First Lesson in Linux
Finding a distribution When I started, I could not find a single distribution. Having found one distribution, in the possession of a somewhat nasty individual my polite request was briskly turned down, I was heart broken. Finally I happened to find not one but three distributions in a book named Using Linux by QUE publications by Jack Tackett and Steven Burnett. I read parts of this book (not cover to cover) that gave me an insight into the working of Linux core features but never tried any of the distributions (Debian 2.1, Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 and Redhat 6.0) in fear of harming the windows computer. But then I found a copy of Redhat 8 (three CDS) available with a software vender mostly selling pirated copies. But having tried 21 badly copied CDs without any success, only on the 22nd attempt I managed to get the Redhat running in my 233 Pentium II with 64 MB of RAM. The reason for this now I understand is when one copies a Linux CD with Nero software sometimes the threads that link files are lost and the Check Sum (cheking the media) done at booting sees the missing parts and reject the CD. The remedy for this is to burn a Linux CD in Linux environment rather than in a windows environment. The first thing I do now when a test a new distribution is to test it first and burn a copy in K3B. That's it. Dual booting with Win 98, I was born again, fully involved with Linux since then. With a good and healthy dose of theoretical understanding of Linux having read a couple of books on Linux, by now I was in full flight and speed as a newbie in Linux. That was the beginning of the healthy association with Linux. Then, there was a proliferation of long line of books by Redhat with some of them including the Publisher�¢??s copy of Redhat 8, 9 and Redhat Fedora. My happy association with a clever software vender in Colombo who traveled to Singapore regularly and who made sure that I got a regular supply of various Linux distributions from abroad I was all but self sufficient in Linux. The distribution included were ASP Linux, Lycoris DesktopX Linux, Corel Linux, Xandros Open Linux 1, Mandrake 9, TurboLinux 4 and 6, SOT Linux, SuSe 8.1, 9.1, Knoppix and Sinhala Linux based on Knoppix. These distributions kept me occupied fully for the past ten years but my real Guru is Christopher Negus who regularly updates his book titled Linux Bible. Having a copy of the latest edition (over Rs.2000=) is the only resource book one should have if one wants to delve deeper into Linux (a complete reference book). The starting point for learning Linux is to have a Linux distribution at hand. Unlike me, you have no difficulty of finding a copy of Linux. It is freely available in the World Wide Web. Please designate one of your Linux Fans to download a Linux free distribution for you or go to a Web-Caf�?�© and request the administrator to download a copy of your fancied distribution, if you don�¢??t have an internet connection. It is simple as that. 1. You could use bit torrent or something similar download (facility) utility. 2. Go to Google search and type Free download Linux. 3. Access a Linux site and download either as a DVD copy or CD copy of the image of the Linux distribution. 4. Pick and choose what you like the most. There are many. Debian, SuSe, Mandriva, Fedora, Slakware Linspire TurboLinux Ubuntu or Puppy Linux my favorite pocket sized edition. Download whatever you may want but read carefully about the distribution and its total (capacity) number of CDs before you download. There is a proliferation of Live Cds compacted into a single CD. 5. Depending on the distribution it may take a few hours to three days to download (depending on the speed of the internet connection and the total megabyte capacity of the distribution). The connection in Sri-Lanka is painfully slow and our infrastructure is poorly developed. 6. It is better to download CD version which is fast. 7. Before you install the distribution read and understand the GNU agreement and its policy and the general disclaimer liability. Rest is simple. Good Luck. more >>