Linux, one last time? - Tech Support Forums

Redwolf · July 5th, 2002, 08:49 PM

Well...I had recently ripped out my second HDD out of sheer frustration over Linux (latest distro I tried, slack). After a few days I calmed down but decided to give slack a second chance. Frankly, I'm putting alot into linux but not seeing anything but crashes, uncompiuled programs, and a wasteland of parts. To recap my linux experience:

Got RH 7.2, worked great but on a slow machine.
Decided to update to either 7.3 or Mandrake, both would not install.
Decided to put HDD of old machine into new one and install Mandrake or RH 7.3 there.
Did not work at all.
Several tries at Debian, none would get me anything beyond a failed install (both CD and net installs)
Tried peanut, no compiler
Finally decided on Slackware, installed it.
Have had several sour experiences (as seen in my recent posts)
Ripped out old drive out of sheer frustration

My pacience for linux is very thin now. If I can't get slack to work right, I'm just gonna forget it and wait and get a new HDD for linux so I can run Drake (the problems I had with drake and RH 7.3 were definately HDD related

)

Sorry if I'm creating any annoyance, (being a nOOb and all) but I've had may problems for a newbie. Hey, look at the bright side though. I'm still a Windows guru

capybara · July 5th, 2002, 09:00 PM

unfortunately, youve picked some of the difficulter
distros to start with. the best for starters is mandrake
or rh. ive started with drake 8.1 and it was as easy as installing windows. rh can sometimes be a little trickier. after your used to drake for a while, then
try debian.
===========================================
i do tech support for windoze at work, if you do to, youll have no problems with drake, all the buttons on the desktop are in the xact same place as windoze.

linux_guru · July 5th, 2002, 09:03 PM

Sounds a lot like hardware issues to me.

If Drake or RH wont install, something is seriously wrong. These are the 2 easiest distros around. 9 out of 10 noobs can at least get them to install.

If you can install windoze, you can install Drake or RH. Slack is a great distro also, but definitely not for noobs.

capybara · July 5th, 2002, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Redwolf
Well...I had recently ripped out my second HDD out of sheer frustration over Linux (latest distro I tried, slack). After a few days I calmed down but decided to give slack a second chance. Frankly, I'm putting alot into linux but not seeing anything but crashes, uncompiuled programs, and a wasteland of parts. To recap my linux experience:

(the problems I had with drake and RH 7.3 were definately HDD related )

i second that

cableguy69 · July 7th, 2002, 12:55 PM

Quote:

9 out of 10 noobs can at least get them to install.

I got Mandrake 8.2 w/KDE installed on an older PII without ANY problems. I've installed countless Windows os's and this distro of Linux was a piece of cake. It recognized all my hardware and after it booted up for the first time, my cable connection was working too. It's on a second PC, but I use it just as much as my Windows box.

deltaf508 · July 7th, 2002, 01:31 PM

Try ELX linux, it's one of the easiest installations i've ever had. I'm a noobie myself. I think it's a really cool distrobution also. Very windows like, but still has all the powerful features of linux...I mean ALL. Sure I've had a few problems with it but I've gotten farther with this distro than I ever have with any of the others.

I even have my windows machines networked with samba and I didn't even have to configure it. After installation I logged in as root and all my windows machines were in the network. I thought to myself - Sweeeet.

Give em' a try...

linuxiso.org

Gary

Redwolf · July 7th, 2002, 02:13 PM

Downloading Icebox...err...icepack now. If that don't work, I'll give ELX a try

Peter M · July 7th, 2002, 02:41 PM

First of all do the basic sanity checks on your system. www.memtest86.com

NeoStarO1 · July 7th, 2002, 02:45 PM

Sorry to hear of your troubles RedWolf, I myself am new to linux and I had wen't with RH7.2, My first install bombed on me so I went through the whole thing again with reformating and everything and my second attempt went much better.

I have to agree that slackware is not for the newbie tho. Not heard of icepack orELX at this point.

I hope things go better. for you cause linux is quite the experience and I am enjoying it very much.

Most problems I have had have been hardware related. It was stated that the hard drive was the problem with RH and Mandrake, Have you tried either of those two distro's on a different hard drive? Or did i read wrong?

Redwolf · July 7th, 2002, 05:23 PM

Haven't tried them on diffrent HDDs, but I installed it in a machine with completely diffrent specs (used the HDD out of the old machine). Beased on the nature of the problem, I think it's an HDD problem. I would use my 20 GB HDD but I'm pressing for space now