Tips for the Fresh-born Linux Newbie

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DevynCJohnson

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Many of you newbies may want or need to use and understand GNU/Linux, but you may have no clue where to start. You probably have dozens of questions. Well, this article will hopefully give you some guidance when using GNU/Linux for the first time.

One set of information that will help you is understanding some terms and definitions. First, you may be wondering "what is the difference between GNU/Linux and Linux?". Simple, "Linux" refers to the kernel while "GNU" refers to the applications above the kernel. So, "GNU/Linux" is the whole system. Next, it is helpful to know that GNU/Linux comes in many flavors/types called "distros" or "distributions" which differ at the userland level (they come with different software). Some distros include Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora, AnitaOS, Slackware, Gentoo, Arch, and I could keep going on. By the way, the kernel is the core part of the system that controls the hardware and the user applications running on the kernel. Feel free to ask more questions about the kernel if this is too confusing.

It also helps to understand a filesystem and a partition. A filesystem is a special format for a storage device or a portion of the device. For example, many memory cards and flash drives use the FAT32 filesystem, MS-Windows hard-drives use NTFS, GNU/Linux usually uses ext3 or ext4, and so on. A partition is a portion of a storage device. A hard-drive, flash drive, etc. can be divided in to multiple parts. For illustration, instead of your system seeing one 16GB storage device, you could partition it. Then, the system would see the single storage device as two 8GB storage units (you can partition it multiple times in varying sizes. The two 8GB is just an example). To manage filesystems and partitions, users may use Gparted.

Now, you may be wondering how to select a distro and get it. Well, in general, newbies may like/need/want Fedora, Ubuntu, CentOS, or Linux Mint. Try each one (yes, GNU/Linux is free) or watch Youtube reviews on these distros to assist you in choosing the one you like the best. Once you are ready to download the distro, search for it on Google by typing something like "download DISTRO-NAME-HERE iso". Near the top you should see a link to the distro's website. Go there and download the ISO for your system. Obviously, get the distro that works with your processor because a distro image (ISO) for AMD64 will not work on an x86 processor. Once the free download is done, use your preferred disc burning software to burn the image to the disc (a CD or DVD depending on the distro).

Many Linux distros vary in their specific installation instructions. In general, read online documentation first and/or watch Youtube videos about the installation of the chosen distro. Usually, users can place a disc in the disc-drive and the BIOS will boot off of the disc (after rebooting the computer), or go into your BIOS and choose to boot from disc or however your BIOS may phrase it (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, etc.). Answer the installation questions and choose the settings you need. Also, make sure you know the timezone and keyboard layout/type; knowing these beforehand will make the process easier. When it comes time to partition and prepare the storage unit(s), here are some helpful hints. On a bare metal install without multi-booting, create five partitions -

#1 - The partition for the distro should be at least 20-25GB (unless the installation instructions state otherwise). Format this partition as ext4 and set the mount-point to "/". The partition maker's interface is simple, so using the program is self-explanatory. If you are installing an older distro, then use ext3 instead of ext4.

#2 - Make a partition for /home/ which is where your personal application settings and files are stored. Format this partition as ext4 (ext3 for older distros). Making /home/ its own mount-point. Depending on the needs of the user, a /home/ partition may need to be 20 to 40GB or more.

#3 - Make a partition for storing files you either do not wish to store in your home folder or want to share with other users who use that computer. Format this as you wish. Most likely, you will choose FAT32 (case-insensitive file names; no file permissions) or ext4 (case-sensitive).

#4 & 5 - Make two swap partitions that each have a size equal to the system's memory. Most users make one swap partition twice the size of the memory. Splitting the swap space into two parts increase performance for some systems.

#6+ - Some advanced users divide the storage device into six or more partitions with a separate mount-point for various parts of the system (like /var/, /tmp/, /boot/, etc...). However, this is usually used on servers.

At the very least, make two partitions - one for SWAP and another for the system.

For the rest of the installation process, users may have very few or many questions to answer and settings to set. As long as the user read the documentation, this should be an easy process.

You may have many other questions that you want answered. Well, many GNU/Linux users will strongly suggest you read the documentation or read forums. Linux.org is a great website for getting help (hmmm, maybe we are a little bias :rolleyes:). The wiki and forum sites specific to your distro or the piece of software in question should provide the help and answers needed. As you continue to read the documentation and use GNU/Linux, you will get closer to becoming a Linux Guru.
 

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Very nice statement, however, I do have a question about that. What are the benefits of having two swap partitions? And as somewhat a noob, what does the swap space do? What gets stored there?
 
