Linux for beginner?

Reynaldo · Post by **Reynaldo** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 10:49 am

I'm looking to convert an old AMD 1500+ workstation into a linux installation.

I've browsed through some of the Linux post at the top of this forum, but basically just have one question.

Which flavor of Linux would be good for me to use for my first install to just get used to some of the commands and OS?

Thanks.

Post by **Lyion** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:46 am

Ubuntu has the easiest setup for new peoples. They'll even mail you a CD for free that'll boot and install for you.

Reynaldo · Post by **Reynaldo** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:06 pm

Isn't that the one that is in bed with Microsoft? I'm all for ease, but I do want to try to go with one that is "it's own dog" so to speak.

Post by **Arlos** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:44 pm

Last time I installed Red Hat, it was relatively painless. That was years ago, however.

-Arlos

Post by **Lyion** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 12:55 pm

Reynaldo wrote:Isn't that the one that is in bed with Microsoft? I'm all for ease, but I do want to try to go with one that is "it's own dog" so to speak.

No, Novell is in bed with MS, but it's very tenable. They own SUSE and release SUSE Linux variant.

Red Hat's Linux distro is called Fedora Core and used to be top notch for beginners. It's been supplanted by Ubuntu, which is now the best entry level Linux OS.

If you have any questions or issues, let me know, Rey. I install Linux variants all the time.

Post by **Tossica** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:31 pm

Unless you have a specific function in mind for the PC, Linux is a waste of time IMO.

Reynaldo · Post by **Reynaldo** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 1:52 pm

It's basically just an old box sitting around the house that I'm using as a door stopper. I figured I might as well try to get my thumb in the linux pie to make myself more marketable.

Just a shits n giggles thing for personal learning.

Post by **Tossica** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:17 pm

Come up with a plan for it and it will be way more useful. Make a firewall or an email/web server or setup a NWN server or something. Otherwise you'll just boot it up and go. "Cool, it's not Windows"

Post by **Lyion** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 2:53 pm

Gotta agree with Toss somewhat, although there are a lot of neat things with Linux

I suggest setting up a an Apache Mysql server and use it to have your own internal webserver with personal information/contacts/other relevant data loaded and easily accessible via the web. That's pretty simple to do and something cool.

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:31 pm

fuck that

the coolest thing you can do with it is install Cacti

that'll get you installing linux (mandriva is an ok flavour and recommended for cacti)

it'll also require you to install perl, apache, php, mysql which is pretty much commonplace for linux boxes

cacti then sits on top of that

it's an SNMP query tool

you then point it at your router, and all your other pcs

you can then see how much cpu, ram, etc you're using when you play games and shit

it's a great way to justify to yourself that you need to upgrade your PC!

or, it proves to yourself that you don't actually need to upgrade, and it's just a shitty game you're playing that runs dog slow

Post by **Tossica** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:39 pm

Speaking of Cacti. We are rolling out a managed services program that utilizes WMI and SNMP to give us real time stats about customers networks. It's pretty slick and has gone far beyond anything we could do with Cacti before.

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 8:46 pm

what program?

we'd been using HP OVPI in the past and it sucked donkey balls

it also helps that one of the main Cacti developers works at our company

Post by **Lyion** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 1:04 am

Tikker wrote:fuck that

the coolest thing you can do with it is install Cacti

that'll get you installing linux (mandriva is an ok flavour and recommended for cacti)

it'll also require you to install perl, apache, php, mysql which is pretty much commonplace for linux boxes

cacti then sits on top of that

it's an SNMP query tool

you then point it at your router, and all your other pcs

you can then see how much cpu, ram, etc you're using when you play games and shit

it's a great way to justify to yourself that you need to upgrade your PC!

or, it proves to yourself that you don't actually need to upgrade, and it's just a shitty game you're playing that runs dog slow

That sounds pretty slick. Is that freeware Tikk? Easy to use and setup?

Post by **Tossica** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:14 am

Tikker wrote:what program?

we'd been using HP OVPI in the past and it sucked donkey balls

it also helps that one of the main Cacti developers works at our company

http://www.levelplatforms.com/

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:16 am

yes Cacti is freeware

cacti is just an updated version of MRTG, uses a Round robin database instead of just flat files

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:20 am

Tossica wrote:

http://www.levelplatforms.com/

took a quick peek at it, what is it that you like better about it?

just a quick look at it kind of seems like it's a bit on the small side for what we do, but might be worth looking at

Post by **Tossica** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:32 am

Tikker wrote:
Tossica wrote:

http://www.levelplatforms.com/

took a quick peek at it, what is it that you like better about it?

just a quick look at it kind of seems like it's a bit on the small side for what we do, but might be worth looking at

It not only gives us detailed info on our customers networks, it also gives us a central location for patch management, remote access/administration, etc. We install an appliance on the customer site and that communicates with our central office via SSL giving us real time data on any number of customer networks.

Tikker · Post by **Tikker** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:56 am

hrm

how big of networks are we talking about?

like, let's pretend for a sec that I manage a countrywide network, everything from old ass channel banks, modem pools, T1s all the way up to OC192 transport

everything from cisco 871's to 12012 and CRS platform, with a nice sprinkling of Alcatel 7750,7450's

is it carrier grade software? or more just meant to be a one stop solution for smallish companies

Post by **Tossica** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 12:06 pm

It's scalable on a massive level though our organization is pretty small. We manage around 1000 local and regional small business networks and fully intend to push it on all of our customers eventually. The largest single site we manage probably has around 500 devices including all their PC's, servers, switches, printers, etc. I'm not sure the interface would be the best fit for a telco but it's fully customizable and different sites can be assigned to different techs to make wading through all the hardware more efficient. As long as the gear speaks SNMP, you can make templates to trap the info you need.