Hum. Linux.

So, I finally have a copy of a Linux install cd.

I only have one harddrive though. Is it safe to set up a dual boot? It's already partitioned into two parts, one at 30GB for Windows, and one at 8 GB originally for something Windows related before I just said "off you go."

Is there anything risky with just saying, "hey linux, in you go, into my 8 GB partition."

 

different distros have different installers, what are you going to install? Mepis? it might be best to do a search on their forums.

also, if it were me, just incase something goes wrong, i'd print out instructions for fixing the MBR, because Linux will install its own boot loader which will work for your Distro and Windows. the worst thing which could happen is not being able to boot to Linux or Windows and that will be because of a corrupt MBR - it's called grub or lilo

i think all you do to fix it is boot to the recovery console, tap F8 at boot or boot from the windows cd and select the recovery console, then write
fixmbr
if that doesn't work try
fixboot

 

I hope to start using the Ubuntu distro. It may not be the most userfriendly I guess, but I mean it's got a large crowd, quick constant fixes, and great support. I guess the main thing I'm worried about it support.

 

Ubuntu is very user friendly. he's a dual-boot video
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6104490811311898236

there's more if you search for things like dual booting ubuntu

 

Thanks a lot. I've watched this a few times, and I feel like I have a decent idea of what to do.

I'll let you know how i go. Thanks for walking through this iceni.

 

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Installation

hope this helps

 

A good news for me! Somebody in a forum told me he has a Toshiba laptop with Agere soft modem( like mine) and Kanotix live CD recogniaed it( and all other hardware) straightaway. He can use his dial up without any tweaks.
So I am excited to try Kanotix now.

 

aigle thats goodnews.let us know how things go after ur install..

 

lol, u have to wait for weeks. I use dial up and pay on hourly basis. So I just download by free download manager in background while surfing the net.
But sure, I will make a post after trying it. I was ownloading ubuntu VMware version( did about 40%) but now I paused that and started to download Kanotix lite.

 

you could try asking in the Kanotix forum where a good place to get a cd is, someone will probably send you one.

 

Right but it,s hard to get here in Saudi Arabia except may be in some of its big cities. I will try.

 

I tried the vmware of Ubuntu. It wasn't bad. The only problem I had with it was how long it took to extract. Understandable, but on my old computer, 40 mins put some worry in me. :T

 

Hey, 40 minutes is too much! but may be acceptable as it is like an OS install on ur pc.
How was speed after that and what hardware it recognized? Also what applications u ran?

 

The extract was from 500 megs to 2 gigs. That is why I thought it was understandable. :T

Um, for the other questions, everything ran smoothly after, [p4 and 512 ram], [but when tried on a p4 with 256 ram, vmware told me that there was not enough resources], [taking too long at home so i can't say how long a celeron with 256 ram will do.] It recognized most of the hardware I had, printer, etc. I don't know about dialup, because all three computers are ethernet. All the installed applications ran. I don't know about updating, because when I tried, it told me that I needed a password, and I didn't know what it was talking about. I guess it came with a default account that I was unaware of. Perhaps someone else more knowledgable can clarify this.

Hope this helps a bit. I have more playing around to do on the vmware, so I'll update when I get the chance.

 

if you are using an old computer then it might be a good idea to try Damn Small Linux. it's a live cd which i think is only 50MB. the reason i think it would be a good idea is it uses fewer resources then other distros, if it runs at an exceptable speed it will give you a better idea what you could install because you can make all distros more like DSL.
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/dsl-2.3.jpg
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/dsl-2.3jwm.jpg

 

I use Xubuntu on my P3 1Ghz/192MB/5.4GB system and it is fine (Xubuntu is just Ubuntu with the Xfce Window system, probably not the best for someone so use to Windows.) If you like you can try http://www.kubuntu.org/ which is Ubuntu with KDE (Which is the closest to a Windows enviroment on Linux, but also the heaviest resource wise.) Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/) uses the Gnome Window manager and is a bit lighter than Kubuntu (Besides the user-interfaces, both versions are exact.) Again - I use Xubuntu (Which there is no real distro for right now.) http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/slideshow.php?release=517&slide=30 but Xfce can easily be installed if you're running on older hardware (Like I am, if I had more RAM I would easily be running KDE or Gnome, but GUI's don't bother me, I like Xfce, would probably use it on my main system if I were to install Linux on it (P4 3.0Ghz, 512MB, 128MB Graphics card, 2x 80GB SATA, 1x 60GB IDE), its all about personal choice, as others mentioned, try some LiveCD's first, Ubuntu and Kubuntu have LiveCD's, I personally find Ubuntu to be the best, though you may want to try ArkLinux (Which aims at being completly user-friendly, can be installed with a few mouseclicks) http://www.arklinux.org/ - It is nice, but it didn't support my graphics chipset and didn't run very well on 192MB RAM (I really need to upgrade my P3 later), in the end you have to try atleast a few different distros before you can truely decide, Knoppix is a good liveCD to just get a feel of the KDE enviroment, also try PCLinuxOS (Google it, I don't know the exact URL right now) PCLinuxOS is at version 0.92, and it may seem like an early on development but it is actually VERY nice from what I tested. Just try a few distros and then decide, it would actually probably be best to try the different Window managers first (Knoppix has 3-4 installed I believe.) as that'll be your operating enviroment, I'd go with trying KDE, Gnome and Xfce first, once you know which you like better, then go for a distro and install or get the version with that Window manager. In the end a decently configured Linux box WILL run better than Windows (My Linux box is more of a project than anything.) it all depends on your hardware and what you want. Also for Windows app (On Ubuntu) try this small tutorial http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/wine.php - I used it and within 10 minutes I had my main Windows-only apps running under it (mIRC, WinAmp, etc) and I haven't tried MS Office, I heard it will work, but I use OpenOffice on all of my machines, so I had no reason to test.

