Unix and Linux → Really interested in learning Linux

I would like to learn Linux but I'm having a hard time picking a version out. Any recomendations and why would be great. Thanks.

Since Windows caters users to be dependent on GUI dialogs and such, your best bet for a distro to learn with would be Mandrake Linux. Its Control Panel lets the user configure most of the tasks done by hand in more advanced distros. Nothing is better then having text in hand, so I would recommend you go to the local bookstore or bn.com, and pick up a Linux book. It is great that Linux is free, but once the CD's are downloaded, then what? Having a book to read to help through everything will make your learning ever so easier.

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Yup - Mandrake

Best place to start....

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Picking up a Linux book is a good idea. However, there is a lot you can read on the net. Like this and this


Do a search on google. And , of course it really helps to either print the material out or have two computers. One for the install and another for the net.


Also check out Redhat a lot of people new to *nix like it.

IMHO if you TRUELY want to LEARN linux get a copy of slackware...

»www.slackware.com

Anyone care to point out the major difference between slackware and Redhat? Do all linux versions have web server, ftp, router, etc. available?

Major difference, if you start with slackware you'll end up hating linux for the rest of your life because you won't be able to get anything to work.

Gui tools are good to ease you into the whole idea, otherwise it'll be an uphill battle and linux will probably win, leaving the user bruised and unconscious and probably swearing. Anyone who is recommending slackware to a newbie should be slapped... especially when the person recommending it is half clueless themselves.

LOL! Thanks Indi! I thought about trying slackware as my next version. I'm still a noob so.... Guess I'll wait on that.

I think Suse 8.0 is easier then Mandrake Yast is a great feature. Plus if you go down to best buy and buy it for around 40 bucks you get some great reading material with it. Just my two cents.

Ok, I'm sort of at a toss up between Mandrake and Redhat. Whats the differences between the two?

Thanx again for all your guys help.

They're mostly the same, Mandrake being originally based upon Redhat. Mandrake is a little more "bloated" ... I think the gui tools, especially for rpm management and overall system management are better in Mandrake.

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I think Red Hat is more for someone with a little Unix experience and Mandrake is more oriented towards the ex-Windoze user (more GUI friendly).

It's the GIUs that bloat it, but then again, as you get more use to Linux, you can go into your files and delete the ones you're not using.

From personal experience, I tried both and found Mandrake a bit easier to learn on because of this.

I'm still using Mandrake.

Personally, I just like it....

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Mandrake it is......thnx guys!!!!!!

Well said, indi.

After about a year of using RedHat, I wanted something a little more powerful. I settled with Slackware.

If I hadn't used RedHat for the time that I did, I would have been completely clueless. And I'd probably still be using Windows.

i like redhat, once you get the basics you can figure anyhting out. i remember when i first started using redhat, it has really come a long way... easy grraphical install, it will partition for you and allow you to only format what you need.. its even easy to set up for dual booting.

said by indiboi:

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Major difference, if you start with slackware you'll end up hating linux for the rest of your life because you won't be able to get anything to work.

Gui tools are good to ease you into the whole idea, otherwise it'll be an uphill battle and linux will probably win, leaving the user bruised and unconscious and probably swearing. Anyone who is recommending slackware to a newbie should be slapped... especially when the person recommending it is half clueless themselves.

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well i know two ppl have have started with slackware ( both in University) and now ones runs debian and the other runs freeBSD... they have never used redhat ot MDK or suse, and they know way more then me. and i started off with MDK.. ( ok well maybe the fact that there at the U )

i started with debian.

of course, i came into linux when a sysadmin i work with suggested debian to me, and i was not going to let anything get in the way of me learning linux.

it wasn't until i started using SuSE, however, that i learned to be truly productive with linux. once i got to stop worrying about getting my hardware working, i really starting to enjoy the capabilities of linux.

my suggestion (although i'm aware you've already chosen) is to try one of each -- an 'easy' distro and an 'advanced' distro. you can benefit from each.

Thanks again guys ..let me add a little more here.

While I'm curious to see how linux would do as a replacement to windows, I do have another comp running XP that I'm really happy with. That being said, I'm not necessarily looking for a desktop replacement. I've been surfin around reading all I could about mandrake and redhat. I'm leaning towards mandrake cause it seems like the power pack edition has a lot of software that comes with it. I would like to see how star office compares to MS office. Other things I have read today sort of say two things 1)mandrake looks great and is really easy to use, but can be unstable. 2) while maybe not a feature rich Redhat is more stable.

