Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 13:46:12 -0500 (EST) From: Marty Poulin <mpoulin@honk.org> To: Max Kool <koolmax@hotmail.com> Cc: freebsd-newbies@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Dillema... Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.1000327132954.7295C-100000@spectre> In-Reply-To: <20000327035126.80522.qmail@hotmail.com>
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Hi,
I have experience with all three of the OS's you list - here's my advice:
1. FreeBSD
The installation should be painless - make sure to check your hardware
against the hardware compatibility list, particularly if you have an
ethernet card. Read the handbook online and choose "newbie" install
method, and before you know it you'll have a working FreeBSD system!
2. Red Hat Linux
6.1 is a pretty good version to install - it has a "windows-like" gui
installer. Their disk partition utility was ok - it will be a big help if
you plan on multi-booting your system, but I still prefer the FreeBSD boot
manager over LILO.
3. Corel Open Linux
Yikes. I heard wonderful things about Corel, so I decided to give it
a try. For some reason, their GUI install program would freeze up on my
computer, and after a lot of hunting in the newsgroups I discovered that
it was a hardware incompatibility with my ATI Rage 3d video card (funny
that both Red Hat and Caldera were able to install flawlessly on the same
machine, using a similar GUI installation). I tried a hacked-up
text-based install of Corel, and ultimately got a bootable system, but the
video was still a little off - I could never get the screen centered
properly and the refresh rate was too low for my eyes.
In my opinion Corel is still Alpha-quality, but like I said lots of people
seem to like it. If you're going to try it, watch out for the ATI Rage 3d
card problem.
Other things to look out for:
Make sure you know your hardware. FreeBSD and Linux are good with Plug &
Play, but it will always be good to know IRQ's and I/O addresses in case
the Plug & Play doesn't work.
Know your Monitor's horizontal and vertical sync rates, as well as make,
model, etc. if you plan on using the X Window System.
Map out your HD Partitions in advance - eg. how much space do you want to
set aside for each OS, and in which order? There are some considerations
about multi-boot systems and where you can put a boot sector, so read up
on it first. Of course, once you have decided that FreeBSD is much better
than Linux or Windows, you can always reinstall it on the entire hard
drive :)
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
- M -
On Sun, 26 Mar 2000, Max Kool wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Next weekend I'm going to get my hands on:
> - FreeBSD (dunno what version - my cousin got it in May, last year)
> - RedHat Linux 6.1
> - Corel Linux
>
> Now then..
> My experience with UNIX is next to non-existant (I only use a shell
> account once in a while but that's it) so if anyone that has installed
> any of the above OS-s can give me a few pointers, I'd appreciate it.
> I want to install them ALL if it's possible and still keep my Win98.
> But what order should I install them in? And should I give each one
> a separate partition? I only have a 8 GB hard drive and I don't want
> them to take up more than 2 GB. I think I'll only keep the one I like
> most, and I think the best way to do it is to evaluate them all at
> once.
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Max
>
>
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