alt.os.linux - Getting Started With Linux

Author

Getting Started With Linux

William

2002-10-14, 7:24 am

Can anyone please advise me on getting started with Linux.

I have a lower-specification PC running Windows 98, which has Pentium 133MHz
and 48MB RAM, 12GB total disk space (approx. half of it free). I was
wondering if any of the popular versions of LINUX such as RedHat could run
dual-booting with Windows 98 on such a system. If so would I need a program
such as Partition Magic to re-organise the partitions on the hard disk and
could I avoid losing any of my existing data. Is there any alternative to
purchasing PMagic? Are there any web-sites giving information on such an
installation ?

Also as I will be doing some programming in C/C++ on Linux can anyone tell
me some of the major C/C++ compilers and development tools that are used
with Linux.

I also wonder about performance. Windows 98 GUI runs well on the above
machine. Is the Linux GUI as good in terms of efficiency or will it run more
slowly?

Many thanks for any replies.

Best Regards

Ross Anderson.

Jon Portnoy

2002-10-14, 11:24 am

In article <QUxq9.225$bO6.55725@newsfep2-gui>, William wrote:
> Can anyone please advise me on getting started with Linux.
>
> I have a lower-specification PC running Windows 98, which has Pentium 133MHz
> and 48MB RAM, 12GB total disk space (approx. half of it free). I was
> wondering if any of the popular versions of LINUX such as RedHat could run
> dual-booting with Windows 98 on such a system. If so would I need a program
> such as Partition Magic to re-organise the partitions on the hard disk and
> could I avoid losing any of my existing data. Is there any alternative to
> purchasing PMagic? Are there any web-sites giving information on such an
> installation ?

I _think_ the RedHat installer is capable of resizing partitions
non-destructively, but I don't know that for a fact. Somebody else here
might...

And yes, you can dual boot on that system. I think there's a dual-booting
HOWTO on http://www.tldp.org.

>
> Also as I will be doing some programming in C/C++ on Linux can anyone tell
> me some of the major C/C++ compilers and development tools that are used
> with Linux.

Of course :-) Linux with GNU toos lis your best choice for development.
Every distribution comes with the tools needed, such as gcc (compiler) and gdb
(debugger). See http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/gcc.html

>
> I also wonder about performance. Windows 98 GUI runs well on the above
> machine. Is the Linux GUI as good in terms of efficiency or will it run more
> slowly?
>

That depends on what you're using. For example, large desktop environments
such as KDE or GNOME will run very slowly (and use up all of your RAM,
too). More lightweight window managers (such as enlightenment, icewm, and
so on) will run okay (but you're not likely to have a file manager). You
could use a lightweight window manager with a stand-alone file manager;
there's a few on www.freshmeat.net.

--
Jon Portnoy

Clive Dove

2002-10-14, 12:24 pm

William wrote:

> Can anyone please advise me on getting started with Linux.
>
> I have a lower-specification PC running Windows 98, which has Pentium
> 133MHz and 48MB RAM, 12GB total disk space (approx. half of it free).
> I was wondering if any of the popular versions of LINUX such as RedHat
> could run dual-booting with Windows 98 on such a system. If so would I
> need a program such as Partition Magic to re-organise the partitions
> on the hard disk and could I avoid losing any of my existing data. Is
> there any alternative to purchasing PMagic? Are there any web-sites
> giving information on such an installation ?
>
> Also as I will be doing some programming in C/C++ on Linux can anyone
> tell me some of the major C/C++ compilers and development tools that
> are used with Linux.
>
> I also wonder about performance. Windows 98 GUI runs well on the above
> machine. Is the Linux GUI as good in terms of efficiency or will it
> run more slowly?
>
> Many thanks for any replies.
>
> Best Regards
>
> Ross Anderson.

I would recommend Mandrake 8.2 or the new 9.0. It is perhaps the easiest
installation for a new linux user.
Mandrake will fit well on 6 gigs of space. I have run mandrake 8.0 on
2.5 gigs on a pentium 120 machine, but the space was tight.
The Mandrake installer will non-destructively re-partition the file
system used by Windows 98 as, I am reasonably sure, will RedHat. It
cannot non-destructively re-partition the NTFS file system used by
Windows 2000 and Windows XP and so on those systems a third party
partition manager like Partition Magic would be needed but I have
shrunk Windows 98 partitions with no problem (it is recommended that
you first run scandisk and defrag).
I would urge that you upgrade your ram to at least 128 meg. I have run
linux on 64 meg systems but I don't feel comfortable below 128. Give
your present system a try but be prepared to upgrade the ram.
Linux is a natural for C and C++. As an open source system, GCC is the
native compiler and the protocol is that Gnu compliant source code is
expected to compile for any Unix or Linux system having a GCC compiler
Accordingly, every linux distribution includes a GCC compiler and
libraries. There are numerous editors and IDEs from EMACS on down to
use for writing code. It is not necessary to purchase a C or C++
compiler as they come as part of the distribution.
As to setting up a dual boot, the simplest way is to install the linux
loader (lilo) into the MBR where it acts as a boot manager to allow you
to make a menu choice between linux and windows (plus DOS and OS/2 if
you have a mind to). The Mandrake installer will do this automatically
as part of its default install. It will detect your windows system and
include it in its boot menu.

Mandrake,

Karen Jones

2002-10-15, 8:24 am

Hi,

I installed Red Hat 7.2 as a total know-nothing on a hdd with win98. I found
the RH install process excellent. It was easy to follow, partitioned the
free space without touching win98 and set up the boot loader with minimal
input. However,even with 3 times your ram I found kde/gnome to be slow.
I say give it a go if you have plenty of patience and are keen to learn. The
newsgroups are an excellent source of advice (if you do your homework
first!!)
Good luck
Karen

"I used to be snow white, but I drifted" - Mae West

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