Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Dr. No

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 13, 2003
193
0
I am interested in learning and installing Linux. Can anyone suggest a good Linux forum to ask questions and talk tech in? This would be very helpful. I am installing Linux on my old PC.


Thanks.
 
Dr. No said:
I am interested in learning and installing Linux. Can anyone suggest a good Linux forum to ask questions and talk tech in? This would be very helpful. I am installing Linux on my old PC.


Thanks.

Have a look at the Newsgroup list at Linux.org.
 
Are you leaning toward any specific distribution? Some distros have mailing lists and forums with really nice communities. I have first hand experience with Gentoo and Ubuntu forums, and they are both very friendly and informative.

I would stay away from the Slackware community at all costs. It's a great distro, but filled with egomaniacs who hate new people who ask questions, especially if the answer could be found "on the 10th page of an obscure boolean google search".

Jim
 
What, exactly, are you wanting to do with Linux?

If it's a desktop OS, just install it (Fedora, SuSE, or Mandrake) and start using it. You'll pick it up eventually. A good book might help, but isn't really necessary.

If you want to learn how to configure and admin a webserver or something, don't install an X system. Leave it CLI-only and use the CLI. That way, when you SSH into a box, you're not completely lost.
 
I learned most of what I know about Unix/Linux style systems from using RedHat, Debian, and FreeBSD. I personally prefer FreeBSD, but these two linux distros are good places to start because of the heavy documentation and support from user communities.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.