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Anup Kurian
The media writes about Linux and its creator Linus Torvalds almost everyday. But how can someone not as computer savvy as the uber-geek next door use Linux? And where do you get it? How does one install and configure a Linux system? Where do you turn for help? Get answers to these questions here.
One of the most important concerns is: Can you use Linux for your daily computing needs of word processing, spreadsheets, surfing, playing audio and video files, etc?
The answer: A resounding Yes.
Linux easily subsitutes any flavor of Microsoft Windows. Moreover, the old Pentiums and Pentium IIs or Athlons, Durons will work reasonably fast on the latest Linux. So if you have an older buggy version of Windows 95, 98 or Millenium you can go for a Linux Operating System (OS) rather than spending much more on processors, motherboards or RAM to incorporate Windows 2000 or XP.
Linux will grow on you. It wont give you instant gratification like a Subhash Ghai film, rather it will slowly grab you like a Satyajit Ray film.
Before explaining further let's look at the types available. The OS comes in distributions, or distros for short. These distros are built up on the latest Linux kernel and add a lot of graphical utilities, software and applications, installation programmes, etc. A kernel can be thought of as the blueprint and foundation of Linux distros. As of now the latest Linux kernel is version 2.4.19. Version 3 is planned for May 2003. Check out www.kernel.org if you are curious.
For now, here's a look at some of the biggest and the best distros, with ease of use as the deciding factor. (For a complete listing check Distrowatch)
- Mandrake Linux - Considered to be the most userfriendly. The current version 9 has a advanced installation utility that will setup the OS, hardware and peripherals with minimal user input.
- Redhat Linux - This is the biggest Linux venture so far. The latest version is 8. Redhat (name comes from the red baseball hat the founder used to wear in college) competes with Mandrake in terms of userfriendliness and features. They've also captured the biggest share of the Linux server market.
- Suse Linux - European company Suse competes with Redhat and Mandrake. But they advise you to buy the CD rather than download the ISO images.
- Debian Linux - Debian is on version 3.0 and is most suitable for Linux enthusiasts.
What's the best Linux distro for someone who doesnt have the time and energy for hacking? Either Mandrake or Redhat. Applications like Open Office, that can read and write MS Office files; Outlook substitute Evolution; an advanced Web browser Mozilla; and GIMP - GNU Image Manipulation Programme are available out of the box for both distros. Also included are XMMS - an MP3/ audio CD player, CD/ DVD/ VCD player Xine and XCDROAST a CD-RW utility etc. Not to mention hundreds of utilities...some of which you'll discover months into working on Linux. If you want database support Oracle, DB2, MySQL are available. Java or Java-based applications and the world's most popular Webserver Apache make Linux their home.
Prerequisites - If your computer can accommodate an OS from Microsoft other than DOS or Windows 3.1, it will easily accommodate Redhat or Mandrake.
So where do you get Linux? For people with a broadband/ highspeed connection (Cable, DSL etc) ISO images can be downloaded from Mandrake/ Redhat pages or FTP sites. Mandrake 9 has three ISO files of 700 MB and Redhat 8 has five. You need to write the ISO images using your CD-RW utility and the first ISO file (an ISO file is an image file or disk image with .iso extension) will contain a bootable installation programme. The ISO file should not be burned directly to a CD. Instead take the 'Burn Image' option from your CD-RW programme and select the file. Though Redhat 8 has five ISO files, for the typical installation the first three are enough.
How can someone with dialup get these ISO images/ installation CDs? It's a herculean task to download a 700 MB file over dialup and you should check other sources. Your office may have a broadband connection. Ask the system administrator for help. Some computer magazines even carry CDs with a version of Linux.
Once you get the CDs, we can proceed to installation. It's now time to remember the six Ps of computing - Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. With that in mind, here's the pre installation 'to do' list:
- Backup your files on floppies, CDs and the Internet.
- Make sure you print the installation PDF file or keep a copy on a separate computer and read it completely.
- Create bootable floppies or CDs of your current OS.
- Use one 1.44 floppy for making a Linux bootable disk.
The space needed for a normal desktop Mandrake or Redhat installation is 1 to 3 GB depending on the options you select. If you have a single harddisk with Windows installed, the installer will create a separate Linux ext2/ ext3 partition on the available free space and leave your existing Windows intact.
If you have a separate harddisk only for loading Linux, select that. If not, make free space and retain the Windows flavour for the time being. In this scenario, we should take some precautions while installing Linux bootloaders (programmes that load important OS system files and initialise the system). You could implement popular ones like GRUB or LILO or select the default suggested by the installer. But make sure the bootloader is loaded on the first sector of the Linux partition, not on the Master Boot Record (MBR). Windows uses information on MBR to boot up, so overwriting that will cause difficulties. Your installation programme will allow you to select the bootloader and where you want it installed.
Linux can read FAT/ FAT32 filesystems used by Win 95, 98 or ME. There's also a utility called Explore2Fs -- to read files from Linux partitions while running Windows. However Microsoft has not released information for writing NTFS (New Technology File System) drivers...so if your harddisk has NTFS filesystem used by Win NT/2000 or XP, Linux wont be able to read and write files.
You have a choice of graphical interfaces (called X-Windows) on Linux. The popular ones are KDE and GNOME. If you have enough space, install both and switch between them using Switchdesk (all your applications will be available on both). If you are short on space I suggest using the more refined KDE. You also need to create a user (root user is created automatically) for normal operations. Think of a username like firstname-and-first-letter-of-lastname. The installation programme will also give you a choice of booting to a graphical or text interface. If you select the latter, you need to give username and password and then use the 'startx' command to get into X-Windows. Also make sure you create a bootdisk.
One important point to note: The root user has the final authority on the system. Don't lose or forget the root password. You'll need to be a root user once in a while.
Once the installation programme is over, if you can boot Linux using the bootdisk, you are done. Check your Internet connection, network, soundcards, printers and other peripherals. The installer should have identified them or asked you for input and installed the proper drivers.
A good forum for new Linux users is Linux Newbie ... search for answers to existing questions before posting your own. Also check out the NHFs -- Newbieised Help Files. The next best resource is Google.
You should learn to use the X-Term window (comparable to the DOS window on Windows ). As a first step after loading Linux, try installing its version of Yahoo messenger. Installing an application does not involve the usual double click - you have to type one or two commands - daunting as it may seem, the procedure is quite simple. Once you begin to get the hang of it, you can follow these instructions on adding an entry to the Windows bootloader so that you can select between Windows and Linux when booting.
As of now the only major things missing in Linux are video post production applications like Adobe Premiere or Apple Finalcut Pro. But a lot of Hollywood production houses are using Linux clusters for computer graphics and these applications will soon enter the market for the general customer.
Links of interest:
Linux User Groups in India |
The Linux Documentation Project (Howtos, FAQs, Guides, etc)
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