Howdy everyone. I've had an old laptop which I reformatted and installed Red Hat Linux 9 on so I have a VERY basic understanding of working with that form of Linux. However, here's the deal. I am running Windows 2000 on this computer (Very happy with it but Im switching computers out) and Windows XP on the other computer Im switching to. My plan: Clear the hard drive of everything windows and install a form of Linux on to this computer. My issues: This computer will be used for C/C++, and Python game development as well as Pearl/CGI, and PHP web development. I will be hosting a web server with this computer. What I need: A easy to use, reliable distribution of linux that is astounding at developing games and maintaining a web server with. Suggestions? Also, I have a linksys router that is connected to 3 Windows-based computers. To make a linux computer part of the LAN network should I just plug in the cable or is there some tricky stuff to configure that turns into a ballet of fingers? haha don't mind that last little bit of the sentence. Im just sort of bored right now and I need something to do. I am currently looking at Red Hat and Fedora distributions of linux. I will be asking an old aquaintence for her opinion since she works with both linux and windows constantly with robot programming and development. Thanks in advance for the help everyone! Brandon

I've been running Fedora Core 3 and have been quite pleased with it. As for my internet connection it automatically detected my settings through DHCP so I have no trouble at all. All I had to do was set it up to work with a PPP connection and it took it from there.

As for the programming side of it, I've only messed with C/C++ on it with no trouble at all (as long as you know what libraries to plug in to).

I used Red Hat 9 before, but Fedora 3 has been far better in my experience.

interesting. I appear to have been looking at the right distributions then =)
I suppose Ill give Fedora a whirl. What's the worst that can happen? I don't like it. Ill just install a different version of linux lmao.

Just curious, which computer should I actually install the linux on? XP or 2000? I personally like 2000 better but everyone says XP is more reliable. *shrugs*

suse is much nicer! (yoper's also good)

btw, win2k is deprecated.

I would recommend Ubuntu. It's an excellent desktop distribution which is a breeze to keep up to date thanks to apt/Synaptic (a la Debian but with an up to date set of repositories.) The support network is very good with very active forums and a busy IRC channel (#ubuntu on irc.freenode.net).

Ubuntu uses Gnome by default although installing KDE/<insert your favourite window manager here> is just a matter of a few clicks.

You might also want to check out Distrowatch for a list of distro's and brief summaries of what they are good at.

Hope this helps

kezz

I would suggest Gentoo - it's got a really neat package management system and you can compile everything from the smallest detail especially for your make and model of machine. It's like tailor made to your machine.

The community is helpful and there is tons of documentation on the site.

Its package management also deals with upgrades pretty painlessly... and you hardly ever have to think about package dependancies (much like dll hell on a win box) because it's all handled for you.

There's not a handicapped freebie version either, and you get KDE and Gnome (or whatever other desktop you prefer) as the developers intended them without redhat or whatever else interference.

I tried Fedora and Mandrake, but Gentoo has been the one I've stuck with for well over a year now.

http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/where.xml

You do need a pretty speedy internet connection though to get all your packages you may want to install. You also need to be interested in knowing about compling things in linux... personally I've found working with Gentoo taught me things about linux that the other distros did not or tried to hide. Gentoo is like one of those see-through cases that proudly puts all the innards on display.

Quote: Original post by ChiefArmstrong
I've been running Fedora Core 3 and have been quite pleased with it.

Same. It's a bit slow and bloated, but I am running it on a machine that's coming on 5 1/2 years old. It'll be fine on a modern one.

It's dualbooting with Windows 2000. Great OS (in some ways better than XP, even on that banger machine of mine), but support for it is beginning to dwindle.

Quote: Original post by paulecoyote
I would suggest Gentoo - it's got a really neat package management system and you can compile everything from the smallest detail especially for your make and model of machine. It's like tailor made to your machine.

I wouldnt recommend Gentoo for a newbie. But if you consider yourself an average linux user and have lots of time to waste downloading, asking and fixing mistakes, you can try it. The best package management and customization i have ever seen.

I would suggest something based on Debian. Debian is stable and has a great package manager, but it's a pain to install. I would suggest Ubuntu or Mepis. These have most of the bonuses of Debian, but are much more user-friendly.

With Mepis, for example, I put in the liveCD and got a working desktop with KDE, sound, java, and flash. I was then able to install with a simple graphical installer that asks very few questions and it worked great. It also has access to the huge Debian package repositories, although I couldn't use Debian kernel packages and I couldn't get Gnome to work perfectly.

Found my Redhat Linux 9.0 installation cds sitting in a stack of music.
I, of course being a dumbass, booted the Windows 2000 computer (18GB HD) with the installation disk, wiped the Windows partitions out, created Linux partitions and installed the OS.

HOWEVER, whenever I boot the OS now it gets all the way past interactive setup and then suddenly, when I think it's about to start I get a flickering message saying my moniter will shutdown in so many seconds. Weird. Its like my computer was shutoff yet I still hear the hum of the old thing chugging away.

My guess, installation problem. I reinstalled. Same thing. Oh and it doesn't detect the right videocard (I only have one lmao) or the moniter. It just sets them to default probably because the cds don't have the new types in their search categories. As Im thinking it could be a graphical problem I might try to install in text mode.

Can I get any help concerning the installation of Redhat Linux 9.0? Any help is greatly appreciated. I still can't find much on Redhats site. Ill continue looking though.

Thanks in advance,
Brandon Haston