Learning Linux For Pandora?

[qwerty15]

I would suggest trying out a livecd like Knoppix or using some kind of virtualization software like qemu.

 

[CronoTriggerfan]

I kinda knew that I wouldn't need to know how to use Linux to operate the Pandora. Just about every other consumer electronics device on the planet uses a form of Linux as its base OS, but that doesn't mean people are using the command line to do everything. I just thought that with the Pandora being as open as it is, there will be some things that I would be able to do that the average user could not if I knew how to use Linux beforehand.

One of the main reasons I'm so gung-ho in this now is that I actually just got two new machines from my school that they were going to ditch. They've got Athlons clocked at 2 GHz each, and are just shy of a gig of ram a piece. One of them I have AstonShell and Windows XP on, and the other one has a 40 gig harddrive with nothing on it!

Also, what's the difference between all the *buntus? You know, like Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc.? Like, I know one is XFCE, one's GNOME, and one's KDE, but I have absolutely no idea what that stuff means. :lol: So what's the difference between these three Linux distros? Are there any astronomical differences between the three? 'Cause I think I like Kubuntu better than Ubuntu!

 

[bigtruck]

They're all different desktop environments/window managers (wiki articles). That's one of the hard things to explain to people used to Windows (usually phrased in the annoyingly impossible to answer question of "but what does Linux look like?"). In Windows there's (for the most part) only one thing the desktop can look like (with the exception of wallpapers and themes). In Linux there's pretty much limitless choice. There's several desktop environments and tons of window managers, all with different themes. I've never used AstonShell, but it looks like a vaguely similar concept.

They come with varying amounts of GUI options and user-friendliness. KDE and Gnome are the big two desktop environments, both in terms of popularity and resource usage. They're the most feature-rich, but likewise the most bloated. This is a rather controversial topic, but for the most part (trying to explain, not start a flame war here), Gnome is seen as being "simpler" and KDE as more "feature-rich". I've found that many people switching from Mac prefer Gnome and those switching from Windows prefer KDE, but that is certainly not always the case.

The great thing about Linux, (just about) all the software is free, so you can try out all kinds of stuff before settling on what you like the most.

Oh and congrats on getting free machines from your school. My school's replacing a whole lab of computers this summer. I'm friends with the tech director, so I tried to get a few to use as a cluster, but they're going to donate them. Lousy Catholics, giving things to people who actually need them.

 

[jmetal88]

hmmm i just gonna stick this one out there ...Archlinux it is a rather bare distro and helps you learn a LOT not to mention it is very fast

they have a very decent installation guide (i recommend you do this on an empty spare computer) ..... mind you i already knew good bit about linux and it took me a while (expect half a day) to setup on my box but you are always learning something interesting along the way

*snip*

the reason i suggest you use a spare computer is that you have no fear of messing something up.... perhaps if you start using it regularly add a second HD so you don't have to worry much about losing docs etc...btw i failed to get LFS runnig LOL so don't bother just yet as it is for uber nerds ...heh didn't realise that BigTruck had recommended Archlinux ;-) till just now

Archlinux is my current favorite. It's also the only distribution out of the 3 or 4 I tried that I could successfully get mythtv working on.

EDIT: Spelling.

 

[PoisonedV]

You don't need to know jack shit about gnu/linux to use pandora. I am 99 percent sure of this.
GNU/Linux is great and all, but when you start using it, it's just a slippery slope to being a fanboy. I caught myself on a ledge.
(I dualboot windows and debian, run several distros on servers)

Lousy Catholics, giving things to people who actually need them.

It surprised me, too.

 

[bigtruck]

You don't need to know jack shit about gnu/linux to use pandora. I am 99 percent sure of this.

I think everyone in this discussion knows that. But it doesn't mean that knowledge wouldn't be useful. Especially if you want to start developing for the Pandora, or trying to port things. This device will most likely be capable of so much more than the things the Pandora developers set up for us. For example, what if you're away from home and you want to remotely connect to your home computer, start downloading some music, then set up a streaming radio station to listen to it? Or if you want to set up a web or ftp server so people can grab files off your Pandora? You can use Windows without any knowledge of how to manage services or fiddle with the registry or stuff like that, but people who are know how to do that stuff often find it useful.