Very nice statement, however, I do have a question about that. What are the benefits of having two swap partitions? And as somewhat a noob, what does the swap space do? What gets stored there?
Oversimplifying: swapping involves writing RAM to disk when the system "feels" it's necessary. When it happens, you can't say it's a very fast process.

Benefits: SWAP improves system stability, but I don't think it consistently affects resourceful desktops/notebooks. I have run swapless systems flawlessly (6-18GB RAM). Servers and low ram computers can benefit better from SWAP.

But it's a sensitive topic, take a look at: http://askubuntu.com/questions/184217/why-most-people-recommend-to-reduce-swappiness-to-10-20
 
Very nice statement, however, I do have a question about that. What are the benefits of having two swap partitions? And as somewhat a noob, what does the swap space do? What gets stored there?

It is like having two paging files. It can help speed up the system. However, I have seen some systems not gain performance with two swap partitions.
 
Not sure if this is the best thread but I'm busting my brain and wasting my time trying to find a distro that installs easy, automatically handles grub, but allow sme to select a partition to install alongside windows XP. I've used ubuntu 10 for ages but when I upgraded to 12 or later to 14 the desktop goes awol, I guess it's an issue with the graphics card or xorg but I haven't the time to mess about. Then I tried fedora, mint but wouldn't allow me to choose partitions and had to install ubunto 10 again to restore grub, access XP and all. Any suggestions for a quick install would be appreciated. thanks
 
Not sure if this is the best thread but I'm busting my brain and wasting my time trying to find a distro that installs easy, automatically handles grub, but allow sme to select a partition to install alongside windows XP. I've used ubuntu 10 for ages but when I upgraded to 12 or later to 14 the desktop goes awol, I guess it's an issue with the graphics card or xorg but I haven't the time to mess about. Then I tried fedora, mint but wouldn't allow me to choose partitions and had to install ubunto 10 again to restore grub, access XP and all. Any suggestions for a quick install would be appreciated. thanks

Arch or Slackware might allow you to have more control over the installation.
 
Slackware rather than Arch, as you're looking for an easy install.
Or Manjaro (user-friendly Arch-based).
 
Not sure if this is the best thread but I'm busting my brain and wasting my time trying to find a distro that installs easy, automatically handles grub, but allow sme to select a partition to install alongside windows XP. I've used ubuntu 10 for ages but when I upgraded to 12 or later to 14 the desktop goes awol, I guess it's an issue with the graphics card or xorg but I haven't the time to mess about. Then I tried fedora, mint but wouldn't allow me to choose partitions and had to install ubunto 10 again to restore grub, access XP and all. Any suggestions for a quick install would be appreciated. thanks
Fedora allows you to select partitions during installation. There usually is a button there with a name like "customize the partition" or similar. But it may not be the best distro for Linux newbies. Fedora is famous for being cutting edge and at the mean time requires some problem fixing technique. For a newbie, it is better to install a previous version of Fedora (19 for now, 20 is the latest one) and run `yum update` just after the installation. Usually, bugs are fixed and it runs well. After around half a year, upgrade (fedup) to the the next release and it is should be already quite stable.
 
I am a newbie, a virgin quite frankly, at this. So I am getting it, but not quite. I do not know PCs. Yes, I am a troglodyte of sorts... and I am using one for the Linux project. Now, I want to download free software ISO and distro and I am inclined to get Cent OS. K. Now, where to I get the instructions to partition the PC and get it ready for the install? Another question...My PC gets hacked on constantly. That is not all, have pity on my soul, right? I trashed most of the OS 8 so I do not even have a Real Tek sound driver working or any for that matter...and I want to resolve all these things to work on Linux that I know virtually zilch about. I love it!
 
I am a newbie, a virgin quite frankly, at this. So I am getting it, but not quite. I do not know PCs...and I want to resolve all these things to work on Linux that I know virtually zilch about. I love it!

Let me get this right -- you know nothing about PC hardware or any Operating System, including Windows?
 
I am a newbie, a virgin quite frankly, at this. So I am getting it, but not quite. I do not know PCs. Yes, I am a troglodyte of sorts... and I am using one for the Linux project. Now, I want to download free software ISO and distro and I am inclined to get Cent OS. K. Now, where to I get the instructions to partition the PC and get it ready for the install? Another question...My PC gets hacked on constantly. That is not all, have pity on my soul, right? I trashed most of the OS 8 so I do not even have a Real Tek sound driver working or any for that matter...and I want to resolve all these things to work on Linux that I know virtually zilch about. I love it!

