Know A Good Distro For Devving?

[Blah]

Okay, so I'm basically getting real pissed off at windows for a number of reasons. The main two being that
1) Its a big memory hog, I can't afford 3gbs of RAM right now, nor can my motherboard accept that much (I'm upgrading the motherboard/CPU soon though).
2) MinGW is outdated and doesn't compare at all to a real linux set-up.

Also I need to get more used to Linux for three reasons:
1) When Microsoft deploys TCPA, I don't want to be using Vista.
2) I can't afford to give Microsoft money.
3) When I go to college in 2 or 3 years, I'll want to have good Linux experience because I'll be learning various stuff. What exactly I don't know yet, but I'll do something related to programming or IT. And Windows ain't the platform of choice for that (MSVC doesn't count dammit).

So whats a good distro to get started devving on? I've got some Ubuntu discs and a Kubuntu disc, but I'm really looking for something more "complete" as my internet connection sucks. I don't know how I'm even gonna get internet to work because my ISP (AOL, Association of Lamers) doesn't exactly work for that. I'll probably end up setting up a proxy server, as I can't change the ISP (my Mom doesn't want to, heh).

I don't mind if its a very big distro, I'll order the disc. I don't care if its a DVD, I have a DVD-ROM drive. I'll be getting a 100gb or maybe even 160gb hard drive, haven't priced them yet. But I'll partition it with a 10gb NTFS partition for XP and the rest will be EXT3, shared, as in used for linux and storage. Then I would access it with a driver in Windows. And yes, 10gb is enough for what I do with XP, I've been using it with less for years (its hard to get money, hehe).

I realize none of the distros have a linux-gp2x-arm toolchain on them (duh, thats MY job to build). So what I mean by "complete" is "including the stuff you need for pc-linux devving".

 

[Pickle]

I prefer Novell Suse, comes with more apps than you will know what to do with. On the plus side you can buy it from local stores if you cant download it.

 

[mrsnature]

all the major distros should be 'complete' for most things you'd need your pc for. I started with Mandrake (Mandriva), now moved on to Fedora and think I prefer it - There's more support and advice on using Fedora, so If you run into probs its easier to solve them.

As for devving, not much is needed, so you can't really go wrong.

EDIT: Oh, and as for partitioning, I would add a FAT32 transfer partition, as then it is easy to use it with linux and windows, without any special drivers... there are often problems with acessing ext3/ntfs partitions in windows/linux.

 

[TKF15H]

Windows a memory hog? Unless you're using 9x/ME, windows does a fine job handling memory, better than some linux distros in my experience.
But to actually answer your question, SuSE is great.

 

[Trip]

You want to get down & dirty to really learn about Linux, then Slackware's what you need.
I learnt more from setting up a laptop with slackware in two weeks, than I've learnt using Ubuntu or any of the modern distrobutions in the past 2 years.
Good support from the community for new users too.
You will have to set most things up on it yourself, but the experience that you gain will certainly be the best.

 

[Mudi]

If you don't want to go crazy setting up your distro, and want a smallish download, go Ubuntu/Kubuntu (I prefer kubuntu these days). 1 CD download and it mostly just works(tm).

I also have a gentoo box, which is fine if you are willing to wait for everything to build (I think it's a similar situation for slackware iirc)

 

[donny662]

Definately include a FAT32 partition on your hard drive because linux can read NTFS fine, but it can't write to it well and is not recommended.

 

[Daid]

Definately include a FAT32 partition on your hard drive because linux can read NTFS fine, but it can't write to it well and is not recommended.

Why not the other way around? http://www.fs-driver.org/index.html

I always liked Slackware for messing around, if you like customizing the software on your machine a bit.
I use debian on my server, because it's much easier to install something there, need X?, "apt-get X" and much easier to keep up to date.

 

[mittens]

My favorite was Slackware, but now I prefer Gentoo.

 

[Blah]

Don't tell me XP aint a memory hog, it is. It takes me like 100mbs of ram just to start up. On my crappy comp with 128mbs of ram, that doesn't cut it. ME actually uses less memory, but I don't like it as its not very stable. I've got a program called Release RAM that'll force windows into giving up ~64mbs of it, its shareware though .

Another interesting thingy: I counted all the programs I use on a regular basis that I wouldn't need in Linux. It totaled 26. Its not like this is my first experience with linux, but I haven't done much more than tinkering with live discs (I've found them useful for fixing stuff as well). And I figure if I'm already compiling stuff in MSYS, I might as well go the extra mile and use real linux. I did use DOS back in the day though, preffered it to Windows 3.1

Why not the other way around? http://www.fs-driver.org/index.html

Yep, I'll most likely use that.

You want to get down & dirty to really learn about Linux, then Slackware's what you need.

I haven't heard anything good about jumping into Slackware, only headaches.

If you don't want to go crazy setting up your distro, and want a smallish download, go Ubuntu/Kubuntu (I prefer kubuntu these days). 1 CD download and it mostly just works™.

I've tried Ubuntu, didn't like it because it reminded me too much of Windows. And actually, I want something that I'll have to "start hacking at", but not something that would make me give up.

A distro I think is interesting (I'll have a go at it once I get a new hard drive and a working CD burner) is Source Mage. Though I might just be insane in thinking I can pull that off.

 

[Daid]

You want to get down & dirty to really learn about Linux, then Slackware's what you need.

I haven't heard anything good about jumping into Slackware, only headaches.

