Absolute Linux newbie...

CaineDNA · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 3

Kinda embarassing... but I'm a long-time Mac user, and have been Linux-curious for the past few weeks. Yesterday, my iBook's video card died on me (apparently a fairly common problem), and it'll cost more to repaid than what I paid for it, a month ago.
So I'll be leaving the country soon, and will need a laptop for it, and am considering getting a non-mac laptop, and installing Linux to it. Before doing so, I wanted to give it a try, and see if it's an OS I could live with.
So I downloaded GentooPPC live CD, and booted from it successfully on my iMac at home, but got lost along the way. I'd used a little DOS back in the day, but the commands seemed terribly foreign to me.
Here's my inquiries to you all: I recall hearing that Linux could be used very GUI heavy, with great customizability. How much wading through text-commands does one generally do in Linux? I'm okay if it's a little bit here or there, but I'm not eager to return to the days of DOS.
Secondly, where can I find info for people as hopelessly lost about all this as me? I find so-called Linux 101 guides, and they seem very clear, up until they start throwing around terms and such I've never heard before. I don't even know how to browse directories!

akvalentine · n00b Joined: 27 Jun 2002 Posts: 42

As an absolute Linux Newbie, Gentoo is probably not for you. It takes a bit more knowledge to setup an run effectively than most other Linux Distos.

I would recommend that you try either RedHat or SuSE, or Mandrake if they have a PPC version. If you are able to tame one of them, and are still interested in Gentoo, give it another shot, but it's not a good distro to cut your teeth on.

But yes, Linux can be very GUI. I like the command line because for many things I find it to be faster and easier, but the file managers for KDE and Gnome are really quite good, and the GUI admin tools are very nice and getting better with each new release.

As for Linux 101, I find google.com to be the best source of info. When you are reading a HOWTO and come across a term or concept you don't get, google for it. You should find lots of help.

Good luck! If you decide to continue with Gentoo, we'll help out as much as we can.

nephros · Posted: Sat Oct 11, 2003 9:06 am Post subject:

It is understandable the command line will seem a bit awkward and scary to someone used to GUIs (and probably especially a mac person), but believe me, it' nothing at all like DOS.
It is a very powerful and versatile tool, and believe it or not much more user-friendly than the DOS CLI.
You will use it quite a bit once you've become accustomed to it, but you don't have to if you don't want to.

To get your feet wet, there is a Gentoo Linux LiveCD around, which you can boot without installing anything, and play around a bit using either KDE or Gnome (the two major Desktop Environments in Linux). Download the ISOs here.

We have a lot of people new to Linux here using Gentoo, and while the do run into problems, it's usually solved quickly following the excellend guides at gentoo.org, and seeking help here, or the mailing list, or IRC.

Should you decide against Gentoo, I hear Mandrake Linux have very nice graphical tools for system administration and are considered very user-friendly, as do SuSE and RedHat. Don't use Debian though. Although that is a great distro, it's definitely not newbie-friendly.

I would recommend having some dead tree guide for Linux newbies at hand (like a "for dummies" book or similar), in case you don't have access to the net when you have a problem.

Hope this helps, and that you will have fun with Linux!
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zenlunatic · Guru Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 312

If I were you I would search for ibook install debian and you'll find instructions to install debian without even needing to download an iso. I would start out with debian if I were you. Suse, MDK, YDL, and others aren't really all that great. For some reason those companies just haven't gotten the "easy autoconfig installers" down yet. Debian PPC is great for an easy install, and apt is better than Portage and RPM for new users because no dependency hell and no compiling everything just to try out stuff. You'll get used to how linux works faster using tools like aptitude which describes packages, lists dependencies, etc... Although I know you will eventually make it to using portage. This is how I learned linux. I think your best bet is to use debian for a while. Once you decide what WM's you want and apps you want than switch over. For me I have to choose KDE or Gnome because I'm on dial-up, so I used the debian versions and figured which one I liked before downloading and compiling on Gentoo.

zenlunatic · Guru Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 312

Oh yeah. I forgot. If your traveling than GNU/Linux on a laptop is the best option you could have. Linux allows you to fully control your hardware, and you can run console with emacs/vim whatever and type everything with very little power consumption. Than when you get to power just fire up openoffice or gnome-office and do you formatting as neccesssary. You can check and compose mail in the same respect. You can even use two mail clients. You can have lots of fun with wifi too.

