Anyone interested in tinkering with Linux? read on...

[Tazdrummer]

I recently found out about a distribution of Linux that you can download and run SAFELY WITHOUT installing on your pc.

Demo Linux (http://www.demolinux.org)

You can run it from a burned off CD or order it and run it from CD. This comes in handy since I took an oath not to dual or triple boot this machine again (until I can build another one to tinker with that is).

The only thing that I think I can do to make it even more safe is to remove my main hard drive through BIOS when I boot it up. But besides that..... piece of cake.

[Auric]

Thanks taz, i'll have to check that out, at least for this box, i run Red Hat Linux on an 850meg laptop HD in my laptop (dual with windows) i have 2 HD's so i just swap between em.

[Ron Prestenback]

Ok, I checked out the page, and downloaded the ISO that is linked to from the main page, (or was it the download page?) Anyway, said page talks about how at this time, they only have the entire ISO available, which is 600 megs, or 200 megs compressed. However, I downloaded the ISO, and it's only about 31 Megs. Now, on their FTP site, which is where you end up when you click the hyperlink for the ISO, (or actually, when I typed it into my FTP client, because they say on the web site that a browser cannot be used to get the file), there are two files there. One says DemoLinux.ISO, and the other is CDLinux.ISO. Both files are only 31 M. Am I missing something here?

[mahdi]

Sounds like the typical webmaster goof <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">
I see that sort of stuff all the time...

I took an old computer of mine and loaded Read Hat 7.1 on that, and it works sweet!

Now if I can only get it configured to how I want it quickly <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[RIOT]

I downloaded this and made an image on a CD. Works fairly good except that StarOffice is in French or something, and I can't get the network card to work. Other than that it's a good way to look around without committing a partition, hard disk, or entire system to Linux.

[ReBoot]

There's no longer a 1024 cylinder limit to installing Linux, so you can install on any partition/HD you like.
If you truly want to mess around with it, get Mandrake 8 and install it. Superior support for an incredible amount of hardware, a GUI installer that makes it as easy as installing Windows (with one extra step), 11 different window managers to choose from (with about 100 themes built in), full Office suite (in english <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> ) games, networking, utilities, CD burners, MP3 players, even built in ICQ client (if you're so inclined, without the security holes of the windows version), even peer-to-peer file sharing utilities, including a Napster clone, 4 different web browsers (all based on Mozilla though) and it's ALL totally free, no demoware, nagware, adware, or shareware. Period. It's all included in a full install of MDK8, with no need to download and install ANY other 3rd party programs. Ability to read and write to FAT and FAT32 partitions/drives, 2 boot loaders to choose from, the list goes on.
Do yourself a favor, if you ever really wanted to try a Linux flavor, get MDK8!

[kingtbone]

Originally posted by reboot:
<STRONG>Do yourself a favor, if you ever really wanted to try a Linux flavor, get MDK8!</STRONG>

From reboot@mandrakesalesdepartment.com <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

Just kidding, I don't know why more people don't use the many Linux platforms. I know RedHat is rock solid, but my exposure to mandrake is less experienced.

[Ron Prestenback]

I don't know why more people don't use the many Linux platforms.

Oh, I'm pretty sure it's because of marketing. Although times are-a changin', people in general are still gonna require certain "things" before they consider a product """""REAL"""""

1. There must be commercials on TV for it.

2. At least 1 person they know, preferably soemone that makes more than they do, must have, in the last fifty years, used it and said it was OK.

3. It must be sold in stores.

4. It must be sold in a box that is decorated with fancy, but not too fancy, artwork. It must still look professional.

5. Finally, and most important, as well as most relevant this particular situation, if an "upstart" wants to overturn a current market leader, he must produce bigger, smarter, and sexier advertising strategies.

Before anyone flames me for this one, this post was meant as kinda tongue-in-cheek. The basic point is valid, however. The population is getting smarter, and riskier; but for most people (discounting professionals, as this group is more ahead in the curve), anything beyond "Microsoft Windows" and "internet" is still Greek. My entire family, even though I've corrected them plenty of times, and had numerous tutoring sessions on computers, still calls the computer (the case and everything contained in it) a modem. (other words, she has a monitor, a printer, keyboard, mouse, and modem) <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[gtiseb]

I gotta agree with reboot, Mandrake 8 is the way to go for beginners. I've been using mandrake since 6.0 and 8 is the best they've come out with. IT even play 3d games pretty good.

