# The Techguy Linux FAQ



## tsunam

Note: Currently still in development. I'm looking at the old discussion page to see what to add. If you think anything critcal needs to be added please make a new Linux FAQ addition thread. I'd like to keep this one to just the FAQ.

The TechGuy Linux FAQ

Compiled by Whiteskin, Tsunam and the rest of the linux forum members help.

This is a little FAQ compiled from the combined experience of many members of the forums. It designed to help someone understand what Linux is, what its strengths are, and what it's weaknesses are.

*Q1. What is Linux? *
A1. To quote the linux source README:


> WHAT IS LINUX?
> 
> Linux is a Unix clone written from scratch by Linus Torvalds with assistance from a loosely-knit team of hackers across the Net. It aims towards POSIX compliance. It has all the features you would expect in a modern fully-fledged Unix, including true multitasking, virtual memory, shared libraries, demand loading, shared copy-on-write executables, proper memory management and TCP/IP networking. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License - see the accompanying COPYING file for more details.


Now for those of us who don't understand the above, let me go through it. In essence Linux is a Unix type Operating system. (The operating system is that which runs your computer. It is the "Bottom" program which allows standardized access to hardware, resources etc.). It shares a common feel and programming structure (which, most likely is irrelevant to you).

Linux is written in a distributed manner, meaning that many people have contributed to building this operating system from all over the world. Linus, the creator of the Linux OS, used to live in Finland. Many developers live in the US, others in Europe, etc.

Linux is published under a free license, which allows distribution by anyone, as long as certain requirements are met. It is freely downloadable in the form of many distributions (see Q4.).

*Q2. Why should I bother to look at using Linux?*
A2. Because Linux is becoming a revolution. It is on the leading forefront of the IT world. A good percentage of websites you visit are in fact run on linux servers. So in essence youve already used linux in some capacity. The chances rise every day that one day you may have to use linux in your job. Without realizing it you might have already used linux on a something such as: PDA's, robots, parking meters, cooperate systems etc.)

Linux can also help resurrect old hardware, abandoned by more popular OS makers who have since moved on to the newest and best systems. The minimum requirements are only a 486 (Though, as with windows, it will not be a rocket).

Linux has become known and recognized for its Stability, performance and freedom. Though, for absolute rock stability its recommend to use a BSD system like FreeBSD. Because of the culture that surrounds Linux, much of the software written for it is free. For more on the linux culture, find a copy of "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" by Eric S. Raymond.

Linux's speed and reliability rival and or beat most other operating systems, including commercial ones.

*Q3. What is Linux Not?*

A3. Linux is Not many things. One of the most important things to realize it is not a Windows clone. As such, you will not be able to run your Windows programs without some extreme measures (See the winehq.com FAQ if you wish to see what you have to do to run some of the programs).

Linux is not an operating system to just hop into and use such as Windows or Macs OSX. With the invention of modern installers and Desktop environments, Linux can seem to be as easy to use as windows. Eventually you will have to get under the hood, and this is where the true learning begins.

*Q4. What is a distribution?*
A4. As "Linux" per-say is only the kernel of the operating system, the very abstract part that access's hardware, more utilities and programs must be provided. Early into Linux's evolution, various Distributions appeared. These Distributions were custom made kits of software, and the linux kernel that came together to form a complete Operating system. Now, there are literally hundreds of distributions (also called flavor's sometimes), some being commercial (Xandros, Suse, Redhat) and some are strictly volunteer based, non-profit (Debian, Gentoo, Slackware).

Most Commercial linux vendors offer a free download of their distribution (As linux's distribution license prevents them from doing otherwise.) All their money is made in support and other "Non-free" programs. Suse's YAST, until recently, was one of these programs. The open-source distributions have always been free. This means that getting linux is as simple as choosing a distribution, and burning it.

Because there are so many distributions, each has chosen its own path. I will separate them into three categories. Easy, Medium, and Advanced. And easy distribution is simple to install, with little or no choices needing to be made by the user, very similar to Windows installations. An advanced distribution is the opposite: The user is given complete control into what goes into the system, and how it is set up.

RedHat Linux (RH9, Fedora core 1 and 2): Easy/Medium
Redhat is one of the first distributions created. It has since become one of the most popular. When one purchases a book about linux, chances are that it is a Redhat linux book. Recently, Redhat has stopped support for non commercial RH9 and below. That has been replaced with the community project, the Fedora Core. Redhat can be classified as either an easy or a medium distribution. Its install is quite simple, however, it does not necessarily have all the "amenities" of an easier distribution.

