The new Redmond Linux ??

Reference http://www.redmondlinux.org/

I am so very sick of Windows 9x that I can't BEGIN to describe it. Every time I get this sick of it, I go to the net to investigate Linux, yet again. I bet there are several million people like me, just waiting for a version that is Windows User friendly.

After this latest bout with Illegal Operations, BSOD's, 15+ restarts per day, and recently getting a CD burner... I am seriously considering making the switch to a dual boot.

I read the descriptions of all the distributions available as well as several websites on the ones I thought I might be interested in trying, but there was ALWAYS something negative about the installs, even in the ones that say they have a GUI and are Non Unix - Layperson User Friendly.

I have considered the following distributions that promise at http://www.linux.org to be "easy to install" with a GUI but when you dig deeper they are not, at least not in my opinion:

WinLinux, BestLinux, Corel Linux, easyLinux, (there was a couple more...)

What I do with my computer is Internet Research for a local ISP here in Las Vegas.

I build Webpages with Netscape Composer and Notepad.

I surf the net, I do word processing.

I use email and my SoundBlaster/CD-Rom/RealJukebox give me hours of MP3 music enjoyment. Is the Linux Napster client easy to install?

I chat, use ICQ, nothing earthshattering. Windows simply has way too much "stuff" that I don't need or use. MY husband does even less.

I have some questions, and my system information is below:

1) First, I have almost zero money and wish to attempt this alone. Will I have access to my C Drive to ask questions if something goes wrong?

What information about my hardware do I need to compile before I attempt this? I want to be prepared. I know my settings for email configuration, and I think I can find the port info, but if I need info about my hardware, what do I need? I have all the manuals. If I am missing one I can get it off the net. Do I need any info from COX Cable, my ISP?

2) I have a 7.85Gig C Drive running Win98SE, and a 852MB (slave) D Drive. Can I install Redmond Linux on the D Drive? The RL site says 600MB unpartitioned. Does that mean the unpartitioned area is unpartitioned from Windows or just an unpartitioned 600 WHOLE MB's of uninterupted space? Are any modifications necessary? I can reformat my D drive, it is only holding some misc backup files from C Drive, it's nearly empty. I can remove them and Redmond Linux can have it as HOME.

3) I have a cable modem, it stays online. I live and work online. Do I need any information to configure it? Configure is a 4 letter word to me. I work at home and depend on this machine, but if it is as User Friendly as the website says, I am willing to give it a go.

4) What precautions should I take? I have backed up EVERYTHING I don't want to lose from C drive in event of a complete meltdown. What is a worst case scenario? I have read this website: http://www.linux.ie/newusers/beginne...neral-info.php and I am prepared to create a boot disk. After I download the RL-OS, I need to make the CD. I have EZ CD Creator 4, do I choose DATA CD that allows it to be read by other computers using windows or the DATA CD that is only readable from my CD Drive?

5) Am I correct in assuming that Linux will not be able to read my files in C Drive due to the 32 Bit? What is FDisk? Will I need to get FDISK for my boot disk? Or is this automated? (hoping) Will I have to go into the BIOS? *cringe* I assume so - I'll have to boot at some time and have the computer look for the CD I created in my E drive. Or is there another method...

7) Can you tell if it supports RealJukeBox? I would still be able to use Windows if I had to, I assume, but does most of the software written for other Linux distributions work with RL too? Also I use "Human Click" a lot, I'll check their site to see if they have a Download for Linux OS's.

My intention is to use Redmond Linux to become comfortable with the Linux Experience and grow into more complex versions at my own speed, probably settling on RedHat since it seems to be the OS that is most popular.

I realize the Redmond Linux distribution is for computer newbies, but I want an easy first 2-3 months. I love to learn and I am not afraid of the learning curve. I want to rid myself of Windows on my computer. I HATE IT. The last thing I want is to have a bad experience with Linux. I have heard of people getting RedHat first and concluding it is too hard and UNinstalling Linux. I don't want to be one of those people..

