Linux Newbie Looking for awnsers and help

Hey Guys,

I just read vagabondlama's Post about running windows and linux on the same Desktop.. so let me see if i understand this correctly:

You use ext3 To create a new partition on your harddrive then install the Linux version of choise, best bet will be ubuntu or kubuntu for beginners?

Then when installed what should you do or is the information i found out so far incorrect? Could be. please Explain it to me.

Im also Installing linux so it will be easier for me to run my hacking programs which im going to try and learn to use aswell as basic programming. If u guys have some nice websites for programming or hacking tutorials please post them here ive been looking around for ages probebly beeing too stupid to find the right WebPages.. Would be very appriciated!

I also figured it was nice for me to have a linux version on my PC because next year ill be studying Application's developement.

Looking forward to your Replys and post and i want to thank you in advance for doing so

 

Ext3 is type of partition that is commonly used for Linux. Installers of most Linux Distributions includes partitioning tools, so you can use these. Alternatively, you can use GParted liveCD, which is a Linux liveCD specificly made for partitioning. Some of installers can choose to do partitioning automatically, although I recommend to do it manually. If you do it manually, you usually need to make 3 partition - one for "/", usually 15-20Gb or more, one for "/home", as much as you want, and one for "/swap", about 500mb. It will install the distribution of choice onto the partition you choosed for "/", it will then install the boot-loader, so you can choose from booting Windows or Linux since the next time you boot it.

Now, about the choice of distribution - Ubuntu is easy to use, newbe-friendly distro, and so is its offshot, LinuxMint, which I may prefer more. Both are GNOME based. For KDE-based dfistributions, I do not recommend Kubuntu, as I found it buggy and slow. Rather, I recommend distros like PCLinuxOS, Mepis or Sabayon for KDE-based begginer-friendly distros. Fedora is another choice, good for both KDE or GNOME. BTW, KDE and GNOME are both desktop environments for linux, and while there are other desktop environments available, I'd recommend you to stick with KDE or GNOME.

 

From what I've used of Ubuntu so far, I really like.

As for installation, here's what you need to do (now that I know how ):

1. Either create an ext3 partition that you want to put Linux on, or just make sure you have some unpartitioned space on your harddrive to put Linux on (in other words, you don't need to format the unallocated harddrive space before you begin to install Linux with an install disk; the disk will have the tools to do that automatically.)

2. Create a swap partition (basically what Woodgypsy outlined) (This, again, can be done with the Linux installer as long as you have unallocated space on your harddrive).

Basically, as long as you have space to put Linux on your computer not allocated to your current partition, the installer should be self explanatory enough for you to do it.

Also, when installing, I remember you get the choice of making the new partitions primary or logical. I didn't understand what that really meant at first, but basically, you want the larger partition that you're installing Linux onto to be a Primary partition, and the smaller swap partition can be either primary or logical.

 

The rest of your post, quite frankly, has been covered many times over in other "Linux Newbie" threads. If you want to become adept at running Linux, the best advice I can give you is, learn to find answers on your own, if you can't figure out how to do something (or even if you can poke your way around) it's good to read documentation, various help pages and wiks, and search forums and whatnot.

As for the programming question, did you have a particular language in mind to start with? I personally started with C++ as that's what's taught for introductory computer science at my university, but I've been teaching myself some Python lately, and it seems like it'd be a good language to get started in, it's a pretty common language for various Linux apps as well. With that being said though, don't worry too much about choosing a language, as you can always pick up others later on, the most important thing is to start thinking like a programmer. That is, it's the algorithms and methodology that's important, a language is just syntax.

Now, I just read your post again and... what exactly do you want to do with these programming skills you want to acquire? What sort of "hacking" to you intend to do? I hope you mean hacking in the traditional sense (tweaking and taking apart programs to fit your needs), and not hacking in the common, mainstream sense (breaking into other computers)...

 

Sorry that i didn't reply to your posts as ive been away for a few days. As for awnsering your question t12ek ofcourse i ment the Traditional Sense of it not the mainstream sense What "Hackers" call "Crackers". I did my studys on that. Anyways i Intend to start off with python after a few forums ive read thrue i decided this was my starting language.

I just want to make sure that My computer runs Linux.. I thought it was possible to download it right? then start off with the basic programming and learning ways to secure computers and websites more aswell as beeing able to break into a computer and tell the owner how i got in and how to secure it properly. I also heard that Linux allows you to do this in a better way and that the programs used for this work better on a linux based PC.

So in my words: I create a new partition on my Harddisk of a minimum of 15 GB.. Which is "/" Then i create a partition named "/swap" that is needed for what? which has to be about 500 MB. Now i install Linux into the "/" partition which i have to format cause i dont have unpartitioned space and i dont have a disk but a downloaded version of Linux. So far so good?

I also wish to know if anyone has a nice website on how to learn the basic programming techniques for Python and where to practice it? Cause i came to this forum to get information and Help so i can learn more because you are obviously rather advanced and homefully willing to teach me Please also feel free to Private msg me.

 

Yes, you can download it. In general, Linux installers will let you resize and repartition the hard drive when you install.