Mandrake Linux: Easy
Mandrakesoft is a company based out of France. They put out a popular distribution called Mandrake Linux. Mandrake linux is defiantly an "easy" distribution. Mandrake has one of the best (user friendly) installers in the business.

Debian Gnu/Linux. Medium / hard
Debian is a community run Linux distribution. It was one of the first to be developed in this manner. Before Debian almost all distributions were being created by companies or by single individuals. In 1994, when Debian was created, its founder Ian Murdock put out what is now called the "Debian Manifesto". To get an idea of what Debian is about, I will now quote part of that Manifesto.


> Quote:
> What is Debian Linux?
> =====================
> 
> Debian Linux is a brand-new kind of Linux distribution. Rather than
> being developed by one isolated individual or group, as other
> distributions of Linux have been developed in the past, Debian is being
> developed openly in the spirit of Linux and GNU. The primary purpose
> of the Debian project is to finally create a distribution that lives up
> to the Linux name. Debian is being carefully and conscientiously put
> together and will be maintained and supported with similar care.


It was as a result of this manifesto that debian's Social Contract was written, a document defining what Debian GNU/Linux is all about. Read the Social contract here.

Debian's installer can be daunting, however it gives a lot of power.

Gentoo: Medium/hard
Gentoo is a source distribution. This means the user compiles most everything from source. This is both good and bad. Good because it improves performance, especially on older machines. The bad is because this takes time and on a older machine, a lot of time.

LFS (Linux from scratch) : Hard. 
Quote:
Linux From Scratch (LFS) is a project that provides you with the steps necessary to build your own custom Linux system.
"Why would I want an LFS system?"
There are a lot of reasons why somebody would want to install an LFS system. The question most people raise is "why go through all the hassle of manually installing a Linux system from scratch when you can just download an existing distribution?". That is a valid question which I hope to answer for you.

The most important reason for LFS's existence is teaching people how a Linux system works internally. Building an LFS system teaches you about all that makes Linux tick, how things work together, and depend on each other. And most importantly, how to customize it to your own taste and needs...

This document and all replies are published under the GNU Free Documentation License

*Q5. What is a desktop environment? *
A5. A desktop environment is an integrated collection of X windows programs that usually include a window manager, a file manager and other GUI utilities. Examples are KDE, CDE, XFCE, and Gnome. Gnome and KDE are by far the most popular X windows environments.

*Q6. I use X program in Windows, can I use it in Linux or is there a Compatible program for Linux?*

A6. The answer to the first half of the question is maybe. Check out http://www.winehq.com/site/supported_applications to see if you can run the program thru Linux directly using wine. If not, or you don't want to bother with wine at all, here is a site that will let you know of equivalent programs. http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-lin-soft-en/table.shtml

*Q7. Does Linux suffer from spyware and virus's as much as Windows? *

A7. The short answer is no. As far as virus's there are some for Linux however they need to be installed by the user. So with some safety precautions you will be perfectly safe. What are these precautions? Well for one, have a general everyday user account thats separate from root. Its generally a very bad idea to be logged in as root.

Spyware is the easy one to answer. Since a lot of spyware are viruses or software installed on your system without your knowledge, they do not affect the Linux system. You still do get the tracking cookies but simply clearing out your cache will remove those.
______________________________________________________________

For futher information concerning linux, or if you are interested in helping out. Please visit any of the following for further information:www.tldp.org www.google.com/linux www.sf.net www.ibiblio.org www.kernel.org www.linuxsecurity.org


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## Whiteskin

Nice Job!


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## eddie5659

Hiya

Stuck this at the top for you all. I'll get back onto the Updates tomorrow, as I've had a week off work to do stuff round the house this week 

eddie


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## GrumpyHermit

Are you taking suggestions to your FAQ? I just started messing with Linux (via Morphix live CD) and I am paranoid enough to have a huge worry about security issues, so my questions for the FAQ would be:

_1. Do I need an antivirus? Are they readily available?

2. Firewall, likewise._

Thanks!


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## serebren

Check www.tucows.com for both antivirus and firewall programs. Most distributions include a firewall - sometimes they have antivirus too, but as stated earlier, viruses are not really an issue if you are NOT logged in as root. Maybe they are an issue if you are logged in as superuser - not sure.

Also see www.freshmeat.net, lots of NEW and FREE Linux progs, but takes a while to sift through them (and even to set things up to sift through them).


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## HappyHacker

Easy Linux installs?

Ark Linux
Redmond-Lycoris Linux < Has support for more hardware, and will play WMA files.
You can play games while it installs.



Here shortly I will be using Linux for a file server and firewall. and running 4 MS machines and 1 more Linux machine in a network.


