Things about Linux I should Know

[Radical Terrorist]

I'm thinking of running Puppy Linux off of my thumbdrive every now and then at school, but what are some things I should know about using linux? Since the powered down XP OS version the school uses is craptastic (except for shutting down the entire network via batch files ) and I would like to actually get some work done when Im on them rather than play shutdown wars and wait while it loads my documents for 5 minutes.

In short, what would a windows user like me need to know about using Puppy linux (I'm assuming runs the same as any other linux, it's just a smaller "Thumbdrivable" Version) in general. From using the software to using commands (cause I know it has a GUI, but is also heavily command based). What can you tell me in "Linux for a complete retard" Terms?

[jrgp]

Read this to understand a lot about Linux, what it is and where it came from.
Read this to learn about Linux's completely different than Windows filesystem and some useful Linux commands.

[Radical Terrorist]

Just what I wanted, thanks.

[Svirin Kerath]

http://www.amazon.com/Linux-Dummies-8th-Dee-Ann-LeBlanc/dp/0470116498/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202190925&sr=8-1

[Dascoo]

Wait...why are you doing this? To show you're to cool for the other kids in your school?

[Sethamundo]

Wait...why are you doing this? To show you're to cool for the other kids in your school?

Dascoo has a point.  There are heaps of Linux fanboys at my school and it makes me sick.  I'm even a Linux user myself and it pisses me off.

Also, I use Puppy Linux on an old home computer of mine and it's fairly impressive how it can run on such low system requirements.  If you have no Linux knowlage at all then expect a learing curve for going straight to Puppy Linux. If you're patient though, it's not bad at all.

[FliesLikeABrick]

I can see this being useful to do at school since most schools have ridiculous restrictions on the computers that don't let you do much of anything useful.  I wish I knew about Linux in high school so that I could have done this, it would have allowed me to work on my websites and use things like VNC, VPNs and other things during my free time.  After long enough I found out how to put/tretrieve from FTP sites using netscape anyway (since they had IE locked down), but it was still shitty.  I wanted to work on some websites but had to use notepad and no real FTP client or brower.

I can definitely understand someone wanting to do this if they want a real browser or more functionality, especially someone like a senior in high school who has a lot of free time during the day

[Radical Terrorist]

I can see this being useful to do at school since most schools have ridiculous restrictions on the computers that don't let you do much of anything useful.  I wish I knew about Linux in high school so that I could have done this, it would have allowed me to work on my websites and use things like VNC, VPNs and other things during my free time.  After long enough I found out how to put/tretrieve from FTP sites using netscape anyway (since they had IE locked down), but it was still bollocksty.  I wanted to work on some websites but had to use notepad and no real FTP client or brower.

I can definitely understand someone wanting to do this if they want a real browser or more functionality, especially someone like a senior in high school who has a lot of free time during the day

THANK You

Actually, thanks to the help of some popular mac user, anything but OSx leapard will make you uncool. I'm purely running linux on these to make them run faster, since the OS restrictions they put on there. And the Corel word perfect copies they use are so slow to load that I'd rather just use Fat Puppy and Open Office.

I'm starting to swing towards Ubuntu though, is it possible to run Ubuntu in a "session" Just booting it up, doing your work, then shutting down and leaving the Windows OS as is? I don't want to get into shit for "Wrecking" a harddrive. They're very touchy on the computers they know nothing about.

[FliesLikeABrick]

I can see this being useful to do at school since most schools have ridiculous restrictions on the computers that don't let you do much of anything useful.  I wish I knew about Linux in high school so that I could have done this, it would have allowed me to work on my websites and use things like VNC, VPNs and other things during my free time.  After long enough I found out how to put/tretrieve from FTP sites using netscape anyway (since they had IE locked down), but it was still bollocksty.  I wanted to work on some websites but had to use notepad and no real FTP client or brower.

I can definitely understand someone wanting to do this if they want a real browser or more functionality, especially someone like a senior in high school who has a lot of free time during the day

THANK You

Actually, thanks to the help of some popular mac user, anything but OSx leapard will make you uncool. I'm purely running linux on these to make them run faster, since the OS restrictions they put on there. And the Corel word perfect copies they use are so slow to load that I'd rather just use Fat Puppy and Open Office.

I'm starting to swing towards Ubuntu though, is it possible to run Ubuntu in a "session" Just booting it up, doing your work, then shutting down and leaving the Windows OS as is? I don't want to get into bollocks for "Wrecking" a harddrive. They're very touchy on the computers they know nothing about.

Yes, that is very possible and I'd recommend it: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

That will make it so that you use it as if you're on a livecd, meaning your files and such don't get saved.  I believe it should be trivial to modify that behavior.

