Advice required on non MS OS

I'm a Fedore Core 3 user myself. Not a bad OS, and looks and feels like what you're used to in a Windoze environment. I can copy the ISO cd's (4 of them) and post to you if you want? Any pentium-based computer is fine.

Seanie.

Do you want me to send you Fedora Core 4 CDs? Core 4 has signifficantly better hardware suppor tthan Core 3.

BB

Hhmmm... is it 4 or 3 that I have Bart? When did I get those ISO's from you last? If its recent that you got the 4 version, send 'em on please if you don't mind!

Seanie.

I'm a Fedore Core 3 user myself. Not a bad OS, and looks and feels like what you're used to in a Windoze environment. I can copy the ISO cd's (4 of them) and post to you if you want? Any pentium-based computer is fine.

Seanie.

Do you want me to send you Fedora Core 4 CDs? Core 4 has signifficantly better hardware suppor tthan Core 3.

BB

Hhmmm... is it 4 or 3 that I have Bart? When did I get those ISO's from you last? If its recent that you got the 4 version, send 'em on please if you don't mind!

Seanie.

The ones you got off me are definitely FC 3. If you want 4 just do what we did last time, send me blank CDs and I'll burn the ISO's and post them back.

Bart.

I'm a Fedore Core 3 user myself. Not a bad OS, and looks and feels like what you're used to in a Windoze environment. I can copy the ISO cd's (4 of them) and post to you if you want? Any pentium-based computer is fine.

Seanie.

Do you want me to send you Fedora Core 4 CDs? Core 4 has signifficantly better hardware suppor tthan Core 3.

BB

Hhmmm... is it 4 or 3 that I have Bart? When did I get those ISO's from you last? If its recent that you got the 4 version, send 'em on please if you don't mind!

Seanie.

The ones you got off me are definitely FC 3. If you want 4 just do what we did last time, send me blank CDs and I'll burn the ISO's and post them back.

Bart.

Nice one Bart, PM sent!

I wouldn't even suggest one that you have to pay for. Ubuntu is downloadable from the site I give you. Others can be downloaded from LinuxISO.org .

I don't think any of them are Debian based though. Redhat and Slackware certainly aren't. Fedora is the latest incarnation of Redhat and there are substantial differences so before installing it contact the developer and ask if it'll work ok. If not you can get RedHat and earlier versions from here (including 6.2 which is specifcally mentioned). Fedora is available here to download as well.

Don't get SUSE - you have to pay for that one. The free download isn't worth anything.

Just remembered - I have Mandrake 10, Ubuntu and Redhat 7 at home on CD - I could drop them over to you this weekend if you like. If you want to test them out I could loan you an old 400Mhz pc to install them on individually and see which one you like best.

Ok folks, I need some advice.

After a very informative presentation at the Galway Astronomy Club (thanks Ronan and Michael) on Monday, I am looking to run IRAF (image reduction and analysis facility) on my Intel based PC.

According to the website, IRAF runs on Linux, Redhat, Solaris and SunOS.

I would be very computer literate but have never used anything other than an MS OS PC. I have setup a dual boot system (MSDOS) in the past to facilitate some programming I used to do but that's as far as it goes.

So, what's my best strategy?

I have a partition manager, oodles of hard disk space (I have two hard-drives), a decent PC (pentium IV 933MHz, 390 odd Mb Ram).

I have to run Windows OS to support a host of applications for work and astronomy.

I don't want to spend any money.

Over to you...

Cheers

Dave McD

dave,
i have used mandriva linux and it is very easy to use and fairly easily to install and use. it comes with its own partition application as part of the install process but i usually install it on a seperate drive though. i would rather do this than try to partition a drive in two incase something happened during the process (ie a power failure or something). you can download a from the web if you do a search. there is a 3 disk version which you can burn in iso format onto cd. just boot from the first cd and your away. it is good at picking up hardware and configuring it. it is a good version if you a begineer to start with. if you are installing i would suggest the best scenario would be a seperate drive as if you have an accident partition a windows drive your pretty much would lose all info.
stephen.