# Hold my hand and help me pop my Linux cherry
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 22, 2004, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600 "2004-06-22T10:00:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/1 "2004-06-22T10:00:24Z")
I need to set up a machine to run Suse Linux 8.1 (as specified by the piece of [software](http://www.salemradiolabs.com/rivendell/) I want to run on it.
I think I’m right in my understanding that I can just download this for free and that the manual is the bit I’d have to pay for.
But… Oh… help - I don’t know diddly about installing Linux; I don’t even know exactly what to download.
So; any of you Linux community folks fancy converting a dyed-in-the-wool Windows man? Please be gentle - it’s my first time.
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### Author:  [@Bewildebeest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bewildebeest)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/2 "2004-06-22T13:28:05Z")
I’ve only installed Redhat, but I guess the procedure is similar.
1. Just download the .iso files and burn them to CD-ROM (as CD images, NOT as single, big files). For Redhat 9, you would require the 3 binary CD images. The SRPMs and documentation disks are optional. You can download them if you want to install some of the optional software.
2. Set your BIOS to boot from CD. If your BIOS doesn’t support that, you can either boot into Windows, change directory to the CD and run SETUP from the CD, or do the same starting from a Windows boot diskette.
3. Hi Opal!
The latest Linux releases detect a lot of even relatively new hardware. You may have to search for some new video and wifi card drivers. If you connect to the internet via modem, you may not be able to find a driver if you have a win-modem, although a good number of those are supported now too. If you are going to try to download linux with a modem :eek: .
You can find a lot of Linux documentation online. The problem is knowing what question you want the answer to.
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### Author:  [@Pyrrhonist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyrrhonist)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/3 "2004-06-22T13:39:23Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I need to set up a machine to run Suse Linux 8.1 …
>
> So; any of you Linux community folks fancy converting a dyed-in-the-wool Windows man? Please be gentle - it’s my first time.
I can’t speak for Suse Linux, but I installed Red Hat Linux 9 on a whim without ever reading the manual. I bought a doorstopper book off Amazon and loaded the OS without an iota a trouble.
Now, I’m a bit on the geeky side of life, and I’ve mucked around with Linux before, and had helped with some installations before, but Red Hat 9 was truly as easy as a Windows install.
I’d recommend buying a book on the Linux flavor of your choosing—but get one that comes with startup disks. Sure, you _can_ download the OS for free, and probably find a free manual as well, but for only $30 to $50 bucks for a book with disks, it might well be worth the slight expenditure for ease and comfort of documentation and disks.
I’m not a Linux expert, BTW, I just splash around with only my toes in the water.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/4 "2004-06-22T13:56:27Z")
Suse don’t make isos (whole CD images) public. You can use an [ftp server](http://www.suse.com/en/private/download/ftp/int_mirrors.html) to download everything, having burnt an initial boot iso to CD.
8.1 is outdated for Suse - it’s now onto version 9.1. You can buy a box set of this fairly cheaply - $29 on US Amazon. This way, you get the manual, and technical support.
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### Author:  [@leenmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leenmi)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/5 "2004-06-22T14:39:57Z")
Out of curiosity, what software is it? It’s strange that SuSE 8.1 is your only choice and not SuSE or Red Hat or Mandrake since they are rpm based distributions.
Some computer stores carry boxed sets of SuSE 8.1 that come with printed documentation. You can also order CD sets on line. SuSE 9.1 should work for your software, too, unless it is very old and depends on the older compilers. This probably won’t be a problem.
Anyway, the home users section of [suse.com](http://suse.com) has instructions for installing via ftp. If you have a fast internet connection, follow the instructions. SuSE is very good for new users.
Documentation is free. It just might not be centrally located. [www.tldp.org](http://www.tldp.org) has how-to documentation. If you have questions, google your question. Most of the time, the answer comes up pretty quickly.
Once you have it running, yast2 is your friend (yet another system tool). You can get to it from the start menu in KDE or GNOME or type yast2 on the command line. It’s a handy, dandy tool that serves a similar function to the control panel in Windows.
