Linux Newbies, Check In Here.

[KapperDog]

Well, birds of a feather, as they say.

Having just done my first Linux install last week, I'm no veteran. Having said that, any info I post here should be taken with a grain of salt.

My install was RedHat 7.1 so most of the info here pertains to that distribution.

Anyway, the info here is to simply save you a little time reading through search results. These are some of the sites that I found that could be helpful to a Linux Newbie.

This (http://www.croftj.net/~jam/index.html) is a nice place to start. It is a VERY SIMPLE tut on Linux written in very simple and easy to understand language.

This (http://sunsite.dk/linux-newbie/index.htm) one is also very easy to understand but, it goes into greater detail about configuring and administering Linux.

This (http://www.linuxheadquarters.com/howto/index.shtml) one is nice if you want a quick answer to a specific question. All the most commonly asked questions about installation, configuration, programming and fine-tuning are nicely listed on the front page.

For more lenthy tuts about everything you could ever want to know, try here (http://yolinux.com/TUTORIALS/)

If you simply are not happy with what I have provided here (http://dmoz.org/Computers/Software/Operating_Systems/Linux/Support/Tutorials/) are about a hundred more sites where you will find Linux Tutorials.

A last but, certainly, not least. If you have a question that is so dumb that you are ashamed that your brain was even capable of a thought so stupid, go here (http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/) and ask away. This is a forum dedicated to Linux Newbies. I read through this forum for about 3 hours and did not see a single READ READ READ reply. There are a number of users here who know what they are talking about and are anxious to help.

Also, as you would expect, www.redhat.com and www.linux.com are an endless source of information.

I hope this info helps out and, enjoy.

What's that you say? MY opinion of Linux? Well, after about 15 hours of review, it seems a lot like a really slow version of Win95.:D However, I reserve the right of revision. LOL

[hogfly]

slower win95 ? probably...but if you get rid of all of the crap that RH no doubt installed by default (over a gig, I'm guessing) you will find a diamond in the rough Kapper. I would not suggest using it as a desktop computer, but rather as a server of some sort. Just my 2 pennies.
also to check for HW compatibilities
go here http://hardware.redhat.com

[KapperDog]

hogfly,

I knew that statement would raise the hair on someone's neck. LOL

Actually, I'm sure you are right. RH tried to make it look and feel like Win on this release. Too bad.

I tried it just to see what all the hoopla is about it. I was under the impression that it was a command line OS (Which is what I was hoping). And, I'm sure it is, once I figure out how the hell to get rid of that damn GUI they put in front. LOL

I'm going to stop by Border's in the morning and see if I can pick up a couple books on it.

There was a thread a while back that had some suggested reading in it. I'll search around and see if I can find it.

Right now, I'm just trying to get it to share my Win network. I gather, Samba is the way to go with that.

After that, I'm going to do as you suggested and set it up as a server for a private forum. That'll keep me busy for a while and should be fun.

[hogfly]

ahh..the problem is in your setup. your login should be console...you have the option to change it when you log in. if not then dump KDE or Gnome..or whatever you installed.

Yes samba is the way to go. I'm in chat if you wanna join.

[casper3699]

i also installed RH 7.1 a few months ago when it first came out and i have not had a single problem with it. I installed it on a Pentium 200 just for fun and it is still up and running. Mine runs faster than some Pentium 300 and 400's.

[deadpaperplate]

Kapper, you are obviously in runtime 5 (X), you would be better off in runtime 3 (console).
edit the file /etc/inittab
the first uncommented line should be
id:5:initdefault:

change the 5 to a 3, save and reboot.
now by default you should boot into console only.
of course you can go into X with the command
startx
and leave it with Ctrl+Alt+Backspace

when starting with linux I highly recommend not using X untill you have explored the OS thoroughly in console, and learned its inner workings. If you only use X, then that is all you will ever learn.

Also RH by default runs a lot of services. You can turn off any unnecissary services using the chkconfig command

chkconfig --list

will show you what services there are (at least that chkconfig recognizes), and a yes or no as to whether they are set to start in a particular runtime.

chkconfig --level 0123456 <service name> yes/no

is the command syntax for changing the yes or no setting. the numbers after level correspond to the runtimes, as you will see with chkconfig --level.
Note: you don't have to specify all of the runlevels.

of course RH has a nifty tool called 'setup', which is a visual ncurses style script to do this. type

setup

at prompt, select the services section, and remove the * from services that are unnecisary.
Although I recommend learning the command line way to do this. after you have mastered that then feel free to be lazy and use the setup script (I'm usualy lazy and will end up doing that on RH systems ;] )

stopping unnecisary programs will also minimize the amount of ports open on your system.

[deadpaperplate]

that last

chkconfig --level

should have been

chkconfig --list

[Evil Homer]

when starting with linux I highly recommend not using X untill you have explored the OS thoroughly in console, and learned its inner workings. If you only use X, then that is all you will ever learn.


good advice, but i wouldnt forsake X entirely......if you need to edit any text for example, use it - using vi to edit things is about as much fun as a root canal....

[DigitalDemon]

vi is really not the best for newbies.
I mean: I've done some linuxing in my days, and learnt some pretty odd commands, but I still haven't used vi enough to know it all.

I use JOE

Please don't flame me! *lol* I like joe, he's a nice guy!

And remember one thing about me: I'm a Debian addict and my first sources.list couldn't apt-get me anything better *lol*

X? What? Why?
I use X for netbrowsing, IRC and GiMP.

:)

[psychorOOt]

:firedevil :firedevil :firedevil :firedevil :firedevil :firedevil :firedevil


in case that anyone have problem with modem under linux :

linmodems.org (http://linmodems.org)

[nanoC]

Can anyone tell me what the standard setup would be for a linux box to be used for hack/crack testing? What type of options, desktop/server/programmer, what services? I need to build a box for profiling.
Cheers

[spazzmatrix]

Ok, I have been running linux for only a few months but have had no problem with X. But i see that many of you do not like it. For you newbies to Linux who want to keep x but dont want to go around changing files right away to get linux to goto console mode just press ctrl+alt+F2.

You can actually use F1-F6. F7 is for X but I have noticed that ps-doom (a neat system admin program) runs on tty8 or F8.

Just my thoughts.

I also run windows just because I have too much software for it to get rid of it.

Also as far as vi goes, I say learn it first. Yes it is a pain but what better way to master something then to start with the hardest stuff. Then the easy stuff seams almost kidish. But I wouldnt advise doing everything hard from the start. <e.g. installing linux under expert mode.>