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10.04.2007 at 10:58AM PDT, ID: 22872802
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LINUX Basics
Tags: linux
Dear experts,
I am planning on working with LINUX/UNIX (which i should have done long time back). I have no clue on how to start and what hardware i need, my questions are,
1)  What hardware do i need , i have a Dell Optiplex GX 270, with 2 GB RAM and 40 GB disk? is this good enough.
2) I currently have XP Pro installed on it, can i wipe it out and install LINUX? or can i have both, will it be complicated (dont forget i have no clue about LINUX or any UNIX..;-). I dont mind keeping teh whole machine to LINUX.
3) I believe LINUX is a free download? what is the best source to get this and what version, RH LINUX version 9, is it?
4) is the installation very user interactive , i guess the installation document will be helpful? I googled and found various sources, is there any recomended/popular documentation to follow?

after accomplishing the above, i want to install Oracle on thsi machine and if possible use it for my day to day use lwith IE/Outlook/Media Player ( am i just dreaming or is this something very hard for a begginer?)

That's it to begin with, will be looking forward for you valueble advice!
regards
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Question Stats
Zone: OS
Question Asked By: crishna1
Solution Provided By: brunoguimaraes
Participating Experts: 5
Solution Grade: A
Views: 110
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10.04.2007 at 11:11AM PDT, ID: 20016328

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10.04.2007 at 11:14AM PDT, ID: 20016352

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10.04.2007 at 11:39AM PDT, ID: 20016582

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10.04.2007 at 11:42AM PDT, ID: 20016601

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10.04.2007 at 03:44PM PDT, ID: 20018489

Rank: Master

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10.05.2007 at 10:45PM PDT, ID: 20026750

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10.12.2007 at 04:11AM PDT, ID: 20064338

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10.04.2007 at 11:11AM PDT, ID: 20016328
Hi, I'm gonna to answer your questions:

1) Your hardware is good enough!

2) You can have both. But you're going to have to create another partition for Linux and another partition for Swap. Since you have 2GB of memory, you should create a 2GB swap partition. The size of the Linux partition is up to you (I recommend at the very least 5GB). You can use PartitionMagic to create the partitions.

3) Linux is free. The distribution I recommend is UBUNTU. It is very easy to install and to use, and has plenty of support. You can download it here and burn it to a CD: http://www.ubuntu.com/products/GetUbuntu/download

4) As I said, Ubuntu installation is very easy.

Linux doesn't have IE, Outlook and Windows Media Player. But you have better options, like Firefox, Thunderbird and mplayer, all for Linux.

If you still want to use the Windows ones, you can install WINE, that is a Windows emulator for Linux. You can then run Windows programs on Linux!
Accepted Solution
 
10.04.2007 at 11:14AM PDT, ID: 20016352
If you're new to the world of Linux, Ubuntu is hands-down the absolute best place to start.  It's totally free and has documentation out the wazoo (maintained by both Ubuntu itself, and by users).
http://www.ubuntu.com/

1.  Linux can be run on very minimal systems -- what you have will be fine.
2.  You can wipe XP and install just Linux if you wish, but Linux distributions come with bootloaders that will install Linux on the same drive as XP (or any other system) and allow you to boot into either one.  Particularly with Ubuntu, it is extremely easy (and safe) to install alongside Windows; they've created a manager that will do all the work for you as long as you decide whether you want to install Linux over Windows, or beside it.
3.  Red Hat is no longer free, it's been converted into a corporate distro.  Fedora, a very similar (and free) version to Red Hat -- created by former Red Hat devs -- is what you would probably want to check into.
4.  Depending on which distribution of Linux that you get, the installation will usually be interactive and very easy to follow.  Again, especially so with Ubuntu.  Certain distros like Fedora or Debian are a bit more complicated, but still nothing like it took to install Linux years ago (it still hasn't shaken that stigma).

It's up to you where you want to start with Linux, but I'd definitely recommend Ubuntu as your starting place.  Get acquainted with it and then if you wish, move on up to others (try them all if you want, that's the great thing about Linux).  Here's two great sources of information on Ubuntu:
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/
Assisted Solution
 
10.04.2007 at 11:39AM PDT, ID: 20016582
awesome!
 thanks a lot for you immediate responces, i will try it this weekend. If it is OK with you , i will close the question on Monday , just in case i run into anything else while i am try the above mentioned.
 
