Linux - Confused! )?

Aunty Em

Aunty Em

Well-Known Member
I've discovered there are several different ones e.g. Redhat, Mandrake, Suse, Psyche.... ad infinitum.

Which one is best for a total beginner who has only ever used a Windows OS?

I'm considering Mandrake 9.0 or Redhat 9.0.
 
I would suggest Mandrake,I started with Mandrake7.1 and it was very easy to install and configure,I'm sure 9.0 would be similar.I had only been using Win95 at the time ,so you shouldn't have a prob.One thing about Mandrake is it can be a rather large install ,up to a Gig of harddrive space for a minimal install.
 
Yep, 2nd vote for Mandrake for a beginner. Red Hat after you get the feel of things a little better.
 
Last time I installed Mandrake, it found and configured everything except my printer by itself during install. If it doesn't install it, at least hope your network card gets installed, then you can download drivers for most other things.
 
Hmmm. USB might be a problem, but I'm not sure. Luis?, Tommy? Octal? Come on guys, you know more about this than I do.
 
Drake 9 and RedHat 8 may detect the USB device properly. I personally have never dealt with any type of USB network device in RedHat so I'm unsure of how it works. From dealing with RedHat 8 though, the USB devices I've dealt with work so far.
 
I don't know of any that are on the same system....all the firewalls I use are stand-alone hardware or separate systems.

Just make sure to consistantly check out any available updates to stay secure. :)
 
I may install it on my other system and not go online with it untill I've had a chance to become familiar with it first. I'll probably get another HD for it.

I'm hoping to network all my systems before next year through a broadband router anyway.
 
USB cablemodem, that can be a serious problem, what brand is it?

Linux has a firewall?, sure it does, it is called shorewall in mandrake, but it won't filter outgoing traffic.
 
It's an Ambit :shrug: as far as I know. Specifically made for my ISP since it came with the broadband access.
 
i didn't like how "specifically made for my ISP" sounds regarding linux.

Take the safe path, buy a nic and connect the modem to it.
 
Analysts predict that the number of linux distributions will exceed the number of linux users within 4 years. They had a chart somewhere too... Let me find it...
 
Luis G said:
i didn't like how "specifically made for my ISP" sounds regarding linux.

Take the safe path, buy a nic and connect the modem to it.
Click to expand...

I will have to do that with the router anyway... but I suspect the "made specifically" myth I was told by the installer... I refuse to call him an engineer since he only installed the cables and hooked up the modem to them and not to the pc... is mainly to do with the fact that it has "ntlhome: broadband internet" emblazoned all over it and less to do with what's inside. If I've learnt one thing about "own brands" it's that they often contain "old" technology. :D
 
you may have to go googling for info using your cable modem with usb, try something like "linux <modem model> usb HOWTO" or something similar. I'm assuming it has an ethernet hookup too, i'd use that because it's probably a slightly faster and it'll be easier to configure in linux. make sure you can get it working in windows first, then if all else fails you can still post here ;)

as for a firewall, i'm sure all the cartoon character linux distros have firewall implementations. i use iptables which is directly implemented by the linux kernel. it can filter incoming, outgoing, forwarded, etc traffic but it's rather cryptic for new users (and us advanced ones too), i suspect it's probably what mandrake, RH, etc use too, their offerings are probably front ends for iptables.

if i haven't confused you yet then you're doing good because i've got myself pretty confused now, i'm feeling awfully random right now.

as far as user friendly distros go, i'd say go with mandrake, i like suse more but it's harder to get your hands on for free as they don't offer nice downloadable disc images.

i just posted this link in another thread but i'll post it again, here's a good linux primer starts off with the very basics
http://www.icon.co.za/~psheer/book/index.html.gz
another decent looking tutorial is "Linux for Dummies" I saw it at the library last weekend so I grabbed it for my brother, it looks to be based on red hat 8 and comes with installation cds.
 
aunty said:
I will have to do that with the router anyway... but I suspect the "made specifically" myth I was told by the installer... I refuse to call him an engineer since he only installed the cables and hooked up the modem to them and not to the pc... is mainly to do with the fact that it has "ntlhome: broadband internet" emblazoned all over it and less to do with what's inside. If I've learnt one thing about "own brands" it's that they often contain "old" technology.
Click to expand...
there may be some truth to it. there isn't really a set standard for sending data over catv coax. there are several competing standards, DOCSIS is about the most common.
 
I hooked up the modem using usb because I don't as yet have a nic but you can use either. So as you say, once I get a nic I'll install it using that.

I shall make sure everthing works in windows before I try getting it to work on linux.

I found a site that is specifically for troubleshooting the Ambit modems on ntlhome: and Blueyonder, so I may find some info there about firmware, etc.

troubleshooting

I just did a quick tweak test, anyone care to explain the results?

results
 
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