Linux ... help

Well ... Im really considering it ... switching to linux for once and for all ... Tired of windows, crashing, yada yda ydada you hhave all proly heard those lines so I wont go threw it all, lol ... Well .. Ive decided to start with mandrake and use the kde interface ... I have a few q's ... can someone please refer me to a guide to learning kde? A FREE one ..

2. I used mandrake before and I was very frustrated because I didn't know how to even installa a program I would download ... I found linux very frustrating because , I would consider myself an expert with windows, yet I cant even do the simplest tasks in linux ... anyway, i dlled a Tar file ... opened it and tried clicking what looked to be the main file, I guess whats comparable to the exe setup?? well i cliked it nothing happened ... tried doing all the commands and crap , never really got it to wrk, or at leaast it didnt show up on the kde applications thing or whatever (i was about to call it start menu, lol ) ...

3 .. How do I chaneg te resoltion? the closest thing I could find to that was hardware something, which showed my video card but no ways on changing the res, I was also a bit distressed because I did not see any help ......

4. Ok ... heres a list of a lot of the files I use can anyone tell me whether they will run in WINE (people who use them thereselves) or there is a VERY similar prog for linux ..

The list

AIM
MSNM
Fritz 8
Kazaa Lite
Adobe acrobat reader
Imesh Lite
Mirc
Macromedia (All Products)
Adobe Photoshop
Winamp
Icq
Yahoo
Divx
Nero
SmartFTP
Spybot S&S
SysTran
Empire Earth
Nba 2003
Bulletproof ftp (Im sure linux has much better FREE servers than this, can anyone refer one which will be easy to use and set up?)

one last question was whether Linux can read NTSF partitions ...... Read and write ... I have 400 gigs of movies on my drive and last time I installed mandrake I formatted the whole god damn drive during install, on accident ...... Can I convert it to a linux partiton if that would make it more stable? If so, can it also be converted back to ntsf if I need it to???

Would REALLY appreciate responses


Ok I know these are a lot of q's ... so anyone who has time please answer 1 or two and refer me to a tutorial ... that would be great ... my biggest concern was how the helll to install progs ... HELP! heh

aim = gaim
irc = xchat or bitchx
photoshop = gimp
divx xine i believe plays divx also
spybot wont really matter cause its linux
mandrake comes with its own ftp server program you can install from the setup
with all the crap going on with kazaa i would stay away from that network
winamp = xmms

if gaming is your main thing on the computer i suggest until you get good with linux and wine to hold off.

here is a list of programs for linux

gaming is not my main thing .... occasion game once a week or so ... My main cause is web design and programming .. I forgot to mension C# editor and visual basic 6 ...

[krohnjw]

Here we go this will get long

KDE has help files under documentation, that should tell you everything you want to know. Those should all be in the K menu.

2. Installing files is a bit different There isnt always a point and click. If you download an rpm, any .rpm file, you will be able you click and install. Those are the packaged exe equivalent in linux. If you download a tar.gz or a .gz or a .tar, .bz, the list goes on, then you are downloading source code and need to compile it. Usually a ./configure, make, make install at most.

3.) You can set the resolution via the control panel i believe. I always just set it by editing the /etc/X11/XF86Config file though. You can also use ctrl-alt and + or - to scroll through resolutions defined in that file.

4.) There are VERY similar programs in linux for most of those.

Aim -> gaim
msnm -> kmess, or ccmsn
fritz8 dont know what this one is
kazaa lite -> runs under wine, use codeweavers wine
acrobat reader -> there are several installed by default that do this including ghostreader and xpdf. Adobe also released a linux reader
Mirc -> will run under wine, or you can use 1 of 100 other irc clients under linux
Macromedia -> not sure about this, may with crossover office. May also be similar programs, not my forte, so i am not sure
Photoshop -> will run with crossover office or use gimp
winamp -> xmms is a winamp clone, even uses winamp skins
icq -> Licq
yahoo messenger -> i know there is one, cant recall the name
divx -> mplayer
nero -> k3b
smartftp -> gftp, and many others
spybot -> no need, that searches for spyware, all windows crap
not sure about the last couple.

There are quite a few ftp servers for linux, will be installed by default if you install the server packages. They are not difficult to set up.

Linux can read ntfs without problem. NTFS write support is in beta and i would not reccomend using it as it can toast your file system.

If you have any further questions feel free to ask.


Good luck on VB as that is proprietary windows crap and only runs on a windows platform. AFAIK you wont be compiling vb in linux, but a tool may exist. I would suggest googling it. I am also unsure on C#.

thanks for responding 2 things ... what do u mean by ./configure , sorry I didn udnerstand that when you were eplaining how to install ... in dummy terms what excactly do i do ... and sadly, I had an rpm b4 tried opening it and it didnt work ... just so i can get an idea of how it works, if it DID work when I double clicked it would it automatically install or show me a menu? where would it install to and where could I launch it at? ...... then the /etc/ file thing, I assume thats a folder within the "home" dir , just a normal accessible folder via the kde explorer?

[krohnjw]

yeah, what you would do is download say test.tar.gz
then extract it and cd into the test directory
cd test
from there you would compile the program
by typing
./configure ..then wait
make ...more waiting
make isntall ...wait and done!

Then it would be compiled and installed.

Most rpms you can just double click and they will open the package manager and install. Once it installs *usually* it will put an entry into the K menu and you can look for it in there. Also you can launch most programs by their name with Alt-f2 (run equivalent) or by typing the name at the console.

As far as /etc goes yes, that is a directory under the / root. You can access it via konqueror (the explorer equivalent). /etc is where the systemwide configuration files will be stored for pretty much everything.

I may use redhat 9 becuz of its slick interface ... is this similar or the same as kde? I mean, everything you are telling me will work in redhat 9 blue curve correct?

[krohnjw]

Yeah, redhat 9 offers bluecurve of both gnome and KDE. It is still and rpm based distro, so it will all be the same

[originel]

a couple comments on video and resolutions:

If i remember correctly Redhat sets up pretty much everything you will need video wise. if not you may have to install some drivers (can range from very easy to very hard).

if you own an nvidia based card i would recommend installing the nvidia drivers anyway because a) you'll get incredible performance from them and b) it will help you get to know Linux better w/o having to dive in too deep.

If the resolution you want is not already available using ctrl-alt +/- then you will need to add it in your xfree86 config file (/etc/x11/xf86config-4 in redhat). you'll scroll down till you get to the resolution and monitor settings. first you need to set your refresh rates properly (just copy the h/vsync properties of your monitor in and it will give you the optimum refresh rate). then you need to add the resolution in. there should be four sets of resolution settings, each corrosponds to a frequency setting. under the frequency you want to use just add the frequency in like this "1024x768" with the quotes. then when you restart X it should be there.

The way programs, drivers, and such works in Linux is very different than in windows and will take a while to get used to, no matter what you're windows experience is. the biggest thing is that Linux views hardware differently than windows, and also everything is rather de-centralized compared to windows (there is no end-all control panel in Linux). another great place to check out for Linux issues is www.linuxquestions.org. they have a ton of good info

thanks! what about a ctrl alt del replacement? I mean ... at some time or another linux apps will crash .... so ... what to do :|