posted
Due to the manifold ways in which Microsoft sucks, not the least of which is that they designed XP Home where it was impossible to log into a server domain, thus making it impossible for the couple thousand freshmen at my university with new computers to log on to the wireless, I will be removing Windows from my laptop system this weekend and switching to Mandrake Linux. I figure that a) it's free, b) it's got free software superior to the commercial windows equivalent, c) it's absurdly stable, and d) with a little know-how, it can do everything Windows can. Thus, death to XP! Any advice/suggestions/prayers are appreciated.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Either way, can your mom talk loud enough so that they all hear?
Registered: Oct 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Mandrake is, of course, but one of many Linux distributions available for download (and purchase, if you can't be arsed to download the whopping 1200 megabytes it weighs in at). Wether it's the best variant for a beginner (I assume no previous experience) to play around with I can't say, as I have never strayed from the path that is Debian. To quote a certain P. Mullen:
quote:"If I had a nickel for every time I was asked "Which is the best Linux distribution?," I'm sure Id be just as wealthy as our friend Bill Gates. It's not that I dont like helping a prospective Linux user, but there are difficulties to answering a question like that, which almost seems to be rhetoric these days. No single distribution is right for everyone, and that might just be one of the things that makes Linux so great.
That aside, let's go over the basics. Mandrake is easy to install, and comes with a GUI similar to Windows. Since I don't foresee any problems here, I'll skip this part and jump straight to informative mode.
Now, if you don't want to dive straight into the deep end of things I suggest you thoroughly explore this site first, to avoid any... embarrassment.
I won't discuss advanced topics (such as IP masquerading, SSH, configuring servers, access permissions, runlevels, you get the farking point), but fire away if you run into any trouble (and you WILL).
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Really, Gnome looks pretty similar to Windows, too, and I like it better than KDE. It doesn't have that awful horizontally-scrolling "taskbar", for one thing.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
I'm not too fond of it either, but I guess it's a matter of personal preference. Anyway, he has the option of trying both.
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
I will worry about that later, thank you very much. I need to figure out how this stuff WORKS before worrying about how it LOOKS.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
You want to learn how it works, read FAQs, tutorials, howto's, that post of mine which I didn't write for the cat's behind, the works.
You're welcome, too.
Registered: Nov 1999
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-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Can't these Freshmen just buy XP Pro from the University Bookstore for dirt cheap?
-------------------- "Lotta people go through life doing things badly. Racing's important to men who do it well. When you're racing, it's life. Anything that happens before or after is just waiting."
-Steve McQueen as Michael Delaney, LeMans
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
2600 students buying XP Pro for $85 dollars each. That's nearly a quarter-million straight into Microsoft's pocket, just because they SPECIFICALLY crippled XP Home for this purpose. I prefer not to play that game.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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