 

Thanks sosaiso, I wana ask about VMware.
I am not able to understand one thing about it.They offer many things, VMware player, server, workstation etc. I want to know which one of these softewares is for home users.
( Currently I have downloadeed VMware player and will later download ubuntu VMware version( 512 MB) to run in it.)

 

VMware player is the free version, it can use the images that you download from VMware and other VMware created images, VMware workstation allows you to fully emulate a system, you can install any x86 compatible OS under it (Windows, Linux, BSD, etc) - I believe the only differences between player and Workstation is the ability to create your own images. I'm not sure what the differences in VMware server is from Workstation besides that it has a server license and is probably a bit more powerful as to use both Linux and Windows server tools I believe? Anyone can correct me if I am wrong on this, I haven't read anything about VMware server, so sorry.

 

So, I have been running a liveCD of Ubuntu for the past three days or so, and I like what it offers. I haven't plugged in any of the rest of my hardware yet, but I will look forward to doing that in a few weeks.

I was just wondering. Is there a scandisk or a diskdefrag equivilent for Linux? I've gotten so used to doing both of those on a regular basis I almost miss them. Are they needed?

And a second question I have is, I have bitdefender for linux running, is that redundant? Or should I just keep it there for a just-in-case situation?

On that line, what are good firewall packages that you can recommend? Is there a HIPS equivilent? I understand that they aren't really needed on a Linux box, but habits die hard. :T

 

there is a file system checker in linux.fsck i believe and i donno about defragmentation issues.ubuntu does have iptables firewall.firestarter x is gui for it i think..dog has posted some 2 links about making your system secure in linux in the same thread itself.one is tripwire and other is bastille..

 

sosaiso,

I currently use both Ubuntu and Fedora Core 4 because I wanted to get some experience with both a Debian-based distro and a Red Hat-based distro, respectively. I like both and presently have no preference of one over the other.

I find Ubuntu to be easier to use, especially for Sun's JRE/JDK and my Java apps. Fedora is favoring the open JPackage for Java, which is fine, and recommends you install Sun's JRE/JDK in the /opt directory so that it will not get overwritten during upgrades. I have placed most of my Java apps in the /opt directory as well. Fedora just takes a little more time and effort in this regard.

clansman77,

I have a Fedora Core 5 DVD sitting on my desk. Upon my next partition imaging of my laptop, I will attempt to upgrade to Fedora Core 5. I may wait until I have received the DesktopBSD CD as I will attempt to replace Ubuntu on my laptop. I am currently dual-booting my desktop with Ubuntu and XP Pro.

Regards,

bktII

 

there are afew different file systems, but none of them need to be manually defragged. really you don't need to do anything, no services listen by default and there's a firewall already running. but, you can install firestarter for a FW frontend.

i use clam AV but not in real time, just to scan the odd file i download. alot of the software installs are done from an Ubuntu repository which uses checksums to verify the file/s.

alot of things are done with crons, crontab is a small program to help write crons, most of the important crons are pre-configured so you don't have to worry about it.

here's a short 5/10 mp3 about crons
http://www.twatech.org/shows.php?ep=77

actually, crons are good to learn about but you don't need to know about them to keep Linux running. i only have one which i've configurated.

 

So, this verfies that I do not need a realtime scanner for Linux I guess. Much thanks. That should free up some memory/space/time.

I will look into firestarter... I guess for the GUI prettiness.

As for Linux hardening, I am reluctant to do that in this early stage. perhaps in a few months.

I hope to upgrade from the Live to an Install by this weekend, if I could ever get Kubuntu to download. :T

I guess the most annoying thing about this migration is the data backup. No external harddrive/dvd burner is certainly a drag when it comes to these things. 20 Gigs of information to be burned onto tiny little 700 meg CDs. There has to be a simpler way.

oh, and I meant to ask, Gnome is more stable than KDE?

 

iceni,

You have touched on something dear to my heart: linux mini-distros.

Regarding dsl, I currently have dsl-embedded (dsl with open-source qemu) on both of my PCs. I sometimes use this as a virtual environment for surfing.

I also like Puppy linux, +/- 65 MB download, here:

http://www.puppylinux.org/user/viewpage.php?page_id=1

Puppy is my linux rescue CD for my laptop PC.

Another mini-distro I have not tried is Feather linux.

For a desktop install, I prefer the dsl security model to that of Puppy. With Puppy, you are root which is OK as long as you're not on the internet. But on the internet ... ? Others, however, are quite comforatable with this and as long as one is careful with downloads, installs, surfing habits, etc. it all comes down to risk management. This distro was built using Windows 98 as a model which is perfectly fine. With dsl you are a regular user and, if I remember correctly, you use su or sudo for commands requiring root authorization.

Both Puppy and dsl both have a useful collection of software that can be automatically downloaded and installed.

There ought to be a major non-profit effort to resue old PCs, set them up with a linux mini-distro and provide them to individuals/families that cannot afford to purchase a computer. This would, in my opinion, help to make the information (and/or knowledge) economy more democratic than it is currently. The issue of online access, however, remains.

Cool stuff!

bktII

 

i've heard Feather is supposed to be really good. here are some screensshots. there's an install version too.
http://fossplanet.osdir.com/slidesh...slide=8&title=feather linux 0.5.7 screenshots

check out nubuntu http://www.nubuntu.org/
http://oliverwine.info/nubuntu/screens/640/screen5.jpg