Newbie needs help

[atencorps]

Hi all ,

Im a newbie into linux so require some help.

Ive heard about Linux since first coming on the Net about 17 years ago and bought Suse Linux about 4 years ago to run on my PC as a second operating system.

The suse linux was only ever used as an everyday alternative to windows on my Home pc,

Now I have a couple of questions.

1. Firstly there is an opensource project I want to get into and carry on development with and the project is available in Gentoo , debian and fedora.

Which flava of linux is the most recommended ?.

2. I am later looking to run the project on my server , the server currently has windows server 2003 on it. Can linux be ran ontop of windows or no ? if not then I can always use the secondary hard disk of the server as that currently has nothing on it.

3.If I download one of the versions of the software ( that is currently available on gentoo, fedora,debian ) can the software be used on alternative flavours of linux ie suse, ubuntu etc ? or can you only run on the the flavour the software is designed for ( for example if I download the software in the gentoo version , will it run on ubuntu or suse and so on ) ?

Thanks in advance

[oz]

Welcome to the forums, atencorps!

Check the link in my signature for lots of good information on getting started with Linux. Hopefully, that information will answer some of your questions.

Trying to mix packages created for different version of Linux is generally not recommended. However, you can install source versions of applications to different distributions. Check this HowTo for installing software under Linux.

Good luck with your return to Linux!

[atencorps]

wow , quick response.

just looking at the how to now

thanks for the heads up

[Manchunian]

Hi, and Welcome to Linux!

Here's my take on your questions:

1) There's no 'best' Linux, each is good for different reasons, but in your list I suggest Debian. Gentoo is very demanding, and is best undertaken by 'experienced users', and even then...(I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole: it's performance is superb, but it's a lot of work.) Fedora is good, but probably more of a headache than Debian which, once up and running, is highly reliable and fast. However, rather than 'pure' Debian, I suggest you start with Ubuntu or Mint which are easier to configure and get going than their illustrious parent.
2) No problems partitioning your disk to have both Linux and Windows - but having two disks is advisable if you can have them. Don't forget, Linux, being a Unix clone, is made to run on a network and so is highly suited to this usage.
3) No, this is generally not a good idea. For example, some Ubuntu packages will run on Debian but, in the end, they could break your system. There shouldn't really be any need to do this, though, as the Debian repositories store a huge amount of programmes (in the order of 20 000).

Good luck

[i92guboj]

Hello and welcome,

1. Firstly there is an opensource project I want to get into and carry on development with and the project is available in Gentoo , debian and fedora.

Which flava of linux is the most recommended ?.

That is a very personal thing... no one can tell you which distro will be better for you. You must try and then decide. Note however that while Debian and SuSE are binary distros, Gentoo is a source distro, which means that everything is compiled from source, instead of just throwing into your system binary packages that have been compiled by your distro's packagers.

2. I am later looking to run the project on my server , the server currently has windows server 2003 on it. Can linux be ran ontop of windows or no ? if not then I can always use the secondary hard disk of the server as that currently has nothing on it.

I really wonder why would anyone want to do that. You can't directly... though you can install linux on a virtual machine, like vmware or the like.

If you just need a posix layer for development purposes, you should look into cygwin and use it instead...

3.If I download one of the versions of the software ( that is currently available on gentoo, fedora,debian ) can the software be used on alternative flavours of linux ie suse, ubuntu etc ? or can you only run on the the flavour the software is designed for ( for example if I download the software in the gentoo version , will it run on ubuntu or suse and so on ) ?

As I said above, in Gentoo, you compile from source, while Debian and SuSE are binary distros. If a given binary will run into another system depends on a number of things. In first place, the architecture for which the program was compiled: for example, a binary for amd64 will never run on a 32 bits installation (the opposite can be done, with few limitations).

A program might not run on a distro if some of the required libs are of incompatible versions. There might be also some other distro-specific problems.

Also, note that this is only for binaries. Some languages which rely on scripting, interpreted code or byte-code, like java or python, will work regardless of the architecture.