Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[snalin]

I'm planning on installing Ubuntu or some other linux-based OS on my old computer, mainly for programming purposes (and forcing myself to start using command line to navigate etc.). Does anyone know of any good guides that's a) written for people who knows the difference between a mouse and a keyboard and b) not written by linux fanatics?

The ones I've found either wants to tell me what an Os is before I start, or think it's important to tell me that Microsoft is "enjoying an illegal monopoly". Do you have good experiences with anything? Any hints?

[schimmy]

i switched to using ubuntu full time a month ago and i've not looked back
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/index is a good place to go to for guides on basic stuff.
omgubuntu.co.uk and webupdate.org are good places to visit daily to keep yourself updated on new apps and junk like that - omgubuntu especially is full of useful tips on neat stuff you can do.

i don't tend to bookmark links for guides i just use one-off, though - it is super easy to google tutorials and the like]

what sort of guides are you looking for? i've got some bash scripts saved on my computer that i've found useful that i'll happily share if they're relevent.

[BlahBlah]

You don't really need a guide to install a linux distro anymore. Just stick Ubuntu on a CD and try it out and then when it comes to installing it's very simple, just a GUI wizard.

I used to be a linux fanatic and tried out a few different distributions but now I just run windows 7 and ssh into the uni's linux servers.

You're a computer scientist, right? Our uni is very big on us using *nix and runs courses, plus all of their computers are dualbooted linux/windows. I'm assuming yours will as well. These lecture notes look pretty good: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1011/UnixTools/slides.pdf

[yellowfoliage]

Install Linux Mint or Ubuntu and start playing around (gnome version of mint preferably), they are pretty self explanatory at this point. Then when you want to do something you don't know how to do, hit the Absolute Beginner Talk forum on Ubuntu, and it will answer any question succinctly but without talking down to you (works for Mint 99% of the time as Mint is basically an Ubuntu skin).

[jhocking]

You don't really need a guide to install a linux distro anymore. Just stick Ubuntu on a CD and try it out

This is what I'm planning to do to occasionally use Linux on my Macbook:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/put-ubuntu-10-04-on-flash-drive-using-windows/

[celticgeek]

Is making a USB flash drive from Windows going to work for a Macbook?

[jhocking]

I'm pretty sure it will. It'll be a Linux boot disk, nothing to do with Windows, and the CPU in a Macbook is an Intel chip.

Anyway I think there's a way to put Linux on a USB memory stick from OSX, that was just the first link I found.

[celticgeek]

More help (maybe)

[jhocking]

second link from that search says:
"There is an unresolved issue in that you cannot create a bootable USB flash drive from within Mac OS X. You must create the stick in Linux or Windows."

darn. Well on the plus side, that confirms what I already assumed, that a stick prepared on Windows will work on a Mac. I haven't turned on my Windows machine literally in months, hope it still works.

[snalin]

Okay I'm sure I've become some anti-hardwar monster now.

I didn't have any flash drives available today, so I got the cd-based installation file for ubuntu. Problem is, my old computer keeps ejecting the cd at random points during the installation, forcing me to restart the whole process. I'm about to drive a spike through the piece of shit machinery, but I guess I'll give it a go with a flash drive tomorrow. With two laptops with wildly malfuncioning hardware (to new one shoots straight to 90 degrees Celcius core temperature during stress tests, this one has the dvd drive just randomly fuck up), and one of the external hard drives on my main stationary failing, I'm really not having a good week tech-wise.

[pwhodges]

It's a test to determine whether you are worthy.  If you are worthy, you get a job in tech support, and get to sneer at other people with problems.

I'm not telling you how you pass and become worthy.

[schimmy]

i'm not sure if it would change much at all, but you can install ubuntu via the internet using a different boot CD - if your CD drive isn't reliable, i guess that might work.
bear in mind, though, that if you're planning to install via a wireless network, as far as i can tell, it is impossible to use a network which uses WPA security - it has to be WEP or nothing.

[bicostp]

In my opinion there are two good Linux distributions:

- CentOS (Red hat Enterprise without the branding or support)
- Parted Magic (an excellent emergency boot disc)

Most other Linux communities are full of Stallman Youth, who (like you posted in the OP) would much rather tell you about how evil Microsoft is, argue about which audio subsystem is best, or tell you to fix problems yourself because you "have the source" than actually progress the OS into something stable and not fragmented.

If you want to dabble with programming, use something like .NET Express or NetBeans on Windows. You might as well target more than 0.89% of the desktop market.

it has to be WEP or nothing.

WEP is nothing.

[snalin]

I'm actually taking classes in java, so dabbling is a bit beyond it. I've also found out that the actual info from Ubuntu itself is fairly good. I guess I believed the stereotype about having to find all your info in obscure forums with bad formating of their posts.

And you gotta give it to them, there's a certain charm and good-hearted ideology in a company that not only lets you download their stuff for free, but mails you a cd if you find that too hard to do.

[celticgeek]

I'm using Ubuntu (10.4 LTS) myself, although I have used a fairly large number of distros in the past.  I have relatively modern equipment, so it installs pretty easily.  And I find that the Ubuntu information and forums are pretty reasonable. 

I figure that Ubuntu is what Linspire aspired to be, but never quite made it.