Image to make you switch to linux
I am writing this to help ppl like myself who find it hard to find all the info needed after shifitng to linux, in one place. I personally didn't like Linux at the first glance and I always booted to windows XP, and one fine day my Windows crashed. I was just trying Linux for some time and I got really addicted with it..Its an enchanting experience.
This guide is for Fedora Linux, I will try to make it a general one by including Ubuntu commands too wherever possible.
I am a real noob in Linux myself and have been using it only from a past week or so, please forgive me if I write something stupid..
Here I assume that you have already installed Linux. If not, download a Linux dirsto from hundreds of sites online. You can also request a copy of ubuntu to be shipped to your place for free here
[BREAK=Getting started]
I had problems getting to the GUI on fedora for the first time. Dunno how but it was solved when I did reboot twice. No such problems on ubuntu though (it took a long time for me to install on my AMD X2 machine, dunno why :S )
Basic FAQ
1.I managed to install Linux, what do I do with it?
Ans. You can do almost everything you can do with Windows and more. Make sure you are connected
to internet. Else Linux is not much fun..
2.What is a terminal?
It's analogous to DOS of windows and is very very helpful in linux. This is the place
you need to go to run commands which you find online. This can be found at
Applications > Accessories > Terminal
3.What codes can I run at the terminal?
Most of the codes are intutive. cd is to change directory, mkdir is to make a new directory
etc..we will talk more about this later.
4.I miss my Windows Explorer?
You will find a much better Linux explorer (Nautilius). Go to Places > Computer
5.Linux Office?
You have an option of using openoffice which is the substitute for Office from Microsoft.
Applications > Office
6.Internet Explorer?
All linux distros come pre installed with Mozilla Firefox. More on how to install other
browsers later.
7. Whats root? and su?
Root is somewhat like Administrator in Windows you need to login as root for changing some settings and installing applications (some). However it is not safe to login as root all the time, you can type su - at the terminal to switch to root user mode and to run some applications which demands you to do so..
8.I can't see my windows partitions!!
Windows has a different file system NTFS other than Linux. Though in some distro's you can automatically mount NTFS partitions. You need to install an application called ntfs-3g for this purpose on most machines.
Code:
yum install ntfs-3gCreate a directory in say /media using Nautilus or using the terminal using the mkdir command to create a directory and cd to go that directory..
Code:
cd /media
mkdir win_XX can be substitued with your C, D, E etc drives of Windows.
Next step is to mount them
Type
Code:
fdisk -lIdentify your NTFS partititions which looks something like /dev/hda# where # is a number
now you can mount using
Code:
ntfs-3g /dev/hda# /media/win_Xnote:1.Linux is case sensitive Desktop is different fron desktop
2. During yum installs if you want to automatically answer yes for Do you want to download? questions postfix -y after yum
9. Whats this yum??
Yum is an automatic updater and package installer/remover for rpm systems. It automatically computes dependencies and figures out what things should occur to install packages. It makes it easier to maintain groups of machines without having to manually update each one using rpm.
In linux unlike windows you often don't get packages in nice installers, a package will have lots of dependencies. yum manages everything and installs in a breeze. After you get used to it you will like it
[BREAK=Further]
10. I wanna play mp3s !
Code:
yum -y install xmms xmms-mp3 xmms-faad2 gstreamer-plugins-ugly libmad libid3tag11. AVIs movies etc ?
VLC is the best..its very simple to install VLC
Code:
yum install vlc12. Nero ?
Gnome baker burns DVDs and CDs. I am currently using it, doesn't offer much customization like Nero. GOOD ENOUGH !
Code:
yum install gnomebaker13. Partition magic?
You can either install Qtparted of gparted
Code:
yum install qtparted
Code:
yum install gparted14. Mu torrent bit torrent?
You have many of them.. I found these 2, minimum GUI, works fine..
bittorrent GUI
Code:
yum install bittorrent-guiTransmission
Code:
yum install transmission[BREAK=Enable Desktop Effects]
Here comes the tricky part. This is the one which took most of my time..
I will try to make this as simple as possible..
0. first try Sytem > Preferences > Desktop Effects > enable
if it works Congrats.. If it doesn't read ahead
I will write what I did and this *might* not work for you!!
1.I have fedora core 6, it came with a bug that installed a 586 kernel on my 686 machine.. So I first updated the kernel. However most of you can skip this step as I will assume you are using more recent distros..
2.Install Nvidia drivers
Code:
yum install kmod-nvidiaThen edit grub.conf file on /etc/grub.conf .. You can access this file using Nautilus or
Code:
gedit /etc/grub.confYou will find something like this
now add iommu=off
to the end of the line.
Now try
Code:
glxinfo | grep direct
Code:
yum install nvidia-x11-drvnow go to /etc/X11 and edit xorg.conf file
You may have to make a lot of modifications to it to make it running..
[BREAK=xorg.conf modifications]
I have posted my xorg.conf here for reference.. Please make a backup of your xorg.conf before trying this..
Code:
yum install beryl-gnome@ATI user : SORRY :tongue: Someone help me with a guide for ATI users..
Now restart your session by Sytem > Logout
or better restart your system
when it reboots you will see a Nvidia splash screen..now your settings are perfect..
@ubuntu users can try sudo -apt instead of yum..Everything works fine I guess :huh:
start your beryl session by typing
Code:
beryl-managerI will update this as I learn to do more things.. Inputs are welcome..
This is my first guide/tutorial on TE that too on LINUX!! Plz don't mind if it isn't upto the mark..
Though you could have made it much better 
hyeah:
