[TriLUG] Installing Linux

[Cristobal Palmer]

John has hit the nail on the head: go with live CDs for teaching and for 
deciding what you want to install on your personal compie.

I'm not going to start a KDE vs. Gnome discussion. instead I'll point out 
that you should try both. Knoppix uses KDE, but I have soft spot for ubuntu, 
so I think you should try kubuntu also/instead.

kubuntu = ubuntu with a KDE default desktop

kubuntu has a live CD, too.

If you need help figuring out how to burn an ISO image, let google know. If 
that fails, ask me. :)

some links:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/hoary/ --kubuntu download page
http://us.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/5.04/ --ubuntu download page
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html
http://www.knoppix.org/

The fact that all of the above are debian-based projects brings a big, broad 
smile to my face.

http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php --HOW many linux live CDs are 
there?

-CMP

On 8/6/05, john mitchell <john280z at earthlink.net> wrote:
> 
> Douglass Davis wrote:
> 
> > I am running an Intrex Pentium 4 1.8 GHz w/ 512M of RAM. My
> > motherboard is a 845G by MSI.
> >
> > I have Red Hat 7.3 installed on a partition at home. I have had it
> > installed for a while. I had many problems with using it, including
> > Gnome crashing for no reason. So I stopped using it after a while.
> > But, now I would like to just either upgrade that partition to a newer
> > version, or just erase everything and start over.
> >
> > I just tried to install Suse 9.3 at home and got the message "An error
> > occurred during the installation." Nothing specific as far as what
> > error it was. I verified the installation CD and it was fine. So, no
> > luck with Suse.
> >
> > My question is, what do you think is my best option in terms of
> > erasing the partition and installing a new version of Red Hat, or
> > upgrading to a new version? What version should I use? Also, I am
> > looking for something free.
> >
> > I know a little about Linux, but I am not an expert. By the way, I
> > will be teaching a Linux class at a local college in the Fall, so any
> > help any one could give would be good. :)
> >
> 
> No matter which Distro you choose, I would erase and start over.
> Trying to get an upgrade version running on an already flaky system is
> not how you want to spend your time.
> 
> I would suggest trying three or four of the "Live CD" Distros that
> are out there first. These CDs boot from the CD drive and then run from
> your Ram and do not touch your Hard Drive. When you power Off, it's
> gone! One reason to try these first is you can see if that Distro has a
> problem with your hardware before you do an actual install. Note that
> there is a speed penalty with the Live CDs that will not be there on an
> actual hard disk install.
> 
> Not in any order:
> Knoppix has a Live CD that you can then install from.
> Ubuntu has a separate Live CD.
> DSL Linux is a very small (50 Meg) Live CD, I like it because it loads
> very quickly and will run from less ram than the others..
> 
> I fell the list will respond with many more Distros if you ask. ;-)
> 
> I think one other advantage of Live CDs from a teaching standpoint is
> that the students utilizing them would not have to go through the actual
> install process (with its many hardware problems, including accidentally
> wiping the hard drive) to run commands and view Linux systems.
> 
> If you can attend a Trilug meeting, I would be glad to burn some of
> these Distros for you and bring them.
> 
> john mitchell
> --
> TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/
> TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
> TriLUG PGP Keyring : http://trilug.org/~chrish/trilug.asc
> 



-- 

Cristobal M. Palmer
UNC-CH SILS Student
cristobalpalmer at gmail.com
cmpalmer at ils.unc.edu
ils.unc.edu/~cmpalmer <http://ils.unc.edu/~cmpalmer>
"Television-free since 2003"