I'm new so few questions and hello to everyone!

[CTMorty]

Hello, Hey I'm probably one of many who have had enough of vista. After I crashed my pc inumerable times, and the last two crashes litterally crippled my pc, I decided time to move on. I searched various sites and read articles. I must admit my intial intention was to swap to a Mac, but after reading some rather biased and unbiased articles about the differencs in Operating systems, I figured linux was well worth the effort or at least attempt.

Now I have no prior linux knowlegde and the amount of information is rather overwhelming. What I have done so far is take the linux distribution test on zegeniestudios which was very helpfull. I have narrowed my choices to either Ubuntu or OpenSuSE, which were both recomended for newbie linux users.

I have downloaded the iso of both distributions, cd burner to burn the image to a dvd and so on. I also downloaded a partition manager as well. I supose I am being a bit to verbose here so I will just cut to the whats bothering me.

I have read that there can be quite a bit of problems if you do not use supported hardware. I did some research and found, that the graphics card I use, the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS, can cause problems as this card is not supported due to driver problems, which is somewhare frustrating as I beleive this card was also the source of my problems on vista.

I have not begun installing either distrubutions yet but I am ready and eager to try, however I was wondering if anyone here could explain what the problem is as I at the moment am mostly lost and I can't find the relavent information, or the information I find is so techincal and in a linux contest that I don't understand it.

Here is a bit my dxdiag, I just crashed my computer so all i have is a clean install of xp on it, since Vista is just to unstable for me at the moment.

---------

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600)
Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158 )
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: TYAN Computer Corp
System Model: S2877
BIOS: PhoenixBIOS 4.0 Release 6.1
Processor: Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270, MMX, 3DNow
(4CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 380MB used, 3558MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8800 GTS
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0193&SUBSYS_042110DE&REV_A2
Display Memory: 640.0 MB
Current Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.5822 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)

I hope I haven't forgotten anything.

Thanks for any help I get in advance,
CTMorty hoping to join the linux community soon!

[Kieren]

Hello Morty and welcome

I, like you, switched over to Linux about a month ago now. So happy I did it. I chose OpenSUSE and my NVIDIA graphics card worked straight out of the box. I did however update the drivers for it, there are very good instructions here

I initially created a dual boot with Windows while I got to grips with Linux and even though I never actually used Windows and have recently removed it I'd still advise a dual boot to begin with.

[CTMorty]

Definatly not brave enough to phase out windows at the moment so I will opt for a dual boot as well, and thanks for the nvidia help page =).

[Freston]

Just checking

The amount of info is a bit overwhelming to people trying to switch to Linux. At first at least. There is a system in the chaos, but that boils down to taste and preference.


I'm just checking if you are aware of the possibilities of a LifeCD? You don't have to install anything if you're not comfortable (yet) with making a switch. What you do is put the Ubuntu CD in the CD-ROM drive and reboot. You're then running the OS from the CD, instead of the hard drive. Your hard drive never gets touched.

That way you can check out Linux without committing hard drive space to it. The major downside is long boot time, 'cuz a CD turns slower than a HD.

Enjoy!

[creativename]

Questions related specifically to the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS have been posed on both the SuSE Forums:

SuSE Linux Forums > Nvidia Geforce 8800 Gts

And as a Ubuntu related question:

https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/10159

If you have problems, those may be helpful to read through.

I'm just checking if you are aware of the possibilities of a Li[v]eCD?

This is good advice. LiveCDs have long been a good way to check for hardware compatibility. The Ubuntu installation CD can be run as a LiveCD, and there are many others as well.

[CTMorty]

Thanks for the quick replies I have successfully installed OpenSUSE =). It seems to be working properly at the moment. *fingers crossed* I will have to get used to it of course which will take some time and fiddling thanks for the help again.

The only thing I have noticed is that as I scroll web pages it loads slowly with a flickering screen which is strange, other than that I'm surprised at how remarkably easy this was.

How does Microsoft sleep at night? You'd assume that the cost would provide something but this has been far easier setting up than windows ever was or is. Ah well thanks for the help time to play around with my new toy.

[Kieren]

The only thing I have noticed is that as I scroll web pages it loads slowly with a flickering screen which is strange, other than that I'm surprised at how remarkably easy this was.

Install the NVIDIA drivers as discussed above to fix this. It happened to me too

[Freston]

Well, congratulations are in order!!!

Have a


You will be amazed at certain features, about the stability, about the logic behind the system. Again, there is a flavor for each taste. That is not to say everything is flawless. But you may learn to love the little quirks and peculiarities of the system

[khinch]

Welcome to the forums, and welcome to the Linux world!

[khinch]

Hello there!

Can anyone help me pls? I'm trying to copy some files from one HD to another, using LINUX installed on a CD.
I've tried, but I always get the msg "You're not the owner" and so I have no permission to go on. I tried to change the permission in propertities, but the options are all greyed out. I would like to know how I can copy files from one HD to another.

Thank U.

By rights this should be posted in a new thread. But anyway, which live distro are you using? To change file permissions you have to be a root user, and you have a couple of options:

1. open a terminal and type "su root", followed by the root password when prompted. Then type the name of the file manager you want e.g. konqueror

2. open a terminal and become root as above, then navigate to the required files and use the "chmod" command to alter the permissions manually.

3. open a root file manager from the menu if there is one, then enter the root password.

The root password should be in the documentation for the live distro you are using, and will probably be something like "root" or blank.