Alternatively, just plug in your USB stick and install ubuntu to it normally, this way you'd be booting a 100% normal ubuntu install.  Googling around a bit will give you lots of options and instructions on how to do either of these

[Radical Terrorist]

Awesome, I managed to cram the whole OS onto a 1gig thumbdrive that gets no use otherwise.
Thanks for the tut FLAB, you've been a big help. My hope in using linux on the school machines is a bit like sex, in and out hoping nothing got left behind that can be traced back to me.

[FliesLikeABrick]

Awesome, I managed to cram the whole OS onto a 1gig thumbdrive that gets no use otherwise.
Thanks for the tut FLAB, you've been a big help. My hope in using linux on the school machines is a bit like sex, in and out hoping nothing got left behind that can be traced back to me.

The only problems I'm afraid you'll run into are:
1) the BIOS is set to boot from the hard drive only and the BIOS has a password on it so that you can't change it
2) The USB on the computers is USB1.1/1.0, meaning it would be unusably slow.  Any computer that came out in the past 5 years almost definitely has USB2.

What are the specs of the computers?  I know that some schools have older computers (not that there's anything wrong with that)

[Radical Terrorist]

It's an IBM ThinkCentre. They're all within 2-3 years old. I'm pretty sure you can boot ubuntu up from windows desktop, though, can't you? I could always burn it to a disc and use that...

[FliesLikeABrick]

It's an IBM ThinkCentre. They're all within 2-3 years old. I'm pretty sure you can boot ubuntu up from windows desktop, though, can't you? I could always burn it to a disc and use that...

I don't think you can, but even if you can... you're still running on top of the shitty windows XP install you were complaining about.  Not only will it still be slow, but it'll be even slower since you'd be consuming more memory (I'm guessing these computers don't have much) and you've got another layer of software/emulation on there.

To see any benefits at all, you'll definitely need to boot off of your Linux setup

[Radical Terrorist]

Its not so much the hardware as the software. The we have is glitchy. I know it's got the guts cause I secretly installed HALO and BF 1942 Demos on there and they work very smoothly for Lan parties. I guess I'll boot from USB, but when you boot up windows, it's possible to choose an alternative drive to boot from, right? (When I installed Puppy linux on an old 1996 NEC Laptop, I was able to boot from USB, which worked fine)

[Mangled*]

I dislike Linux users because they seem to not realize what Linux is intended for.

Linux was originally intended as a free operating platform for servers.

Not for users to use as a potentially useless operating system.

It pisses me off when I see gamers who think that Linux and MacOS are worthwhile operating systems... Because when it comes to gaming (with the exception of Vista) Windows has always been the best, most compatible and most game-friendly operating system.

I'm pretty sure Mac users like to show off when they announce that they're getting a Mac... but then they pipe down when they've bought it because they realize that they basically just payed $2000 for a fast office computer.

Whilst Linux users just like to show off by saying "look how nerdy I am, I have an open source operating system" when they're secretly crying on the inside because they have to use Windows emulators to run practically every piece of software or game that exists which doesn't have a Linux version. - That means most pieces of software and games, since Linux represents less than a percent of all operating system users (if you exclude servers).

Also... what happens if a sexy girl who you really like asks to use your computer? And she says... what's all this? And you say "Linux" and she says "What??" and then you have to explain how you're a nerd and use an open source operating system which you downloaded from an underground online community of nerds to show off to other nerds.

[Radical Terrorist]

I'm pretty sure Mac users like to show off when they announce that they're getting a Mac... but then they pipe down when they've bought it because they realize that they basically just payed $2000 for a fast office computer.

No argument about the fast office computer, but some of em are pretty deep in denial or something, cause they insist that MACs are infinitely superior to windows and that "Anything a windows can do, a Mac can do better."

I believe I mentioned I was using linux on the school machines only cause the os they're running is craptacular. I have been a long time windows fan and I LOVE getting into it with Mac users over why Windows is so much better. I just want to use the linux on the school machines cause the os they're using is "Locked". You cant even access your harddrive so you have people dumping  all sorts of crap on the network drive, which causes lots of low-latency and the like when trying to save.

[a-4-year-old]

Compatibility is the number one most important thing for an operating system, for software then for hardware.

[Smegma]

You don't use a windows emulator.

A computer can be used for more than gaming.

[Radical Terrorist]

You don't use a windows emulator.

A computer can be used for more than gaming.

Their original intention wasn't even gaming, even so some of the first computers were gaming consoles. Even so, I get what you're hitting at and heartily agree.

[Yes]

Umm... well its a very sexy OS. On top of that it can pretty much do what Windows can but you just have to figure out how to. It is well worth getting, if its for general use then you should have no problem because it open office and what not. But if you wanna play some game like Team Fortress 2 then its a little difficult, but you can figure it out by going to google.