debian

no i have not but i am working on a small linux help document (just for fun, he he he), here it is:

What is Linux? Linux is a high performance operating system. What is an operating system? An operating system also called an "OS". An OS is the "middle man" it is the way you communicate with the computer. Because you cant talk in binary-which is the way computers talk. The OS merely presents the information to us in a form that we understand. There are many operating systems out there,

#BSD free (there is free BSD, open BSD which is even better, and net BSD) in my opinion it sucks Linux is better.

Why is Linux so great? It is free/open source, fast, SECURE, robust. "Why would someone give something like this [Linux] away for free, when you could sell it and make money?" that is what someone asked me one day I told him that the person who made it (Linus Trovalds) decided that there should be something released for free (if you would like to hear abut my conversation with that person I will write it out at the bottom) when linus trovalds made this OS in around 1990 he made it and released it under the Free Software Foundation's GPL which stats that anything written under this license the software will be free and you cannot charge for the software if you give it away physically then you are allowed to charge for the cost of materials(e.g. CD media packaging, a book of documentation, tech support, anything but the actual software.) And the software is under no kind of warranty at all (I will also put the GPL at the bottom). When some piece of software is written under this license then the source code is freely available. What is the source? The source is not something that was used in Star Wars, but instead is the core of the program, the program's programming code, it is the heart of the program, the program has a list of functions which tells the computer what to do and how to do it. Linux was written in the C programming language. If you have the source code then you can edit the program the way you want.

Where is Linux? Linux is not in one spot on the Internet; but instead is all over the Internet, Linux even runs the Internet (the internet is ran by 14 root servers which "run" the internet). The site www.linux.org is the head Linux site. Which is Linux there are many different distributions of Linux. A distobution or "distro" is still Linux, but it is a little different; how different is different? I will use a car as an analogy, computers are just like cars. A distro of Linux is just like a brand of car. Specifically gm gmc chevy they all make the same kind of cars just with a different name just like Linux; it is all the same thing just different name. When I say different I don?t mean that one is superior than another (even though Debian is superior) there are some minor changes like package management, placement of files like the network configuration files (like debian is /etc/init.d/network and I think /etc/rc.d/init.d/network for red hat it all acts the same but it is just in a different spot; source Linux documentation project) Linux will still act the same if you don't use any other programs like games or graphic editors they all have something different but not very different, what I?m getting at is that I don?t want you to think that only one

Ok where I left off with the Linux kernel, like I said cars are good analogy when it comes to computers. The Linux kernel is the BARE essentials you will not get games, you wont get a web browser, and you won't get or a GUI. It is like a car because with a car you get options, but if that car where to have nothing but the engine, frame, wheels, etc. then that would be like a computer with JUST the kernel. The kernel is what you give the commands to, it is the OS, it is Linux... So why does Microsoft Windows have all kinds of graphics and stuff? Ok windows and Linux are two totally different OS's DON'T get them confused, but if you have x-windows installed or KDE or GNOME ice-WM, FVWM, etc. then you can have Linux be a Graphical User Interface but Linux is command line so it will be slower if you use a program like those. In my opinion it is easier to use Linux if it is a GUI, the GUI program is called xwindows, xfree86 either one. When you install x windows it will ask you to configure it, from experience have the information about your monitor/display adaptor, and mouse at hand. I will discus this at a later time. But to start x windows type "startx" then hit enter very important. This is great and all but it will do me no good if I don?t have Linux. Well you can get Linux I will use Debian as an example (cause I like Debian). I hope you have a CD writer. All right if you could go to www.debian.ORG (it is not a dot com it is a non-profit organization which means you can DONATE!!!! more about the Debian project later) now, that is Debian's official website go there for info on Debian, how to, help, downloads, and news, but most importantly SECURITY UPDATES Linux is not any good unless fully secured. But I really don?t want to confuse you so we will go to www.linuxiso.ORG that is where there are the well know Linux distros with their ISO's (I just love fresh ISO?s) ISO?s are easy, very easy. But they are big, so- Wait what the heck is an ISO? Sorry I'm probably over clocked.. he he he. Well an ISO is type of file, when that file is put on to a CD it is then made into a bootable CD. That one file when put on a CD turns into a CD that is just like a CD that came from Debian. So download CD 1 only, Debian offers over 3000 packages (wow, but some of those are packages that you will probably never use or need. like an apple II emulator), downloading these ISO?s will not only fill up your hard drive, but it costs bandwidth/money for Debian. Well now I have Linux what do I do put it on a CD and use it as a toy for my dog? NEVER use Linux that way! I will tell you how to properly use the ISO you just downloaded. You probably got it off a windows machine, if you got it from a Mac you can but Linux on your Mac but I have no experience with Macs, sorry. So with your CD writer - hey! I don?t have a CD writer! Help! Well buy it or drop me a line I might be able to "hook" you up. Most CD writers come with EZ CD creator I know that EZ CD creator 4.5 has support for ISO?s and so does NTI