[DeaJae]

mandrakes my fav at teh mo. especially with lnx4win

[Ghostfleet]

Thanks <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Now I wont have to format again to try out linux <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[Daemon]

SLACKWARE 8.0 WAS RELEASED!!!! WOOHOOO
www.slackware.com (http://www.slackware.com)

Best linux distro out there

[ReBoot]

A short analogy for Linux newbies:
When you're learning to swim, do you jump in the ocean (Slackware 8) or do you start in the wading pool (Mandrake 8)?
Slack is nice, but NOT what anyone would consider user friendly, however, it will teach you how to do things the long, laborious, painful way of getting a Linux distro on your computer.
MDK8 will get you up and running in the shortest amount of time (full install Win98 = >27 minutes, full install MDK8 = <5 minutes), you don't need to purchase a $12 book to read on compiling a kernel and getting XF86 configured, you don't have to spend the next 4 or 5 hours installing all your favorite software apps, ad nauseum...

[Mad Machinist]

Okay...I have the bug.....i have and extra 233mmx processor and motherboard and am stuffing it into a case this evening...what happens when I install drivers? Just browsed a couple of driver cd's and none made a ref to linux...am I over simplyfing?

[ReBoot]

MDK8 comes with the biggest support library of drivers ever. There are not many devices it won't automatically find, and install.
Winmodems are the hardest, there's very limited support, but most name brandNIC's and hard modems are supported. Motherboards, no problem. SCSI drives take a bit of fussing (especially on install) as well as DVD, but Cd-ROM's and burners are almost always configured upon install.
Post your hardware, and we can help out, or search around for the HCL on www.linux-mandrake.com (http://www.linux-mandrake.com)

[WesFlash]

I once used Corel Linux, don't laugh! It's installer was way easier on me than anything redhat had put out. I was able to install it on my second HD and dual boot with Win98 and even Win2k when I upgraded. Is the installer advanced enough in MDK8 to make installing to drive 1/ second hard drive possible and easily setting up the dual boot with Win2k without having to get into the command line to do it?

[Daemon]

Linux is very ez, I used NetBSD for 2 years then went to linux (to see how it was) my first linux flavor was slackware 3.0, I had an ok time with it, but netbsd was very hard to learn compared to any Linux OS. If you think Linux is hard then dont bother trying a BSD OS <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

Linux has its pros and cons, but if you dont know windows very well then why goto linux? You will need to know windows/dos pretty well if you want a good time running linux.

[ReBoot]

The MDK installer is the easiest to use, of ALL distros. You can now (thanks to kernel 2.4.x) install Linux to ANY partition of any drive, no more 1024 cylinder limit.
You'll get the option of installing lilo or grub as boot loader, and you can install it on any drive, even a floppy if you don't want to mess with the MBR of your windows boot drive. It's all done via the install GUI, no command line stuff to learn.

Back to the original post, yes, DemoLinux is a fairly good distro. Burn one CD, and you can run a complete Linux, with a choice of desktop managers right from the CD, with no installation necessary. It's a little lean on driver support, so read the HCL carefully. It works perfect on my system, but doesn't recognize my NIC, which MDK8 and RH7.1 have no troubles with.

[kannibul]

MDK 8 is great...
I have installed it on all four of my machines, stability and usability are as good as win2k
my prob is no games other than special editions of quake, and OLD versions of doom/wolf3d/quake1 that are available to dl
I had a dedicated box for running mandrake 8, but due to the amount of heat produced in my bedroom from having the hardware listed below running... sucked.
I will be dual booting my "server" from win2k server to linux MDK 8.0, using different drives due to no support for the adaptec AAA-131U2 Raid controller. no biggie, I have an extra seagate 8.4 laying around here that will do nicely.
My only bug about it is that I cannot get Sandra to work properly. If I could, that WOULD (moreso than now) be my server.
I have been using alternative os's since FreeBSD 3.3 (Nov. 1998) I have used: RedHat 5.0, 6.0; Mandrake 6.0, 7.0, 8.0; FreeBSD 3.3, 4.4 - I can say without a doubt, that mandrake Linux has THE best chance at making it to the desktop market. I still think that it has a way to go, BUT it is on the right tracks.

