Monday, April 28, 2008
First steps with Linux
I've been comparing Linux distributions. As I indicated in my last post, I installed the latest Ubuntu distribution on my Sempron 2800 (not 2400 as indicated in my previous post) and Ubuntu is very user friendly.
Installation was easy. It happily installed and configured the on-board sound facility and sorted out how to get on-line and provided access to my Local Area Network(ie: the other machines I have networked together here). It came with Open Office which is now a formidable alternative to MS Office, a host of games, and utility software for just about every task imaginable from burning CDs and DVDs to sound recording and editing to IRC clients. You get Mozzilla As I played around a bit more I found it was possible to obtain and install just about anything from Cadcam to Video Editing to Web Design and just an amazing variety of graphic design applications! And its all free! What's more if you want to get really geeky. You can learn how to program and then actually create your own customizations to your system.
My only problem was couldn't get my screen resolution any where beyond 800 x 600 pixels - I tried to find a driver for my video card (an XFX NvidiaGforce 6200) - but the XFX doesn't do Linux drivers. There seemed to be better drivers available - but I very quickly found that I don't know how to install drivers in Linux. Never mind there's heaps of Linux help out there. ....but I couldn't find anything to simply explain how to install a device driver under Linux. Must admit my efforts were not exhaustive and obviously I have much to learn about Linux! I'm sure the info is out there on the net - just might mean finding a helpful forum or "how to do it" page
Thats when I decided that it might be an idea to try a different distribution of Linux - maybe another distribution would give me a better screen resolution. So I downloaded Mandriva distribution and replaced the Ubuntu install with Mandriva - and wow! My screen resoltuion went to 1024 x 768 - which is acceptable and as much as I would want on my 17" CRT.
Mandriva comes with essentially the same set of software as Ubuntu and is just as user friendly. I think I prefer Mandriva but only because I can get the better screen resolution.
What impresses me most with Linux in both distributions is that it only takes a few moments to boot up and it is fully operational - unlike Windows. Many Windows users will be will be painfully aware how Windows will cough and splutter for several or more minutes on initial startup as it loads background programs and gawd knows what else.
More on my Linux experience in my next post!
Installation was easy. It happily installed and configured the on-board sound facility and sorted out how to get on-line and provided access to my Local Area Network(ie: the other machines I have networked together here). It came with Open Office which is now a formidable alternative to MS Office, a host of games, and utility software for just about every task imaginable from burning CDs and DVDs to sound recording and editing to IRC clients. You get Mozzilla As I played around a bit more I found it was possible to obtain and install just about anything from Cadcam to Video Editing to Web Design and just an amazing variety of graphic design applications! And its all free! What's more if you want to get really geeky. You can learn how to program and then actually create your own customizations to your system.
My only problem was couldn't get my screen resolution any where beyond 800 x 600 pixels - I tried to find a driver for my video card (an XFX NvidiaGforce 6200) - but the XFX doesn't do Linux drivers. There seemed to be better drivers available - but I very quickly found that I don't know how to install drivers in Linux. Never mind there's heaps of Linux help out there. ....but I couldn't find anything to simply explain how to install a device driver under Linux. Must admit my efforts were not exhaustive and obviously I have much to learn about Linux! I'm sure the info is out there on the net - just might mean finding a helpful forum or "how to do it" page
Thats when I decided that it might be an idea to try a different distribution of Linux - maybe another distribution would give me a better screen resolution. So I downloaded Mandriva distribution and replaced the Ubuntu install with Mandriva - and wow! My screen resoltuion went to 1024 x 768 - which is acceptable and as much as I would want on my 17" CRT.
Mandriva comes with essentially the same set of software as Ubuntu and is just as user friendly. I think I prefer Mandriva but only because I can get the better screen resolution.
What impresses me most with Linux in both distributions is that it only takes a few moments to boot up and it is fully operational - unlike Windows. Many Windows users will be will be painfully aware how Windows will cough and splutter for several or more minutes on initial startup as it loads background programs and gawd knows what else.
More on my Linux experience in my next post!
# posted by furious @ 10:30 AM 
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]