- WLUG - wlug.mailman3.com

Re: [Wlug] Another distro Question

by Andy Stewart

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Tuesday 17 August 2004 9:04 am, Martin, Eric wrote: > I'm teaching a Beginners Linux course in a few weeks for Nitelife with the > Worc Pub Schools. I was almost ready to go with Fedora, but I don't think > that has what I'm looking for. I want something easy for people to pickup, > and I don't think RPMs don't give you the linux feel. I'm going to start > out w/Knoppix, but I also want to get into a disk install. I've only used > Gentoo, RHAT, and Knoppix. A friend mentioned SuSe, but I've never used > it. Very open to suggestions, I want as people to enjoy this class, not > think that linux is out of their grasp. So, the question is what distro > would people recommend for beginners aside from Knoppix? > > Eric HI Eric, Are you actually going to be allowed to obliterate the existing hard drive contents on the computers for this Linux class? If so, that's actually a good thing! I teach an intro course for the Chelmsford Community Education program, and I'm not allowed to blow away Windows on their hard drives (shucks...). So, I stick with Knoppix and user level concepts and it has worked out rather well. Later, Andy - -- Andy Stewart, Founder Worcester Linux Users' Group Worcester, MA USA http://www.wlug.org -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.4 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFBIoMPHl0iXDssISsRAjhwAJ0dy1gHGR4xp2mECx/P3QsMDVA7BgCfSlmC 5j7MiYpm0+Hz2AHNX7gXbm8= =yCuv -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Aug. 17, 2004

Re: Another distro Question

by Bob George

Martin, Eric wrote: > I'm teaching a Beginners Linux course in a few weeks for Nitelife with > the Worc Pub Schools. I was almost ready to go with Fedora, but I > don't think that has what I'm looking for. I want something easy for > people to pickup, and I don't think RPMs don't give you the linux > feel. I'm going to start out w/Knoppix, but I also want to get into a > disk install. I've only used Gentoo, RHAT, and Knoppix. A friend > mentioned SuSe, but I've never used it. Very open to suggestions, I > want as people to enjoy this class, not think that linux is out of > their grasp. So, the question is what distro would people recommend > for beginners aside from Knoppix? > The knoppix 3.4 hard disk install with the "debian" option gives you a very nicely configured system that should more-or-less work on most modern hardware. It is NOT debian, although based on debian, but for your purposes should be just fine. Be advised that getting it to a normal debian state is NOT trivial, although the results can be quite satisfying. So if you're going to use knoppix to start with, continuing on with the hd install will give the same features and look while allowing further customization. Just keep in mind that it's not *really* debian, and some updates can give headaches. It's not also notably secure. - Bob

Aug. 17, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Another distro Question

by Andrew Robert

Is this course as much about learning Unix/Linux commands or the distribution itself? I believe that virtually any Linux distribution could be a good choice if you are spending most of your time discussing how to use the command line and general administrative tasks. Once the command line basics and bash shell scripting is covered, specific distributions could be covered. I would then say that Fedora or Suse are good general choices. Slackware is good too but it is not necessarily for a new user. On Tue, 2004-08-17 at 09:04, Martin, Eric wrote: > I'm teaching a Beginners Linux course in a few weeks for Nitelife with > the Worc Pub Schools. I was almost ready to go with Fedora, but I > don't think that has what I'm looking for. I want something easy for > people to pickup, and I don't think RPMs don't give you the linux > feel. I'm going to start out w/Knoppix, but I also want to get into a > disk install. I've only used Gentoo, RHAT, and Knoppix. A friend > mentioned SuSe, but I've never used it. Very open to suggestions, I > want as people to enjoy this class, not think that linux is out of > their grasp. So, the question is what distro would people recommend > for beginners aside from Knoppix? > > Eric > > ______________________________________________________________________ > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug Thank you, Andrew Robert Systems Architect TS&S Infrastructure Support - OpenVMS Massachusetts Financial Services Phone: (617) 954-5882 Pager: (781) 764-7321

Aug. 17, 2004

Installfest/bakeoff

by Brian Waite

With this talk of different distros lately, I was wondering if anyone was interested do an installfest and/or a distro bakeoff Where we can all see how each distro install, behaves, and how the HW support is. I for one would enjoy trying to install some distros on random machines. Any thoughts? Thanks Brian

