Well, you should first buy/download a distro. I first used Redhat, because it seemed like the easiest to install alongside (without overwriting) Win2K. I''m now using Slackware 8.0 on another hard drive. I''ve also looked at Mandrake 8.0, they all seem to be pretty good, so take your pick .

Setting up X and your internet connection in Linux is the first thing you should set out to do. X is pretty easy to do. Redhat has an option to start it automatically for you on boot (you can set this up yourself by setting the initial run level to 5 later). If you don''t choose this option, you can always type "start x" to get it running. If you have an NVidia card, download their drivers, also.

Your internet connection may be more difficult that mine was to setup. I just used netconfig in Slackware, and let Redhat set it up in itself. Make sure you don''t have a WinModem though .

You''ll probably want to learn a little about gcc/g++ (C/C++ compilers) and later on make (dependency tracker, makes sure you don''t have to recompile everything due to one single change). I haven''t found any good tutorials on these, I just messed around with them a lot.

Here''s a couple websites that have been helpful for me:
http://gmml.slctech.org/~mackay/install-guide/node1.html
http://faqs.lokigames.com/faq.php3?view=index&product=GL40

I''m still learning Linux myself, so I''m far from being an expert .

[Resist Windows XP''s Invasive Production Activation Technology!]

man pages, man pages, man pages. they are the best reference. period. books tend to be a rewording of the man pages, and no sensible distro doesnt install the man pages.

learn to use the console. really, the best way to learn anything, is think of something you want to do, and figure out how to do it. keep trying to do different things, and eventually you will learn your way around. experiment, it is normal to reinstall your distro several times when you are first starting out. i cannot recommend a distro to you as imho they all suck anyway and its a bit inflammatory. just make sure that you are satisfied with what you have - this is what linux is about. make things work the way YOU want them to.

X is nice to have, and is convenient when you just want to get something done and dont care to learn anything about whats going on. like i said, learn to use the console. most of linux is the console. you may not remember but back in the day we had dos. you would do most things in dos, and then occasionally start windows 3.1 on top of dos's command line. linux is the same way - X windows runs on top of a console. X windows is not linux, its just a group of programs that run on linux.

enough ranting the very best way to learn is to sit down and start playing.

saai



oh yeah. once you have a solid grasp of the basics, i suggest checking out linux from scratch. www.linuxfromscratch.org
linuxfromscratch is the reason i think all distro's suck, and i heartily recommend that every linux user at least check it out and see what its all about.

Edited by - saai on August 23, 2001 9:40:56 PM

You don''t have to set the runlevel to 5: just rerun Xconfigurator and let it do the dirty work for you.