I'm going to try the linux thing again...

BlackRider · Post by **BlackRider** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 6:02 pm

I want to do a dual-boot for my laptop. I only have a 30 gig hd and I want 20 gig for XP. UC's College of Engineering requred an XP/Red Hat dual boot. I had Red Hat on an old box for a while, but got bored of it. I figure maybe I should give linux a second chance.

What I want to use it for:
programming
spread sheets
word processing
web browsing (possibly & wireless)

can't think of what else atm...

ATM, I'm debating fedora or mandrake or maybe even Red Hat 9

Any ideas?

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 8:10 pm

I wouldn't use RH9, it's old and not so well supported. FC would be better, IMO, if you like RH.

Mandrake might be OK. I know there were some problems with 10.0 or early 10.1 versions, but they may well be under control by now.

How about Ubuntu?

BlackRider · Post by **BlackRider** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 8:15 pm

I've downloaded FC, so I'm going to try that tonight. (I won't have internet again until later tomorrow.)

I guess I'll have to look up unbunu tomorrow.

Got to go now... but will be burning back up disks all night.

*edit* this was easier than I had imagined... I got my wireless setup in the blink of an eye.
Now that I've got web browsing down, its time to figure out the rest of this OS.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:21 am

Linux has made huge strides in the last year or two. It's getting there.

BlackRider · Post by **BlackRider** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 10:41 am

Question: The second time I booted linux today it ran constantly at 90% CPU usage for 5-10 minutes. It didn't do that the first time I booted it. What was it doing? I couldn't find a way to see the processor usage of each task... so I had no idea what was hogging my resources.

Also, I know how to open terminal windows, but what if I want to unload the GUI and just work in text mode?

Thanks.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 11:57 pm

Well, you don't actually even have to unload the gui. Just use ALT-F1 thru ALT-F6 (sometimes more, sometimes less) to switch between sessions.

As far as unloading X itself, without restarting/rebooting/etc, that kind of depends on the window manager you're using.

You could edit the init file - don't remember which one offhand - to prevent X from loading in the first place, but that would of course require a reboot.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 11:58 pm

Well, you don't actually even have to unload the gui. Just use ALT-F1 thru ALT-F6 (sometimes more, sometimes less) to switch between sessions.

As far as unloading X itself, without restarting/rebooting/etc, that kind of depends on the window manager you're using.

You could edit the init file - don't remember which one offhand - to prevent X from loading in the first place, but that would of course require a reboot.

XMEN Ashaman DTM · Post by **XMEN Ashaman DTM** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 4:33 pm

Gambit likes to repeat himself.

Post by **XMEN Gambit** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:14 pm

Heh. One of those "no response from the browser" situations...