Also, I'm looking to "learn" more about Linux as a whole. I have my other box for all of my day to day duties and will have the linux box to play with. Like some of you said, I dont want to be scared off but at the same time I don't want/need a windows replacement. Is there something more middle of the road or should I still stick with mandrake/redhat.

Sorry if this seems like a silly question or a bigger deal than it is.......all I know is windows :/

said by indiboi:

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Anyone who is recommending slackware to a newbie should be slapped...

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I disagree with this type of blanket statement. Not all newbies are created equally. If one isn't afraid to RTFM, then slack is a good choice. Redhat 5.2 almost turned me off of linux on account of linuxconf's inability to do *anything*. But then slack just works.

I'd love to know where slack got this reputation as being this cryptic distro...»slackware-advocacy.com/m ··· ths.html

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to start some lame distro war or anything. I just don't like people perpetuating some unfounded myth about slackware.

Cheers.

well said Sikovital

said by Post Modern:

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I think Red Hat is more for someone with a little Unix experience and Mandrake is more oriented towards the ex-Windoze user (more GUI friendly).

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That used to be RH's claim to fame, too. I actually tried a RH7.3 RC, and there was a GUI for pretty much everything...

[edit: typo]
[text was edited by author 2002-05-28 08:27:48]

-- sorry wrong thread
[text was edited by author 2002-05-28 14:22:10]

If you spend ONE WEEK reading the posts from self-avowed newbies here, you'd understand my statement much better. A vast majority have serious issues with Mandrake... telling them to use slackware would be akin to throwing them into a pit of jackels.

What we do need less of around here would be distro-elitists who frown upon anyone not using slackware or gentoo, or whichever the latest compile it yourself linux fad is.

AH DISTO WAR ALERT!!!!!!

please end this now
It is not set in stone which is the better method, different people react differently to different situations. The proper method is subjective. I am personally some one who loves a challange, that may not the case for every newbie, but there are certainly a few out there. So the next time some one asks "What is a good distro for a newbie?" we should ask "What do you want to use linux for?".

said by indiboi:

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telling them to use slackware would be akin to throwing them into a pit of jackels.

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just wondering, have you used Slackware before?

oops.....seems I asked the wrong question and open up a can of worms :/

thanx again for all your help. After talking to a couple more friends Im changing my mind and going with Redhat 7.3. Maybe just a bit more of a learning curve but thats what I want. I'm gonna see how much I can learn in a couple of months and then try slackware for getting the real flavor

Most new users to Linux are going to want to use Lycoris or Mandrake. Mandrake is better than Lycoris because it just supports more.

If a newbie wants to jump into Linux by using Slackware... thats just fine... but its easier to learn from using a more polished (polished meaning, more GUI's and such) Linux distro...

Is redhat 7.3 really gonna be that much different from mandrake 8.2 ?????

lol........screw it.......I'll do it the old fashioned way.........which has the better looking box

said by indiboi:

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If you spend ONE WEEK reading the posts from self-avowed newbies here, you'd understand my statement much better. A vast majority have serious issues with Mandrake... telling them to use slackware would be akin to throwing them into a pit of jackels.

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I've been dealing with linux newbies for much longer than a week. I'd love to here why you think slack is so newbie unfriendly. In my experiences, most people who say stuff like that about slack have never even used it before, and I'm not convinced that that isn't the case here...

Or is your issue more with who recommended slack to begin with?

quote:

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What we do need less of around here would be distro-elitists who frown upon anyone not using slackware or gentoo, or whichever the latest compile it yourself linux fad is.

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I don't see much of that here; is that what you think this is? I hate to brake it to you, but I really don't care what distro you happen to use/recommend/advocate. But I *will* defend a quality OS that I feel is being misrepresented, whether that be a linux distro, BSD flavour, whatever.

It's one thing to say slack might not be the greatest newbie distro, and hell, I might even agree with you, but it's quite another thing to say the things you've said about slack in this thread. One can only wonder how many people who've listened to you in this thread might have actually liked slack, but won't try it now because they think it'll melt their heads or something.