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### Author:  [@Mycroft\_Holmes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_Holmes)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/6 "2004-06-22T15:07:57Z")
Actually, for SUSE Linux, you can’t download and burn iso images. You have to install from an ftp mirror near you. For the list of mirrors, look here: [http://www.suse.com/en/private/download/ftp/int\_mirrors.html](http://www.suse.com/en/private/download/ftp/int_mirrors.html)
Since 8.1 is an older version (9.1 is current), you will have to look on one of the ftp servers that is a complete mirror of ftp://ftp.suse.com. Then make sure you go to the the correct version for the platform you are using (i386 if you have an Intel PC).
On one of the dutch mirrors, I would have to go to ftp://ftp.mirror.nl/pub/mirror/suse/i386/8.1/. That directory contains a file called README.FTP which explains how to install SUSE Linux from the ftp server.
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/7 "2004-06-22T15:18:25Z")
A Suse trial disc a friend burned for me saved my cookies when my laptop blew through it’s xp in march…i could just shove the disc in and it would boot up…but since I was booting off a disc it didnt save my settings for sucking down my email, or cookies if i turned off the poor little brainless computer.
I actually found it a very comfortable pretty idiot proof version of linux. Kept me online and from going insane until my folio of discs I oopsed and left in germany got here and I could shove in the recovery discs=) I am actually thinking of putting it in its own partition here on my desktop and using it for email, and the open office type programs=)
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/8 "2004-06-22T15:19:56Z")
> [@leenmi](#):
>
> Out of curiosity, what software is it? It’s strange that SuSE 8.1 is your only choice and not SuSE or Red Hat or Mandrake since they are rpm based distributions.
It’s a radio playout/studio automation program; I spoke to one of my buddies the other day and he said that it might run on other distributions, but that would depend on whether it was running on top of the kernel or something else.
As it turns out; the software I want to run appears to be built around a specific sound card, so I might retain my Linux virginity a little longer…
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### Author:  [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/9 "2004-06-22T17:09:05Z")
I had been using Redhat for some years and was forced to upgrade last week. Tried Mandrake 10.0. Feh. I _know_ all the sysconfig stuff and it was still a headache. Manually editing a bunch of files in /etc isn’t the way things should be done anymore.
I would do Suse but I like bootable isos and finding good, recent ones doesn’t appear easy.
Add in the bloat &c, and Linux is getting less and less competitive for the desktop, not more so.
Sheesh, I used to run Linux on a 386DX40 in 8MB with blazing fast window opening times. What happened?
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### Author:  [@leenmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leenmi)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/10 "2004-06-22T17:45:51Z")
The people on the other end of the extreme from you started demanding features, **ftg** , that’s what happened. Nice flamebait, though. 😃
There are still minimalist distros to let you run your old hardware with blazing speed. They just aren’t named Mandrake, Red Hat, Fedora or SuSE. It’s a tradeoff.
And what the heck were you doing with Mandrake that required excessive modification of /etc files? Drakconf and it’s related tools are very good. I think if you were off editing /etc files, you wanted to be there.
**Mangetout** (I can’t remember, was that some non-english word or “man get out”) it may not be tied to specific distribution. You can try any of the RPM based distributions from about the 8.1 period (Mandrake 8.1 or 8.2, Red Hat just before the Fedora split, Fedora Core 1 or a lot of the collige linux distributions). But if it is tied to specific hardware, what can you do.
Another suggestion is to look for software that does what you want to do. Maybe not the same software. [Sourceforge.net](http://Sourceforge.net) is a base for many projects. Google is still your friend. [rpmfind.net](http://rpmfind.net) has a lot of packages.
[debian.org](http://debian.org) lists the debian packages. They seem to have everything under the sun, plus the ham radio stuff. They probably have radio/studio software.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hold-my-hand-and-help-me-pop-my-linux-cherry/251600/11 "2004-06-22T21:42:58Z")
> [@leenmi](#):
>
> **Mangetout** (I can’t remember, was that some non-english word or “man get out”).
It’s Mange Tout (French for ‘Eat All’).
Thanks for all the advice so far folks; I think I’m going to try to find a Windows product this time due to the short timescale, but one day… one day… I’m going to cut my Linux teeth.