Hi all!

Ultra newb here. My background is in Windows (NT mostly). Programming mostly, not much IT. Have done both user mode and kernel mode, but I don't see myself going back to programming drivers in the kernel. Fried my brain, I think.

Anyway, I've toyed with Linux for years now and am pleased to see the newer distros appear to have come a long way since I last investigated things.

I've got a bunch of HDDs in removable trays that I've installed numerous distros on, but I'm still trying to get a feel for what fits best with my brain.

As you'd imagine, I have loads and loads of questions, but I won't unload them all at once. I've got a bunch of books (hopefully good ones) so I'll be sure to search those and the web before I pester the site here.

Here's to hoping that Win7 is the first Windows I can completely avoid since 3.1. (Don't wanna start a war. Just thought I'd mention a small goal of mine.)

Cheers all!

Rick

Hi and welcome to LQ Rick, looking forward to your participation.

Well since no one else has put in a plug for their distro of choice, I would like to put in a plug for openSuSE, presently at version 11.2 and KDE, at version 4.3.5. Now I also went through several distros a few years ago, but I think the first one you get real things working for you may be the one you tend to stick with.

I have more than one computer and Windows is in the mix, but the reason has more to do with the intended usage and what OS works best for me, at least the one I have got to work at all first. To that end, one PC sits there as a PVR running Windows XP and does a nice job and so no reason to dump it just yet. However, I spend all of my free time in Linux and love the experience of getting things to work just right. I also enjoy searching for solutions that fix odd issues I might run in to.

My first real experience making something work was with SuSE 10.0 and the task was to run Linux from an external hard drive for my work laptop, which runs the company setup under Windows. A Linux install that would not modify my work hard drive in any way but allowed me to keep audio and video files along with a good set of players I could boot from externally anytime I wanted. This was mostly when working out of town and stuck in a hotel somewhere. Since then, its the setup of choice, even if not really needed at home.

I also have had fun getting Samba really working between Linux and Windows PC's, being able to freely read and write files at will between various computers and OS versions. When it works right it is great with no barriers.

Another thing you will find out is just what hardware really supports Linux. It will determine what you buy even if it is not at first used on a Linux machine. For instance, nVidia by far seems to provide the best video driver support for Linux even as ATI has the faster Windows cards and drivers out right now. Another thing is sound, just what sound card or built-in chipset works well with Linux? While I have the latest creative X-Fi stuff for Windows, I still go with an older Creative Audigy card for Linux.

Anyway I wish good sailing, but really expect to reload a few time till you get the hang of it all. While all distros give a good default setup, it is possible to blow it up trying to find solutions to problems or get that one program you just wanted to have. To that end, I suggest keeping a separate partition, outside of Linux where you save your finds. Any jewels of programs found or to make notes to yourself on how you got something to work. Do this so that if you reload or upgrade your distro, those secrets or programs you found will not be lost.

Good luck and again welcome to LQ!

Thank You,