10.04.2007 at 11:42AM PDT, ID: 20016601
Sure thing.  One more thing I wanted to add.  The Ubuntu installation disc allows you to run the system from the CD -- so you wouldn't even have to install it yet until you've played around with it and had a chance to check it out.  So, even if you're hesitant about installing it or something, just pop the CD in and take a look.
 
10.04.2007 at 03:44PM PDT, ID: 20018489

Rank: Master

Linux is GREAT.  I do love it.  But I don't know it EXTREMELY well.  If you're trying to dive in and force yourself to learn it, GREAT - definitely setup a machine and go all out.

But if you need to experiment first - or want to get a feel for different distributions - I would suggest you FIRST look into setting linux in Virtual Machines using VMWare or Virtual PC (contrary to what some believe, Linux DOES run under virtual PC, it's just not supported or encouraged by Microsoft - I run debian flawlessly under my install of Virtual PC.

Using Virtual Machines, you can try various flavors of linux - CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Suse, Fedora, Mandriva, AND/or dozens of others.  The install routines of each can differ, sometimes quite significantly.  

The hardware you have, as has already been said, is FINE.  MORE than enough... of course the better the hardware, the better it will run on intensive tasks, but for everyday things, that should be more than enough.

As for where to get it - start at http://distrowatch.com/ would be my recommendation.
Assisted Solution
 
10.05.2007 at 10:45PM PDT, ID: 20026750
Early in my Linux (Lx) pursuit; I research all Lx OS; settled on SuSe 8.1 which came with a dual boot system. I bought the disks; as I crashed on several occasions with SuSe was forgiving.Desktop 30GB harddrive was 10GB XP Pro and 6GB for SuSE. Swap is based on 1.5( 512 Ram); as for Unix take a look at FreeBSD it is closest to Unix in nature. Wikipedia is an excellant source for overview of Linux. Linux puts you proactively in the loop while Windows lets you look in only. Recent positive items in downloading  Lx OS they now come with pdf manuals.  Recently downloaded Ubuntu,Kubuntu,FreeBSD,OpenSuSe10.2 and Knoppix5.1.1,LinuxMCE,KnoppixMyth;be prepared to spend a lot of time downloading;i.e. Knoppix with my cable modem took  5 hours and came as,4.2GB dvd iso image. My recommendation is download OpenSuse10.2 & burn disks; if in no hurry then buy disks. I have no experience with Oracle; bookmark google linux .Buy" Practical Guide Lx Commands...Mark Sobell;  Welcome aboard.
Assisted Solution
 
10.12.2007 at 04:11AM PDT, ID: 20064338
1)  What hardware do i need , i have a Dell Optiplex GX 270, with 2 GB RAM and 40 GB disk? is this good enough.
A: Hard ware is good enough to hold Linux

2) I currently have XP Pro installed on it, can i wipe it out and install LINUX? or can i have both, will it be complicated (dont forget i have no clue about LINUX or any UNIX..;-). I dont mind keeping teh whole machine to LINUX.
Ans: U can have both the OS on your machine, that decision depends on your usuage

3) I believe LINUX is a free download? what is the best source to get this and what version, RH LINUX version 9, is it?
Ans: I recommend to go with Open SuSe 10.2 which is available to download from http://en.opensuse.org/Download
And Redhat EL(Enterprise Linux) 5 is the latest release and now its categorized in to Desktop and Server editions but as a beginer I recommend to go with Open Suse (or) Mandrive in which i recommed Open Suse.

4) is the installation very user interactive , i guess the installation document will be helpful? I googled and found various sources, is there any recomended/popular documentation to follow?
Ans: Installation is So easy and user intractive in SuSe it has silcon graphical look and its more inpressive and userfriendly

Since u r planning for Oracle u need few patches to install Oracle on Redaht EL versions where as u need to install any patches if u go with Redhat 7,8 Version but they r old Version of Kernel but u need not go arround for patches. these patches can only avalialble from Oracle Authorized site metalink
To install oracle on any Redhat version refer to
www.puschitz.com/InstallingOracle9i.shtml
To install oracle on Suse refer to
ftp.novell.com/partners/oracle/ docs/10gR2_openSUSE102_introduction.pdf
http://whitepapers.techrepublic.com.com/whitepaper.aspx?docid=289714

U have replica apps in linux for IE -- Firefox
Outlook - Thunder Bird (or) Evolution
Media Players - MP3 -- Amarok
                          Vidoe -- Xine,Mplayer
Good Luck
Assisted Solution
 
 
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