What version to use? I'm going to install Linux on my 2nd hard drive. Was thinking Suse. I've only ever used RedHat/Fedora Core but I hate them and everyone else tells me that Suse or Mandrake are the best and easiest to configure.
So you know, I want to install Linux, setup GRUB to load up Windows as the primary boot record, install the latest Nvidia driver for my GF 6800 GT, and then put IrrSpintz on there and compile and run.
I don't want to be messing with modules, probing, XF86Config, or anything else.
Whats the best and easiest for this????
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hybrid
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NVidia officially supports Suse so you should get this working pretty easily. I just got 3d support working this morning on my machine at the job (an older Suse distribution) with latest NVidia drivers. Just download the drivers from NVidia and follow the readme which goes basically like this:
'su -' (to become root)
'init 3' (to stop the X server, login to the console as root again)
'chmod a+x nvidiafile.run' (whatever file you downloaded)
'./nvidiafile.run' (follow the dialog)
'sax2 -m 0=nvidia' (to set the resolution etc for your Xserver)
'init 5' (or reboot to come back to your desktop)
You can also use the online update, but that won't give you the latest drivers. However, you'll have to go through all steps except for the sax2 call each time you update the kernel to keep your nvidia module in sync with the kernel. This would be handled by Suse for you in case you use the online update.
BTW: The ATI drivers have a much nicer installer (because you can build an rpm from their driver which can be easily replaced/updated) but the driver itself is not as good as the NVidia one. At least for the last couple of revisions the published.
Back to the original question regarding distributions. I'd also recommend Suse, however Ubuntu or one of its siblings (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc) are also quite nice. But Suse 10.2 seems to be a solid distribution which should be usable without major probs. Don't use the 10.1, though, they changed many internas and had major problems.
'su -' (to become root)
'init 3' (to stop the X server, login to the console as root again)
'chmod a+x nvidiafile.run' (whatever file you downloaded)
'./nvidiafile.run' (follow the dialog)
'sax2 -m 0=nvidia' (to set the resolution etc for your Xserver)
'init 5' (or reboot to come back to your desktop)
You can also use the online update, but that won't give you the latest drivers. However, you'll have to go through all steps except for the sax2 call each time you update the kernel to keep your nvidia module in sync with the kernel. This would be handled by Suse for you in case you use the online update.
BTW: The ATI drivers have a much nicer installer (because you can build an rpm from their driver which can be easily replaced/updated) but the driver itself is not as good as the NVidia one. At least for the last couple of revisions the published.
Back to the original question regarding distributions. I'd also recommend Suse, however Ubuntu or one of its siblings (Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc) are also quite nice. But Suse 10.2 seems to be a solid distribution which should be usable without major probs. Don't use the 10.1, though, they changed many internas and had major problems.
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hybrid
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Suse will (as probaly most other distros too) add a dual boot automatically. And also automatic mounting of your windows partitions for access from Linux. You'll get a grub menu when booting from which you can choose between Linux, all bootable windows paritions (sometimes you have recovery partitions hidden somewhere), and a mem test.
i recommend ubuntu because it's fast, clean (not much bloat & not using much disk space), a lot of stuff just works, stable, the pakage management is the best ever seen and the community (forums) is great, very helpful. you can also find a lot of howto's for problems you may occur.
oh, and installing apps is like 3 clicks (that includes development tools)
[personal opinion]
suse is bloated and needs much space (535322 different text editors for example), slow, upgrading between versions is a major pain (at least in the past), and i really dislike rpm & yast.
[/personal opinion]
oh, and installing apps is like 3 clicks (that includes development tools)
[personal opinion]
suse is bloated and needs much space (535322 different text editors for example), slow, upgrading between versions is a major pain (at least in the past), and i really dislike rpm & yast.
[/personal opinion]
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hybrid
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Interesting arguments - Ubuntu has only a minimal setup done automatically, while Suse installs all those packages commonly needed. Ubuntu requires lots of post installation, while with Suse you just click the necessary categories. For example I do always install the complete development and kernel build packages which occupy lots of space, but you can be sure that all tools are already installed.
Minimal installations of both systems should be almost of the same size, maybe some hundred MB difference.
Minimal installations of both systems should be almost of the same size, maybe some hundred MB difference.
Ubuntu has only a minimal setup done automatically
im really interested in some examplesUbuntu requires lots of post installation
my post-installations:
- install the "build-essential" package (all needed dev. tools)
- install the proprietary gfx-card driver (you have to do that on suse, too)
- install media codecs (you have to do that on suse, too)
- change some settings to my personal preference (you have to do that on suse, too)
and if there still is an application you dont have installed, just select it in the package management with 2-4 clicks (suse installs 63564422 apps to "be sure that all tools are already installed" - even if you dont need 80% of that crap)
oh, and a lot of post installations that require working with the command-line (like the first 2 ones from my list above) are covered in howtos or are available through scripts made by users at the ubuntu forums (i dont know if suse has that, but its still a nice thing)
