New to Linux

[VecNub]

Hi All,

I helped someone upload Puppy to her laptop, and in doing so, began seriously thinking of doing the same with mine.  I'm trying to choose a good distro for a new user.  I was looking into Ubuntu, and actually burned a CD to try it out.  When trying to run Ubuntu, I got a message saying Windows-No Disk, that I couldn't get off.  I finally ran RegCure, and that fixed the problem.  I'm a bit shy about trying it again, so I'm doing as much research as I can before I follow through. 

While looking in DistroWatch, I came across Vector, and am checking that out.  Can anyone tell me if this would be a good choice for me to try?

Thanks!

[VecNub]

I'm new Linux, and would appreciate a link to the above mentioned, for trying out Vector.  I had a bad experience with Ubuntu, and am now Linux-Shy.

I have WinXP; I also have two hard drives in my computer, if that makes any difference.  I wanted to know if I can have Vector reside with my Win XP for now.

Thanks Everyone!

[stretchedthin]

Well I hope you understand as a user of Vector I'm a little biased, but yes I think you should try it.

What type of hardware are you thinking of putting it on. Processor, ram, and harddrive space?

Knowing this may help determine the flavor of VL you will choose.

Are you dual booting with anything else or just installing Vector as the only OS?

[VecNub]

Hi, and thanks for replying!  Ok, I have an AMD 64 processor, and 1.7GH, 384Mb of RAM.

On my C drive, I have 149GB of free space, and on C drive, I have 46.4GB of free space.

I was going to dual boot for now.  I  read a disturbing post somewhere about doing that....I heard anyone who dual boots should make sure they have a really good AV program; although the Linux distros do not get viruses (from what I'm told), if your running them next to Windows, there's a danger of Windows getting viruses from the Linux?  Not sure what that is all about, but it just concerned me.

[nightflier]

Your machine is well suited to run Linux.

As far as Linux passing on viruses to your windows.. never heard of that before, but I guess it is possible. For that to happen, you would need to download a virus file when using Linux, write it to your windows partition, then open that file in windows next time you run it, and not have any virus protection running. It would require a lot of operator interaction. The chances of it happening are very small. You are a lot more likely to get infected surfing the web in windows, even with AV software installed. However, if you have any concerns, all you need to do is deny Linux write access to the windows partition.

[VecNub]

That's good enough for me, now how will I do that?  I haven't even gotten a Vector Live CD yet, I'm trying to gather as much info as I can before I do.  Is there a site where I can request a CD, or do you have to pay for those?

Thanks much for your reply!

[nightflier]

Linux is a lot more tolerant of sharing a computer with another operating system than windows is. If you have two hard drives and can dedicate one to each OS, it is easy to keep them isolated from each other.

What are the specs of your machine (CPU speed, RAM)?

What were the problems you encountered previously?

[nightflier]

Vector offers several free downloads here: http://vectorlinux.com/downloads

The LiveCD's are good for testing if your hardware is compatible. Personally, I prefer the traditional ones for permanent installation.

[VecNub]

Specs:  AMD 64, 1.7GH, 384MB RAM

C= 149GB free space
D= 46.4GB free space

I burned the Ubuntu CD.  I put in in my drive, and rebooted. Up came a spash page that had 3 choices, in the form of buttons, I chose the first, which I now can not remember the wording of, but install was one of them....I think it was something about being able to install it later if I liked it.  When I clicked the button, the Windows-No Disk came up, and wouldn't go away until I finally ran RegCure, and that fixed it.  Guess it was a registry-related problem.  Keep in mind, that I NEVER got an error message like that since I've owned a computer, so I know it had something to do with that CD.  Now, it's VERY possible that I didn't burn it correctly.  As a matter of fact, I'm sure it was my fault, that's why I want to get a disc that's already burned by someone who knows what they're doing as far as ISO files go.  I see you can do that with Vector, but they're quite expensive. 

[VecNub]

Thanks much!  I'm thinking about the traditional ones as well, how would I know which those are?  I'm also thinking about partitioning my D drive to put that permanently on there.  I've only done ONE partition, on my daughter's  IBM laptop; it was fun, but I believe I would be sweating profusely doing this on mine...    

What do you think, would this be a good idea?  I've got enough free space on D drive to do this.

[nightflier]

I went ahead and merged your two similar topics, this will make it easier to keep track of the information.

When you look at the download page, the ones without "Live" in the title are traditional installable ones.

As far as which one to choose, it depends on your preferences. Your computer is fast enough to run the SOHO version. The KDE desktop does a lot more hand-holding than the other ones and provides an easier transition from windows. The trade-off is some loss in speed, especially boot-up time.

You should give VL at least 5 GB of hard drive space, 10 would be recommended. Include a 512 MB partition for swap space.

Are there two physical hard drives in your machine, or one big one with two partitions?
Can you move all your current files to the C-drive?
Do you have a backup of all important files on some other media or a different computer?

[VecNub]

Thanks, good idea.

I have two hard physical hard drives.  I was thinking of moving the files from the older one to the newwe one too.  I don't know how that would affect my current quality of performance, though.

Thanks for the specs I need to add Vector; I'm happy to report this should be no problem for me to accomplish, as I just finished doing it for the first time yesterday, so what you're telling me is at least making sense!

I will be doing another back up of my two hard drives soon as I get out and buy more CD's...lol. 

[nightflier]

Looks like the plan is coming together.   

There can be advantages to using two hard drives. You get the best results when you use virtual memory spread across disks. Same thing with "scratch disk" in graphics programs. This assumes that the hard drives have similar performance. If the second one is slower, you may see a decrease in speed.

You can keep the dual disk setup in windows while installing VL on the second disk. You just have to make some room on it. Most of the prep work can be done in windows. First copy all files from D: to C: Then right-click on "My Computer", select "Manage". Click on "Disk management" and use "logical disk manager" to delete the D-drive volume (probably "Disk 1"). Create a new one that doesn't use the whole disk. Afterward, you can copy the files back to the D-drive. When you go to launch the VL installer, it will see the available free space and use it for installation.

Another option is to re-size your D-drive partition using the VL installer. It may take a little more time, depending on the amount of defragmentation. Either way, you need to have all those files backed up, as there is some inevitable risk involved.

[VecNub]

Well, I'm leaning toward making room on my D drive. I really don't want to load down my C drive with that stuff.  I was just going through D, deleting stuff I know I don't want on there  anymore, and after I do the backup, I'll go for partitioning that one.  Oh yeah...gotta get the Vector disc too.

I appreciate your help, and I'll most definitely be back soon as I start the process, or have other questions, whichever comes first! 

[adamlau]

RegCure to fix a disk? Sounds like an MBR issue best resolved by formatting/verifying and then writing some zeroes to the beginning and end of the disk. Save yourself a headache down the road by remapping those bad sectors now. Else e2fsck off live media later. Don't give up on Ubuntu, it's a great distro to start off with as most new users seem to transition well to GNOME and Synaptic. And yes, VL holds great promise. A default 5.9 install runs much snappier than my heavily tweaked and tuned Xubuntu box. In fact most of my time spent in VL is in trying to make it look and feel more like Xubuntu!