Why RH 9?

The newer distros support more HW (opinion not based upon fact), and are getting real time attention to updates etc.

As far as installing RH9 and packages to run wine, I have no experience, but I have been fooling around with Fedora Core 3 and 4, and after a few days re-installed FC3 for the availability of more supported apps, and due to some problems with Java.

I did a couple of linux searches on google, and came up with a link to FC3 notes published by Stanton Finley and through following his notes I ran across something called synaptic, and am using apt and yum also to install packages as needed. http://stanton-finley.net/fedora_cor...ion_notes.html

I recommend that you go to the trouble of downloading Fedora Core 3 and follow Mr. Finley's recommendations and you will be up and running in a couple of hours if you are on supported hardware.

If you have a DVD burner so much the better, because you can put the install from the RH Fedora project on one DVD and install from there.

BIttorrent is a great way to get large files downloaded in a reasonable amount of time, and once you have Synaptic up, the wine install is cake.

One thing I did have some trouble with from following Finley's instructions was with the Java. Problem was I was cutting and pasting his command line stuff, and not paying attention to the fact that the Java packages I downloaded were a version bump, and I had to go back and redo the commands with the correct version numbers.

All of this assumes a highe speed internet connection, otherwise, the downloading is impractical.

Cheers!

Actually Windows is the "Brave New World" - as it is a negative remark since Huxley's famous book.
Look up the characteristics on Wikipedia or read the book and you will notice several parallels between the "M$ philosophy of (l)user management" and the world described in the book.

"...in Brave New World the characters are physically engineered not to desire "dangerous" knowledge..."

doesn't this line strike you as familiar? In Windows the user is "trained" not to try anything out of order, everything will be done for him by a little annoying useless assistant/wizard

M$ has managed fairly successful to keep and train the user ignorant, in my opinion there exist more Windows user not understanding the file-structure (drives etc) than possible in Linux/Unix and these users will install and use the computer - and to keep on a satiric note these (l)users who only check there emails, brows the web and use the computer as a "better typewriter" are those who will shout loudest about how "good" windows is, how easy it is and what do I know about absurd pro-windows stuff (gag) (IT sheep - in ref to G Orwells Animal Farm)
and never even having seen a proper running Linux will tell you that it just is far to complex to do anything in any other way than the Windows way...

I leave it by that, as I could go on over several pages about it - but this class of user I described in my last paragraph is definitely the type of user that Linux is NOT for - or the type of user that should be "converted" to linux

Gibsonist,

While I may deplore the bully tactics that Microsoft and other big IT companies employ, the fact is that they can because of their position in the Market.

My first hands on experience with computers was 33 years ago as an old time mainframe IBM 360 operator, a "Tape Ape"! That was not user friendly, nor was it affordable. Five initiators, MFT and HASP. Paper console typewriter, and 384K of main memory... The biggest Mod 40 in the world, or so we claimed.

We have come a long way, and should be thankful that something as powerful and useful as a PC is now so readily available. That situation is in no small part due to the marketing push of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and other visionaries.

WIthout those giants, we wouldn't have Linux, or Windows or MAC OS-X. It probably would have happened, but maybe not for years yet. Linux is a revolution in a way that was begun by others before Mr. Torvalds, with the GNU and some others.

My kids and my 76 year old mother use computers and the internet (Admiral Grace Hopper saw that one coming before you could say IP!) as tools for learning, entertainment, and what ever else you can think of.

Linux is a natural growth from the population of folks who are interested enough to want to know more, and in my opinion more fun and definitely cheaper than MS operating systems.

Funny thing is that the US Government, which was once up to its eyes in UNIX (mostly Sun Micro) began maigrating towards Windows because it was more affordable and users could get spun up on it quickly. Now they are stuck in the Microsoft quicksand, and getting deeper every day, and now 'NIX is available for free with all of the security advantages that Unix once offered.

The pendulum may swing again, because for security and configuration control, MS is out of hand, and we need something that sysadmins can lock down, and keep out of the hands of the innocent (right)! I only hope that Linux survives and the open source movement contiues to grow and thrive.

Cheers,

Patrick

Hello pspurr

The reason I used Red Hat 9 was because no-one told me not to. That is, up to now.

