KeilanS

Alright, I'm planning on installing Linux on my old rig as soon as I get a monitor to use on it (should be in the next few days).

However, I've been reading some stuff on Linux... and well, a lot of it might as well be in greek.

For example:
1) What on earth is a Kernel? :P
2) A lot of the software links are not .exe files. How would one go about compiling them?

Although those aren't my only questions. So I was wondering if anyone knows of any sites with info about all the complicated Linux stuff. I'm basically looking for a "Read everything on this site and you will know it all" kind of thing.

shuuhen

1 - A kernel is the "core" of the operating system. It handles things like interaction between drivers and hardware. Think of it somewhat like a central hub between your computer's hardware and software. Every OS has a kernel.

2 - There are two main ways of installing software on Linux (and other Unix-like operating systems). You can download the source code and compile it yourself (not recommended) or you can use a distribution's package manager. Ubuntu and Kubuntu use something called dpkg, but you access it through apt, Synaptic or Adept. Synaptic and Adept are the two more user-friendly ones. Slackware has its own. Gentoo uses one called Portage (my favorite package management system) and has commands like emerge. Sabayon is Gentoo-based, so it also uses Portage. There are even more distributions, some with more package managers.

A big part of a distribution is the package manager. I like the ability to configure anything, so I like how Gentoo's system lets me easily install a wide variety of software from source. It makes configuring the programs to my preferences fairly easy.

Some people prefer just works, so they go with a binary package based system, like Ubuntu or Debian.

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wmorri

Here is my advice for you. Figure out what distro of linux you are interested in learning. There are a couple that I feel are great for Beginners, Ubuntu, Fedora Core, SUSE. Figure out what looks good to you, then start reading about them. Here is a good page to look at too, Switching from Windows.

As for your first two questions, as you will have many more as the process continues. A Kernel is the core set of programs that makes up the operating system. In Linux the current Kernel is 2.6.x.x. You will find that you can't install .exe the same way that you can in Windows. You will find files labeled .deb, or .rpm are the most common.

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Linux Forever!

Learning is doing, not being able to follow steps put forth by others.

KeilanS

Thank you very much. I have decided to use Xubuntu (because of the low requirements and so that I can move to Ubuntu on a better system in the future).

samuraitux

Quick way to get you up an running in linux is to install it, Use it, Break it, then fix it. The linux distro's mentioned are great at getting up and running with out a lot of hassle. Once you get those installed, start looking on the internet for things such as

basic linux commands

Linux shell

The file Structure - This is really important. This is what really sets linux apart from windows is the whole file structure.

The Kernel

And have fun. That is the most important thing. I was able to learn linux really good by learning shell scripting.

qbawl

Many distros good for beginners (several listed above) are available as Live CD's. You might want to simply download a few and burn them to disks and then just try them out before installing. Personally, I've found Ubuntu and its derivatives the easiest to use, and the distros which work best with most hardware, though Suse is, so far, my favorite.

LinuxQuestions.org might help you with a lot of your questions. There also is a lot of info there on individual distros.

samuraitux

This place also seems to have a great linux section. I also hang out at Linuxquestions.org though. I am normally in the debian section or slackware section.