CaineDNA · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 3

So I'm not so worried about that. I guess the issue I run into with running Gentoo is that I don't know any commands, or how to find a list. When I run the Live CD, I get as far as logging in, and I have no clue how to rummage through directories, or anything. I wish there was a visual guide of some sort.
I know I must sound horribly lame, but I've dealt with many text-based user interfaces, and none have given me this sort of trouble...
I also tried Debian's installer, and it came up with a bunch of partition errors and such. I haven't partitioned the drive yet, as I don't even know if Linux is something I want to use.

zenlunatic · Guru Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 312

Try finding someone in person who can teach you. Your local 2600 meeting might have some willing folks.

stimuli · Posted: Tue Oct 14, 2003 6:09 am Post subject:

If I were you I'd continue using Macs/iBooks and installing linux alongside Mac OS X. Making the switch to PC hardware and plunging headfirst into Linux not knowing whether or not you are into it may be a bad call. Experiment. Live CDs are great. Search gentoo.org for info on the live CDs, which have bugs, how to get started, etc.

NuclearWasted · n00b Joined: 14 Oct 2003 Posts: 6 Location: Pennsylvania

Yeah, a friend suggested if I was interrested in converting to linux once and for all to use Gentoo. Since I'm not ready to sacrifice my desktop yet, so I'm loading it on a powerbook I just purchased. Hopefully I'll have the powerbook by the end of the week.

I'm very experience with Windows/DOS and have installed linux a few times on a seperate partition on other machines of mine. I never really had any problems but coudln't put in the time to lean the ins and outs of the system. I figure that I've got enough technical know how to power though 75% of it, and hopefully with the resources I can find online(this group included) I'll become a perment convert.

CaineDNA · n00b Joined: 11 Oct 2003 Posts: 3

I'm not ready to switch from Macs, but wanted to give Gentoo another shot. So far, my problem seems to be that when I boot from the LiveCD, I login to the root, and I was under the impression that it should auto-boot the KDE from there. I end up getting stuck at a command-line interface, for the LiveCD root. A lot of commands that I was under the impression wold work don't seem to give any reaction (dir, /home, etc..).
Should some sort of graphical interface be coming up after I login to the root? Is there some visual step-by-step out there, or have I encountered a real problem?

dizzey · n00b Joined: 03 Oct 2003 Posts: 40

i never tried the live cd so i dont know if the gui should start automatic.but you can try to start the gui with the command "startx"
short list of commands
linux dos
ls == dir
cd == cd
cd .. == cd..

an important thing in console mode is "tab"
if you print l and then push tab twice you will se
all commands that starts with the letter l

if onl one kommand starts with an l it will complete.

this works when coping files asswell

if i want to copy the file "verylongfilename.file"

i could print "cp ve" the push tab and the console would complete it to "cp verylongfilename.file"

if there would be another file starting with ve in the same directory tex very.file

"cp ve" the push tab tab
would resoult that the computer would printout
verylongfilename.file
very.file

and it would complete the command to "cp very"

hbmartin · Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:48 pm Post subject:

The easiest way to learn Linux coming from the Mac is:
Learning Mac OS X!
Since OS X is unix based, it's a nice way to ease in to the command line.
I concur though, that if you're not comfortable learning the command line, Gentoo probably isn't for you (yet).

I would say Debian is even harder to install than Gentoo.
I would recommend you look into SuSE, Mandrake, or Yellow Dog.

Harold