There seems to be a little confusion on this, so let me elaborate:

If you have one physical disk, and you have a C: and a D: that are both hard drives under Windows, that means you have two partitions of the drive. You will do something similar under Linux. What Linux uses (and Windows does too, it just hides it) is "mount points", and / is the very bottom of the tree, the root. You will create one partition that is mounted at the root, or "/". Then you can create any number of other partitions, but general practice for a desktop/laptop is just one more, to be mounted at "/swap". That is your swap partition, just like your virtual memory file in Windows. It's not necessary, but if you don't have a lot of memory, it can be a pain not having a swap partition. You could even use a swap file, but that typically reduces swap performance. So, if you have a 100GB drive, you should have 3 partitions, one that's 74.5GB for Windows, one that's 15GB for "/", and one that's 500MB for swap. If you install Ubuntu, it should allow you to resize your Windows partition from the installer. Just download the .iso file from www.ubuntu.com and burn it to a CD as an image, then boot from that CD.

 

Okay, breaking into other computers is NOT hacking in the traditional sense. What you want to do is still "hacking" into other computers, you're still forcefully entering a system without the user's consent. What you're planning is very much the equivalent of breaking into someone's house and then telling them, "you need better security on your house, see how easily I got in?" No matter your intentions, that's still illegal.

This is what I meant by "traditional hacking". Not this.

Okay, I missed it this mistake before, it's a minor niggle, but it's actually not "/swap", it's just "swap". The swap is basically the same as the page file in Windows, except it's its own partition. That is to say, when your RAM gets used up, it uses the swap partition as a sort of virtual RAM. Depending on your own computing habits and how much RAM you have, you should vary the size of that accordingly. Myself, I rarely even use up 1 GB of RAM, though I have 2 GB in my machine, so, I hardly need any space for my swap.

I really am not good enough, nor do I have the time to personally teach anyone. In terms of places to start learning, check out Python's documentation page, there are plenty of links there to get you started, tutorials, free e-books, etc.

This is NOT a programming forum however, so, any further questions on programming and whatnot really should be directed to the appropriate forums (like the Python Forum)

 

Ok thanks for your replys I have just finished downloading The Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn and i'm going to try and get it onto my computer. Question is though: do i have to burn it onto a CD in order to install it or is it possible to just execute it in a diffrent way? Because its a diffrent platform then windows this means i cant execute it on the windows platform its self if im correct. Which results in the fact that i cant boot it from the download and i have to put it on a CD in order to install the linux version right?

t12ek: just to make sure you dont understand me incorrectly id like to point out that i would never break into a unknown household computer id rather practice it onto a computer linked to my network and train these skills in a way that i might be able to secure lets say electronic vaults or stuff like that in the future. I also realise that this will take ages and its not the best thing to start off with.

PS: Thnx for the links and in case i have to burn it onto a CD im screwed because : i dont have a CD writer. LOL dont ask why...

 

YaY i have to boot it from a CD as expected and Told.. Which will set me back for awhile.. Uhm ill try and install it from a diffrent PC and Burn it on a CD. Could anyone tell me if Games (which i play aswell) like World of Warcraft , Steam + The games it provides and the new game releases run on Ubuntu Linux? because i read theres alot of files that can be used on linux which are simular to Windows but have diffrent names and looks.. that doesn't bother me really And i just wonderd if there are any problems with new game releases on linux

 

WoW should run fine under the wine version included on Ubuntu 7.04, from what I hear. Steam is much more iffy. Those games are often tied to DirectX, which is developed by Microsoft, which means that they're probably going to be more for Windows. Linux has more spotty support for games except from a few companies. id Software and Epic have been good supporters of OpenGL based games, and usually have a Linux-native version of their releases.

 

Alright i figured.. Since Wolf:ET has a linux version aswell as the new up comming ET:QW ! Anways.. i got onto a MAC computer and copied the whole stuff onto a CD .. going to try and install it now

 

Ok i got onto that MAC computer.. opened Toaster and try'd to burn it as an image file as you said Pita.. turned out toaster 7 didn't allow me to burn it as an image so i burned the ISO as a Data file for MAC & PC. Now for some reason when i try'd it on the MAC computer it worked so i figured it did on this PC aswell.. anyways.. now im to stupid to actually remember how to create a partition on this Current PC without reinstalling the whole thing.. i used to know but i forgot.. Doh! Can anyone refresh my memory?..

 

Ok after some trying i've found out that , in order to save your data on your pc u will have to buy partition magic. So i decided i was going to create a backup file onto my mobile harddisk and then reinstall Windows again creating a partition for my windows version aswell as linux.. I thank you guys for your help and ill try my best figuring it out by myself

 

gparted lets you resize ntfs partitions. It's included on the Ubuntu LiveCD, and it also has it's own LiveCD as well.

I would still recommend backing things up before doing a major operation like that. Since there's the possibility of it screwing things up, though I haven't heard of it happening personally.

 

Ok thnx for all your help.. Ive just downloaded the trial version of partition magic going to create the partitions now then hoping i can install it Ill post further questions in case i cant work it out myself

 

Um... let me say this again... use gparted, it's open source (read: free) and already included with Ubuntu...

There are already Linux based tools for handling this stuff, so... why not use them?