The move to Linux-Things you need to know

It may not be quite as easy as you think...

Published on April 15, 2005 By PurrBall In OS Wars

Update: yum makes life easier. To install a package, for exaple, The GIMP, you would go ito terminal and type 'yum install gimp' or for Firefox, 'yum install firefox' etc. No more web searching!!

Comments (Page 5)

aimzzz

on Aug 17, 2005

I have GIMP for windows but don't think I encountered yum in getting it-- did get the GTK+ lib files, but I assume those are a bridgee allowing XP to relate to GIMP & irrelevant to what we're talking about here...

aimzzz

on Aug 17, 2005

Arg, oh arg... found in Fedora documentation:
Installation from Diskettes
There is no option to install Fedora Core from diskettes.

Now, I can understand not being able to put the install on diskettes, but surely there's a way to make a boot diskette & from there install from hard drive (like windows used to need a floppy boot in order to install it from a CD).

aimzzz

on Aug 17, 2005

Got the answer to the VFAT part--
"In Fedora, vfat includes a range of file systems, such as FAT-16 and FAT-32, found on most removable media. External hard drives usually contain vfat (FAT-32) file systems."

Their documentation is a bit dated-- xp doesn't support fdisk anymore

aimzzz

on Aug 17, 2005

Hey Meowy,
I got on the Fedora IRC- no need to go thru the excrutiating details here-- I think I'm pointed in the right direction now. Yesterday I had no idea where to start. Thanks for the thread. Will update you on this project!

PurrBall

on Aug 18, 2005

The EXT3 filesystem seems to work faster then VFAT. You can select what partition type in Disk Druid.

You're welcome.

aimzzz

on Aug 18, 2005

At this point I can pass on a useful bit. In installing Fedora from hard drive, booting from floppy is no longer an option. If you don't have a CD or DVD burner, a USB flash drive is an option- minimum size for the boot image 16 MB (commercial MB)
(gotta get one before I can proceed- at least they're cheap)

PurrBall

on Aug 18, 2005

Your computer doesnt boot from CDs?

I always install from an ISO image burned to a CD.

aimzzz

on Aug 18, 2005

I know it's hard to imagine, but I don't have a CD burner- no way to get the image onto the CD

A flash pen is way cheaper than getting a CD burner & some blanks

aimzzz

on Aug 19, 2005

Whuuhooooo!

Meowy!
Got the USB flash, the bits are torrenting (hopefully faster later)... it's my favorite past-time...doing a bunch of things I never did before, not totally clueless, but but mostly not knowing WTF I'm doing

Ahhhh.
(Don't be surprised later when I screw it all up & start whining-- really I love it!)

Thanks for all the help.

PurrBall

on Aug 19, 2005

You'll be glad.

)

Also, once you're up and running, you ahould check out the KDE-Redhat project at http://kde-redhat.sourceforge.net/ It really takes KDE to the next level (strongly recommended by me). Fedora is based off Redhat. When installing the project, be sure to exit out of X by doing Ctrl-Alt-F1. Then login as root. And type what you would to install it.

[plug]A screenie of my Fedora desktop: http://home.gwi.net/~mjonson/fedoraaug1905.png

tjesterb

on Aug 19, 2005

aimzzz,
The best Linux that I used was Suse. You can do an FTP install using only a boot disc to make the FTP connection. I imagine you could use your USB drive as the boot disc if you want to.

Check out this site for instructions for the SuSe 9.2 ftp install:
http://support.novell.com/techcenter/tips/10028.html

You are going to need to download the boot cd first.
Here is the site link that I used to receive the install:

IP: 140.221.37.130
Directory: /pub/suse/i386/9.2/
(use if needed (note I did not have to use this) User name = anonymous / Password = your email address)

The install process took a while because of the FTP install, but not that bad. In Suse you get all your updates and apps using Yast. Very quick and easy.

PurrBall

on Aug 19, 2005

I think she's already downloading Fedora.

I don't see why anybody wouldn't like it.

aimzzz

on Aug 19, 2005

Thanks, tjesterb,
I am already in the middle of getting Fedora. Both in this thread & on the Fedora forum I've seen that alot of people who are into Linux lean strongly to one incarnation or another & usually have good reasons for their preferences-- all in all a good thing. If something really annoys or crashes or works great, there's a choice. I'm not a Windows basher, but it's true that we only get one take on that concept.

I'm going to keep your comments in mind-- I have a huge amount of storage & no matter how things go with Fedora, it would be pretty interesting to see how different groups of designers have approached Linux. It's win-win (unless I do something really strange here...)

PurrBall

on Aug 19, 2005

It's win-win (unless I do something really strange here...)

hehe....

You'll have a good time.

tjesterb

on Aug 19, 2005

As much as I see that Linux has some definite advantages over Windows (File structure, stability) and I like the whole open source approach, I found that the applications that I needed just weren't there. After the initial install and some configuring, I found I was almost always booting into Windows. Eventually I always need the disc space back, and the Linux partition is the most dispensable.
I hated to lose the Suse partition (just reclaimed that a couple weeks ago) as I found it the most workable for me.
Hope your Fedora install works out for you, I have friends who swear by it.
We're working on a plan to convert some workstations at work over to RedHat (if for nothing else than to reclaim over 40 XP licenses for the office people to use)
I've been reading up on BSD. I want to set up a FreeBSD file server next winter, if I can get hold of the hardware I need.

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