Linux help needed...

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Project X

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Ok im about to install linux....
I DO NOT know a thing about linux only that is free, i once installed it but quickly removed it because
1)my second HDD was not visible.
2)I did not have any sound
3)I didnt have a clue how to install the drivers....
So can anyone tell me how i do all that..

Is it possible to play games on it,and is the a way i can run it and windows at the same time?:o
 
Project X said:
Ok im about to install linux....
I DO NOT know a thing about linux only that is free, i once installed it but quickly removed it because
1)my second HDD was not visible.
2)I did not have any sound
3)I didnt have a clue how to install the drivers....
So can anyone tell me how i do all that..

Is it possible to play games on it,and is the a way i can run it and windows at the same time?:o
Click to expand...

If you're looking for a cheap OS on which to run your windows games - linux isn't it.

If you want to explore a new OS and learn a different way of doing things, then give linux a bash (so to speak).

There're a couple of ways you could run linux and windows at the same time -

Dual booting
Virtual Machine
Wine
 
Project X said:
Ok im about to install linux....
I DO NOT know a thing about linux only that is free, i once installed it but quickly removed it because
1)my second HDD was not visible.
2)I did not have any sound
3)I didnt have a clue how to install the drivers....
So can anyone tell me how i do all that..

Is it possible to play games on it,and is the a way i can run it and windows at the same time?:o
Click to expand...

FWIW, I recommend Ubuntu. It's slick, works really well and even allows you to try the OS out without installing a single byte on your HDD. You can't simply play Windows games though. Certain titles may work with a program called Wine, but don't expect miracles.

Instead, either use a second HDD, or create a new partition for Linux. It installs a "boot-loader", which presents you with a menu at bootup, allowing you to choose Windows or Linux (or whatever else you're running).

The newer versions of Linux tend to provide drivers for a huge amount of hardware. I'm currently running Ubuntu 7.10 on:

Home PC = Asus A8N NF4 motherboard, AMD X2 4400+ (dual core), 2Gb RAM, 160Gb + 250Gb Seagate SATA HDD's (both accessible), XFX 8800GT (with fully working official Nvidia drivers), onboard sound (since Creative still hasn't released Linux drivers for the X-Fi).

Laptop = old Acer with 512Mb RAM, even has the Intel-910 graphics drivers

Booting from the Ubuntu LiveCD, you have a GUI, with sound and networking all working without needing to configure or install anything! If I sound entusiastic, it's because Linux is starting to come closer to a user-friendly OS. That said, it still often requires some fiddling with command-line instructions and doing research on forums. It's not quite as simple to use as Windows (IMO), but it is impressive.

Aside from Ubuntu, there is also great support for PCLinuxOS (based on Mandrake), which attempts to be as easy to use as Windows and also LinuxMint (based on Ubuntu), which does the same. Then there's OpenSuse, which has long been considered to be an easy-to-use OS, although in my experience, Ubuntu is the right balance between ease-of-use and showing new Linux users the differences to Windows.
 
Project X said:
Ok im about to install linux....
I DO NOT know a thing about linux only that is free, i once installed it but quickly removed it because
1)my second HDD was not visible.
2)I did not have any sound
3)I didnt have a clue how to install the drivers....
So can anyone tell me how i do all that..

Is it possible to play games on it,and is the a way i can run it and windows at the same time?:o
Click to expand...
Not much has changed since you tried it. I think the sound has been sorted though.
 
DWPTA said:
A bit off the topic, but flarkit, is it worth it to install v 7.10 for Ubuntu. I heard there is still a few bugs aound it.
Click to expand...

For sure, unless you want to wait until the end of next month for 8.04.

I've not come up against any bugs using 7.10 in various flavours daily - graphics, sound, wireless, printing all working 100%.
 
Project X said:
Ok im about to install linux....
I DO NOT know a thing about linux only that is free, i once installed it but quickly removed it because
1)my second HDD was not visible.
2)I did not have any sound
3)I didnt have a clue how to install the drivers....
So can anyone tell me how i do all that..

Is it possible to play games on it,and is the a way i can run it and windows at the same time?:o
Click to expand...

You can dual boot, there are lots of guides.

But anyway, format and install Vista? xD
 
Sound through the optical out seem to not work on my onboard sound, but the normal analog outs works perfect. Networking is not a problem, nor most other hardware.
The only problem I had on my PC, was the wireless network card based on the TI RT61 chip set. Drivers is available though, but you might need to compile it, as the supplied driver didn't work for me. Everything else is working 100%.

I installed a few things to play around with, such as the openfire jabber server, asterisk server and a drupal website.
 
I inserted my Ipod nano the other day, and it worked right out the box without the need to do anything. I am loving it :D Most hardware now is supported by Ubuntu, and Ubuntu definitely supports more hardware natively (without the need to install or compile drivers) than any of the Windows installations. I have had it installed on two machines (laptop/pc), and my bluetooth dongle, usb skype phone, ipod nano, usb wireless device, huawei modem... all work perfectly without the need to install a single driver. Windows simply can not do that.

Also, my laptop crashed, so I am running Ubuntu on it... on an _external_ usb drive! hehe, you do not need to install it onto your local machine, you can install it onto a decently sized flash disk or external drive.
 
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I want know more about linux because everyone is raving about it and complaining about vista..
 
Saule said:
There are methods to solve this problem (check the other thread I linked to in my previous post) but I haven't got it to work on mine [yet]:).
Click to expand...

Have you upped the volume of your surround sound? I had a similar problem, and I went through the mixer till I found the surround sound settings, once I pushed that up I was able to hear stuff.

When going through the ubuntu forums I actually found it was a common problem.
 
Last edited:
w1z4rd said:
Have you upped the volume of your surround sound? I had a similar problem, and I went through the mixer till I found the surround sound settings, once I pushed that up I was able to hear stuff
Click to expand...

I did check the mixer but didn't see anything about surround sound. I'll check it out tonight at home. Thanks for the tip:).
 
Last edited:
Saule said:
I did check the mixer but see didn't anything about surround sound. I'll check it out tonight at home. Thanks for the tip:).
Click to expand...

Its not in the default menu, its like somewhere hidden away in the advanced properties (in the mixer somewhere). You will need to fiddle, but I am willing to bet thats the same problem. Cause if you have the mixer, it generally means your sound card has being installed okay, but for some reason, you have to up that surround sound to get it out. I worked this one out last night... I am also not at home so I dont have the direct link where I got that information from.
 
Double click the speaker icon in the top toolbar menu, select edit, select preferences, tick all the boxes and unmute and raise the volume of all of them. The exact culprit should be "surround", I have to do this every time I fresh install.
I also recommend typing about:config in the Firefox address toolbar, scrolling down to "network disable ipv6" and changing it to true. This will speed up any slow resolution times.
 
DWPTA said:
A bit off the topic, but flarkit, is it worth it to install v 7.10 for Ubuntu. I heard there is still a few bugs aound it.
Click to expand...

No more so than any other OS. Ubuntu is a great way for someone who's serious about learning to use Linux, but doesn't have a background with *nix.

Having sampled Red Hat, Mandrake, OpenSuse and 3 earlier versions of Ubuntu (5.10, 6.06 and 7.04), I was very impressed with 7.10 because things work well enough to work comfortably in Linux. I actually can't wait for Hardy to be released.
 
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