Completely new to Linux? Click and read along.

[metric]

Hi,
yes they do send CD, I got it.

and yes the NVIDIA drivers issue, It got solved

I tried NVIDIA-Linux-x86-180.51-pkg1.run and the drivers got installed in a jiffy. This comment am writing from my linux box, with NVIDIA drivers installed.

This link helped me http://stringofthoughts.wordpress.co...tu/#comment-33.
Thanks to every one, specially hellnoire for taking out the valuable time in assisting me.

Regards,
metric

[rnbv424140]

thanks. i thought it must be too good to be true lol. long wait though...

[Polkadot]

There's a new open source NVIDIA driver called: xf86-video-nouveau. RedHat/Fedora are switching to it because it offers more functionality than NVIDIA's drivers. It offers fully accelerated 3D and XRender.

Info/downloads @: http://www.t2-project.org/packages/x...o-nouveau.html

[hellnoire]

Metric, it's not a problem and great to hear you solved it.

Polkadot, I wish I had a nVidia card to try that with

Also, Karsh linked me to this, so I'll pass it along here, Ubuntu One. It's in beta, but looks like a damned good idea imo

[wond]

Great writeup hellnoire.

I am a Fedora user and Fedora's latest release 11 (Leonidas) is a great OS. You will have limitations for your ipod & mp3 playing (by default) though. And for that i would suggest to go for RealPlayer and Banshee from their repo. Everything else comes installed. GNOME is default and the rest of the desktops are available in their yum repository for installation if needed.
I would not fully agree with the keyboard bias of linux systems in your writeup above; since Ubuntu & Fedora have changed that a lot over the years and that's been the attempt of many other systems like OpenSUSE. I have used Solaris when it was in it's 1.x and 2.x versions and now i'm an active linux user ; and i can tell you that the 2 differ a lot. Not to take anything away from Solaris - i love the interface and terminal usage. Keyboard usage is for those who know linux and would prefer using the terminal; but if you are not the average linux/unix type believe me; you will not need to use it. Packages like Fedora & RHEL come pre-installed with all the apps you would need for home use and you can add some more on the fly from yum repo.

Summary is , if you want to try linux - try Ubuntu or Fedora or OpenSUSE (there are bunch of flavors there- more than even Baskin Robbins can offer ; but these 3 i am sure of). You won't have to twitch your finger all that much and you will be amazed at their speeds and setup ease.
Setting up a Windows system with all working s/w installed takes me a couple of days; but setting up the linux ones would not take more than 2 hrs if you have installed it once before already.

[hellnoire]

Realplayer, even in Linux for me, is a HELL NO. It was Windows only spyware back in the day, now it's evolved.

And the thing is you can try what you'd like. I personally like using the terminal and am trying to convert to Arch Linux. So whatever works, you use it. I'm at home using Terminal and Synaptic. The PDF attached I believe uses the GUI shell more then the terminal. And you're right on the setup time. Takes me 45 minutes to set up Ubuntu the way I like it.

[rnbv424140]

i know apprecieat this thread now. when i first strated ubuntu i looked 10 mins for the start button hahaha

[hellnoire]

That would only be KDE and no start button. You get the big K. With Gnome, you have a different way of achieving the same effect, but it's easiest with KDE.

[hyena]

Hey thanks for this Tutorial hellnoire, I'm thinking of installing Ubuntu 9.1, or PCLinuxOS 2009.1 after being without Linux for a few months. There's some really handy commands I've read so far, just browsing, but what I hate is not knowing how to "choose" what to install instead of letting the Repo download all kinds of proggies.
Used pclos for two years, dumped it when it went from 07, ...08, ... 09, leaving me in a real mess, lol . Borked !

This is an excellent way to get going, will be reading through this with aim of learning some basics which I never got the hang of with pclos; defining what I want installed, and learning a good backup method. Plus there may be some tips I can share too.

Installation is pretty easy on a dual boot Win XP System but would love to have Linux installation on my 500GB External Hard Drive, and have it boot from there. Just taking it slowly at moment, once i'm in the mood I'll go for it
Been fun to have just Win XP SP3 for awhile but running Linux is a special experience everyone should try. Having someone with knowledge and an interest to help is a must ! This is a cool Forum

[takerraj]

Hey Hellnoire, great job man. You made people involve in Linux. I shifted to Linux (Ubuntu) from XP. I learnt how to install softwares, playing games, songs, videos and all normal stuff. I really want to go into the geeky world of Linux because I want settle as Linux admin in my life. Because here in India there only few persons who mastered linux and in this recession linux is my only option. Can you give me any suggestions on how to master linux. The commands, programming, hacking etc etc. Please show me some practical way of learning linux in deeper sense. I want to play with linux!