Linux - preparatory tips for the 'newbie' (Linux in general)

Member Name: islander13957

Product:	Linux in general
Date:	09/12/00 (217 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Being prepared definitely avoids tears later!

Disadvantages: Being prepared does take time and good organisation.

"Be Prepared!" (be warned, this is quite a long article)

I have no personal experience of downloading a Linux distro from an ftp site and burning a CD, so this advice will principally be about CDs included in books, given away with magazines, or bought as a package.

Computers users will have seen many, many times, the familiar instructions to back up your files before proceeding. It’s very sensible advice - as anyone who has inadvertently trashed their hard disk will tell you! So please don’t plunge into a Linux installation without spending some time reading, planning and backing up. It will save you an awful lot of heartache if something goes wrong that you might have been able to spot beforehand.

At least back up your email program (including the all-important address book), Favorites/Bookmarks from your browser, any saved games from Quake or similar, dial-up networking settings, documents and other stuff that cannot be replaced. It doesn’t take a huge amount of time and you will be very glad you did if something does go wrong.

The CD itself can be an amazing source of information if you know where to look. Check it out in Windows Explorer or something similar, and scan all the file icons alongside the files. Look for anything in HTML format that can be read in a web browser, Word/Notepad/Wordpad files, readme files and text documents. Be aware that the formatting may be a bit mangled when you open the files and this can make them difficult to read. But you will probably find a lot of useful stuff tucked away like this. Also be aware that Linux is not the single product of an American behemoth - the various distros are created in several different countries so you are just as likely to find yourself faced with a page of German text in the case of SuSe Linux...

If you do find useful information in one of these files, it is worth copying and pasting it into a simple word processor like Notep
ad or Wordpad. Then you can print out a hard copy. This may be invaluable when you are half way through your Linux installation and suddenly realise that you need to refer to it but are unable to access your CD through Windows!

Hardware compatability has always been an issue with Linux but things are now improving. Most of the newer distros offer support for a wide range of hardware so, unless you have some really unusual devices installed, you should be alright. Some manufacturers of hardware are now involved in developing Linux drivers, Creative is one and you can find details at http://developer.soundblaster.com/linux/
If in doubt, you can check out the Linux Hardware Database at www.lhd.datapower.com to see if the device you are unsure about is listed.

Devices you are most likely to have trouble with are modems and printers - these are labelled ‘winmodems’ and ‘winprinters’ if they only work under Windows, because the operating system itself takes over a large part of their operation. Such devices will either not work at all under Linux or it will be a bit of a fudge, such as a well-specified colour printer that can only manage black, a limited number of fonts, and a particular resolution.

To check if your printer is a 'winprinter', go to the Unix printer compatability database listing at http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/pht/printer_list.c gi

To check if your modem is a 'winmodem', check out the following sites http://www.o2.net/~gromitkc/winmodem.html and http://www.linmodems.org/

So you have a device and you don’t know the manufacturer?
Here is a useful tip. All equipment approved for sale in America should have FCC type approval and be issued with a unique FCC ID. This consists of a three character ‘grantee code’ that identifies the manufacturer, plus an equipment product code. You will find a search engine at this URL: www.fcc.gov/oet/fcci
d This will enable you to enter any code you find on your device and search the database to locate the manufacturer’s identity. There is a help page which explains the code and procedures for using the database.

Gather together all the manuals/handbooks etc for your computer so that you have as much information on hand as possible. If you don’t have these, check out the manufacturer’s website - many of these have databases that will help you locate and identify your hardware.

If you’re running Windows, check out Device Manager which will give you a great deal of information about your computer. (Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Device Manager tab). If you are running a package such as Norton Utilities
( www.symantec.com ) or SANDRA (you can download the freeware 2000 version from www.3bsoftware.com ), you will find plenty of information about your computer through these. Additionally you will often find a facility to print out details of IRQ and DMA settings - these are useful to have.

The graphics card and monitor are of particular importance. Newer Linux distros have pretty comprehensive listings from which you can select your particular hardware. However, it does no harm to check out the graphics card chipset (for example, my present card is an 8Mb Matrox Productiva G100) and the capabilities of your monitor, principally the refresh rates and resolutions supported. (Danger: if you attempt to run Linux using a higher specification than your monitor will support, you run the risk of causing serious damage to your hardware). Don’t forget that virtually all aspects of your X Window (graphical user interface) setup can be reconfigured after you’ve installed Linux on your computer. So, if you choose conservative settings for your graphics card and monitor, you can change them to better ones later.

It’s also important to defragment your hard disk as well as being aware of ho
w much disk space is already in use by Windows. If you want Linux and Windows to share your disk, you may feel uneasy about the automatic repartitioning carried out by some of the distros. With a little forward planning, you might feel able to choose the ‘custom’ option offered by most distros and specify exactly how your disk is partitioned. Find out how much space is recommended for the distro and do a little basic mathematics to work out how you would like to divide up your hard disk. Usually you just have to enter ‘start’ and ‘finish’ values to delineate the partitions that you want. Once the Linux partitions are in place, you can use them to try out any number of different distros using the ‘prepared partitions’ option instead.
When you feel ready to start your installation of Linux, you’ll probably find a pencil and notepad handy to jot down anything that you aren’t sure about. The newer distros give you the option of different setups which install packages tailored to the specific role of the computer such as desktop or server. You can write down any selections you make so that you can review them afterwards.

One very important piece of advice is this "Take your time!". There is no need to rush into making decisions. The installation will only proceed as fast as you allow.... and if you come up against a tricky decision, you are fully entitled to go and make yourself a cup of coffee while you consider your options. Most of the newer distros offer a ‘back’ button which allows you to retrace your steps and alter things during the installation process. (Not all of them do this, though, so do take your time over making up your mind).

It’s vitally important to note down the ‘root’ password in a safe place - although there are ways and means of rescuing the situation if you do forget, it’s better to avoid them if possible. ‘Root
217; is the all powerful administrator of the system and the sensible Linux user only logs in as ‘root’ if something important needs to be done. It is possible to render your Linux system incapable of running if you do something daft while logged in as ‘root’. Equally important is the creation of ordinary ‘users’ who are not burdened by the responsibilities of ‘root’. As a ‘user’, you can happily explore your new Linux system, secure in the knowledge that you will not be permitted to do anything that would cause disruption or damage.

So now you have Linux installed on your computer and you are free to roam around, clicking on icons, poking into files, investigating the applications and games, playing around with endless possibilities for customising the system to your taste.

If you are already using Windows as your primary operating system on a dual-boot computer, you have the freedom to explore Linux at your leisure. You won’t want to commit anything of vital importance to an operating system that you are checking out. After all, you may decide that you’re not so keen on that particular distro and would like to try out a different one. You may even find that you like two or three different distros and end up with a computer which multiple boots several operating systems.

Go for it! You’re no longer limited to one ‘Windows’ - sample all the flavours and see how things work out :-)

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