distro hunt done, now can i get some recomendations...

Ok your all going to love this. I am an admin that only knows windows and linux looks to be very intresting. I have installed fc3 and completed a gentoo stage 1 install so far. I will be loading debian tomorrow. This is all in an effort to get away from microsoft. From my experence so far: MASSIVE LEARNING CURVE. Its very diffrent from what i am use to but i am having fun and i am enjoying the community. I have a few questions now:

1. I am installing debian linux. Can you recomend any programs that you find very usefull to install? This can be from desktop enhancements ot diffrent gui.

2. I kinda like the look of fluxbox. I have seen on some poeples screen shots a info box on their desktop reports mem usage, disk space, cpu usage, ect. ect. Can someone tell me what that is?

3. what websites do you concider a must to get info/general reading for linux?

4. What gui do you recomend. it seems there is 2 really large ones, gnome and kde. I am not really concerned with the feel of the gui i dont really like windows that is why i am looking at linux and i dont mind relearning it. So what is the one that is most for linux. that is what gui is not built to help people cross over from widnows to linux... after rereading this question i dont think i said it well but i hope someone will know what i mean :/

5. Any other comments/warnings that you can hand a total noob would be appricated. The end goal is to leave windows totally.

6. Is it true that it doent matter what gui you have as long as you have the correct libs installed you can use the program? ex: if i install kde libs but run gnome i can still use the kde cdburner prog.

Thanks for your help and advice. I hope to beable to help poeple with their linux questions one day.


reread this post.. my 3rd question sound horrable but please take your best guess at what my question is and try to answer it. If i can find a better wording for it i will try to clear the question up and be more percise.

P.S. sorry about the spelling mistakes/grammer.

1.
GKrellm (for CPU stats etc)
XMMS <= mp3, oggs
Firefox <= web browser

2.
It could be Gkrellm, there are other but Im not sure what they are :p

3.
Here for one, its where I spend most of my time, just browsing. Your distro's support forum's.

4.
This is a rather personal question, and has in the past started one or two flame wars, so I'm going to say, use KDE,Gnome,Fluxbox etc etc and find your favourite

5.
Keep a Windows partition until you can do everything you need to in Linux. As you've said the learning curve is a big one, but it well worth it. Just remember that Linux is not Windows, so don't expect it to behave in the same way. Learn to love google.com/linux. Searching on google or here for a error message can save you more time that posting. Also its more rewarding to find out what to do, rather than be told what to do. Finally a good title that explains what your thread will be about is always helpful :)

6.
Yeah, it doesnt matter what Desktop Enviroment or Window Manager you use, the app will run aslong as all the libs etc are there.

Welcome to the world of Linux. I hope you stay and enjoy it!

1. Recommend any programs? Sure, but I don't know what you want to do with your computer.
Here are a few of my favourites:
Tuxracer, Supertux - Nice games, kids love'em!
TVTime, XawTV - for TV/video.
Streamer - for videorecording
Kino (simple), Cinelerra (difficult) - video editors (kino only digital)
Scribus - DTP (far from Ventura Publisher, but usable)
Since I like gaming, I have bought some games - everything else I need is free in Linux so I don't mind paying for games.

4. What gui... I like IceWM. It's lean and fast, easy to configure. I use the taskbar a lot , a simple textfile to edit in order to add your apps.
WindowMaker seems nice too, haven't really tested it yet, though.
If the computer is not only for you, but for "Windows-people" as well, KDE is probably the wisest choice.
If you want something really different, try enlightenment.

5. Other comments/warnings:
When you make a choice, sometimes you have to leave out something. No product has everything.
With that I mean to say: if you have a windows-app you absolutely must have, and no equivalents exist for Linux, try an emulator. CrossoverOffice, Wine, whatever.
But best is to find something usable for Linux. (For DTP I will probably miss VenturaPublisher as long as I live - but since I've chosen Linux, I have to leave it. Scribus is far behind but the best I've found. Byebye, Ventura!)

The best way to leave Windows totally, is to make sure you have a system where you can do everything you must do - configure an email-client, make sure you have your Internet-bookmarks etc.
Also get some good Linux-game if you like gaming.
Then delete Windows... now you have no choice! :-)

I like fluxbox or openbox with gnome-panel. This means I always have to launch nautilus like this:
nautilus --no-desktop --browser
other than that I use ethereal, jedit, openoffice.org, mplayer, (search apt-get.org for apt sources for those 2. not available by default) xchat, mozilla-firefox, evolution/thunderbird, aterm, Eterm, gaim, mutt, postfix, irssi, giFT, gftp, gtoaster, nmap, minicom, and gnumeric, to name a few.
See Here:
http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-l...en/table.shtml

Yeah, you can run kde apps in gnome and vice-versa, just make sure kde's aRTsd doesn't get started. Sound in kde is a horror. Use alsa if you can.

thats a bit too much at once to absorb.... just remember that we are all behind you.

and if you meet ANY problem, read the manuals (man foo), search the web, then ask us like how you asked this i.e. sensibly of course.

No.1 rule --- rebooting will not help anything... :D

i just wanted to thank everyone for their info. This really helps me getting started.

I blasted my windows partition on install, Its learn or dont get on the comp! At work i have moved my main station to linux, but i have a windows box for emergencys. Thanks!!!

Quote:

---

Originally posted by XiaoKJ
thats a bit too much at once to absorb.... just remember that we are all behind you.

and if you meet ANY problem, read the manuals (man foo), search the web, then ask us like how you asked this i.e. sensibly of course.

No.1 rule --- rebooting will not help anything... :D

---

If the man command ever fails and google goes down i am gonna die... :eek:

Since you are installing Debian, I'd recommend installing either aptitude or synaptic.

They are front ends for apt-get. Synaptic is a gui app, and, in my opinion, quite ugly, but it will get the job done for you.
Aptitude is a console app that can be run from a term window (xterm, aterm, Eterm, etc....). It's my favorite front end when I'm on one of my debian boxes. :)

After you have one of these two apps installed (dselect is the default front end, but is ugly and hard to use, IMHO), you can simply fire it up and browse thru the package listings to try out new software.

Gkrellm is one of the most popular apps for system monitoring, another is torismo.

Now talking about gui's we have a couple of different things that we are talking about.

KDE and Gnome are both desktop environments (DE's) which provide panels, and all the bells and whistles and such.

Fluxbox, Enlightenment, Sawfish, etc... are window managers. They include some of the bells and whistles, but their main function is to manage windows. KDE's window manager is kdm, and Gnomes is currently metacity.

My preferred wm (window manager) is sawfish, but that's because I've spent HOURS learning how to configure it to my tastes and haven't found a wm that has all of the configuration options that I use in sawfish, like being able to move/resize windows separately, and to open programs and such.

A good link that I use when I'm looking for a new WM or DE is http://xwinman.org/. It's a very informative site.

HTH

Thanks everyone for giving me suggestions. You maybe happy to know that i am happy with my linux install and it is all i am currently using, except for my game box :/

Cool, i got my Debian Sarge up too , runs smooth , only complaint is the mouse :p . Well g'luck with your box , may they never crash!

Uptime 15 days ;)

now i gotta find some eye candy that i see on everyones screenshots :P

sorry i am a sucker for eyecandy :/