So, with that in mind, I am REALLY ITCHING to download the RL OS, are all of these components compatible with Redmond Linux?

I am running:

Award Modular BIOS v4.51PG
Motherboard is ASUS P5A Super 7
450Mhz AMD K6-2 3D Processor
Diamond Monster Fusion AGP (16MB) Video Card
SoundBlaster AWE64 - Model CT4520
8Gig C Drive is 32Bit, the D is not.
192MB DRAM
17inch Orion Monitor Model 7A730
Okidata Printer Model OL600e
UMAX Astra Scanner Model 2000P
Realtek RTL8029(AS) PCI Ethernet NIC
Samsung CD-R/RW Model SW-408B (E Drive)
Atapi CD-Rom - F Drive (slave)
Logitech Scrolling Mouse
...Really low on patience for WinAnything.

I am very computer savvy as a USER, not a tech. The creator states that there will be no command-line prompts in RL.., so I should be fine. I do want to learn all about that, I just don't want to be confronted with it the first day. Even though I have several years of computer and Internet experience, I had to look up what GUI meant... I don't need hand-holding as far as using it goes, I'll read the HELP files, learn the lingo, whatever it takes, but I am terrified of the installation.

Sorry this is so long, I am so very frustrated - me and about 100 million other people feel this way about Windows - RIGHT NOW.

i`d like to tell you that i found the link that you posted truly interesting. that distribution seems very, very good.
for what you describe, linux will be a perfect platform, and i guess that you won`t find many problems to use all the programs/files that you already have.
yes, you can access your `windows files`, even if they are on a fat 32.
'fdisk' is a program that you already have...is part of dos. i guess that you should get a book, maybe an o`reilly one, the series on linux are truly outstanding.
perhaps `running linux`, or `learning red hat linux`, despite the title, you can use it for linux in general.
you`ll be able to do wordprocessing, webpage desing, chat, listen to mp3, etc, with linux.
hope this helps.

I have no experience with RL. At first I thought it might be an other joke takeoff, like Microsoft Linux. But after going to their web site, it appears to be on the up and up.

One thing that make Linux so attractive to the people who have spent the time to get the Linux boxes going, is that they are generally in complee control of their system.

The down side is that Linux, in any of its forms, has a steep learning curve. There are, however, distros that claim easier installions, for the newbie, than others. Again, I don't know anything about RL, but I have heard glowing praises for Mandrake. But then again, every distro has it's share of pundants. But at the heart of Linux is it's kernel, which is standard on all distros.

You should have no problem with you hardware being detected correctly. But, to be able to do everything you've described, I think 600 mb of hard drive may be a little slight. I would really recommend that you have at least 3 gb of disk for you Linux install.

Speaking of disks, Linux creates it's own partitions and formats them upon install. So if you have any partitions on the disk you're going to be using, run MS fdisk and remove any DOS or WIN9x partition to gain the amount of free disk space you think you'll need.

Although you can mount any WIN9X partition in Linux and share files, keep in mind that Linux cannot run MS Windows applications. But there are Linux equivilent packages that you would use in MS Windows. As an example, Star Office is Linux's package that duplicates Microsoft Office. Free. There isn't a MS IE for Linux, for obvious reasons, but there is Netscape, Mozilla and others for web browsing. Free. Yow have a choice of desktop windowing in Gnome, KDE and others, each having it's own distinct character. Allowing you to have either/or on your system. Free.

Until you have everything up and running, you will need to resort to windows to come back here for answers, if needed. And if you need help, no matter the distro, there is a great bunch of people here, that are always willing to help.

I don't know if I answered any of your questions, the way you wanted, but I hope I helped a bit. If I didn't answer some specific question, I'm sure someone else will be more than happy to fill in any gaps I may have left. Good Luck, and welcome to the Linux community. -mk



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If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

Off topic, but I have family in Elyria and North Ridgeville OH.