Aug. 17, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Another distro Question

by Mike Leo

Suse is a good looking distro....pretty icons and colorful screens. Mandrake 10 is also full of eye candy. Fedora Core is really dry and bland...if you want to show people cool stuff, i'd avoid it as you are. Knoppix is harddrive installable, too, if you want. Mepis has a livecd too but I forget how that looks....i think it was colorful as well. --- "Martin, Eric" <MartinE(a)worc.k12.ma.us> wrote: > I'm teaching a Beginners Linux course in a few weeks > for Nitelife with the > Worc Pub Schools. I was almost ready to go with > Fedora, but I don't think > that has what I'm looking for. I want something > easy for people to pickup, > and I don't think RPMs don't give you the linux > feel. I'm going to start > out w/Knoppix, but I also want to get into a disk > install. I've only used > Gentoo, RHAT, and Knoppix. A friend mentioned SuSe, > but I've never used it. > Very open to suggestions, I want as people to enjoy > this class, not think > that linux is out of their grasp. So, the question > is what distro would > people recommend for beginners aside from Knoppix? > > Eric > > _______________________________________________ > Wlug mailing list > Wlug(a)mail.wlug.org > http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug > __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - 100MB free storage! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

Aug. 17, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Another distro Question

by Brian Waite

----- Original Message ----- From: Martin, Eric <martine(a)worc.k12.ma.us> Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2004 09:04:51 -0400 Subject: [Wlug] Another distro Question To: Worcester Linux Users Group <wlug(a)mail.wlug.org> I'm teaching a Beginners Linux course in a few weeks for Nitelife with the Worc Pub Schools. I was almost ready to go with Fedora, but I don't think that has what I'm looking for. I want something easy for people to pickup, and I don't think RPMs don't give you the linux feel. I'm going to start out w/Knoppix, but I also want to get into a disk install. I've only used Gentoo, RHAT, and Knoppix. A friend mentioned SuSe, but I've never used it. Very open to suggestions, I want as people to enjoy this class, not think that linux is out of their grasp. So, the question is what distro would people recommend for beginners aside from Knoppix? Eric, Are you familair with the Knoppix hdinstall? It is not 100% perfect yet, but sometimes that the linux feel :). As it is using debain as its under pinnings, you can then show them how to migrate from knoppix to the debain stable/unstable repoistories and update their systems. If you are looking ofr more of a windows based installers where you answer some questions, install and don't touch it again, then they are all toss-ups. Why don't you think RPMS give you the Linux feel? If you are loking for the barebones to the metal feel go with Gentoo, but this I think will scare general users. Thanks Brian

Aug. 17, 2004

RE: [Wlug] Another distro Question

by JONATHAN BEALL

Aug. 17, 2004

Another distro Question

by Martin, Eric

I'm teaching a Beginners Linux course in a few weeks for Nitelife with the Worc Pub Schools. I was almost ready to go with Fedora, but I don't think that has what I'm looking for. I want something easy for people to pickup, and I don't think RPMs don't give you the linux feel. I'm going to start out w/Knoppix, but I also want to get into a disk install. I've only used Gentoo, RHAT, and Knoppix. A friend mentioned SuSe, but I've never used it. Very open to suggestions, I want as people to enjoy this class, not think that linux is out of their grasp. So, the question is what distro would people recommend for beginners aside from Knoppix? Eric

Aug. 17, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Linux distro for older hardware

by JONATHAN BEALL

Aug. 17, 2004

Re: [Wlug] Linux distro for older hardware

by Brian Waite

On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 07:40:37 -0400, Joel Desrochers <joelgroup(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > I second the vote for Slackware. > Text based install and overall performance make it my favorite for older > hardware. > Unfortunately I prefer 128 MB RAM minimum for console only and around 256MB > for X. > Memory is cheap though. > > I am still quite happy with my P300/384MB RAM with Slack. > Before Slackware, I toyed with a few minimalist distros (Peanut and Grey Cat > Linux but found most of them lacking in either reliability or application > packages/support). > > Two other tips on trying Linux and picking a distributionto try: > 1) Don't rule out Knoppix, the popular CD-ROM bootable distro. You can use > it on another box (possibly your current Windows 9X or XP) without modifying > anything on the hard disk. Also makes a great PC diagnostic tool. > http://www.knoppix.com/ > I am a huge fan of knoppix. I have used it since version 3.0. I find it is the most effective to test a system for hw support. The amazing thing is I run it on 2 laptops and most , if not all, the suspend/freq scaling works well out of the box. I usually do a hard drive install after I am happy with the functionality and it works great. > 2) Consider reading up on the many distros on one of the many websites that > list information. I would also consider debian. (knoppix is based on deb). The number of "requred" packages is very small with a huge set of optional packages. ou should be able to build a nice system even with lower horsepower. The nice thing about deb also is it gives you a very nice package install and dependency tracking system with apt. Nothing against Slack and its tar.gz but deb packages are really nice because they help with dependencices. Thanks Brian

Aug. 17, 2004