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## /\/\r.Abdul

How would i go about installing Linux on a dual boot with windows?


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## asdfqwerty

/\/\r.Abdul said:


> How would i go about installing Linux on a dual boot with windows?


1) Make a Linux Partition seperate from your Windows partition, also Linux swap partition
3) Install Linux on your Linux partition
2) Install a bootloader to choose what OS to boot to on startup

The best way to learn how to do those things is choose a distro that comes with a bootloader, and then read their documentation.


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## diamant

/\/\r.Abdul said:


> How would i go about installing Linux on a dual boot with windows?


The first thing you will want to do is run disk defragmenter on the Windows installation.
Then you can resize the hard drive, shrinking the XP partition and then create a new partition from the available free space. Then you will be able to install Linux on the new partition.
As for the tools available to resize the partition, you could check if there is still a trial of Partition Magic.
Then you could use qtparted, which is available on the http://www.sysresccd.org/


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## 4steve44

How about add "How to format Hard disk with Fedora on it


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## short101

How about. When people get something solved, they post back to there original post to say so. Just to let other people know that are having the same problem that this may be the way to solve it. Also lets people that have helped know if they were on the right track (so maybe in the future they can help other people)
Regards


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## bassetman

This looked like a good primer for UNIX commands: 
http://freeengineer.org/learnUNIXin10minutes.html


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## tsunam

I'm currently working on some more updates to this, Since it appears we need them. ^.^


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## bassetman

tsunam said:


> I'm currently working on some more updates to this, Since it appears we need them. ^.^


It did look a little dusty!


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## Whiteskin

_*The TSG ISO FAQ: *_

*What On earth is an ISO?*: 
An ISO is an image of a CD (or DVD), a bit for bit copy, saved in a manner (described in the ISO 9660 standard) that allows duplication, and manipulation. 
*What do I need an iso for, if I'm trying to install linux?*:
The iso you download from your soon to be favorite linux distro's site is the image of it's installer CD. (Remember how when you bought Quick Tax, it came with a CD?)
*How big should one of these ISOs be?*: 
There is no prescribed size for an ISO; An iso can be any size from 10mb to 750mb. If it is a DVD iso, this can quickly grow to 4.3Gb. 
*Ok. So I need this ISO... how do I burn it from windows??*
You can use your own burner software (but I'll let you figure out the specifics; most likely an option such as 'Burn Image'), or you can try BurnCDCC. It's (as far as I know) freeware, and is avaliable here: http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html
*Now I have a CD: WHat now?*:
Ensure your system is set to boot off of cd, put the cd in, reboot, and start installing linux (at your own risk. remember, if you don't know what you are doing, you can do serious damage to your data).


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## tsunam

6. *Why am I getting a dos prompt instead of a linux installer?*

A. You are getting this because when you went to burn the image, you clicked to make the disk bootable. Thus it created a very basic dos shell on the disk. You want to avoid clicking the make this disk bootable


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## eddie5659

merged this here, as requested 

eddie


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## neos1

See, this is why I come here. I spend 10 minutes at techguy forums and 10 hours following-up on all the information and links!


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## jack213

*Hello people, glad I came accross your discussion cos it's right up the street I want to go but I'm not quite sure how to go about it.

I've got a spare 60gig hdd. I want multiple o/s's on it, Linux to be one.

I have windows 95, 98, 2k, and xp o/s

(I want to install the earlier o/s's so my son (10yrs) can see and experience the progression of the o/s's. as he uses the pc more often for his schoolwork and browsing etc.- as well as my own interest in non-windows systems and browsers.)

I would like a clear choice of o/s to boot into on startup.

Specific questions:   

1) Will fdisk allow me to create enough partitions to achieve all this? ( I think I'd only need small partitions for older windows o/s's - not much storage space required)

2) What should I format the hdd as - FAT 32 or NTFS?

3) I'm not sure I would like to set this hdd as a slave to this 40gig hdd. Would it be less problematic and a better idea to have it independant and connect it when we chose to?

4) I've read about this Fedora Project. I have a copy of Red Hat 7 on cd. Which would be better for an absolute beginner to set up and where do you download Fedora from and/or Red Hat 9.

5) Can I achieve all this without having to purchase expensive disk partitioning software. If so, what would I need and where could I get freeware to do this. *

6) Any links to "plain english" sites that would give the basics in using + browsing with Linux

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.


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## subgeniusd

Regarding #6-[URL="]www.tuxmagazine.com[/URL] (for the new user) and www.xandros.com (click " support " tab then forums). Xandros is designed for Windows refugees and the forums are full of basic info absent any snotty linuxgeek RTFM flames (read the f-ing manual). I am "using and browsing with Linux" at this moment-Xandros 3.0 standard. Skip the OCE freebie-the commercial versions are quite affordable and you get the XN application.(check out the Xandros Networks forum).