Small world this VDr.

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ATHLON 750, GA-71XE, 256 SDRAM, 20 GB 7200 Maxtor, 32 MB G400, SB Live, win98se, Centurytel DSL

Cindy I understand Exactly how you feel. I am also running Win98se and two weeks ago began my quest to convert to Linux. So far I have successfuly installed MANDRAKE,BESTLINUX,COREL LINUX,and Failed at about 3 more. one trick I have learned for getting around the Promise IDE controler I have is to unplug my second hard drive and plug it into a the second port on the motherboard next to the one that your cdrom's are plugged into. I have found that some if not most Linux distro's do not like to deal with the Promise Ultra IDE66 controler.
And there is a likelihood that if your hard drive is an ultra66 instead of 33 you may have trouble. I liked very much the BestLunux distro but it would not support my HP Photo/Smart Printer. The Mandrake Did and I could use my burner,CDROM,Floppy. I was going to try the RedmondLinux and could not log on to there Mirror sight. I have a fast DSL Modem now and down loading 600mb is not nearly so painful as it would be with a 56k modem. Be thankful that you do not have a winmodem because as a general rule Linux will not support it. If I cannot try the Redmond Distro, I think that I will go back to the Mandrake Linux 7.2 at least I could use printer and I am certain that I can get my DSL Modem to work. Then maybe the Wine Windows Emulator (This program can be found here http://linuxberg.mv.net/index.html) can help me with the camera Microdrive WingMan Extreme USB hub etc....
Scott Suggested I purchace the Running linux/3rd Edition I have purchased it and have read to page 41 this book is very informative well over 600 pages of informative but you may also need to purchase another book from O'Reilly called Linux In A Nutshell for more information on codes. I will say that your probably not going to learn Linux by the Hunt and peck method that I was hoping to use. This method of leaning works quite well under windows but If you try this under Linux you will likely become frustrated quite readily.
I Think the best way to learn is going to be reading the above mentioned books and the manual with whichever distro you decide to purchase. By all means if you purchase A distro USE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE the Tech help for real stumpers. I would have never found out how to get the Corel Linux to load if I had not contacted Them. I might add I thought I would like the Corel Linux Distro the best but found It to be anything but user freindly. Nothing like it's review's and nothing like there add. So Far the ones I have liked the best of the ones I have tried are as I stated before the BestLinux and Mandrake 7.2 the Mandrake 7.2 is the distro this sight seemed to lean tword for those that were beginning. It is cheap and it may be a little intimidating at first but trust me they can get much worse. I still would like to try the RL but May not be able to. this sight is a great place to find and get access to free downloadable distrobutions. (http://www.linux.org/dist/english.html)
Best of Luck.
ANDREW


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Delighted and Intrigued by things unseen.

Thank you all so much for the info so far. I have to reread the posts.... I just popped in from the Internet Forum, they helped me get back to life, Win was once again giving me grief...

ATGJDR - THANK YOU so very much. It's the weekend and I can't take time right now to do anything, husband demands almost all my attention, but I will indeed reread your post many times and take most of your advice. I have some questions so I hope you will stop back in here Monday morning/afternoon.

I tried the SUSe 7.0 Distribution and found it very pleasant to install. It was real easy and did not require any formating as it ran under Windows. It loads in quickly and is accessed once installed by booting with the install disk. I liked everything about it except that It doesn't support my printer. I downloaded the Redmondlunux distribution and could not install it unless I changed my hard drive location again since I have found two that would install without doing that I have decided to stick with only distrubutions That I can readily load without dissabling my controler for that drive. In my last post I mentioned that I could not access the mirror sight for the RL that was not true it is the Linuxone sight that I could not access for a down load. and also I could not get figurt out which to download from the Easy linux sight. I was also intrested in the Gentus Linux sight but couldn't access there Main sight. I wonder if some of these have gone out of buisness?

