🚀 go-pugleaf

Hi,

In article <4q912t$msu@random.tpgi.com.au>,
	Lily <lsho@tpgi.com.au> writes:

> (1) Where can I get a copy in Australia? I mean on CD-Rom with
>     documentation hopefully. About how much will it cost! Just make
>     life easier without downloading.

I bought my copy of Linux (yggdrasil 6 CD set) at the Uni Co-Op bookshop.
It was less than $40 and contained several Linux distributions and plenty
of selections from many FTP sites, so you get lots of stuff.

Documentation you can buy separately (Co-Op again and Dymocks)
but I recommend forgetting about those big thick SAMS style books (or 
similar) and going with "Running Linux" (O'Reilly) and any of the other 
fine books from O'Reilly.  Many of the more mainstream books are not so 
useful later on as you get more proficient, but a set of several O'Reilly 
books is a better documentation set, because they go into more detail. 
You do have to buy more books though, as many of these books focus on 
just one element of UNIX.

Most of the best reference information I find is on the newsgroups, or on 
various FTP or WWW archives.

> (2) What sort of technical requirement do I need, I've 
> got a 486DX4-66 with 8Mb Ram, is this good enough?
Should be OK - except X windows will like it more if you 
have 16MB RAM or more... 
Linux runs very well in 16MB.

I just have a cheap SVGA card as I don't use X much on Linux, but if 
you need X on your Linux machine, get a good video card as recommended
in the XFree86 Howto..

I use SCSI now for disks and CD, as it is much more versatile.
Get the Linux Hardware HowTo before starting any new purchases,
as not all hardware will work with linux.
(altavista will find it for you...)

> (3) Can I install with Windows 95 together? Is it hard to do that?
Why would you want to do that? ;)
If you put Win 95 on, or any other OS for that matter, buy a second hard 
disk.

I have a real thing about partitioning disks with multiple Operating Systems,
because it can lead to expansion problems later. 
(and it just "feels" wrong to me)

My first system was configured with Linux on 1 drive and DOS on another.
It got to the point where I just reformatted the DOS disk and turned it 
into my news spool/FTP filesystem...

Others will tell you that it is OK, but I just don't like it.

I now run only Linux on my PC at home, and have done away with DOS 
completely.
For word processing I have started using Executor and Mac word 5.1 in a 
virtual window, since I receive a lot of mail with dreaded MS word 
attachments...


> (4) Is there few version or package of Linux? Which is the lastest
>  version one and which pack should I get?

There are many distributions of Linux.
Redhat and slackware are currently the most popular.
Last time I looked, Redhat and Slackware were around 3.03(?)

Personal tastes - I like slackware, as it is closer to a traditional UNIX 
layout than Redhat is, which has more bells and whistles.

Each has it's own strengths weaknesses, with Redhat having a slicker feel 
than Slackware, but Slackware being more like a traditional UNIX in the 
way it names files and directories. 

Either way, you cannot go too far wrong, and linux will ultimately change
your life, and the way you view computers - at least it did for me ;)

rachel

-- 
Rachel Polanskis                 Kingswood, Greater Western Sydney, Australia 
grove@zeta.org.au                http://www.zeta.org.au/~grove/grove.html
r.polanskis@nepean.uws.edu.au    http://www.nepean.uws.edu.au/library/
         "When the revolution comes, I will be shot by both sides"