> I have heard rumors about things like monitor
> fires. Is this true??
Monitor fires are extremely uncommon unless you're pulling out all the
stops on ancient hardware.
Serial ports can have a number of settings, and it used to be the norm
to scan the potential serial ports at start-up. This combined with Mono
cards (I *think*) which didn't check the data before sending it to the
monitor did, in fact, cause monitor fires.
You must also remember, though, that when these video displays were
common there was at least one virus floating around that would also
trigger monitor fires.
Why is this of any matter anymore? Well, if I remembered correctly and
it was the mono cards that were susceptable, then... An interesting note
about Mono video cards is that they use a different memory region to
communicate with the cards than EGA/VGA cards. This means it is possible
to have both a mono card -- connected to a mono monitor, as well as a
more modern EGA/VGA interface. I believe Linux supports (or did support)
such a thing, though I'm not sure how it was configured as I was only
exposed to such configurations prior to my move to Linux.
If you're bored and are reading all of the help messages for the serial
subsystem in the kernel, IIRC, you should still find a warning about
this. (Recompiling your kernel can be fun when you're learning things,
and reading the help messages can give you an idea of why things behave
the way they do.)
> I live in Ellettsville so download speed with
> Comcast is OK. Burning ISO's are not a problem either. What about
> processor speed and memory mimium requirements?
Minimum requirements vary depending on the particular distribution.
Any of the fancy KDE/GNOME based systems will have similar min.
requirements to that of Windows XP. 512MB of RAM and 8G should be fine
for most. More is better. Check for specific recommendations before
you download the ISO.
> Is an AMD processor OK?
You may be surprised. Processors which were buggy and unreliable in
Windows may actually function better in Linux. Linux checks for and
works around a large number of processor bugs.
Almost any x86 processor will be fine, provided that it has speeds
roughly on par with their recommendation. (They may recommend Pentium 4,
but as long as it is about as fast as a Pentium 4 it should be fine.)
> What about HD preperation?
Most installers make this easy. They will ask you if you're keeping
Windows, or if Linux will be the only OS. If you're keeping Windows they
should have the capacity to resize your free space. This is a lot easier
than it used to be.say
I recommend you just try it out with wiping the drives of some of your
spares, though. Ideally, you'd want to just make sure you have the original
restore media. (Make it, if you've not made it yet.)
If you're ready for the possibility of erasing the data, you'll be a lot
less surprised when it happens unexpectedly. Mistakes happen, especially
at this stage of things.
> Can I start with a FAT32 partition or NTFS?
If you're trying out Ubuntu/Kubuntu, then Yes. The 'Wubi' tool makes
this possible.
> How about no partition at all?
There are also a number of 'Live CDs' which let you try it out without
installing anything. Ubuntu/Kubuntu have one on their installer. A
number of other distributions have a "Live CD".
> Any preference of my available machines?
Pick one which isn't so substandard that it would make anything suck.
You could also pick one running Windows Vista (or potentially Windows
ME), just to see the increase in speed.
Cheers,
Steven Black
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Simón Ruiz" <simon.a.ruiz@gmail.com>
> To: "Bloomington LINUX Users Group" <blug@cs.indiana.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2008 1:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [BLUG] New OS
>
>
>> Paul,
>>
>> Well, so an install would be your first step.
>>
>> If your hobby is PC building I'm guessing that, like me, you've got
>> more than one computer laying around, huh? Pick one to play with and
>> install some flavor of Linux on it.
>>
>> Now, I'm a little biased since I'm pretty active in Ubuntu's Indiana
>> Local Community (LoCo), but I think Ubuntu is a great starting place.
>>
>> Are you comfortable downloading and burning CD-ROM .iso images? If so,
>> head on over to <http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download>. If you're
>> in Bloomington, you'll most likely get the fastest possible download
>> from the "ftp.ussg.iu.edu" option.
>>
>> I think, like me, that you'll find that installing Ubuntu is a LOT
>> easier and faster than installing XP. Not to mention, it comes
>> pre-loaded with a lot of the software you'd end up having to install
>> yourself after a Windows install.
>>
>> Plus, you don't need to worry about setting up virus scanners, malware
>> removers, or a firewall except in special circumstances (e.g., we have
>> a virus checker running on our file server and mail server at work not
>> so the servers are protected from virii, but so our users running
>> Windows are).
>>
>> A note on hardware, especially since you build your own:
>> Unfortunately, most hardware manufacturers only worry about making
>> sure their hardware runs on Windows and the open source community is
>> left to their own devices as far as getting it to run on any other OS.
>>
>> This means that some of the latest hardware may take a bit of extra
>> work to get running, or is functionally limited, under Linux. So most
>> of us who build systems with the intent of installing Linux on them
>> need to do the research to know what is and isn't supported yet.
>> (Nothing is more irritating that buying a piece of hardware, plugging
>> it in, and finding out that you aren't getting full functionality out
>> of it right now.)
>>
>> On the other hand, for 95% of the hardware out there you won't need to
>> go find drivers for it, since it'll be supported right out of the box.
>> On Ubuntu, there's a "restricted drivers manager" (under System ->
>> Administration -> Hardware Drivers) that will go out and automatically
>> download and set up the extra drivers that are unable to be included
>> automatically due to intellectual property concerns, covering another
>> 4% of the possibilities.
>>
>> It's in that 1% of cases (or more, if you like buying on the cutting
>> edge) that this can be a real pain.
>>
>> (NOTE, the percentages here are vague, biased, hand-wavy estimates
>> based on personal experience, not real statistics.)
>>
>> So jump in the pool, swim around a bit, and when in doubt, ask questions.
>>
>> Take care!
>>
>> Simón
>>
>> On Sun, Sep 21, 2008 at 1:16 PM, Paul Proctor <proctor710@comcast.net>
>> wrote:
>>> Hi Simon,
>>> I am comfortable with Windows but a good bit of my income and my hobby is
>>> from building PC's. I would like to use an OS that is more open.
>>> I understand something new would be a chalange, no problem. I just
>>> need some
>>> material to experiment with.
>>> Thanks,
>>> Paul
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> BLUG@linuxfan.com
>> http://mailman.cs.indiana.edu/mailman/listinfo/blug
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>
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