We will need to create a start up disk to get cdrom support so that way we can install Linux from the CD. To create a start up disk that has CD-ROM support go start> settings> control panel go to add/remove programs then click on the tab that says "create startup disk" then get a blank disk or a disk that you don't want put it in and create the disk. You will want to restart put both the floppy disk and CD in your computer. Once it reboots you will see it booting to the floppy. Wait mine is not booting to the floppy it is going back to windows what do I do? Well you will need to go into the BIOS (Basic Input Output System) and change the boot order. When the computer boots to the floppy you will select "boot with CD ROM support" when it gets done it will tell you which letter your CD ROM drive will be (if it doesn?t see your CDROM check the cables inside the computer) if you have one hard drive and one CD drive your CD ROM will probably be d: to switch to your CD ROM type "d:<enter>" (without the quotes and don't type <enter> when you see that it means that you hit the enter key). Then for Debian type again without the quotes "CD install<enter>" then you should see boot.bat type "boot.bat<enter>" the boot.bat file is the file that will load the Linux installation program. There should not be any problems. It will load and then you follow the installation steps.

When I first installed Linux I installed red hat v 5.2 (yeah it was old) so I read the red hat installation guidebook I searched for 2 days to find a newbies hardest part of the installation. So I will go over the partitioning of the hard drive. I hope you will not be planning on dual booting because I don't dual boot (I use a device called trios it allows me to physically switch hard drives with a press of a button). So the first thing that you will see on the Debian installation is a big black screen. What you do is delete all the partitions on your that you see. When you did so, then you need to create 2 partitions one will be where you install Linux the other will be for swap space. What is swap space? I was going to get to that, swap space is kinda like ram I will use an analogy to help light this subject up if you are building a car you need lots of parts and tools, so you have a big tool box that has all the tools and parts that you would ever need to build a car (unfortunately such a tool box does not exist). So to make it easier for you to build this car your friend has put the tools that you ask for in a smaller closer toolbox because you might need to use it again. But there is this huge wrench that you asked for and you will only use once but you friend doesn?t know that (because he ate paint chips when he was younger) so that big tool waits in your small tool box waiting to be used. As time goes along you call for more tools but not the huge wrench finally he noticed that you don't need it any more so he puts it in a medium size container right next to the small tool box. But when he is doing that you can't reach in the tool box because it is big enough for only one man to get into, and it takes a while to walk from the tool box to the container, but it is better than for him to quickly grab the tools and run back and put them back into the large tool box. Translated the big toolbox is your Linux native (mount point is probably / and the partition type is 82) and the small toolbox is your RAM and the container right next to the small toolbox is your Linux swap (type 83). When Linux see's some unused data it puts it in the swap so that way it can still use it but it will not take up precious RAM but swapping is slower than RAM but it is still very good to have. So divide the space of your drive by 128 that is what I recommend for swap space or take your current memory and multiply it by 2. Now to show how to make one partition make sure that free space is highlighted then go and select New it will ask you some questions answer them like this. For the question that asks beginning or end of the hard drive. If you are making the Linux native then answer beginning and for the second question

It will ask how big you want to make the partition I cannot make that choice for you need to have about 250 megs for the kernel I would recommend giving the most you can because when it says free space that is free space for other partitions. Now for your swap space give use the ways I described to determine how much swap space you should give. But the question about beginning or end chose end. Do not write it yet. If you want more swap space then make another swap partition do not put more in the one partition make more. You can have up to 16 swap partitions the more the merrier. Next tell Debian what type of formatting that the partition needs so use the arrow keys to select you swap partition and use the other arrow keys to select the option of "Type" hit enter then type "83" and press enter. Then select type, press enter and type "82" and hit enter. You just told Linux what kind of partition it is. WAIT on the native partition make it bootable by moving the arrow keys to the option "bootable" and hit enter.

With red hat you can just click the auto feature have it automatically partition it for you.

>Drivers this is kinda hard to talk about because everyone will have different hardware so post your problem on Usenet (www.groups.google.com), or some forum like www.debianhelp.org or some place like that. Because I am sure some else has had the same kind of hardware.