Suse Linux . . . Any Linux guys out there?

[Big Rick Rock]

I'm thinking of making the swit to Linux. Or maybe putting a partition in my HD and installing Linux as a second OS. I found a pretty cool Linux package: http://www.suse.com/us/private/index.html

Any of you guys know if this is a good one?

 

[jnuts]

I've never installed Suse - I've used Slack or Redhat.

I don't think you can go wrong with most Suse... just make sure all of your hardware is Linux compatible before you installl...

 

[Dial_tone]

The new Suse should be a winner with Novell now owning it. I use Gentoo & FreeBSD which aren't newbie-friendly.

 

[Big Rick Rock]

Suse Linux seems like a very newbie friendly OS. . . .

All of the programs that are offered in the package for $90. I would spend a few hundred buying the stuff in the Windows equivalent programs.

The HUGE plus is that 64bit Linux OS version. . . I have and Athlon64 3400+ on my PC right now, I would love to see what it can do running a 64bit OS.

 

[Ish]

Mandrake anyone? It's very newbie friendly.

 

[Dial_tone]

I think the 64-bit thing is a non event unless you're running a large DB. There's little that desktop apps stand to gain from it.

 

[gjohnson5]

I think the 64-bit thing is a non event unless you're running a large DB. There's little that desktop apps stand to gain from it.

There are benchmarks that show graphics performance is better on amd64 than the standard P4. Also the price per performance is alot higher on AMD market. I use an AMD64 as well with ultra 160 controller and it does rock. I believe the cpu to memory bandwidth is higher on the AMD64 systems then P4's as well.
But the big performance gains come when you use the AMD64 FX chips , which might as well be an opteron.

Think there's some benchmarks here:
http://www.aceshardware.com/
There are definitly some here that prove the point that AMD64 is worth the time.
http://www.thejemreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=117

As far as the database apps , I will be able to tell you fairly soon what the performace is like as we have a new opteron system we'll be running Oracle on

 

[Big Rick Rock]

There are benchmarks that show graphics performance is better on amd64 than the standard P4. Also the price per performance is alot higher on AMD market. I use an AMD64 as well with ultra 160 controller and it does rock. I believe the cpu to memory bandwidth is higher on the AMD64 systems then P4's as well.
But the big performance gains come when you use the AMD64 FX chips , which might as well be an opteron.

Think there's some benchmarks here:
http://www.aceshardware.com/
There are definitly some here that prove the point that AMD64 is worth the time.
http://www.thejemreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=117

As far as the database apps , I will be able to tell you fairly soon what the performace is like as we have a new opteron system we'll be running Oracle on

I was thinking about installing some harware to over clock my Athlon. . . For the price of a nice overclocking set up ($50 - $100) I could get big performance increase. (or so i have been told)



.

 

[gjohnson5]

I was thinking about installing some harware to over clock my Athlon. . . For the price of a nice overclocking set up ($50 - $100) I could get big performance increase.

Yes , at these prices overclocking isn't all that expensive. I would just buy a faster chip but overclocking a slower chip is an option. There should be a tyon of information on how to make the machine stable at an overclocked speed.

On a side note , the 64 bit version of XP should be out soon
Here are some of the advantages of running Windows on 64bit platform
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/profwin/pw0801.mspx#EIAA

 

[Big Rick Rock]

Yes , at these prices overclocking isn't all that expensive. I would just buy a faster chip but overclocking a slower chip is an option. There should be a tyon of information on how to make the machine stable at an overclocked speed.

On a side note , the 64 bit version of XP should be out soon
Here are some of the advantages of running Windows on 64bit platform
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/profwin/pw0801.mspx#EIAA

I would have cared a couple of months ago... I'm about ready to make the switch to Linux... Too many back doors for the man to tap into when using Windows.

 

[gjohnson5]

I would have cared a couple of months ago... I'm about ready to make the switch to Linux... Too many back doors for the man to tap into when using Windows.

Windows does have alot of holes. XP service pack 2 comes with a builtin firewall , service packs and integration with a virus protection product. I use this on top of FreeBSD ipfw. "chokers" is what security people call packet filtering or access lists in layers. The idea is to have multiple "layyers" or "chokers" for security purposes. Don't rely on one firewall. Use multiple. I would never get a cable modem for instance and plug ANY windows machine live to the internet. You're just asking for trouble.

 

[Big Rick Rock]

So... What shoulD I USE? Mandrake or Suse Linux ?

 

[Dial_tone]

Suse, although I prefer Gnome over KDE.

 

[Big Rick Rock]

Suse, although I prefer Gnome over KDE.

What exacly is Genome and KDE ? they are interfaces right?