I bought a book about Linux that had the Red Hat 9 discs bundled with it.

I will look at your suggestions and perhaps do as you say.

Thanks

Snowy

The site I referred to has been a great help to me in getting set up.

With most of the newer distributions, you can set up to run along side of Windows if you prefer, and you will have the choice upon booting of selecting Windows or your Linux OS.

I keep tinkering with my system, and add things as I go along, but after following the instructions that Mr. Finley provided, I had the easiest time upgrading software packages, playing music, and getting access to tools and installing them on my machine.

I am not a programmer, not by a long shot, nor even a power user, but do find some little things in Linux that make me like it more and more, and prefer it to windows. Things like right clicking to open a terminal window, and enabling root priveleges temporarily by becoming the SuperUser (su), without having to log off, or be in the administrator mode all the time adds to the experience.

There are definitely some challenges, but nothing that a littl googling won't get fixed.

I hope that you have some fun and learn at the same time.

PatrickNetwork

Good luck with Red Hat 9. Do try to give a Debian-based distro a try, though (I highly recommend Ubuntu and Mepis--I've tried SuSE, Red Hat, Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux, Yoper, Xandros, and a few other distributions, and Ubuntu and Mepis are definitely the cream of the crop for beginners). As for the hundreds of quid you've spent on software... first of all, recognize that Linux has free software equivalents for almost all Windows software. For those it doesn't... well, Wine works sometimes, but it doesn't do too well with apps that make heavy use of .dlls. There are some commercial Linux apps that can run native Windows applications (Crossover Office, Win4Lin), but since you mentioned spending hundreds of pounds already, you probably don't want commercial apps. Can you mention what programs in particular you need? Maybe people on this forum can help you find Linux alternatives for them. For example, GIMP is a good substitute for Adobe Photoshop, and OpenOffice is a good substitute for Microsoft Word.

Hello aisiu

I guess that there's a lot more to it than just installing some kind of Linux. There seem to be more versions than species of dicky birds.

I guess that I won't want to install one that is good for beginners because I wouldn't want to be a beginner for too long. However, from what I have gathered so far, you guys change your versions quite often, so perhaps that is not a big deal.

Progs that I use often are Microgrfx Picture Publisher, Antechinus PHP Editor, Antechinus Javascript Editor, Navicat, Frontpage, Editpad Pro, Capture Express, Smartboard, Xara 3D, Nero, Irfanview, Repligator, Smartsaver, Adobe Acrobat, Excel, WS_FTP, Pocomail,.... to name perhaps the important few.

What chance do I have of continued use?

Regards

Snowy

To be perfectly honest, I haven't heard of most of the programs you use, but this list of what programs to use in Linux for Windows programs may help you out.

As for "beginner" versions of Linux... most Linux distros are essentially the same in terms of actual use and structure--they are, after all, based on the same Linux "kernel." What makes something a beginner or "user friendly" distro is how easy it is to set up. Once Linux is set up, it's more or less the same (sure, Gentoo may be an exception, but this is the case for most distros). And there's no Linux distro that's too beginner for advanced users. You can always use the command-line in Linux, no matter how "user friendly" it appears at first. And even if one distro comes with a KDE desktop, you can always install Gnome, XFCE, fluxbox, or IceWM.

In one sense, yes, there are many flavors of Linux--something like 400 distributions. In another sense, no there really isn't. Most "new" Linux distributions are just based on other versions of Linux. I'd say the bulk of distros out there are either Debian-based or Fedora-based (and Fedora is a branch-off of Red Hat).

Even though this borders on self-promotion, I've put together a guide for people just like you on my own website. You may find it helpful in orienting you to Linux.

I'll tell you: last year when I first started using Linux, I, too, was very confused about it all. It seemed very overwhelming. You'd be amazed, though, once you get into it and start playing around how familiar this crazy world becomes. I've tried well over ten distros, and I'll tell you Ubuntu and Mepis are not bad distros to start with or stay with.

Thanks everyone for the info and encouragement.

I will go off and play awhile and perhaps call on your generosity for help when I get stuck.

Fortunately I have 2 PCs so I can keep working with my Windoze setup while getting to grips with Linux on the other machine.

Cheers all.

Snowy