Hardware KNOWN supported (mine anyway)

PC 1:
Giga-Byte GA-5AX; AMD K6-III/400; 256MB; 8.4GB; 4.3GB; 3Com 905TX; Diamond Stealth 2000 video (SVGALIB)

PC2:
MSI K7T Pro (6330); AMD T-Bird 1GHz; 512MB; 30GB; 3Com905c; Guilemont 3D-Prophet (GeForce256SDR); XGamer 5.1

PC3:
MSI 694D Pro (6321); Intel 667MHz PIII (2); 512MB ECC; AAA-131U2 (controller supported, just not the raid section; it would see the drives, but not as one raid-5 volume); NetGear FA311 (2); 3Com 905B-TX; ATI Rage IIc (ATILib)

PC4:
Asus K7M; AMD Athlon 600 (slot); 256MB; 13GB; 3Com 905B-TX; 3DFx Voodoo 3 3k (3DFxLib); SB PCI 512

as you can tell by the hardware, I had a hell of a time keeping the bedroom anywhere near tolerable in temperature.

[Ron Prestenback]

hehe...Hey why don't you post a pic of your room....I'd kinda like to see that setup...I have two computers in my bedroom, and after a couple of hours, the heat is too much, so I know how you must feel with four. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[Cygnus]

It sounds cool but I have an older machine that has Linux on it now. Whenever I setup a new machine the old one always becomes the default Linux box. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[TechieM2]

Cool. I'll have to download that to play with.
I've been running Mandrake on my main machine for some time now. Mandrake 8 is definitely the nicest I've seen so far. I'm working on converting my work over to make my Win2k/ME box for mainly games.
Current linux box (recently rebuilt):
Tyan S1696DLUA Thunder 2 ATX
Dual PII-300
384MB RAM
IBM 8.4GB and 20.5GB HDDs
CD-ROM
CD-RW
ATI All in Wonder 128 AGP 16 MB (soon to be replaced with an Avermedia TV/FM98 and Matrox G550)
ISA Radio Tuner
Umax Astra 1220S SCSI Scanner.
I must say, going from a K6-2 450 to dual PII-300 was pretty sweet. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[Twisted_Mister]

I vote for Mandrake as well. One of the previous posters wondered why more people don't use linux - it is simple: Too much to ask of the average (l)user. Linux, without doubt, rocks windows in all but two categories:
1. Number of (semi) literate users
2. Number of applications ported/supported

A great number of (l)users disdain computers, but are forced to use them at work. These computers run (and always have run) Micro$oft products, so the (l)users are familiar with said software. It is quality, it is market share. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[computron99]

I actually have an unopened box of Corel Linux 2nd Ed some gave me. I wanted to load it onto my old spare pc (k6-2 450,128mb, ATI 8mb Expert 98, 6gb Maxtor, AWE 64 ISA), but I decided to install Win2K Pro and do some tinkering. Then I had to do some repairs on the family PC's and i have no CDROM nor Fdd right now. I should do the dual partitions - Any opinions?

[Paroxy]

Does Mandrake 8 have good support of USB devices? It's been a while since I fiddled with a Linux distro, the last few I went through supported hardly any of my hardware. No fun when you just starting out.

What about "wierd" devices like tuners, and scanners and the such?

[ReBoot]

MDK8 has the largest library of drivers for all sorts of devices, of any distro to date.
The only thing it didn't find on my system is a 5 year old ISA SCSI card (el-cheapo). It "found" and installed my Diamond USB modem, NIC, wheel mouse, everything...

[Deanodriver]

I was trying to install Mandrake 7.2 (don't have Mandrake 8, on dialup) on an old computer (Cryrix PR200) and there were only a few weird problems....

Video card: X worked on an old ArkLogic based card (Octek Speed-64), while it has big problems with my S3 Virge/DX.....

Sound Card: Wouldn't recognise my Creative SB AWE32 at all, didn't when I had it on my Duron either..... (that was when i had a 14" monitor, 64mb ram, and no sblive)

I might get Mandkrake 8 eventually, but i will need a better computer on which to run it (preferably at least 300MHz, non-Cyrix).

I don't like dualbooting, and i'm not running Win2K on my Duron, so that puts me off dualbooting even further....