[Baron Patsy]

Well, I'm considering dual-booting my new desktop with XP Pro Corporate edition and a Linux distro. The problem is choosing which distro I need to install. I have very little experience with Linux. I am using a wireless card for my internet access, which requires the use of ndiswrapper, something that I don't quite know how to use. So if anyone could explain how to use that in plain English, that'd be great too.

Basically, I'm looking for a distro that I can get up and running relatively quickly, and then screw around with at a later date once I'm more familiar with the Linux environment.

Thanks, and feel free to discuss any other issues relating to Linux in this topic.

[DaleNixon]

Don't be afraid to read a long guide and truly understand what is going on.

The Gentoo distro has fantastic documentation; I recommend it.

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=2

Have fun!
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[Kappuru]

Ubuntu, I think, is the most user friendly, but then again, i know crap about linux and only use it for rescue cds.
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[Corinth]

[Hot Stott Bot]

Tough call between Gentoo and Ubuntu in my opinion... they both are nice in their own ways...

[stotelheim]

Definitely Ubuntu to start with.
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go away extralife

[Mr. Business]

Honestly though Patsy, the way you're gonna learn the most about the OS is to actually get in there, fix your problems, and just use the damn thing.
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Taking a break.

[inmatarian]

I heard Xubuntu was really friendly.
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2993 badness blog email

[slipstream]

Why do you need Linux ANNNND Windows?
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[Baron Patsy]

[gooktime]

[dongle]

I use gentoo, as does km. Ubuntu is cool when it works but when it breaks, there are some kind of proprietary undocumented things that make it hard to fix. Also, their forums have a large ratio of misinformation to facts.

[Corinth]

[ajutla]

I'm totally saying gentoo, especially for the purpose of learning shit quickly.

[Laurel Soup]

I've been rocking Ubuntu for a bit over a year, and I've had very little trouble.
Your wireless card is the key thing. Try a couple livecds to see which distro supports it best. I hate to say it, but I hear Linspire is actually good at handling wireless network cards out of the box.
Finding a decent Megadrive emulator is another issue...
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[BenoitRen]

From what I hear, Gentoo is definitely NOT for beginners.

I've had experience with Ubuntu. Man, what a slow distro (thanks to Gnome). Probably runs better on a high-end PC, though. Maybe try Kubuntu (still a bit heavy) or Xubuntu. Ubuntu in general is made to be user-friendly, which it is as long as you don't have a problem or want to install packages.

The "Damn Small Linux" and "Puppy Linux" Live CD distributions are a great start in getting familiar with Linux, in my opinion. They're small, fast, and user-friendly. I prefer Puppy Linux, especially because of the easier save system, so you don't have to start from scratch every time.
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Get Xenoblade Chronicles!

[DaleNixon]

I was a beginner back in '02 with Gentoo. It's really not bad to start with as long as you follow the guides and bother to pay attention to what you are doing.
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[dongle]

[Duckzero]

I use Ubuntu, used to run Solaris, but that's a whole other story.

I say Ubuntu, because it's easier to have everything working off the bat, and if you want to change, fix, recompile, or whatever, you'll be in better shape having everything else being ok.

I had my system pretty customized, and it was a learning experience, but i've been running unix like systems since 1999 (i had to use telnet and other unix services in high school, FUN!), so dipping into linux was a bit different, but still fun and much better than windows.

Also, the problem, IMO with Gentoo, is that being on the bleeding edge means that you may have bleeding edge problems.
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Keepin' it real like Oatmeal

[ajutla]

[nothingxs]

I'm going to say Ubuntu, simply because it all just seems to work, and when it doesn't, you can pretty much figure out how to make it work within a few hours.
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select button
i've gotta let go. i've gotta get straight. why'd you have to make it so hard? let me get away.
3DSFC 1736-1476-0518

[SuperWes]

Wait a minute, I thought Linux was completely pain free these days? I asked about it in the PS3 Linux thread and someone called me out for not realizing that it was basically perfect nowadays.

I'm really confused.

-Wes
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[dongle]

It is basically pain free, but, shit, it's still an operating system. Even OSX has quirky problems from time to time and that's developed for a single platform.

[skonrad]

I've run SuSe and FC without *many* problems. FC had more problems than SuSe. The problems I've run into with both were driver related - kind of blocker level bugs for me (graphics card incompatibilities with current drivers / kernels, an external hard drive not being recognized, documentation missing from archives to solve said problems, shitty implementation of linux versions of apps that I'm reliant on), but I'd expect the same issues in most distros.

Once you get used to occasionally logging into the terminal it gets pretty easy. I'm not sure if there is one, but searching out a good graphical task manager (if such a thing exists -- I just missed it a lot) will probably ease the transition if you're used to certain Windows monitoring functions (I'm weird though - I obsessively watch thread counts / memory use).

The next time I install Linux I'll probably try Gentoo.

[gooktime]

[Baron Patsy]

Okay, I'm going to make the jump and install the latest Ubuntu release on my laptop.

Wish me luck!

I will likely post lots of questions in this thread. And maybe posts full of angry swearing.

[Baron Patsy]

Posting from a laptop running Ubuntu Edgy!

Yes!

I get the impression that my connection is kind of badly set-up, considering it doesn't like it when I try to use a static IP and I had to go about things oddly to get it set up.

But it works!

Is it supposed to be this slow? Pages take much longer to load than they do on XP.

[Hot Stott Bot]

Yes of course it is supposed to be that slow!

[Laurel Soup]

Firefox has been a tad bit too unstable and slow for me in Edgy.
I'm tempted to switch to Opera.
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[ajutla]

how about switching to a REAL operating system guys.

[ajutla]

you know like windows.

[Toups]

I tried using ubuntu about a year ago and I couldn't make heads or tails out of anything.

I want to like linux but for the time being I will continue hating it.
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[Baron Patsy]

This is very alien to me, and to be honest, kind of confusing.

Being kind of overwhelmed is a natural reaction right? I've used XP for most of my time using computers heavily, and this is quite a change.

[taidan]

[stotelheim]

[psiga]

Can anyone provide more information on this 'slowness' bullshit? Is it Firefox or the OS or what?

STOTELHEIM: Can you come up with a way in Swedish to say "I'm fucking a shapeless girl and really ecstatic to be here" that rhymes with Vi sitter har i venten och spelar litte DotA? (Man I am going to keep liking that song even though I know the guy is a total kneebiter.)
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[Baron Patsy]

[gooktime]

The official Gnome browser "epiphany" is pretty nice and if I remember right was always very snappy and obviously felt more native to Gnome than Firefox. It uses the same rendering engine too so has the same compatibility with pages and such as Firefox, you'll just lose some extention stuff if you have any.

Might be worth a try?

[Baron Patsy]

[DJ]

I'm curious. Assuming you're not heavy into programming, what's the appeal of Linux besides "lol M$ free" and/or as a rescue disc like Kap said? Just to fart around with a new OS and self-educate, or...?

I tried using Ubuntu a ways back and, like Toups, struggled with it. It seemed like a massive chore to get anything to work (graphics/sound card, web browser, basically anything not specifically written for the OS) and 90% of the stuff I used my computer for (games, music, video, photo editing, sweet, sweet piracy) were incompatible from the get-go. After a 24-ish hour trial run I switched back to Windows and have never looked back. It didn't even seem worth learning, as I had zero practical use for it. Anything Linux could do, Windows could do better and with orders of magnitude less hassle.

As much as I love the idea of Linux, it still seems like a programmers-only club to me.

I do want to like it though. Bah.
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[Baron Patsy]