John has hit the nail on the head: go with live CDs for teaching and for deciding what you want to install on your personal compie.
I'm not going to start a KDE vs. Gnome discussion. instead I'll point out that you should try both. Knoppix uses KDE, but I have soft spot for ubuntu, so I think you should try kubuntu also/instead. kubuntu = ubuntu with a KDE default desktop kubuntu has a live CD, too. If you need help figuring out how to burn an ISO image, let google know. If that fails, ask me. :) some links: http://releases.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/hoary/ --kubuntu download page http://us.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/5.04/ --ubuntu download page http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html http://www.knoppix.org/ The fact that all of the above are debian-based projects brings a big, broad smile to my face. http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php --HOW many linux live CDs are there? -CMP On 8/6/05, john mitchell <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Douglass Davis wrote: > > > I am running an Intrex Pentium 4 1.8 GHz w/ 512M of RAM. My > > motherboard is a 845G by MSI. > > > > I have Red Hat 7.3 installed on a partition at home. I have had it > > installed for a while. I had many problems with using it, including > > Gnome crashing for no reason. So I stopped using it after a while. > > But, now I would like to just either upgrade that partition to a newer > > version, or just erase everything and start over. > > > > I just tried to install Suse 9.3 at home and got the message "An error > > occurred during the installation." Nothing specific as far as what > > error it was. I verified the installation CD and it was fine. So, no > > luck with Suse. > > > > My question is, what do you think is my best option in terms of > > erasing the partition and installing a new version of Red Hat, or > > upgrading to a new version? What version should I use? Also, I am > > looking for something free. > > > > I know a little about Linux, but I am not an expert. By the way, I > > will be teaching a Linux class at a local college in the Fall, so any > > help any one could give would be good. :) > > > > No matter which Distro you choose, I would erase and start over. > Trying to get an upgrade version running on an already flaky system is > not how you want to spend your time. > > I would suggest trying three or four of the "Live CD" Distros that > are out there first. These CDs boot from the CD drive and then run from > your Ram and do not touch your Hard Drive. When you power Off, it's > gone! One reason to try these first is you can see if that Distro has a > problem with your hardware before you do an actual install. Note that > there is a speed penalty with the Live CDs that will not be there on an > actual hard disk install. > > Not in any order: > Knoppix has a Live CD that you can then install from. > Ubuntu has a separate Live CD. > DSL Linux is a very small (50 Meg) Live CD, I like it because it loads > very quickly and will run from less ram than the others.. > > I fell the list will respond with many more Distros if you ask. ;-) > > I think one other advantage of Live CDs from a teaching standpoint is > that the students utilizing them would not have to go through the actual > install process (with its many hardware problems, including accidentally > wiping the hard drive) to run commands and view Linux systems. > > If you can attend a Trilug meeting, I would be glad to burn some of > these Distros for you and bring them. > > john mitchell > -- > TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug > TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ > TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ > TriLUG PGP Keyring : http://trilug.org/~chrish/trilug.asc > -- Cristobal M. Palmer UNC-CH SILS Student [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] ils.unc.edu/~cmpalmer <http://ils.unc.edu/~cmpalmer> "Television-free since 2003" -- TriLUG mailing list : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug TriLUG Organizational FAQ : http://trilug.org/faq/ TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/ TriLUG PGP Keyring : http://trilug.org/~chrish/trilug.asc
