well, for looking cool, you've got OSX with all its widgets and the fancy dock, and live previews and all that, and now vista is out with its gadgets and pretty colours and blah blah blah...

but i'm playing, with this...

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ8IIyikhkc[/media]

and what's better, it's live on DVD and Live on CD too in a mini version.

and available for 64bit and 32bit.

of course the best thing about it, is the cost.

F.A.

the Distro is called SABAYON and the program that makes it look pretty, is called BERYL. it's a pack that can be run on many distros of linux, but the great thing about sabayon, is that it comes ready loaded and all up and running, with a whole load of other tools too. including quake 4 demos and suchlike (not tried them yet but i'm hoping to soon)

i've downloaded the 64bit and 32bit versions of the DVD edition, versions 2.65 and 3.1 of the 64bit and 3.3 of the 32bit. it autoconfigures itself, sets up almost everything itself. the installer is a bit crazy, but i'm mostly just using it as a live on dvd. got a bit more to learn about it but im hoping i'll get my way round it soon.

of course this is just one video and style of what Beryl on linux distros can be like. as with any good linux os, you can make it look like whatever you want, and you can download themes and skins from the net that anyone has made. so, here's some more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZD7QraljRfM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lawkc3jH3ws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmDRYw6UUNE <-- dual display span

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYgV2GlsufI < --- on ubuntu, animated matrix styles, flame close/open windows, pretty snazzy for matrix lovers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBLrj-SlnUw


of course, theres loads of extra plugins to make it do more cool stuff, i havent discovered them all yet. but its alot of fun in all. if you wanna show off your snazzy computer to someone, what better way?

it runs great on my machine - Sempron64 3100+ 1G ddr400, 256mb gainward nvidia Geforce FX5600

not all that great really. i've seen people on tube saying theyre using 1800+ athlons and suchlike.

i reccomend looking into it. if not just for fun.

damn man... that really makes me want to try Linux out. I have to admit I have been tempted to use it several times... but for some reason or another haven't.

I dont even think ive used a linux OS before.... what flavor would you recommend I start with?

damn. my post in the other thread didn't work...

well, http://www.sabayonlinux.org/ will tell you how to get sabayon.

its LiveOnCD/LiveOnDVD which means you just burn the iso using your favourite burning program, bung it in your drive, reboot making sure your pc (or mac) loads from the disc and heypresto, it loads as an os.

Knoppix is a great simple version, without all the fancy todo of beryl.

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

its just a simple version of linux, same live disc concept.

the great thing about live, is you can still use your pc normally with windows and not have to worry about re-partitioning and setting up dualboot bootloaders. (which are a pain for a novice)

i do reccommend joining forums for help on linux.

of course you cant really save your settings but at first what you want to do is learn how it all works. and im sorry to say, theres ALOT of terminal command line code in linux.

when you get one downloaded, start basic by learning how to install flash and how to load up terminals in windows, how to navigate between folders and around the file system in terminals, what the file system structure is and what you can do in them. practice that and you should be on your way.

then when you've got enough knowledge through that, it might be time to think about setting up a dual boot with a simple beginners version of linux for you to install and start setting up your accounts and how the root user works etc.

i'm certainly not a big linux head but i'm coming along.

which forums would you recommend for a n00b?

Http://www.google.com

its the only way i find what i need.


theres also forums and boards on the Sabayon website, theyre handy. and knoppix i think has one.

http://www.linuxforums.org/

and

http://www.linuxquestions.org/

obviously, most forums have noob help sections. im sure you can find what you need in the end. linux questions is a great site for noobs. but yes, try join specific forums to the distro you have. they'll be able to help you more specifically.

One of the best Linux distro's for a newbie would be Ubuntu. It is a brain dead easy syste to install and get running. Allows you to get used to the system and how things run without always having to go to the command line. If your just getting into it I would start there. From there you should be able to move onto other harder ones after you get used to what your doing

I cant find the minimum system requirements for 32bit Sabayon

or ubuntu... all it says is

do they have a 32bit?

damn, the more I read about these OS's the more I feel like I might be in over my head....

ive used OSX some, and of course windows for the last 15 years or so..... wheres my mother fucking GUI

yes they do have 32 bit.

linux can seem very daunting at first but when you get over the initial "OMFG ahhh this is hard" then you get okay. just gotta remind yourself, you have the greatest information source at your fingertips. if you dont know how, ask the net.

i really reccomend that for a noob, using a live distro is best.

resizing and repartitioning your hard drive and reformatting with EXT2 or EXT3 and setting up a linux swap partition, creating a data partition for accessing files between windows and linux, setting root positions, setting up the bootloader in the Master Boot Record and suchlike isn't all that easy for a noob.

plus once you've installed linux you have to edit the Boot Loader in the MBR in order to see your windows load so you can still use windows.

just use a live distro for a little bit. its a lot less hassle because if you decide linux really isn't for you then you havent gone through several hours of work for nothing. and getting everything back afterwards too... yeah.

i do agree ubuntu is a great basic, and so is mandriva linux. if you go out and buy a simple "how to" guide (the "in easy steps" ones are great) then you'll usually find its about ubuntu, mandriva, and some stupid people write ones about redhat but i wouldnt go there on your first try, certainly not.

i'd say, if you have anything over a 1Ghz cpu, 256mb of ram or more, and a gfx card with a lil bit of clout, anything over 128 with a GFX chipset thats GeforceFX or newer, you'll be fine.

this is my situation, im running a piece of shit computer at home...because I use it exclusively as a data-whore. transferring shit onto my xbox or mp3 player.

733mhz AMD
32bit vid card
512 ram

I am looking for an alternative to XP that will make it run a little better, and let me try out linux so I know if I want to install it on my new computer (hopefully within the next 2 months ill be getting a new PC)

in that case what do you recommend?

http://www.sabayonlinux.org/wiki/ind... Sabayon_Linux

thats what you need for using sabayon.

its also a wiki guide about the OS.

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-info/...l#requirements

that's what you need for knoppix. the page also gives you some info and links to help with questions, FAQ and more.

i have to get to work now, but post more questions if you have them and i will help if i can.

thanks tozz

There are a few linux distros that will run on older hardware and bring it back to life. I have run Mandrake(older Mandriva), Suse, Fedora, Frugalware Knoppix, and Vector all on older hardware. Actually I am running Fedora Core 6 on an old 466 with 128 mbs of RAM and maybe a 16MB graphics card. It runs slow at times, but workable. I wouldn't recommend Fedora on your system since it isn't the best one to learn on. I have Vector running on another system that has slightly better specs then the one I listed and it runs much better. If you really want to get a look at linux, you can go to www.distrowatch.com and do a search onthere for LiveCD's. That way you can test how they will run on your system and never have to install anything to your drive.

Linux can be daunting when you first start. When I first got into using Linux, I had no previous expereince with it whatsoever, got myself a copy of mandrake installed it and started to use it. Pretty much every Linux distro these days comes with some sort of GUI interface, not all of them though come with a gui install. I personally don't like Mandriva since my experience with that and Suse and Fedora or Red Hat is that they are all bloated with software that you don't really need. Also, with the few people on here that use Linux, or FreeBSD you will have a pretty good resource of help.