because of it's ease of use for the first timer and also for it's easy setup and hardware compatibility. I invested the $89 to have the set of disks and the manuals. It was a great help to me as a newbie to have the complete OS and included programs on disk and the manuals were also a big help to me as well. You may or may not want to pay for your distro but that is the great thing about linux, the choice is up to you. I think SuSE just released ver9.2 with the latest kernel build and hardware compatibility.
Yea, SuSe is one of the distro's that cought my attention initially, basically this is caused by the cute logo of theyrs, being a newb it's the first thing I look at, gives me the first impression.
I'll look into it.
Quote:
Unless you are using Photoshop in a particularly professional manner I don't think think you'll notice too much of a difference.
I need it for professional issues, yes, I'm a Photoshop guy, what means photomanipulation, web design, color corection, lab color usage, CMYK, printing and so on.
Quote:
If you refer incorrectly to a GNU/Linux distribution I recommend debian. If you mean the kernel I'll tell you to grab the newest 2.6 kernel and -cko patch for it.
yes...? Sorry, I'm a question mark right now.
Debian look's intresting aswell. I have no idea what this kernel is and how it work right now, I guess that it is used mainly to run the OS, but that's a rather random guess.
Quote:
Still, Debian's a decent distro, even if it is the only one to follow RMS' whims with the awful name. I think he's already sold on the Fedora Project, though, and their Fedora Core. (Not even GNU *or* Linux there.)
I downloaded that one, yes, but I have to waite untill christmass untill I can actually do something about the ISO, so I am verry flexible and open minded about this desission.
Quote:
For a first time linux instalation I would suggest Mandrake.
Version 10.1 is excelent.
This is what I started with and i think it will be ok for you as well.
The instalation is very easy and everything should work fine after you are done with it.
After the instalation u should read a few things about the console commands and stuff.
there are a lot of excelent guides and tutorials out there.
Also if you do install mandrake, after you are done installing search google for
easyurpmi this site will give you all the info you need in order to setup urpmi and have all the latest apps and updates just by typing urpmi "appname".
hmmm nothing more to say right now really.
Good luck and welcome.
Your words are noticed and I'll check it out. Thank you for the welcome.
Quote:
1. Crossover office will let you run Photoshop, I use version 7 but I hear CS runs about the same, though I would get a trial version before you
purchase Crossover office and see if all the tool you use work like you are use to. One big problem I noticed is that because the alt key is used
as a system key in the Linux distros Iv used, you will not be able to use any function in Photoshop that requires the alt key.
What distro do you sugest for opperations that require the alt- key? It's realy handy to use it, you get to pick colours just with one click if you are paining, and the stamp tool require the Alt key by defult.
Allso, I don't think The Gimp support camera raw files.
Quote:
Really the best way to determine if GIMP will work for you would be to download a copy and try it out, they do have a copy for Windows that works quite well you can find it at GIMP.org
I'll be sure to check it out, tank you.
Quote:
I started out with a new second harddrive in the new year of 2003 iirc, with Mandrake 9.0 PowerPack set (comes with manual and support). Since then I've been running a dual boot system of win98 on my primary drive and Mandrake 9.0, then 9.1, 9.2 and 10.0 on my secondary drive. I highly reccommend Mandrake as an easy start into linux and distro to stay with for all your regular needs.
Sounds like a good think.
Quote:
I've just ordered the Mandrake 10.1 Official 4cd set from fastdiscs.com and they have a fantastic bundle deal of 24 discs for £30! This is all the major distros latest releases posted to your door and no need to worry about corrupt downloads/burned cds. Plus there's some LiveCDs so you can play with linux without writing anything to disc, as well as the OpenCD of OSS for windows, and even a BSD distro!. So you can slowly move over to using a *nix OS with no worries about having to make perminant changes to your system.
I got a Mandrake 10 cd from my friend, iso, burnded it. It's supposed to download stuff from the net under the install, only one CD, so I'llm ost probably try Mandrake just to get the feel of it.
Quote:
Edit: P.S. Mandrake is compiled for i586, which is anything newer than a pentium1 iirc. Also, nvidia's drivers are excellent for linux, games like UT2k4 work fine while I've heard nothing but complaints from the official ATI driver users.
Fedora works with that gfx card. If Mandrake wont work, I'll settle with the fedora version untill I decide to get new card. A new card could also be handy etherway if I would be rendering heavy scenes in Maya. Windows crashes when you try to render these scenes, Linux do not, basically becouse Linux manage ram better. This is according to some 3D people I have been speaking to, so I expect that my sister will ask me to render her heavyer scenes, a card would most deffneently be handy.
Sorry, no time to spellcheck, I have to sleep, my work buss leaves in 5:20 hours, and you need atleast 7 hours of sleep to be focused and sharp. :/
Just to add a note:
I tryed Damn Small Linux, I didn't exactly fall in love with it. It went slow, but I am sure this is becouse I ran it from within a windows XP system.
" yes...? Sorry, I'm a question mark right now.
Debian look's intresting aswell. I have no idea what this kernel is and how it work right now, I guess that it is used mainly to run the OS, but that's a rather random guess."
The kernel is the core of every operating system. Even windows and mac have one, but they don't let you touch it 'cause they aren't open-source. Linux lets you modify it. That is good, because you can choose what you need and don't need in your kernel. Having less things will speed up your machine. You can also contribute to the kernel, if you're a programmer, and let everybody have it. That's the good thing about open-source things, which companys like Microsoft lack.
if you can be bothered to read it linux is released under the following licvence: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html
I (being sad) have read it, basicaly it protects your right to do what you like with it as long as others can also do what they like with what you do to it.
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