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"Linux."

Linux, Has always been something of curiosity, I've always wondered what it’s like, how it works, how better it is then windows. Obviously it's quite a big deal; open-source operating systems are quite a novelty. The fact that Linux is quite a lot cheaper intrigues me, And when I get the rest of the bits for my PC, I'll probably have a Linux/Windows XP partition.

The reason Linux interests me so much is obviously because of the open source. I like programming, I've been doing it for a few years now, and to have the ability to 'modify' the distribution you have is pretty cool. It'd be obviously different from the highly successful, yet frowned upon windows operating system.

But there's a problem, I know feck all about it. Websites don't really explain much, I can't really find anything that tells me what I want to know/opinion, so I thought I’d come n ask you guys for help or information. If you don't mind.

I apologise if these questions sound horrifically retarded: -

• Does Linux support all hardware - like graphics cards etc
• Are the drivers any good for components in Linux?
• I noticed on the ATI site there was no 'catalyst' drivers for Linux - are graphics pretty crap in the OS then?
• Are there many games available for the OS? Like Counter Strike etc?
• If yes are they playable online with windows users?

And finally

• If I was to get Linux - What distribution would you recommend? I was thinking of going for SuSe Personal 8.2.

I thankyou for any help or replies that are received.

It should be a nice first step towards Linux. And I'm only going to use it for programming, since I'm still attached to XP.

Phft you should just use Debia.

24 October is the release date for SuSe Linux 9... meanwhile I'll have to make do with this crazy AnotherLevelUp thing at Uni.

Try one of those Linux distros that can be rin from CD. It's slow to load, but if you're only trying, there's no harm.

I like the little penguin symbol thing. However that could be for something else..

Linux is scary. I'd give it a go, but this is a family computer. So I guess not :o)

No.

Software (including kernels) on Linux come in two forms:

Source and packages.

On Windows, you always, always get packages. Nothing is compiled on-site, it is all pre-compiled for you.

On Linux, originally, everything was compiled. Then one day people started using packages, the most common of which are RedHat RPMs, and Debian Debs. In fact almost every common version of Linux these days uses a packaging system of some sort, for the reason above.

Gentoo is fairly unique in that it compiles all software from source (although I think you can choose packages if you want, but that's not the point of gentoo), using a utility called "emerge". Emerge keeps a track of all the dependancies on your system, so when you "emerge" some software, it automatically downloads it for you, downloads the dependancies, compiles it all and installs. It works the same as Debian apt-get (which manages and downloads dependancies as well - in fact I think it was the first to do this), but apt-get downloads pre-compiled packages, not source.

However there is apt-src which downloads and compiles source, just like emerge, but probably not as good. It did predate Gentoo however, which kinda took the shine off all the Gentoo nerd's boasting.

Do you mean the kernel?

I was impressed that Gentoo Linux took over 48 hours to compile on my *2ghz AthlonXP* what my 333mhz Debian Linux box installed in just over a day.

It doesn't take years, I swear. You can do a really small one, and then add stuff as you need it. It's brilliant and yet, at the same time, rubbish.

www.linuxfromscratch.org

Heh.

"Compiling Linux from scratch"

You'd be there for years