New User Installs

[jimf43 0]

I've been seeing a lot of posts in which new users are trying to install the latest and greatest Distros on their 'vintage' PC. Typically a 166-300 pentium or pentium II, with 128-256MB of Ram and a 1-2GB HD, and some 'unknown' video card. While It's entirely possible to install Linux on one of these machines, it may take a much higher level of expertise, and, it's unreal to expect the same level of performance and compatibility. There are no free rides.

 

Recommending that someone try Linux on their P3/4 with 1/2 GIG of memory and a 80GB HD is a snap even for a newbe... but definitely, not the same experience on an older rig.

 

IMHO to run the latest Distros with acceptable performance levels requires the same resources as if one were running W2K or even (arg) XP. Modern Linux Distros use resources (nearly) as much as any other OS, so, if you insist on running minimalist hardware, then you should be thinking in terms of a minimalist Linux configuration.

 

It is essential that you know 'all' of your hardware and the exact specifications of the box and monitor. as a GUI try something like ICE, and, Don't even think of running KDE or Gnome. And, stay with only 'stable' versions of apps. Make a text file of (1) your hardware specifications, (2) Distro type and version and, (3) anything else you can think of. Not only will this help you install and manage, but, you can just copy this 'when' you ask for advise on this or any other forum.

 

Linux is a terrific OS, but, it still requires more knowledge of the system workings and has less 'hand holding' than for the equivalent M$ product. The learning curve can be intense, but if you can handle that, it's a great experience and worth it. Good luck

[Dapper Dan 0]

Ditto to everything you said jimf43. That's how I started using IceWM, and after long stints with KDE and Gnome, it is still my DE of choice.

[jimf43 0]

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Ditto to everything you said jimf43. That's how I started using IceWM, and after long stints with KDE and Gnome, it is still my DE of choice.

I'm fortunate enough to have a choice of up to date hardware, a lot of memory (512MB minimum & it gets better), and a lot of HD space. That wasn't always the case and I understand how difficult and frustrating it can be to set up an older box. I have only tried ICE briefly, and like the clean interface, but since resources aren't a problem for me, I've settled on KDE as my default. Also, I'm not sure that ICE will support all the apps that I need to run? Maybe you can enlighten me on that?

[Dapper Dan 0]

IceWM will run every Gnome and KDE app I've ever tried to run. There are a few that give minor irritations, such as, Konsole does screwy things while trying to run it transparently in IceWM. I have incorporated into my IceWM menu the complete KDE and Gnome menus. The only place where it gets slightly more complicated is mounting and unmounting cdroms, usb readers, floppies, etc, but thats pretty easy to overcome. I just set in the menu entries to mount and umount the devices/file systems.

Aside from the fact that it is blindingly faster than either KDE or Gnome, I like it because it is so very easily configured. There are many themes out there for IceWM, and it's a snap to create your own. I've not taken any screenshots in a while, but this is the last one I did, using a theme I created called "Void", shortly after I switched from MDK 9 to RH 9.

 

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/352713/void1.jpg

[jimf43 0]

Thanks Dan.

 

Sounds like I should look further into IceWM. I'll try to get to it in the next day or two.

 

I'm heavily into CAD, Graphics, and database apps so I need all of those. I wonder if smb4k would work for samba connections..? it's very good. Haven't really found a file manager that I like yet. I'm a big supporter of ZTree in Window$ but the XTree clones in Linux are not well supported and pretty simplistic. I'm trying to talk Kim Henkle at ZTree to do a Linux port. He says he'd love to, but can't see any profitable way to do it in the near term. A number of us are still pushing him but we understand that he's got to make a living. The down side of open source ;(

[danleff 0]

Well said on the install information.

 

What would be nice to have is a faq section for newbies to refer to when considering a distro. Something we could all refer them to for general considerations, install issues and the like, as well as common problems.

 

I'm considering doing this on my own web page.

[jimf43 0]

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Well said on the install information.

Thanks, High praise coming from you and Dan

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What would be nice to have is a faq section for newbies to refer to when considering a distro. Something we could all refer them to for general considerations, install issues and the like, as well as common problems.

I'm considering doing this on my own web page.

I agree, I've thought about putting up a sub-domain for just that kind of thing. But, be aware that once you start that kind of thing... well... it can be 'a lot' of work to keep current (been there, done that) ;( Actually It might be more appropriate to somehow have it on this site. Either way it should be helpful considering the horde of new users turning up.

[danleff 0]

Let's see if the sys admin sees this. It can be some work, but if it is split up between users and reviewed by someone before faqs are submitted, it could be helpful. We seem to be repeating a lot of information. Not uncommon. I did admin work on a bios site in recent years and it is a lot of work for the sys admin to keep up and adding information.

 

I did not do this myself, but it seems worthwhile.

 

One suggestion is to ask new users to do searches, but many are truely newbies and do not realize that their problems may already reside on the board. Nor, do they always have the knowledge to do searches.

 

I have a number of distros on my systems and it is hard keeping a database of answers and links.

[jimf43 0]

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Let's see if the sys admin sees this. It can be some work, but if it is split up between users and reviewed by someone before faqs are submitted, it could be helpful. We seem to be repeating a lot of information. Not uncommon.

I Agree.

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One suggestion is to ask new users to do searches

I've 'NEVER' seen a new user do a search

[Maillion 0]

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Let's see if the sys admin sees this. It can be some work, but if it is split up between users and reviewed by someone before faqs are submitted, it could be helpful. We seem to be repeating a lot of information. Not uncommon.

I Agree.

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One suggestion is to ask new users to do searches

I've 'NEVER' seen a new user do a search

I have, and often, although there are a few around who may think I am not a "noob", I've only been doing Linux for myself for less than a year, so there is at least one 'newbie' who searches this and a lot of other boards, and Google! 8)

[Maillion 0]

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Let's see if the sys admin sees this. It can be some work, but if it is split up between users and reviewed by someone before faqs are submitted, it could be helpful. We seem to be repeating a lot of information. Not uncommon. I did admin work on a bios site in recent years and it is a lot of work for the sys admin to keep up and adding information.

I did not do this myself, but it seems worthwhile.

One suggestion is to ask new users to do searches, but many are truely newbies and do not realize that their problems may already reside on the board. Nor, do they always have the knowledge to do searches.

I have a number of distros on my systems and it is hard keeping a database of answers and links.

If this comes to be, I'll do my best to help. I'm not too shabby at making stuff readable...

[Dapper Dan 0]

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Haven't really found a file manager that I like yet.

Have you tried Krusader? It's a FileRunner/Gentoo type manager with excellent ftp support. You can drag and drop files between different machines! We've been using it at my radio station for quite a while and it has never crashed once.

[danleff 0]

Agreed Dapper Dan. Krusader is a fine file manager.

 

OK, let's see what happens with the faq suggestion.