Opinions and advice

Here is the story. I have heard some really good stuff about Linux. I will be getting high speed internet soon and I was told that I should set up a server or get a router if I am going to have more that one machine have access to it. I am going the route of the server because I feel it will give me better experience, which I might need at my job. So I had a few extra bucks and went and bought a copy of Mandrake 7.0 and downloaded 7.1. Until High speed gets here I want to play around Linux by trying a few things, such as loading it from with in windows, clean loading, and trying different configurations, and networking it. But I have a few questions:
1. Is there anything I NEED to know before I start? Such as hardware configurations, network issues, general setup.

2. What is a good online resource?

3. Is there a good book I can look at, such as Linux for Dummies or such?

4. Have you had good luck with Linux, or am I getting smoke blown up my *ss?

5. Is Linux the best way to set up a server?

I would try, and may dual boot this machine, with NT but I am concerned with the security of NT as a server.

Thanks in advance!!


------------------
Big words often hide small ideas.



[This message has been edited by Larommi (edited June 29, 2000).]

its good to know all of your network information, your hardware info(vid card name, monitor name) and specs like that...http://linux.org is a good resource.
ive tried to use solely linux, but for me it doesnt work...im a DOS person so the file system is a lot different. but what i have fooled with, linux handled it fine. it ran a lot more efficient than windows did. i had no problem setting it up to dual boot w/ win98se, but i never mixed it w/ nt4.

good luck though

Linux can be a really, really big pain to setup and some flavous are more complicated and picky then others.

Which flavour of Linux are you considering? I recommend RedHat to start with. Normally, if your looking for reference materials, you can go out and buy a book such as linux for dummies (which I did some time ago) and they will include a free copy of Linux on a CD at the back of the book as well as a few Linux utilites, browser and online help. A friend of mine also learned linux from a book, "learn linux in 21 days" and claims this to be good starting literature as well.

I do not understand the security concern you have with a dual boot between NT and Linux. Perhaps you can elabourate more on that?

Good luck.

In my opinion, the easiest to set up is Mandrake 7.0 (Haven't tried 7.1 yet). I suggest "Running Linux" as a book to read, as well as www.linuxnewbie.org to help out...



------------------
<->TechWulf<->

-El Blanco Diablo

I went the Mandrake 7.0 route but I believe Macmillan is by the same company. They are all based on Red Hat but I like the Mandrake install better.I just set it up on my Cox@Home cable modem and it works really nice.

Matt

Linux Rocks. Period. I support every flavor of PC Windows based networks.... but in the last 4 weeks i have had the opportunity to implement Linux servers in a major installation for an ISP i am setting up. I have tried at least 7 or 8 different flavors of Linux... but Mandrake 7.1 is the absolute easiest to install and configure that i have seen. Practice it your self.. and I recommend using a "test" system... do not attempt setting up Dual Boot until you are a little familiar with it. What i really like is building cheap dual-Cpu systems (with Abit's BP-6 dual celeron motherboard)... and installing Linux on them as workgroup servers or routers... and having them smoke Windows NT dollar for dollar. Don't get me wrong.. i would not let most of my users loose with Linux.. but for specialized sevrer applications.. it is truly awesome and easy to manage. I recommend SAM's Publishings LINUX Unleashed. Even a book for an older 6.x version of Linux will give you most of the "core" knowledge you need. Once you have set up the PPP COnnection with your modem... and set up TCP over and Ethernet card.. and conect to your Windows box at home and sent files back and forth.. you will believ too.

Good Luck

[email protected]

All you really need is a hub. I would hook the ethernet line from your dsl box and all your pc's directly to the one hub so anybody could get on the internet net at anytime without having to login to a server.

The previous message refers to going directly into a hub instead. This would only work if you get more ip addresses from your ISP. Then each system needs to be setup with a unique IP address. Going directly into a hub could cause all sorts of problems for you and your ISP.

In order to hook all your PC's up to a DSL/Cablemodem line, you need to either get the Linksys Router/Hub or take a system and make a gateway out of it by putting two nics in it, setup one nic for the connector from the router and then use the second nic to a hub to network your machines. Since each machine needs a unique IP address, you will need software such as Wingate,on the gateway system to assign IP addresses via DHCP.

Matt