It still Hertz

I'm still walking funny after my weekend fling with Linux.  I've been wanting to try it for some time and have learned a bit so I took the plunge this weekend.  I got Mandrake 8.1 and proceeded to install on my 40 Gig Maxtor that also houses Win 98.  I let it partition the hard drive itself on the second unsucceful attempt at installation.  Third time I found that X-Windows couldn't talk to my generic monitor and Ge-Force 2MX with Generic driver. Both Recommended during install.  Finally got X-windows up after tweaking the resolution.  Don't know why that helped but it did.  When I put this computer together I was careful to avoid a Win-Modem due to the problems that that can cause.  I bought a HaM Modem, which I found out is little better.  All I had to do was to download a driver right? Wrong.  The only computers with Internet Access was windows based and I'm pretty sure that once downloaded the disk I would save it to would be unreadable due to file structure.  But to seal it off no one had drivers for the new kernal of linux (that I could find, I didn't look long 'cause I was gettin' pissed.  While messing around trying to get it working good Lilo was giving me grief and when Windows booted it set off my Bios antivirus for a bootsector virus (But not when loading Linux, any guesses?)  Then it completly crapped out and I couldn't even load failsafe.  I now decide to scrap it and move on.  Couldn't load harddrake to recify my partions due to no Linux, so after two hours of fighting with the installation program i fooled it into making one large Fat 32 partition and formating it so I could use Window  utilities on it and get one useable (I use the term loosely) OS loaded.  All in all my experience sucked and I'm sorry but I had to vent.  Linux has potential but d@mn it can be frustrating.  I don't know the command line commands and that would help I think.  Just want to know if anyone has some reassuring words or snide remarks?

Yeah linux can be the most frustrating thing.
My first experience was pretty bad....After spending hours installing the thing (Mandrake) IOt REFUSED to conect to the net....*sigh*...which sort of wrecked any of my hoped of online support..

[Omega]

I'm not personally very big on the whole Linux thing, but I've sat through hours of one of my friends yelling at Linux.  After many tries, you'll finally get it right, and then you can call yourself a 1337 Linux h4x0r, if you so choose.  Apparently it's a pre-requisite to have a linux box if you want to be 1337, even if you don't do anything with it.  I remember he had the problem with video too, and he had to keep specifying resolutions and refresh rates, and stuff.  If you can have both computers running (to be honest, I didn't read the whole post, and you might be dual booting windows and linux) I think you should be able to remotely access the linux junk from the windows machine, using telnet, or some junk.  You might need apache set up, or something though...

still thinking about trying the stuff myself, but will be a german distribution (suse linux). pretty interesting, but it´ll run on my 2nd box(need one i can shurely handle). besides what letters (i think it should be letters) stands the 1337 for?

[Omega]

I wasn't sure quite what you were asking, and/or if you were being sarcastic, but 1337 stands for 'leet', which is short for elite.

I can absolutely relate to what Savage felt when installing Linux.  When I tried it about a year and a half ago, I had problems with Linux not recognizing my ATI Rage Pro video card and my monitor.  I spent a good 8 hours doing research and trying a couple of tweaks on the config. files.  No such luck.  Turns out XFree86 wasn't supporting my card yet.  YUCK!!!

So, I decided to give it a rest.  Here we are about the same time I first tried to use it.  I finally have Linux Mandrake 8.1 up but haven't really fooled around with it to be of any use to me.  I'm thinking of hosting my web page through it and let's see how that goes...

[wizbones]

Try FreeBSD they have several sites and support out there. The best in my opinion. It only took several installs before I got the hang of it and I am running a fairly new Pent 750. All my hardware works like a charm.

Wizbones PC lives on that box as do several other domains.

Then there's RedHat which I run on my Cobalt Raq4r, runs pretty sweet too and I have Chili!Soft installed on that box as well so I can support .asp to whit no more Microsoft Boxes as far as domain hosting goes. Code Red can bite my arse now!

Anyhow, starting out with all of this when your windows oriented can be a bit overwhelming, but if you stick to your guns it'll all sort itself out with trial and error.

I manage both my boxes from my Windows 2000 Pro box using SSH and they both work fine for my needs. One is strictly for hosting and e-commerce, the other (FreeBSD) share my connectivity with my whole network.

It's a constant learning curve though so hang in there.

Wizbones, Can FreeBSD run a s a dual booting OS?  I have Windows 98 on my main machine and I wanted to try FreeBSD but I want to be able to choose which to boot.  So basically my question is Does FreeBSD have a boot manager?  Thanks.

[wizbones]

Yes FreeBSD does have a boot manager so you can still run windows if you so desire  

One of my compadres uses it, I personally never have. My personal experience with Dual Boot systems hasn't been favorable, but my bud assures me you'll be just fine with it. He has had no issues using it.

gutted m8, i had no probs installing MDK8 on my pc with dual boot, ive done it over 20 times (i only have 10gb so i dont keep it on for long)

the net is abit of a pain, i have to do it in terminal mode and type in the stuff each time  as if in telnet, i cant figure out how to do script based and PPP just dont work with anything!

also i cannot use my CDROM drive in it...i have no idea why and no-one seems to be able to figure it out which is the 2nd reason why i dont keep it on for long

once i get a nice new 40gb+ HDD ill have a better attempt

some linux commands;

ls  - list (like DOS dir)
man - for the manuel, like DOS help, takes some getting used to

try www.linuxnewbie.com ( i think)

and www.mandrake-campus.com (i think)

bot are helpful, good luck ;D