complete newbie to Linux - Should I bother ?

xave · #1 29th October 2004, 11:29 AM

Bonjour !

After years on Windows (even am a sysadmin on MS stuff) I decided that time has come for me to switch to Linux... I read a bit, surfed a bit and finally elected Fedora as the distrib that suits me. As my old PII was really aging, I bought a new machine : an AMD A64. Knowing nothing, I installed a normal (ie 32bits) FC2, and it runs fine. Then, I discovered the existence of the FC2-64 .... My questions are :

1) Obviously, FC2-64 is more suited to my AMD-A64, but to what extent ? Do I really lose something by using the regular FC2 ?

2) What are the drawbacks ? I mean : I'm completely new to Linux, and although computer litterate, I do not want a system where a weird problem pops up every minute : I can only become familiar with it if it's easy enough to apprehend at first (day one : MAC address pb, then buggy RPM update, then RPM dependencies pbs then wondering where to install things then... I'm a quick learner, but I want to save some times to enjoy the system, rather than fixing things) So does the FC2-64 worths it ? Or is it wiser to learn on a regular release and wait a couple of months before switching ?

And yes, I'm talking FC2, not FC3 : I love beta software on Windows, but then again I'm familiar with Windows.

ghenry · #2 29th October 2004, 01:23 PM

Stick with regular FC2, more apps at the moment, and try to just have a good look round things to learn the best.

And yes, should should definitely bother!!!

xave · #3 29th October 2004, 01:56 PM

to the point. excellent, I'll follow your advice.

ilja · #4 29th October 2004, 02:03 PM

When you're going to install the stable FC3 (it might take a few weeks /montths) you can install the 64bit-version then.

sailor · #5 29th October 2004, 02:48 PM

I think anyone in sysadmin should have knowedge in Linux. I believe that it is going to be the wave of the future and a major contender in the server/network world as well as the personal desktop.

ghenry · #6 29th October 2004, 02:55 PM

You believe? It is!!! It rules in server sales and has much more market share than anything else. Take Apache, with over 60% of all webservers running it.

Come on sailorsgh

NorthBear · #7 29th October 2004, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xave

1) Obviously, FC2-64 is more suited to my AMD-A64, but to what extent ? Do I really lose something by using the regular FC2 ?

2) What are the drawbacks ? So does the FC2-64 worths it ? Or is it wiser to learn on a regular release and wait a couple of months before switching ?

And yes, I'm talking FC2, not FC3 : I love beta software on Windows, but then again I'm familiar with Windows.

Whether you use 32 or 64 bit, the Linux kernel version on FC2 is downlevel. You should upgrade to kernel version 2.6.8-1,
more for drivers to support your system's chipset than any other reason.

I recommend using Knoppix 3.6 to test your hardware for Linux compatability. The Knoppix CD has a 2.6.7 Linux kernel.
If it works on your machine, then you know that you can get your machine to work with FC2 with the newer 2.6.8 kernel.

The only drawback to using FC2 64 bit I found was during the building of the newer Linux kernel. I built from source
rather than using the RPM package. The tools for configuring the new kernel had a couple of small problems. I found the
fixes here at fedoraforums, but it could be a daunting task for someone who has never compiled the kernel before.

For someone just starting to learn Linux, I don't think there is anything to be gained or lost by choosing 32 bit vs 64 bit,
just as long as you install the 2.6.8-1 kernel from the RPM package.

Regards...

xave · #8 29th October 2004, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NorthBear

Whether you use 32 or 64 bit, the Linux kernel version on FC2 is downlevel. You should upgrade to kernel version 2.6.8-1,

I did. And fought with "add/remove programs" thereafter, as it insisted that some installed packages were not installed...

Quote:

I recommend using Knoppix 3.6 to test your hardware for Linux compatability. The Knoppix CD has a 2.6.7 Linux kernel.

That is the first thing I tried. It did not work, though. It found no HD and complained that I only had one proc. Duh. FC2 worked flawlessely.

Quote:

I built from source
rather than using the RPM package.

Err... I'll wait a bit for that. I'll learn to handle RPM first !

Quote:

For someone just starting to learn Linux, I don't think there is anything to be gained or lost by choosing 32 bit vs 64 bit,

I think I'll follow the advices given to me here : stick with FC2-32, learn from it, and wait fo FC3-64 ...

dpw2atox · #9 1st November 2004, 03:16 AM

i recomend waiting for FC3 final to be release as there are a lot of updates in the 2.6.9 kernel for 64bit errors and support. Also check around for any 3rd party repositories for yum so you can get extra software such as mp3 plugins, dvd playing software, and anything else you might need. Finally one thing to remember.....when running a 64bit system if in doubt...."rpmbuild --rebuild package.src.rpm" will never go wrong because then you'll have a nice 64bit package of an app.