Some of these reading guides may help you - http://www.linux.org/threads/reading-guides-indexes.6034/

Also, to get CentOS - http://www.centos.org/download/

CentOS documentation -

http://www.centos.org/docs/
http://wiki.centos.org/
 
Ubuntu MATE 14.04.1 LTS here. This is THE GNU/Linux distro that got me off Windows entirely.
 
Still, as in life, in the learning stages. What I'm Learnings So Far: I suggest to express it as WILSF, because it is useful. WILSF is that a lot of stuff must be cleared and cleaned to get the distro installed, whichever it is. I want it to go on a 2011 PC that is the subject of all hacks because there is no virus protection on it. It expired and I want to get the download done before I get something I actually research and get some sense of what it is actually protecting plus a bit about why. I figure that I want to download the distro to my Windows partitioned Mac. Today it began getting bugsy visitors. I want the distro to download to a DVD disk from the Windows on the Mac.
Size is a problem, since the disc is only 560MB. I may have to send it to downloads and then hope it does not alter the existing stuff on the PC-Windows partition side. To avoid this I have backed up everything on this side onto a disc. It was not much. So I want to give it a download. Because of unsuccessful attempts with other apps on the download end, I will not try them for now. Not because the distros were, but I rather, was not apt to the task. Maybe I am better prepared now. Think I will go with Ubuntu MATE 14.04.1 as Buford T. Justice suggests. If it works, fine. Otherwise, fine too. Tanks Devyn C. Johnson for the post and alltherest for the replies
 
#3 contains .... case-insensitive .... case-sensitive.
These seem exactly backwards to the fat32 or ext4 file system locations in the sentence.

Also, specifying a size discussion for /home might be nice - complete noobs get nervous over this stuff. I think of it this way - home is for things that change all the time and are personal, not shared. The size needs to be enough to support those tasks. Normally, I put media/videos/audio files outside home, since those do not change often. Why? Backups of /home need to happen daily, but backups of media only need to happen when needed, monthly, quarterly, but probably NOT daily. Plus using incremental backups for large, binary files, isn't usually the smartest way. But for emails, documents, code, settings, it is absolutely critical.
 
#3 contains .... case-insensitive .... case-sensitive.
These seem exactly backwards to the fat32 or ext4 file system locations in the sentence.

Also, specifying a size discussion for /home might be nice - complete noobs get nervous over this stuff. I think of it this way - home is for things that change all the time and are personal, not shared. The size needs to be enough to support those tasks. Normally, I put media/videos/audio files outside home, since those do not change often. Why? Backups of /home need to happen daily, but backups of media only need to happen when needed, monthly, quarterly, but probably NOT daily. Plus using incremental backups for large, binary files, isn't usually the smartest way. But for emails, documents, code, settings, it is absolutely critical.

Thanks! I cannot believe that none of us caught that.
 
There is a post-install article for Linux newbies AFTER they get things installed. http://blog.jdpfu.com/2014/12/28/learning-linux This is for people who actually want to learn to become proficient at Linux, not just a point-n-click end-user.
I think the most important thing is to learn the UNIX/Linux way of thinking and leave behind the Windows or OSX-way. Assuming that every OS will behave in the same way, when each has different fundamental philosophies, is a bad idea.
 
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Thanks for the link JD P - I bookmarked it (along with all my other "New to Linux") and will read it later tonight.

I do have a question pertaining to the file system on install. My system is a dual boot with an extra internal hard drive on my laptop. (DVD bit the dust, so I replaced it with another hard drive). I purchased the laptop in 2008, so you can see how old the hardware is. I have 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD and an extra 149GB HDD.

On the SSD, I only want the OS(s) and my applications installed on it. On the HDD I just want the files produced by the applications stored there. I will be purchasing a larger drive (probably 750GB, don't know if my system will recognize anything larger(?)).

Right now the SSD is as follows:
175GB dedicated to Windows 8.1
then:
/ = 20GB (ext4)
/swap =8GB (only one swap file, not two as recommended above)
/home = 34.7GB (ext5)

The extra drive (It's only 149GB)
90GB NTFS (Windows partition)
then
media/christi/extra 55GB (ext4)

What I would like is to move the /home on the SSD to the extra drive and replace that partition for whatever runs/hold the software I install. I just don't know what file holds themt. I don't want any hand holding, I am sure I will come across how to do after reading the many bookmarked websites I have collected, I would just like some advice on what my system should look like after I do it. Don't tell me how, just what would be good for what I am trying to accomplish. I am a DBA/programmer by trade, so I would imagine I would want the /var on my extra drive (when I get a larger one) rather than be on the SSD.

Thanks to anyone who can be of assitance or point me in the right direction..
 

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