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## webguru

Well tsunam this is the most precise outline on linux I ever read anywhere. You covered almost all the basic information any newbiew who needs to know about linux... great job!


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## guitar21

can i use linux to scan my windows partition for windows viruses


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## remaja

great job. Now that I got information about it. I feel like going in and start on looking under the hood.


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## briealeida

guitar21: Yes, you can.
Here's a link to a little more info: http://www.patoche.org/LTT/all/00000007.html


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## heiichi

I'm also trying to learn linux, right now I installed Suse 10.1 on one of my harddrive but I'm not quite happy with its performance, program seem runs slower than my xp . Maybe because it is not configured well... (it's my first time).

Is it possible to install two different distribution in one harddrive (like Suse and Ubuntu)? So I can decide later which distribution I will stick into?

TIA.


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## CrazyComputerMan

Hey Thanks for information dude!


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## guitar

pclinuxos-2007 is what i'm downloading atm its my first look at useing linux and it is supposed to be similar to xp which i currently use is this a good choice for a linux newbie or suggestions for another thanks


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## Fizz.lechat

Hi, 
Nice outline but this thread could use some updating... Linux has evolved a lot over the last 2-3 years. Since most people associate computers with "Windoze" they think that one is only possible with the other. The explanation of what Linux IS should also mention that ALL computers have an OS (operating system) such as Linux, Windoze, Unix, Mac OS-X, DOS, etc...

That original post is very good and must have taken a bit of time to put together, hat's off to Whiteskin, Tsunam and the rest of you!

In another post the question was if Windoze programs could be used in Linux? A reference was made to WINE but I myself am maybe more willing to go the distance than others but I'm still a beginner and very shy of the command line. So I would suggest to consult "The table of equivalents / replacements / analogs of Windows software in Linux." which is available at http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html

Personally, I have converted all 4 desktops in the house to Linux Ubuntu 7.10, as well as my laptop which is a dual boot (Win2k & Ubuntu 7.10). My sister live's 10 minutes from me and her desktop is dual-boot also. My 69 year old mom's laptop is dual-boot and she requires much less phone support in Linux than she did for WinXP, in fact she gave me her desktop to fix a recurring freeze up problem and then she wants Ubuntu 7.10 installed...
With a dual-boot all your Windoze data files, photos, documents are available and accessible in Linux!

Linux has come a long way, unfortunately since it's free there is no definite way of documenting exactly how many users there are. When you buy Windoze it shows one more user documented, but when 23 people install Linux from a free CD I gave them it's not documented anywhere... Even worse though is all the people I know who have purchased a new PC or laptop with the Microsoft tax (Windoze pre-installed) and they then reformat the drive and install a version of Linux.... Each one of them still counts as another Windoze license sold... OK, sorry for the rant... 

There is lots of Linux info and community support out there, go for it!

BTW, anyone can try Linux without installing it on your computer. All you have to do is get a "Live-CD" from a magazine like Linux Format or download one from a website and then you'll see if all your hardware works then you can either install it on the whole disk or dual-boot with Windows... It's very easy and takes about 30 minutes to install! Just follow standard precautions, backup your data first!!!

I could go on and on....


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## subgeniusd

guitar said:


> pclinuxos-2007 is what i'm downloading atm its my first look at useing linux and it is supposed to be similar to xp which i currently use is this a good choice for a linux newbie or suggestions for another thanks


I've been using PCLOS 2007 for several months now (and at the moment). Yes it is great for newcomers with a wonderful community that includes many advanced users. Good luck Dan.


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## 1002richards

Is it OK to add a post? Oh well, here goes .....!!
How about a 'newbies' guide to dual booting? Perhaps start with Ubuntu/XP on a machine with XP already installed?
Then add various other combinations?
I'm not tech savvy enough to do this!

If not a new guide written for TSG, perhaps some links to good step by step guides for beginners?

Richard


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## jack213

Hi,

Really glad to see this thread develop. Thanks to those who posted reply's to any of my queries. For various reasons, I still haven't got around to doing this!

LINUX is ceratinly here to stay + I think is set to become even more mainstream in the comming years, so it'll pay us all to become more familar with it.

(Im sure I read recently that a pc manufacturer was now supplying new PC's with Linux installed)

We now have three pc's at home, and as soon as I can make time to try a flavour of Linux on one, I'll be steaming ahead with it!!

Keep up the good work here please!!


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