getting my feet wet with linux

[saman75]

Hi, I'm a windows developer & also a firmware developer and I earn almost all of my money from MS-Windows. while I believe that MS-Windows is a great OS but deep in my heart I do not like Microsoft because of its arrogance and being ego driven. I like to learn more about linux and I believe sooner or later linux will grow to a size that can beat MS-Windows. unsuccessful launch of Vista just reaffirmed my belief. Now, I know that before I can earn money from desktop versions of linux I have to wait for some years but even now embedded linux can spell commercial success. so I decided to learn about embedded versions of linux. I've been told that embedded versions of linux are not much different from desktop versions and it is a good idea to install a desktop version of linux and become familiar with it.
where should I begin? I have an old K6 pentium 200MHz with 128M RAM that is too slow for todays windows application and has no use and I hope that I can install a version of linux on it.

There are different distributions of desktop linux, RedHat, Mandrake, Suse, Ubuntu,... I can afford to buy a modern computer for linux or install linux on one of my other computers that run vista or XP as the second OS but I only want to do this if it is necessary for my purpose which is learning embedded linux.

which distributions & version should I choose?
I have heard RedHat is most suited for server applications but my purpose is development especially embedded development and where should I learn about development of linux. for example in windows Microsoft MSDN is a reference site for MS-Windows developers, do we have a reference site for linux so I can learn and search different API(s) and functions. what about Development software(IDE), is there something like visual studio(I'm a C/C++ developer)

thanks,

PS- I read the sticky post on top of the forum and I took the steps to find out which distribution is suited for me. But I prefer more detailed and technical answers. If some users are annoyed that I asked about it they can ignore that question.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Take a look at the link in my signature for lots of good information on getting started with Linux.

You can develop on any distribution.

Hope it all works out well for you.

[techieMoe]

what about Development software(IDE), is there something like visual studio(I'm a C/C++ developer)

There are quite a few IDEs available for Linux. The distribution you use doesn't matter. Here is a short list off the top of my head:

Eclipse
code::blocks
Anjuta
KDevelop

PS- I read the sticky post on top of the forum and I took the steps to find out which distribution is suited for me. But I prefer more detailed and technical answers. If some users are annoyed that I asked about it they can ignore that question.

Well, the problem is that we can't look at you and say, "Yeah, you're a SuSE kind of person." or "Definitely Redhat." Linux distributions are designed to appeal to different types of people, and only you can determine which one is right for you. Look at the links in ozar's signature above for more information.

[saman75]

thank guys,
I have read some of links in FAQ and I will try google and other sites also to reach to the best conclusion.

One of the FAQ quizes suggested open SUSE to me another mandriva. One thing that I read and was interesting about SUSE was that it is founded by Novell. I kinda remember in pre-windows era(DOS 5.0), novell was struggling to compete with microsoft and it had its own OS that was most suited for LANs but after Windows 3 it died.
Well, After some hours of searching I'm gradually reaching to this conclusion that SUSE may be best for me.
you know I'm a technical person I like small and handy programs like programs terminal programs that communicate with RS-232 serial port and capture and send values in hex to be included.
I also like a strong developer community for technical discussions.
By the way I took another look to the old computer and it is 400MHz not 200MHz. I also can add 128M more memory if needed.

cheers,

[kostasan]

For an old pc like yours, try Puppy Linux. Home Page | Puppy Linux