Linux is a very powerful and networkable Operating System, and it's free. There are various distributons of Linux available, the most common are RedHat, Debian, Slackware & SuSe. Mini-distributions are also available, some names of these are MiniLinux, MonkeyLinux, Tombscrt & muLinux. Linux software is considerably smaller than Windoze software since the programs on Linux can all dynamically call from libraries which you have installed already. In Windoze, this is not possible since nothing is open source.

Almost everything is Open Source in Linux. The kernel or the operating itself is open source! Because of this, hundreds of programmers have been able to scan the kernel source for bugs, and eliminate them making Linux an extremely stable Operating System.

Linux is a free OS, and practically all the software for it is free as well. The software is generally realesed as source and then the users must compile it for their system, but most programs have "binary distributions" either of static-binary which is considerably larger than a source-compiled binary, since libraries are within the static-binary. Or, the programs can be packaged in a distribution format such as RPM for RedHat or DEB for Debian.

Linux itself is similar to how DOS is, a shell or command prompt where you type in commands and run programs, but multitasks giving you 6+ prompts at once! And the multitasking is very good multitasking. If typing commands and console text isn't your liking, you can install X11 and use one of the many Window Managers available. They range from Win9x copies right through to wicked looking ones like Enlightenment.

Update: Found a nice 3D environment game which looks a bit like Croc for PSX which is made for Linux starring Tux the Penguin! (Linux mascot. See the pic at the top?) The link to it's page is on the left, Steve Baker's page. You will need a 3D card to run the game (which the author Emailed me and said he was going to release a 1/2 finished version soon) and at the moment the only cards that support 3D are Voodoo or Voodoo2. But word is that there are soon to be drivers for the Banshee and also the TNT3.

I haven't got Linux installed at the moment, but I got a craving to type "ppp-on" tonight. Must be a sign. RedHat 6 has been released, and I'm going to get it ASAP from LSL Australia. Once I get it installed I'll write a configure script to make connecting to the `net easier than it is now. (It will be a FITB to get your hostname, etc. and configure /etc/HOSTNAME, /etc/hosts, and /etc/resolv.conf. I'll put it up here along with AlanX's ppphelp script, and maybe bundle the two together with Alan's permission.

• Q: Where can I download Linux?
  • A: There are a few places available. The one I like best is ftp://ftp.cdrom.com There are various distributions available here. For a Linux beginner I reccomend RedHat 5.x (preferably the latest) and I also reccomend not downloading it if you are a real beginner! Getting Linux on CD is alot better, since it's faster than downloading, and everythings there. If in Australia, a good place to order from is Linux System Labs. They do Credit Card and Postal Orders.
• Q: How do I connect to the `net using Linux?
  • A: There are 2 ways. Through X, or scripts in console. Dialing from console is better IMHO since if your X crashes, you don't lose your connection, and it's a LOT easier than going through X. There is a small script available that lets you run it and simply Fill In The Blanks and it configures the scripts for you. This is by far easier, and faster than going through X. But there's a few things you have to configure first. These are:
    /etc/HOSTNAME
    /etc/hosts
    /etc/resolv.conf
    In /etc/HOSTNAME should just be the name of your machine. Mine is "catfish-land". It doesn't have to be anything special. /etc/hosts should look something like:
    127.0.0.1    localhost      localhost.localdomain
    127.0.0.1 means that your IP is going to be assigned, localhost is your computers hostname, and localhost.localdomain means your computers hostname.your.isps.domain. So if your ISP's website URL is like: www.isp.net.au and your hostname is "whatever" /etc/hosts would have the line: 127.0.0.1    whatever      whatever.isp.net.au in it. If /etc/resolv.conf has nothing in it, then you won't be able to type a URL into Netscape and have your ISP look it up. the format of the file is:
    search isp.net.au
    nameserver 123.456.789.0
    nameserver 098.765.432.1
    "search" is your ISP's domain, (read explaination above) and "nameserver" is your ISP's DNS (Domain Name Server) the machine that resolves www.somewhere.com to 111.222.333.444 etc. This should be a number. If your ISP wont give you the DNS number, get online on a Win/DOS box, and simply start up the "ping" program in a DOS box. Do: ping www.isp.net.au and if the ping program is any good, it will say that 111.222.333.444 replied in (n) seconds. Now you need the PPPHELP script. Download it here. Untar/gzip it to any old directory (make a temporary one) by doing: tar -zxvf ppphelp-1.0.tar.gz
    It will untar/gzip and make a new directory called "ppphelp". Now cd ppphelp and then ./ppphelp
    The script will run, answer it's questions, and then you're away! Simply login as root, and type ppp-on to connect, and ppp-off to disconnect. See the PPP-HOWTO for a better understanding of how this all works.
• Q: How do I access my floppy drive/CDROM?
  • A: Make sure they're connected and actually work. Use the "mount" command in Linux to mount your drives. Instead of having drive letters, we simply make the drive an extension of the already existing directory-structure. There will be a directory called /mnt so depending on what you want to mount, you have to make a directory for it. Eg: floppy for your floppy drive, and cdrom for your CD drive. In this example I'll say it's a floppy drive. To mount your floppy drive, make sure /mnt/floppy exists, insert a disk into the drive and then do: mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy "mount" is the mounting program, "/dev/fd0" is the device to mount, and "/mnt/floppy" is the directory to mount it to. Now you can cd /mnt/floppy and access your floppy drive. For CD drives, change "/dev/fd0" to "/dev/cdrom" Also do man mount to learn more.
• Q: Where can I get xyz?
  • A: People often come in looking for an IRC program or ICQ program for Linux. A few good places to look for applications are: LinuxApps, Freshmeat and Linuxburg.
• Q: Will (some windoze program) run on Linux?
  • A: No. Linux or X will not run Windoze or DOS programs. There are emulators for DOS and Windoze programs (DOSEMU & WINE) but I suggest just getting an alternative to the program that is Linux-native. Emulated programs are genreally slower, and unstabler than normal Linux programs. And what, are you changing to Linux? Or really happy with the programs you're using at the moment?