Joining the legion of linux noobs!

[Kyuubs]

Sooo, Im finally sick and tired of Windows. Been using it for years, my happiness with it gradually declined, and Vista has me banging my head against the wall (DRM sucks hardcore). Windows just isn't worth it to me anymore.

 

I've tried to switch over to linux a few times on dual boot (Mandrake).... and ran into one major road block every time: I have wireless internet, and my wireless card was a Linksys WUSB54G, which did not seem to have any support whatsoever. I've done a few google searches, and it seems to have support at http://prism54.org/ However, I have recently upgraded to a WUSB300N (Also linksys), and I would rather not go backwards... I cant seem to find support on this, does anyone know if it does exist? Also, does this Prism thingey come with distros, or is it something I would need on a CD beforehand?

 

A few other random questions as well:

 

~Best way to set up a dual boot system with linux?? (Should I use the windows boot loader, or linux?)

~How much space will I need for the linux partition (With room for programs I may need, etc)?

~Wheres a good place to learn about the command line?

~Any other roadblocks I may run into that I should be aware of now?

 

And, I may as well ask the question Im sure you've all heard a million times:

 

What distro is good for me? (It looks like fedora, and ubuntu? What are the differences?)

 

 

Any help here would be greatly appreciated! [img]<___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_laugh.png[/img] :lol: [img]<___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_laugh.png[/img]

[glennzo]

Sooo, Im finally sick and tired of Windows. Been using it for years, my happiness with it gradually declined, and Vista has me banging my head against the wall (DRM sucks hardcore). Windows just isn't worth it to me anymore. 

I've tried to switch over to linux a few times on dual boot (Mandrake).... and ran into one major road block every time: I have wireless internet, and my wireless card was a Linksys WUSB54G, which did not seem to have any support whatsoever. I've done a few google searches, and it seems to have support at http://prism54.org/ However, I have recently upgraded to a WUSB300N (Also linksys), and I would rather not go backwards... I cant seem to find support on this, does anyone know if it does exist? Also, does this Prism thingey come with distros, or is it something I would need on a CD beforehand?

 

A few other random questions as well:

 

~Best way to set up a dual boot system with linux?? (Should I use the windows boot loader, or linux?)

~How much space will I need for the linux partition (With room for programs I may need, etc)?

~Wheres a good place to learn about the command line?

~Any other roadblocks I may run into that I should be aware of now?

 

And, I may as well ask the question Im sure you've all heard a million times:

 

What distro is good for me? (It looks like fedora, and ubuntu? What are the differences?)

 

 

Any help here would be greatly appreciated! [img]<___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_laugh.png[/img] :lol: [img]<___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_laugh.png[/img]

1. Dual boot - Linux w/grub. GRUB is very easy to configure. Most of the time grub will be installed and it will add a windows entry to the menu.

2. Space - 20G B min but as much as you can spare. It fills fast. Also a swap partition = 2X system ram.

3. To learn. Here, other forums. Anywhere, really. The Linux Documentation Project. Lots of web sites. Your own Linux box. Use a terminal and type 'man command'. For example, man ls, man cat, etc. Also info command, info ls, info cat, etc.

4. Roadblocks. They all have roadblocks (distros). Cross the bridge when you get to it.

5. I use Fedora 8. Rock solid. Steepish learning curve. Frustrating at times. Ubuntu is good for 'newbies', but it has it's share of trouble from what I read.

[znx]

To setup a dual boot system, partition your disk in two parts. Install windows on the first part. Then install Linux on the second part. The boot loader for Linux is either Lilo or grub, both of which will handle setting up a dual boot.

 

As for how much space, it all sort of depends on what you want it for :)

 

There is no single "good place" to learn about the command line but I personally find: http://linuxcommand.org/ is OK.

 

Roadblocks .. hehe millions of them ? Everyone wants something a little different for their PC. Which means that they will experience different blocks and difficulties.

 

I normally find that a lot of people pick Ubuntu as their first distribution. My experience of it was that it was a sort of "warn and fuzzy" distribution. It provided for the user in a lot of ways. Fedora is more of the "standard" distribution. It gives you more what I'd expect of a Linux distribution. I think that you would probably find Ubuntu the easier introductory system. Whilst you might wish to use Fedora to experience a more balanced system. Everything has pros and cons! A further benefit to selecting Ubuntu is that I have found it to be far more wireless friendly. I find it has more success with wireless working "out-of-the-box" than most other distributions.

 

Anyway .. WELCOME :)!

[Kyuubs]

Thanks a bunch guys!

 

Im going to go with ubuntu... its winter, so warm and fuzzy is nice right now [img]<___base_url___>/uploads/emoticons/default_laugh.png[/img]

 

Does anyone know if the Linksys wusb300n is supported in a distro??? Or how I can make it work?

[znx]

Does anyone know if the Linksys wusb300n is supported in a distro??? Or how I can make it work?

 

Sniffing around the Ubuntu forums I found this: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=3268995

 

So I'd say yes you can make it work.