Red Hat Newbie - What do I really need?

[Logan Kennelly]

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I liked Matt's response, but I thought I would add my own colouring. ;-)

On Tuesday 09 July 2002 03:49 pm, Craig Smith wrote:
> I have played around some with Debian (Woody) and Red
> Hat 7.2 and I think I like Red Hat better from a users
> point of view

It sounds like you have already made up your mind, but might I suggest that 
you check out Mandrake Linux?  Some of the people I work with have had 
trouble with KDE (GNOME is the official desktop of RedHat), while KDE is 
the "official" desktop of Mandrake.  I have not encountered such 
difficulties, and have KDE's CVS HEAD compiled just fine.

Note that I have not used RedHat 7.X except for a work situation.  I don't 
know about administration, but Mandrake allows for some really easy things 
(automatically sets up a firewall, quick point-and-click connection 
sharing, etc.).  Also note that RedHat is kind of a "standard" for Linux, 
and while Mandrake may be 99% compatible (or whatever they claim), you are 
more likely to get help/support for RedHat.

> What I want to set up is a graphical Linux workstation
> as I am not interested in a server at the moment.I
> want to install Mozilla, OpenOffice, and VIM. I need
> to write some C (not C++) programs for a class I will
> be taking next semester. I also need to write some
> HTML, Java, Javascript, and PERL for another class I
> am taking. Some games would be nice to breakup the
> boredom of homework.

Usually, you can select a "Programming" or "Development" group in whatever 
distribution you are installing.  Although it might not be optimal (read 
slightly more disk space), you should get all the tools you need.

> Do I need to load both Gnome and KDE or just one of
> them? I think, I like KDE better than Gnome

There is really nothing shared between the two, so you can choose one or the 
other.  However, I would install both if you have the disk space.  I find 
that each desktop manager includes some tools that are better than those of 
the other.

Mandrake does not currently have KDE3 "out-of-the-box", but it is a painless 
download and install.

> Whih is the better way to install Red Hat
> "Workstation" or "Custom" ?

Go with "Custom".  You will be asked a few more questions, but nothing 
serious.

> What is the difference between 7.2 and 7.3? Will
> "up2date" update my 7.2 to 7.3?
>
> After I register my copy of Red Hat 7.2 and do an
> 'up2date' command, does it just update what I
> installed or something more?

Sorry, but I can't help here.  `MandrakeUpdate` just updates packages that 
are installed, and I think it would be silly if RedHat did otherwise.  

> I am a Windows 2000 user and I have a removable hard
> drive which I use for my data file. Can Red Hat read
> and write to this NTFS formated drive without screwing
> it up for Windows 2000?

You can read NTFS drives without a problem.  There is experimental support 
for writing, but I wouldn't attempt this if you are worried about "screwing 
it up". ;-)

> Thinking about buying a book: Red Hat Linux 7.2 Bible
> Unlimited Edition (With CD-ROM) by Christopher Negus

This sounds like it might be a good idea.  It also helps to simply read what 
other problems people are trying to tackle.  The PLUG list seems to focus 
quite a bit on server usage, but you could always try skimming the 
newsgroups.

Another book that is usually suggested is OReilly's "Running Linux: 3rd 
Edition".  It pretty much covers everything using the standard Unix way 
(i.e. manipulating text files).  This also means the book is "distribution 
neutral" for the most part.  Although it may not be what you are familiar 
with, you will probably appreciate taking this approach in the long run.

- -- 
						Logan Kennelly
      ,,,
     (. .)
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