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pjhighfield
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24 Oct 2014, 9:19 am

Early in the year, I built... Well, in the best sense of "built" my own computer.

Now, I am interested in exploring Linux and fully optimizing the hardware that I purchased to make this computer. I currently use Windows 8.1 only because of ease of transition from the OEM computer that I had. Still have that one, but questions from that one to this one; is another topic .

I can tell you, that I am looking for a version that is generally packaged as OEM but, has room to become my own; been watching Criminal Minds and I'm sure that Penelope and the FBI use their own adaptions of it.



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24 Oct 2014, 9:30 am

I would try either the Long Term Release of Kubuntu, or the LinuxMint equivalent of that same release. --LinuxMint is essentially a spin of Ubuntu Linux with all of the multimedia stuff already installed.

Kubuntu uses the KDE Desktop which has a similar workflow to Windows, so transitioning to it will be easier for you.


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Kurgan
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24 Oct 2014, 11:36 am

What do you want to do with Linux? Absolute newbs could try booting Slax or Puppy Linux (these two are one of the few distros that work well when booted live) from a USB stick. For beginners, Kubuntu or Mint is a good option. In my honest opinion, intermediate and advanced users should use either Arch Linux or Slackware.

Keep in mind that there are tasks where even the best distros won't match Windows, like 3D modelling, gaming, or anything that requires a low latency. This is why the Playstation consoles run BSD rather than Linux, for instance.


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SweetTooth
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25 Oct 2014, 5:48 am

In addition to the good suggestions that were already given above, I would also like to mention Debian, my favorite. It has been around since 1993 (Slackware is two months older), and earned a reputation as being very solid. It has a huge software repository and excellent package management. It is also the basis for many derived distributions, such as the Ubuntu family.

After using Red Hat in the 90s, then Fedora, Slackware and Arch, I have settled on Debian since 2005. I use it primarily for numerical computations, text editing, programming, and all other everyday computer tasks.

BTW: I run Windows 7 in a VirtualBox environment, which is also worth checking out, if there are certain Windows apps you cannot miss. No dual boot needed.



Last edited by SweetTooth on 25 Oct 2014, 5:51 am, edited 1 time in total.

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25 Oct 2014, 5:50 am

Kurgan wrote:
(...) or anything that requires a low latency.


This is not my experience. Could you elaborate?



pjhighfield
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25 Oct 2014, 8:22 am

Kurgan wrote:
What do you want to do with Linux? Absolute newbs could try booting Slax or Puppy Linux (these two are one of the few distros that work well when booted live) from a USB stick. For beginners, Kubuntu or Mint is a good option. In my honest opinion, intermediate and advanced users should use either Arch Linux or Slackware.

Keep in mind that there are tasks where even the best distros won't match Windows, like 3D modelling, gaming, or anything that requires a low latency. This is why the Playstation consoles run BSD rather than Linux, for instance.


Not really sure... Does a computer with a Lunix OS do some applications better than Windows? I am interested in learning to program. Used to play a game where an area of it was that, the game called it "scripting"; its the only area of that game that I don't know because I know what I am wanting to do, just don't understand the commands to do each action and which one does what...

SweetTooth wrote:
In addition to the good suggestions that were already given above, I would also like to mention Debian, my favorite. It has been around since 1993 (Slackware is two months older), and earned a reputation as being very solid. It has a huge software repository and excellent package management. It is also the basis for many derived distributions, such as the Ubuntu family.

After using Red Hat in the 90s, then Fedora, Slackware and Arch, I have settled on Debian since 2005. I use it primarily for numerical computations, text editing, programming, and all other everyday computer tasks.

BTW: I run Windows 7 in a VirtualBox environment, which is also worth checking out, if there are certain Windows apps you cannot miss. No dual boot needed.


How do you set up a "VirtualBox" environment? I do have a virtual drive, I think; just I don't use it enough to remember the steps to work(use) it. Same goes with knowing where to find the window in Windows 8 to partition a drive to do a dual-boot set-up if I chose that approach, but do know how to set-up that up within BIOS.



Kurgan
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25 Oct 2014, 9:03 am

SweetTooth wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
(...) or anything that requires a low latency.


This is not my experience. Could you elaborate?


The Linux kernel has a higher latency than the Windows kernel. This isn't noticable in work-related tasks or slow-paced games, but you'll notice in more fast-paced games.


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Kurgan
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25 Oct 2014, 9:10 am

pjhighfield wrote:
Not really sure... Does a computer with a Lunix OS do some applications better than Windows?


Programming languages are much easier and not as messy to install on Linux; most distros also come with a lot of builtin compilers. If I want to install Go on Arch Linux, all I need to do is type "pacman -S go", and it will install and configure it with no hassle. Fewer loose parts in the OS, generally means that it's more suited for programming. I tried installing the NS-3 simulation tool on Windows (which is still superior for more everyday tasks); this turned out to be a nightmare. To install NS-3 on Linux, all I had to do was download the tarball, unpack it, and run the build.py file.

For programming on remote servers, I can just use the pre-installed SSH client, instead of having to screw around with PuTTY, which made me a very happy man when dealing with EC2 datasets on Amazon. I usually download from trusted sites and signed repositories only; a hypotetical Linux virus could gain access to kernel space, which is the last place I'd want it to be.


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SweetTooth
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25 Oct 2014, 1:25 pm

pjhighfield wrote:
How do you set up a "VirtualBox" environment? I do have a virtual drive, I think; just I don't use it enough to remember the steps to work(use) it. Same goes with knowing where to find the window in Windows 8 to partition a drive to do a dual-boot set-up if I chose that approach, but do know how to set-up that up within BIOS.


The documentation on https://www.virtualbox.org/ is pretty good, but I feel the installation process of the guest OS (that would be Windows) on the host (that would be Linux) is largely self-explanatory, once you have installed the VirtualBox package. That package itself you can probably find in your distribution's repository. You can also have a look at the download page

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

Apart from this package you will need an installation disk for your guest OS (if you want a guest installation from scratch) or you should already have a usable virtual drive. I believe you can also "virtualise" an existing Windows installation, but I have never done that myself.

It has been a long time since I last installed a dual boot system. Back then I think I used Partition Magic in Windows XP, but I have never worked with Windows 8. In general it is good advice to first install Windows, then Linux, because the latter can recognise the former during installation, but not the other way around.



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25 Oct 2014, 7:30 pm

pjhighfield wrote:
Kurgan wrote:
Does a computer with a Lunix OS do some applications better than Windows? I am interested in learning to program.


Where linux excels is allowing you to figure out what your machine, operating system, compiler and application are actually doing, and to modify each of those to suit. This doesn't matter initially if you're trying to wrap your head around programming using python or some other friendlier language. Don't worry about the distro (or even linux vs. windows vs. *BSD vs .... ), just get something up and running that will allow you to create and run python scripts and start hacking. Sooner rather than later you'll start running up against the limitations of your initial choice (this will happen regardless of what choice you initially made) and then you can play around with a new language, a new OS, a new processor architecture.....

The important thing is to start.

Good luck, and don't be shy about asking questions!


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26 Oct 2014, 7:19 pm

Linux Mint is great, and it comes with all the plug-ins and lots of pilots so that most of your gear will be running right after installation, no need to find the pilots for your wifi card, graphic card, sound cars or anything.


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