We'll change that now then:

Slackware was the first distro I tried, and I still like it very much. It learned me how a linux system works, because all scripts are pretty easy to follow and there aren't alot of scripts. When you wanted to change something you needed to dive into some scripts, I think some people don't like that and want 'click&pray' diaglogs for everything.
I liked how I could download the vanilla kernel source, configure it, compile it, and then use that kernel without any problems.
Slackware really learned me why linux works so much better from an 'experianced' possition then windows. If windows doesn't boot, then I'm stuck at using system restore. When linux doesn't boot (chance is large that you have broken it) you can look the logs, simply pick out the point where it goes wrong. And 99 out of 100 you can fix it.

I look at slackware als the lego of linux distros. While debian is more like a plastic toy that is 1 part, saves you the putting together, but doesn't allow you to build something diffrent (without a blowtorch)

 

[torpor]

I abandoned Microsoft products over 10 years, and have been hacking on Linux since funet was the only place to get it.

You can: 1. Roll your own.
You can: 2. Use Ubuntu.

You might find you do more "administration" with option #1, and quite a lot of development with option #2. I've rolled my own distro on too many boxes now to care .. so I just use Ubuntu. Generally-speaking, its a wonderful platform for development, as long as you pay enough attention to details, don't play around, and just use it as intended. Just because it looks like Windows doesn't mean its going to have all the same hassles .. (though I was personally bit by the nvidia versus xserver-xorg versus Xgl snag this week, grr...)

If you do roll your own, I encourage you to have a Slackware box/partition/virtual-machine around somewhere ..

 

[aapje89]

Writing to ntfs from linux goes fine, no problem.

http://www.linux-ntfs.org/

I would recommend suse linux, or CentOS (based on RHEL)

 

[evol]

VectorlinuX is Slackware without the hassle and the SoHo edition sports the wonderfull enlightenment as packages it takes tgz,rpm,deb compiles from source because of full devtools

and its i586=rocketfast

[distsite] http://www.vectorlinux.com/

[review] http://madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=6190

 

[Blah]

Arrgh, its impossible to share aol, even with a proxy server. I'll have to pay for my own internet service :angry:, as nobody in my family will listen to me.

 

[yaustar]

Arrgh, its impossible to share aol, even with a proxy server. I'll have to pay for my own internet service :angry:, as nobody in my family will listen to me.

Really? In the UK, I managed to share an AOL line with a router (although it was a bitch to setup).

 

[kardasan]

Writing to ntfs from linux goes fine, no problem.

http://www.linux-ntfs.org/

I've tried that...wiped half of my data partition, which is not nice >>. Now maybe it's because:

Note: That doesn't mean it always succeeds, it is still experimental and might just as well refuse to complete an operation in order to prevent corruption. See the ntfsmount page for more details.

After 4 years of using linux I still prefer to install Windows on FAT32 partition. Because I use windows rarely (mostly because my sister can't and won't operate linux >>), I don't really care about the superiority of NTFS over FAT.

I would recomend you Debian. I've had to reinstall my whole linux box lately (something got into me and told me to test gentoo, which I didn't like) and I've downloaded new Debian net-inst CD. I must say that it made a big progress since my last instalation (2 years ago). Most of the things work out of the box, that is if you have popular hardware (Logitec == good, Genius == baaad). I don't but there weren't many pieces of hardware I had to configure. Maybe my webcam. Anyway when we got to the configuration stuff. If you don't want your linux box to look like windows...think twice. It's not that bad and it's definitely helpfull if you're not into configuring via text files. And belive me, you will have to do it sooner or later. But if you really like your box to be unique and fast (128MB of RAM isn't really good) then you should try fluxbox, blackbox or Xfce (it's a whole desktop setup but still it's nice and configurable). And if you won't find these interesting, just go here and choose one window manager that will suit you. If you don't know what window manager is, let's say that it's an applitation that handles your windows and desktop...mostly...
One more thing that will make Debian your favourite distro: apt-get. just one single command and you get your software installed. The archive of packages is quite good and if you decide to install unstable build (which is mostly very stable but has new packages that haven't been through 10-years-test-for-stability) you have tons of software. No more searching for rpms. BTW if the app you're trying to install has only RPM packages, there's a very big possibility that you will install it on your Debian box too with alien app (it converts RPMs to DEBs <--Debian packages).

I hope I've helped you.
Have a nive linux.

 

[Blah]

@Yaustar: It is rather possible with their "broadband", but most unfeasible with their dialup.

Because 128mbs of RAM is most obvious suckage, I will upgrade my PC before jumping into Linux. I dont know whether to go with an Athlon XP for the motherboard I bought a year ago but never used, or to buy a motherboard/cpu combo (costs about as much) and scrap the other motherboard. But I would like to sell the other mobo, its an Asus thats never really been used (middle pin on heatsink holder is broken, damn thermaltake heatsink. still works though), and it cost $100 when I bought it. I'd probably end up getting $30 to $50 for it, if anything

 

[sephiroth111]

Definately include a FAT32 partition on your hard drive because linux can read NTFS fine, but it can't write to it well and is not recommended.

bull. use captive-ntfs: http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/
that lets you use full read write on ntfs. downside is it uses ntfs.sys, so some people complain about "tainting" the kernel.

to answer the posters question, i use slack on my old notebook, fedora core on my desktop, and kubuntu on my newer laptop. i also carry with me a thumbdrive with cramFS on it and my own distro based on LFS. but dont ever do an LFS build, you'll regret it. you learn so much, but at the cost of time and so much learning. plus its a hassle.