My NEW Linux page



This is my experiance with Linux so far.....

I'm NEW to Linux. I tried 4 different versions before I settled on Mandrake.

My first attempt was Red Hat 7.1. I got the CD with a 2" thick book from Micro Center, a local computer store. It was on sale for about 5 bucks.

OK, I thought, a "good deal", a new operating system, free software, freedom from Microsoft, COOL.
Oh Yea, 1 problem, If you want everything mentioned in the book, (2 inches thick) you have to buy the WHOLE SET. (Sold seperatley)Hmmmmm...




OK Let's try it anyway
UH OH....A text interface, A whole bunch of stuff scrolling on my screen.
I don't quite follow what's going on, but it seems to be going well.
Time to partition my hard drive. 40 gig hard drive, 1/2 for windows 2000, 1/2 for linux. Should be a no brainer. I've used f-disdk before. I've been using copmputers since MSDOS 3.3, on my old, reliable 286 machine.


Which, by the way still works. I've kept it, over the years, so that my Nieces and Nephews could play "Funny Face", an old shareware program. {Looks like the shareware people have upgraded, Now you need a 486 to run "Funny Face"} Now my Grand Niece and neighbor's daughter play it.






I then tried OpenBSD 3.4, and found it's text installation confusing. It came attached to a magazine. With another disk that included "EXTRAS".
Cool, more FREE Stuff.
The installation "guide" was buried half way though the magazine, and consisted of about 1 1/2 paragraphs.


Wow, a whole lot of help for a "NEWBIE".


It asked me if I wanted to use my whole 40 gig hard drive and I said NO, (I wanted to save WIN 2000 on half of it) then I was told I wouldn't have enough room for it. So I rebooted and and when the question came back around I said "OK, use my whole hard drive". Then it gave me some criptic message and said I couldn't do that.
Hmmmmmm...... I have a 40 gig hard drive, 256 megs of Ram, and yet I can't use either 1/2 or my whole hard drive to load this version.
Their WEB page is a liitle more help, BUT, you would either have to have 2nd computer to view it while your installing on the first computer, or print out a WHOLE LOT of pages.
I mean, COME ON, How can you view the (text based) install directions, online, when you're booting up your computer?


Next up was REd Hat 7.3.
OK, I can probably use the same book.
I got 3 disks this time (Thanks Milt). Milton was the main computer guy at my work, and had previously tried Linux but ripped it off of his computer when he gave it to his kid.

Turns our that Red Hat 7.3 was the same type of interface as 7.1. You had to read a 2" thick book just to install everything. Now I don't mind reading, even "dry" computer books. However, I shouldn't have to read the book repeatedly just to INSTALL.



Next up was Mandrake 9.2. The web site told me that 10.0 was being worked on but that 9.2 was stable. COOL!!!!
I found Mandrake by visiting google.com and typing in "Easy Linux". The first bunch of links poined me to Mandrakesoft.com.. THey gave me a choice, either but a CD set from them, or download 3 CDs. OK, I'm cheap, I'll download 3 cd and burn them. Wait a minute, you have to burn an ISO??? What's that? Oh wait a minute, it's explained on the web page. It even gives a list of CD burners that cappable of burning an "ISO image".

Hey, mines listed! It even lists how to do it on MY CD burner. COOL!

Ok I "burned" the "ISO images" onto 3 CDs, I put them into my CD ROM and reboot. Hmmmm...., could this work?



"WELCOME TO MANDRAKE" says the spash screen. I go through several screens that basically tell me, "I see you have this item on your computer is that right?" I say "YES" and the install continues. I now come to a screen that says, "You have this much room on your hard drive, slide the botton to tell me how much of the you wasnt to use for Mandrake.






HEY I'm not finished yet

last updated----07\25\04