[ltp] Beginner: best starter config

[Bret Comstock Waldow]

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On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 23:31, honey@gneek.com wrote:
> On Wed, 13 Jul 2005 03:55, Davide Eletto wrote:
> > Dear All,
> > Can anyone of you give me a suggestion for the best linux distribution
> > for my Thinkpad T21?
>
> I'd say consider Fedora on your list too.

I pondered my immediate reaction to this, and then pondered why I was=20
concerned about it, and arrived at some further thoughts for you (Davide - =
 I=20
hope you don't mind me piggybacking off your post, honey).

I survived my way through all these distros, and I had the thought that the=
=20
more valuable thing I could tell you is my ideas for a strategy for survivi=
ng=20
the learning process.  Then you can try whatever you want...

Just a few things:

1) Expect, plan, intend to install any distro several times.
In fact, you might get it just the way you like it the first time.  And no,=
=20
I'm not recommending this because any distro's install program is flakey.

I learned a lot by doing this, and most importantly, I overcame my stress=20
about "getting it right" while I was yet a newbie and didn't know what=20
"right" was yet with Linux.

It's not hard, and I tend to see things after a time or two I didn't notice=
 at=20
first.

2) You want a separate /home partition.
/home is where your personal files and settings end up (in a=20
folder /home/<username>.  Your mail goes here, your music, etc.

If it's separate, it's not so problematic to wipe the rest and re-install t=
o=20
get the setup the way you like it.  It's also not so problematic to wipe th=
e=20
rest and move to another distro.  The new distro may not use the same=20
configuration files the same way, so there's a bit more detail to migrating=
,=20
but this limits fear.

This save hair in the long run.

3) Many of the installers don't separate /home from the rest, so that's why=
 I=20
recommend 1 - you need to do it a few times, and survive mistakes, bad docs=
,=20
lack of experience - to learn how to get it the way you want.

And you need to get something installed in order to get some idea of what y=
ou=20
want anyway.  So pick something, and put it in, and have a look.  Ask some=
=20
questions.

Then put it in again, or put something else in and see how it's different.

Then it isn't so critical that you pick "the right distro" for you right fr=
om=20
the beginning.  Enjoy.

Cheers,
Bret

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