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Ask a Geek! Linux ,,i want to know everything,lol
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Author | Topic: Linux ,,i want to know everything,lol |
Geek247 Newbie Larva Posts: 4 |
posted May 18, 2002 17:23
Hi, I just got Mandrake Linux, because it was on sale. But I haven't installed it yet because I want to learn more about it first. I have learned alot about it ,but I was wondering if anybody has any link to some good sites, or has some good advice,,so i can learn more.
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Alien Investor Assimilated Posts: 363 |
posted May 20, 2002 00:05
First, find the installation CD-ROM's for your hard drive. You are going to need them. Next, back up everything that you care about on the hard drive. Make sure that you can read the backup. It helps a lot if you have a completely different computer that you can use the browse the web. And, if you don't have a Linux book for newbies, go down to your local techie book store, browse a few books, and pick one up. Read up on hard disk partitions. Basically, a PC hard disk can have 1-4 partitions, and each partition can contain one operating system. Laptops usually reserve one partition for the power-save area. Find documentation on this, on the web or in a book, and read it. (If it's web documentation, PRINT it). Okay ... now you are ready to mess with your laptop. Remember: you are going to lose all the data on your laptop. MULTIPLE TIMES. Almost everybody screws up their first few installations, and the way to recover is to format the hard disk and start over. Stick the Mandrake Linux CD-ROM in your laptop and reboot it. You should see some brand new Linux screen. Go as far as the part about disk paritioning. When you get to disk partitioning, WRITE DOWN the exact partitions that your disk currently has and the type of each partition. Figure out which partition is the power-save area, and leave that one alone. Delete all the other partitions. Make one new partition for Windows, one new partition for Linux, and one small partition for the Linux swap area. That's the maximum of four normal partitions (I never use extended partitions; I don't trust all the BIOS's and OS's that I use to respect them). Install the Linux partition and go to town. Heh ... I haven't even talked about re-installing Windows yet! That's just enough instructions for you to kill your Windows and install Linux. There's an alternative. If you want to get a lot of Unix goodness, but without setting up an actual Unix OS, try Cygwin: http://www.cygwin.com . It's free, it's GPL, it comes with a C compiler and a shell and a "vi" editor and a lot of Unix userland tools, and it runs on top of Windows rather than replacing it. But Linux really is the bomb. IP: Logged |
omega996 Geek Apprentice Posts: 45 |
posted May 20, 2002 06:58
if you're using NTFS: back up your data repartition your drive, leaving a few GB of free space to install mandrake to. install windows XP, and get that all squared away boot from your mandrake CD, and follow the instructions. mandrake's pretty good at helping the first-timer do the installation. the installation will handle setting up dual boot and all that. make sure you install linux after windows, because windows will overwrite the boot loader and use its own (no warning, nothing). if you're using FAT32: it's really not that hard to get it installed. configured, that's something else
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Geek247 Newbie Larva Posts: 4 |
posted May 20, 2002 09:08
Thanks for your answers,, I will try to install everything sometime today or tomorrow. IP: Logged |
GameMaster Alpha Geek Posts: 284 |
posted May 21, 2002 00:05
2 types of instalations: Total take over and dual boot. DUAL BOOT TOTAL TAKE OVER You will need to create at least Native Linux Partion and one Linux Swap. The Linux Installer (LIZARD, MONALISA, LIZA, or whathave you) will install the packages. You'll have to set the ROOT password, and may be asked to create at least user account. Use ROOT sparingly, as anything you do will affect all users. Gnome and KDE are the comon window managers, and will make Xwindows a livable enviroment if your comming from Win 95/98SE/2K/XP or even MAC OS. Any instalations after Linux is installed should be done as ROOT. If you have an Nvidia graphics card, New sound card, or a Win modem make sure you download the linux drivers for the device first. While using Linux, you can access the "man pages" or help files by typing "man" a space and then the command. There are man pages for a lot of classes and libraries as well, if you plan on doing any programing. Common commands: cd - change directory ls - list files (like DOS's dir) cat - No Dos equivalent, it is kind of like "type," but much better mv - DOS copy, followed by a DOS delete called on the original cp - DOS equivelent copy ln - Creates a link, much like a windows "shortcut" or a DOS setpath unsym - removes a link, and creates a real copy of the file in the location of the link rm - DOS's delete removes a file and unsyms a link, and removes the file mkdir - same as DOS's md, makes a directory rmdir - DOS's deltree, it deletes the direcroy grep - No DOS equivalent. Grep searches for a string in a specified location, file or file(s) lpr - print | - pipe, allows you to pipe the output of a command to a certian file, a page at a time or to the printer This should be enough to get you moving around. pico, vi, vi and emacs are editors that you can use to write files, while emacs is the most sophistcated, pico is my personal favorite. Good luck and enjoy the Free Tank. ------------------ IP: Logged |
GameMaster Alpha Geek Posts: 284 |
posted May 21, 2002 00:10
Hate to post again after that long thing. I'm sorry if you already know how to use Linux, but I can remeber the first time I installed it and went "now what?" Anyone know a version of linux that fits on floppies? I have an old laptop w/o OS, and want to run RedHat on it, but it only has a diskdrive. I was ging to network install, but the linux drivers for my network card need to be installed after Linux is installed. Sorry todouble post, and sorry if you already know the basic linux commands. ------------------ IP: Logged |
spungo Assimilated Posts: 390 |
posted May 21, 2002 02:10
quote: Slackware used to be the distribution that one could install completely from floppies - but perhaps not with the most recent versions (probably pre-version 7). You'll need a lot of floppies, though. There are distributions that are deliberately single-floppy based - but you don't get very much - not a 'full' installation, anyway. EDIT: okay - just had a quick look at Slackware v4 - looks like you need 15 floppies for the base system - plus more for anything else you want (bear in mind 'base system' is quite minimal in this context). Check out, e.g., ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.slackware.com/pub/slackware/slackware-4.0/slakware/ ------------------ IP: Logged |
rednecklinux Geek Larva Posts: 20 |
posted May 21, 2002 03:16
Just to help you out on the "how to find further information" thing: If you really want to know the ins and outs of Linux then look to the UNIX section of the bookstore. You can get alot of great books that cover the command line and other usefull information. You might want to check out a used bookstore as well. The best website for newbies is linuxnewbies.com. Another good site in general is linuxtoday.com for the lastest in linux gossip and news. Have fun and welcome to the club! IP: Logged |
GameMaster Alpha Geek Posts: 284 |
posted May 21, 2002 07:19
What I'm looking for is KDE, g++, pico, and the all the basic commands. I could get by with twm or icewm, but I NEED to compile. Know any single disk solutions that'll get me to that? ------------------ IP: Logged |
spungo Assimilated Posts: 390 |
posted May 21, 2002 09:41
quote: Forget it! The X-Windows system on a floppy? It's way too big. The compiler on its own is also way too big. Trust me - your only option is to install some minimal single-floppy console-mode dist - like Hal91 or such-like (if you really want that single-floppy thing) or try Slackware - you will eventually get the full system of which you speak - however, not without some effort. ------------------ IP: Logged |
GameMaster Alpha Geek Posts: 284 |
posted May 21, 2002 19:38
Anyone know how to do a network install... I have linux drivers for my laptop's netork card and boot floppy, and it does offer me the option of a network install, but I've never done it. (I do have a Linux box, with servers installed (actually custom install, and added all the pakages (workstation and Server)), so I should be able to do it. I'm however not versed on linux networking, but have a WinDOZE network. Assistance requested, or as the lamemen (as I am in this case) "HEEEEEELLLLLPPPP!!!!" It's not really a big deal, would just like to see it happen (and be able to use this old laptop). ------------------ IP: Logged |
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