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I have my old spare pc laying around, a dual P3-1GHz with 512 megs of PC133 and a old Geforce 2 video card with a 40 gig hard drive. It has a fresh xp install on a single partition.

I've been thinking about playing around with Linux, but I'm not sure what version to try. I'm pretty good with the command prompt from the old DOS/Win days of the 80's and 90's.

Anyone recommend a version of Linux to play around with (links please)?

Can it co-exist with xp as a dual boot?

I guess the latest Mandrake or SuSE 9.2 would be quite n00b-friendly. Now even SuSE offers a freely downloadable ISO image (which only excludes some commercial apps).

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3

http://www.novell.com/products/linuxpro ... /eval.html ... you can choose between the DVD-ISO (3.1GB but easiest setup) or the Mini Installation (64MB but yer have to select mirror etc. to download needed packages) which installs needed packages over the internet. The Internet installation might take up to one day to download all required packages before installation continues

It's been a while since I used Mandrake but I recently installed SuSE 9.2 via the Internet setup on my old Laptop and it has quite a Windows feeling. You might have to manually select the Nvidia drivers via the YAST online-update function to get 3D-acceleration but Desktop will work right out of the box.

Yes, XP and Linux can co-exist in a dualboot configuration, the setup routine should offer to resize existing windows partitions (defrag that one first) or to use free space on you HDD. Just backup any important/personal files before attempting to resize an existing partition. It would be easiest if you can just delete one small partition from within windows first before starting the installation. When it asks where to put the grub bootloader accept the masterbootblock of the first HDD.

suse for sure, if needed i could shoot you a copy of suse 9.2 professional

Originally posted by BillyGoat
suse for sure, if needed i could shoot you a copy of suse 9.2 professional

Thanks Doc and Bill.

I can PayPal you some postage for doing that Bill. PM me with your info, and I'll supply you with my address. Much appreciated.

I would try http://www.ubuntulinux.org/ but only because I don't like KDE.

First, I'll assume that you want LINUX and not "lunix."

If you have no experience at all with linux, Slack or SuSE are probably not great places to start. They are less "newbie friendly," meaning that they don't come with as many ease-of-use features as Redhat or Mandrake (IMHO). Redhat and Mandrake are practically idiot-proof, which is good if you really have no experience with *nix. It will take a while to get used to. Make sure you secure the box!!!

The nice thing about Redhat and Mandrake (again, IMHO), is that they provide a good foundation for newbies, but they are also very customizable (b/c they are linux), so once you get a handle on things, you can start turning off eye-candy and a lot of the newbie-bloat and go really hardcore.

My next project is going to be an LFS (linux from scratch) system, so that should be a world of pain.

Originally posted by TruckStuff
First, I'll assume that you want LINUX and not "lunix."

Corrected, and thanks for your input.

holy crap...i just downloaded the SuSe 3GB+ ISO in less than 14 minutes at work.

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3

I tried this link that Doc supplied, but it wants money. I'm here at work so I thought I would downloaded here since we have a really fast connection, but after following the pages, they want you to buy it unless I clicked on the wrong buttons (don't think that I did).

http://fedora.redhat.com/download/

Get the DVD version if you have a DVD-burner. Its SOOOO much easier to have a single DVD then have to fumble around with 5 or more CDs.

Originally posted by TruckStuff
http://fedora.redhat.com/download/

Get the DVD version if you have a DVD-burner. Its SOOOO much easier to have a single DVD then have to fumble around with 5 or more CDs.

Thanks for the link, but I can't find the DvD version of the download. I only see ISO images, 4 total, to burn to CD's.

Originally posted by Executioner
Thanks for the link, but I can't find the DvD version of the download. I only see ISO images, 4 total, to burn to CD's.

Hmmm... no linky on the main Fedora site. It may be a disc space issue as only some mirrors have the DVD iso. Here's one that does: http://mirrors.kernel.org/fedora/core/3/i386/iso/

On the Mandrake page when you click on the "Click Here" you'll find the for-pay 6CD offer on the next page and a "button" which says > "Download via public mirrors (3-CD only version)" < further down the page (it's red text above the note that says "Note : The free Download version doesn't include the additional software and services mentionned above."). That'll bring you to a page with public mirrors.

I agree with TruckStuff that Slackware is not a n00bfriendly distro but SuSE certainly is one with its automated hardware recognition during setup and its windows-alike feeling plus the easy online-update. It has some other drawbacks but more for the advanced user who likes to finetune all scripts manually (damn you YAST ... it is either YAST or no-YAST at all).

Originally posted by DocSilly
(damn you YAST ... it is either YAST or no-YAST at all).

Heheh... I'm to the point where I can't stand anything that is pre-packaged on linux. That's why I'm doing this linux from scratch project. At least I know what went where and how to update it.

I also suggest Ubuntu.It's Debian based and the .deb package management just blows the .rpm based distro's away IMO.Plus it's very n00b frienldy.

I've used ever major distro out there and I can in good conscious suggest Ubuntu.