Is there anything in Linux that would allow me to run Windows applications... I want to be able to run Dreamweaver and photoshop.

 

[Dial_tone]

They're GUI's. Both Mandrake and Suse default to KDE so they put more work into making that one look purdy. You can switch but you'll lose some functionality. Red Hat uses Gnome. Crossover Office will let you run some Windows apps, although it didn't run Office for me on Gentoo Linux.

http://www.codeweavers.com

 

[RottenWillow]

I've used Suse 7.1 for over three years now. My old home PC originally ran only win 98 but I partitioned it to run Linux when I was a senior in hs. Linux has like 15 gigs of a 20 gig driver. My dad uses the Win 98 partition for his porn surfing.

Switching back and forth between GUIs is easy. True that KDE is the default but bigdeal....it takes like 2 seconds to kill the X server with ctrl/alt/backspace and run GNOME if you prefer that one.

Tell that blowhole Gates to stick his Win whatthefuckever up his ass. There's NOTHING his OS does that open source OSs didnt do 2-4 years earlier.

 

[Big Rick Rock]

Ok... So I have a 200G HD. How much room do I need to set up my Linux OS? would 20g be alright?

 

[RottenWillow]

Ok... So I have a 200G HD. How much room do I need to set up my Linux OS? would 20g be alright?

How many gigs are already used on your drive? The partitioning utility will shrink the windows partition as small as you'd like it or the amount already used, whichever is greater. I'd at least make it a 50/50 split if I could.

 

[Dial_tone]

In a dualboot situation the amount of room you need depends on how much you use it. If you don't use it much 10GB is plenty. If you do use it alot then you'll want at least 15GB. Suse comes with a boatload of apps so if you install everything it'll take up 10GB quickly. Then you want room for your personal files. I have Gentoo Linux on an 18GB disk and FreeBSD on a 36GB disk because I prefer FreeBSD. I keep my data files on a network drive.

 

[Big Rick Rock]

In a dualboot situation the amount of room you need depends on how much you use it. If you don't use it much 10GB is plenty. If you do use it alot then you'll want at least 15GB. Suse comes with a boatload of apps so if you install everything it'll take up 10GB quickly. Then you want room for your personal files. I have Gentoo Linux on an 18GB disk and FreeBSD on a 36GB disk because I prefer FreeBSD. I keep my data files on a network drive.

Ok... If I'm running windows from Drive C: and I install Suse on drive F: can U use drive G: just for Data (Viedoes, MP3 ect...) Can both Linux and Windows share drive G: as juts a data storage drive?

 

[Dial_tone]

Ok... If I'm running windows from Drive C: and I install Suse on drive F: can U use drive G: just for Data (Viedoes, MP3 ect...) Can both Linux and Windows share drive G: as juts a data storage drive?

If it were FAT32 possibly. I don't believe Linux can write to a local NTFS formatted partition. Easiest to share it from another computer using Samba and/or NFS. That's what I do with my mp3's and movies.

 

[Big Rick Rock]

If it were FAT32 possibly. I don't believe Linux can write to a local NTFS formatted partition. Easiest to share it from another computer using Samba and/or NFS. That's what I do with my mp3's and movies.

Hmmmm...

I guess I will need an external HD for this purpose. Ok will I have a 3yrl Inspiron 5000 that is not being used, I could power that puppy up and install linux on it. If I like it then I'll put it on my main computer.


Why does the Linux OS need a partition on the HD? I think I'm going to over complicate this thing. . .

 

[Big Rick Rock]

Ok.... I made an 85G partition on my HD. I'm going to put Linux here. The partition is NTFS right now... Where do I start? do I have to convert it to FAT32 ?

 

[Dial_tone]

It doesn't matter what the format is. Linux will create it's own in place of it. You need to plan some things out first. Is Windows already installed? If you install Windows last it will wipe out your Linux boot record so you want to install Linux last. This is much easier with a commercial boot manager like System Commander; still doable without.

 

[Gigantasor]

Use Debian and I have used Mandrake. I like them both but Debian is a bit of a pain to install. I'm still trying to figure some a lot of it out though as I am a Microsoft Baby.

 

[Ish]

BRR, did you buy Suse already? If not, you can get the personal edition 9.1 via bittorrent free.

 

[Big Rick Rock]

BRR, did you buy Suse already? If not, you can get the personal edition 9.1 via bittorrent free.

Nope I have not bought it yet....

I was going to buy the 9.1 Professional...

Do they have a 64-bit Personal version? I have a 64 Athlon might as well put it to use.

 

[Big Rick Rock]

Dammit! the personal version does not come in a 64bit format.