 

[WarmFluffyUK]

Ubuntu is great, I have it on my backup server (Non GUI version). I am a DOS girl at heart and love CLI, but It taught me a lot setting up Apache, Virtual Sites, DNS etc using conf files. It was quite fun actually
Just learning how to use vi was an experience, but after I got to grips it was more fun than any other editor I have used.

 

[javaJake]

Also, what's the difference between all the *buntus? You know, like Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc.? Like, I know one is XFCE, one's GNOME, and one's KDE, but I have absolutely no idea what that stuff means. :lol: So what's the difference between these three Linux distros? Are there any astronomical differences between the three? 'Cause I think I like Kubuntu better than Ubuntu!

Kubuntu is a variant of Ubuntu. It is not Ubuntu, but it's fairly close. Note that it isn't officially supported!
Neither is Xubuntu, which was designed for machines with 128 MB of RAM (or less, mine ran 64 MB).

I love GNOME. I don't know what it is, but KDE never feels right. I always switch back to GNOME after a few months. GNOME just feels solid and complete, while KDE feels like breakable glass that you touch carefully when you go to use it.

So, my opinion is, whatever you do, try out Ubuntu. Ubuntu is one of the most new-user-friendly distributions, hands down. At least, in my opinion.

 

[Prometheus]

Kubuntu is a variant of Ubuntu. It is not Ubuntu, but it's fairly close. Note that it isn't officially supported!

I was of the impression that Kubuntu (and Xubuntu, Edubuntu, and Gobuntu) is an officially-supported variant. At least, that's what the Ubuntu website seems to say...

 

[javaJake]

Whoops.

 

[magicman5421]

what you might have mixed up is that kde 4.* is not supported officially yet. kubuntu 8.04 uses kde 3.(something...) and, while kubuntu 8.04 is available with kde 4.*, it's only community support.

 

[doc5avage]

Linux is 2 things.
It is a kernel (which drives the hardware)
It is a set of utilities that closely resemble the utilities available for Unix.

Coming from the GP2X, the most valuable linux/unix knowledge that I have been able to use on the GP2X, as a user, is knowledge of BASH and other common linux tools like grep, awk, vi, cat.

I would suggest that you could obtain this sort of knowledge in a windows environment by using cygwin.

 

[jbr]

Hmm... No one seemed to mention Debian in this thread do far. What I did my first time (the double entendre ends now) was get an old pentium two working with Ubuntu, then reformat the drive and install the CLI Ubuntu and do the GUI myself, and then finally install Debian on another machine and try to make it look just like the Xubuntu-like distro I had on the first one.

The point of all that was [is] to use an easy distro like Ubuntu to see what a nice Linux should look like, and then try to do that yourself from deeper and deeper down. Xfce is my favorite "light" desktop environment (window manager?). A lot of people I know prefer Fluxbox, but I couldn't stand it the few times I tried. Even though I am a primary windows user, I prefer Gnome to KDE.

EDIT:Whoops! I must've missed the second page! Debian's been mentioned twice, but I think the rest of the post still applies.

 

[cb88]

@jbr then you must have missed a couple posts l .... it has been mentioned several times ....thought admittedly i missed the first mention of Archlinux too X.x

so basically to sum this all up... I have used the following distros at least a couple months each:
Debian etch (currently)
Slackware 12 & Vectorlinux (previously)
Puppy linux (off and on as a livecd rescue disk IMO it is not secure and is not multiuser)

I recently tried out Arch linux and i like it ..... i was able to get the exact environment i wanted (Rox + openbox) although i still haven't figured out 100% of thier configs...

overall i think debian/*buntu is better suited for a low learning curve and Arch is better for a high learning curve. Slackware well... there is no dependency handling and that is a pain whenever you want to install something who wants to spend an hour a day hunting libs not me. puppylinux is a decent rescue disk and the community is very friendly but I'm not about to recommend if for day to day use quite yet...

actually the rox desktop might be nice on the pandora since it is very folder oriented and has a panel with nice big buttons not to mention being the lightest desktop environment ever..