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Delighted and Intrigued by things unseen.

I would suggest Mandrake,I use Mandrake7.1 with a cable modem,more people use Mandrake than RL ,so getting help is going to be easier.If linux recognises your NIC internet should be fine.
For word processing Staroffice is a free fully compatible with MSoffice office suite.

As for Realplayer(haven't tried it )
Realplayer


AS for ease of installing software ,Mandrake uses RPM packages (very easy ) I think DEBIAN? uses an even easier method "get"
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PII266
Win95b/WinNT/Linux
64 megs ram
30gig Maxtor HD Pri Master(Win95/fat32,Linux/Ext2)
4 gig Quantum Pri Slave(winNT4/NTFS,sharedpart/Fat16)
Creative PC-DVD Dxr2
Creative CDRW 6424
Sound:SoundBlaster PCI64 integrated
Video:ATI mach64 VT2(Int)/Monster II

[email protected]

[This message has been edited by wonderinguy34 (edited 03-04-2001).]

[This message has been edited by wonderinguy34 (edited 03-04-2001).]

Thank you very much wonderinguy34. Is the Mandrake7 easy to install?

Debian uses dpkg for straight installation of deb files, similar to rpm for rpms. apt-get and aptitude are also for installations and upgrades. -mk

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If it ain't broke, fix it till it is.

Quote:

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Originally posted by cyndy10:
Thank you very much wonderinguy34. Is the Mandrake7 easy to install?

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Yes ,its very easy to install,but it is large (approx.1GB)not sure if 7.2 is smaller?

I Agree After having installed about 5 different Distrobutions I Found that Mandrake was the second easiest to install.
I have reverted to the original choice that others had suggested when I first got to this forum and began asking questions.
It's Mandrake 7.2 for me all the way Now if I could only figure out how to use it. Thus my next post.

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Delighted and Intrigued by things unseen.

I installed Redhat 7.0 from a cd and had no problems. I installed dual boot.I found it pretty easy to understand.Did the installation totally in GUI. My hardidsk is 10 gb, and conveniently it had 2 partitions when it came with Windows installed.Since both the partitions were DOS partitions,I emptied one partition and ran the linux installation cd.Of course I checked to remember that Windows was installed in the slightly bigger partition so during linux installation I didn't touch that. Did whatever partitions rewuired for linux and my linux is running fine now..I think linux is quite user friendly nowadays..ie, the distributions like Redhat etc. Maybe u should be bold and give it a try..:-)
Best of Luck.

i, just like you was fed up with windows and looked into linux. after much reading and thought, i decided to give it a go and dual boot with Mandrake 7.2. let me tell you it was ever so simple. as long as you get partioning etc. it is simple. i can't say that i aren't having any problems with linux though. i cannot get my internet up. i know how but am to newbie to do so. oh well....

Quote:

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I would suggest Mandrake,I use Mandrake7.1 with a cable modem,more people use Mandrake than RL ,so getting help is going to be easier.If linux recognises your NIC internet should be fine.

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my problem is that it didnt detect my NIC so i have to manually install it. no easy task
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

Quote:

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Originally posted by PimpHolic:
my problem is that it didnt detect my NIC so i have to manually install it. no easy task
https://discussions.virtualdr.com/

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I selected custom install and then when it asked if I would like to "setup a network"(not exact wording) said yes and voila.

I find I must write this as some Mandrake 7.2 users are having no problem with some things that others are. I bought one Mandrake 7.2 complete and had no trouble setting up my printer about 5 different ways as I tried them all to see which one produced the best results. On this same 7.2 I had no trouble with my sound card Nvidia TNT 2. When I got the second Mandrake 7.2 I had only two choices for the Printer. And I am completly unable to get the sound card to work. There apprears to be an old and new 7.2 out there and woe to the one who gets the old and has some of these items that the old will not configure.

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Delighted and Intrigued by things unseen.