Help Understanding Linux

[albinoshadow]

Hello fellow internetz! I have a question that I'm hoping might have a reply that has enough information to answer all of my questions...

Essentially I recently built a gaming rig, but I may be taking it off to MIT or Stanford for a week or two for a game dev team. I hear Linux is a good OS for programming and I figured why not boot up with either Win7 or Linux... Basically just wondering what version of Linux should I get (L1NUX N00B), mostly for making games and testing.

I asked what version since I don't know if there is a better version of Linux out there, as I said I am a complete noob to this OS.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

I like Ubuntu for a generally easy to use Linux, but you can add developer tools to any Linux distribution and program in just about any language you want.

 

[skittle]

One distro is not necessarily better than any other! The linux kernel is mostly the same throughout distrobutions. The main differences you will encounter are:
1.) Default desktop. Gnome, KDE, XFCE, LXDE... etc..
2.) Package Management.
3.) drivers already compiled into kernel.

Distros you may want to start with: Ubuntu, Mint, or Fedora. These (and their derivatives) are probably the easiest to get start with.

 

[albinoshadow]

Okay I sorta am at a loss... I know these names but what do they mean to me. Like which ones are easy to start with and which will be the most compatible for a secondary boot going against win7, or is that not compatible with Linux?

 

[Ijack]

All those distros (any distro) will dual boot with Windows 7). And they are all easy to install and use. If you have enough bandwidth, download some live CDs (try Fedora, Mandriva, SuSE, and Ubuntu) and try them. If you just want a "use this" recommendation, then go for Ubuntu. It will do everything you want it to.

 

[albinoshadow]

Okay, and I can still edit the files, correct?

 

[Ijack]

Which files do you mean? Are you thinking of sharing files between Windows and Linux?

 

[albinoshadow]

Hopefully, if that is too complicated I may vote it out.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

You can access your Windows files from Linux but not the other way around. If you install Ubuntu it will map your Windows documents folders so you can easily access them from Linux applications.

 

[someone19]

There are ways to get windows to be able to access your linux partitions, but those drivers aren't the most stable ones out there, and not for the faint of heart (no noobs apply).

Most any linux distribution that gets classified as a desktop system has the ability to access the windows partition, browse it and either has programs already to access those files, or has the programs available to install using the package manager.

http://distrowatch.com has a list of too many linux distributions, descriptions and links to each. Things I look for are how long its been since a release, or other activity. The big names, Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, etc are all well polished and maintained, that's why they're big names. People use them.

 

[Ijack]

One way to easily share files between systems is to create a FAT32 data partition that both can access. I'm not really in favour of making the OS partition visible to the other OS; there is too much potential for my liking to damage important system files. External (or networked) drives and/or FTP are other ways of sharing files.

 

[PreferLinux]

openSUSE is good. I really like its management software (SUSE's, not the other stuff). Works well, too.

 

[albinoshadow]

Just installed Ubuntu, I'd like to see where it goes and what exactly I can do with it.

 

[someone19]

Have fun with it. Its a very stable featured distribution. Part of the alure of linux however is you can customize it to your liking in many more ways than windows. Throw convention out of the box and start making subtle changes and see what you like and don't like.

 

[ArisVer]

I was reading at distrowatch that there is a version for games only. Maybe you want to try that.

 

[albinoshadow]

Well, Ubuntu is installed and I like it, BUT I have internet complications and also none of my files transfered over... Any insight to this?

 

[wombat_tg]

What sort of "internet complications" and how did you try to transfer your files?

 

[albinoshadow]

Internet complications such as not being able to connect to my home network which is an easy connection over Windows. I believe it may be an issue with the drivers. Not sure though seeing as I ALSO cannot view my drivers CD under Linux.

As to file transferring I didn't know where the start...

 

[someone19]

The files won't transfer automatically, you will need to access them through the filesystem. Your drivers CD is useless in linux - it only contains drivers for windows. Thankfully most all hardware is supported by linux directly, sometimes it does require setup however. What network card are we talking about? (make/model)

 

[ArisVer]

With Ubuntu 10.10 there is an option under System-->Administration-->Additional Drivers where you can automatically download drivers (if any) for your equipment. If you are connected of course.

 

[randomizer]

Internet complications such as not being able to connect to my home network which is an easy connection over Windows. I believe it may be an issue with the drivers. Not sure though seeing as I ALSO cannot view my drivers CD under Linux.

As to file transferring I didn't know where the start...

The network connection problem could be many things. Do you have the ability to select wireless networks when you right-click (or left click?) the networking icon in the notification area (system tray) in the top-right?

As for the file issue, it really depends how you installed Ubuntu. If you selected the option for using the whole disk.... well, let's just hope there was nothing important there. On the other hand, if you correctly installed it as a dual boot then you should be able to find your files. Open up the file manager Nautilus and look for the drives on the left hand side.

 

[wombat_tg]

Internet complications such as not being able to connect to my home network which is an easy connection over Windows. I believe it may be an issue with the drivers. Not sure though seeing as I ALSO cannot view my drivers CD under Linux.

As to file transferring I didn't know where the start...

By home network do you mean your web connection or do you mean a share?

As for moving the files, assuming you didn't use the whole disk and the files are still there when you boot into Windows, you just need to find the Windows drive and mount it, and you should have access to the files.

Since Windows can't read the files on your Linux machine (without some gymnastics) you will have to think about how you'll get any Linux files to your Window machine if you want to access them while booted into Windows. If you edit a file on the Linux side its' Windows counterpart won't be updated. There are a lot of ways around this. Probably one of the easiest is to go with something like DropBox or SpiderOak.

 

[randomizer]

There are a lot of ways around this. Probably one of the easiest is to go with something like DropBox or SpiderOak.

Or just saving everything to an NTFS data partition

 

[wombat_tg]

Or just saving everything to an NTFS data partition

But... but... cloud syncing... :lol:

I also move back and forth between multiple VMs and computers, so I find something like DB/Box/SO very easy. I'm getting lazy in my old age.

 

[albinoshadow]

Okay wait so I need a program to transfer files?