Radix Fidem Blog

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Be careful using the Linux command line — it can be very addictive. You don’t have to be a hobby fanatic to enjoy the power of what’s often called “pure computing.”

But assuming you have no intention of using it any more than absolutely necessary, we continue our work in it just long enough to get the job done. The last lesson is something you’ll need to repeat on a regular basis once we get things all in place, just to make sure everything on the system is fully up to date. Yum will become one of your best friends. This time we will tell Yum to add some new packages not normally installed, but important for the desktop user. Then we will add some extra repositories so we can add the extra functions typical for home PC users.

Go back to the “Applications” menu and open the Terminal window again. Do you recall how to log in as root?

su root
type password for root blindly

Now you should see the root prompt, which should include the hash mark (#). If it’s been a few days since you last played with it, you need to run yum update again just to make sure. Once that’s done, let’s tell Yum to add something:

yum install yum-fastestmirror yum-priorities

This translates to telling Yum we want to install Yum add-ons, the first which allows it to find the fastest mirror for that day, and then another to teach Yum how to prioritize repos to prevent getting things confused. You see, while these very nice people offer extra packages for Yum to download, it seems to work best in the long run if we make sure Yum isn’t too aggressive at pulling from these other, outside repositories.

If Yum ever complains it already has the latest of something you tell it to install, just re-issue the command without the package it complained about. However, I want you to add one new trick to prevent having to type the whole line again. Just hit the up-arrow key on your keyboard, and the prompt will display the previous commands you typed, one line at a time, in reverse order. Now, Windows XP does this with its command prompt, so it’s not exactly some wild secret trick. But most people never have any reason to find this out about Windows, whereas in Linux, sometimes the command prompt is simply the quickest and best way to get things done. So if you type something and Yum complains you’ve asked for something it already has, just hit the up-arrow key, move the cursor to the offending package name and either backspace over it, or delete it from the front, and hit ENTER again.

Now we do something a little more challenging: We are going to edit a file from the command line. However, we are going to use a very easy editor for the job — Nano. Bear with me here, as we also learn to move around with our command line prompt. It’s easier to learn from your minor mistakes if you happen to move your prompt to the place in the file system where you are working. We need to go to the place where Linux usually keeps all its configuration files. You’ve heard of the Windows Registry, some spooky place mere mortals avoid, because the most minor error can destroy the whole thing? Linux doesn’t have such a thing, but breaks up the job of keeping track of things. It may not be a better way of doing things, but most people think it’s a little easier to adjust the system, and we need to do that. Specifically, we need to adjust how Yum behaves, sort of like changing the rules.

First, let’s move to where the files are. The command for moving around is “cd” — abbreviation for “change directory.” It’s the same for the Windows command prompt. We want to go to the section of the machine where all the configuration files are kept (or most of them) called “etc” —

cd /etc

There is a space between the command and the place. You gotta type that forward leaning slash right up against the name, because we don’t necessarily know exactly where we are, and we need to be sure the “cd” command knows precisely where we want to end up. So what’s there? Type simply the two letters ls (lower case L and S) and you’ll get a list of what’s there. You don’t have to understand it just yet, but you’ll notice the list includes the place we want to go next. That’s the place where we keep the Yum stuff separate from everything else. So we move again:

cd yum.repos.d

This time we didn’t need the forward slash, because that next directory was right there in plain sight. Do another “ls” and see what’s there. You should at least see this: CentOS-Base.repo Notice it says “repo” for repository. We need to change this file. We open it with the Nano editor like this:

nano CentOS-Base.repo

Another shortcut: If you type enough of the name of any file in the directory where you are, and the prompt can differentiate it from all the others, and you can stop typing and simply hit the TAB key. The prompt should figure it out from there, and finish it for you. So if you just type nano Cent, for example, and hit TAB, it should finish typing for you. Hit ENTER.

The file will open, and you’ll see this editor gives hints at the bottom of the screen. All you really need to remember is the symbol called “caret” (^) is the simple way of indicating you should hit and hold down the CONTROL (or CTRL) key before you hit what is next to it. So ^X means the same as CTRL + X. Let’s edit this file.

What you see is a series of repeating entries bunched together in groups of five or six lines each. You can identify what each group is called by the name in the square brackets, so the first one near the top should be [base]. Go down about five lines, and the sixth should be a blank line. Stop on that first blank line, so that the line above looks like this:

gpgkey=file:///etc/pki/rpm-gpg/RPM-GPG-KEY-CentOS-5

and the line below looks something like this:

#released updates

Now, if your flashing cursor is between those two, hit the ENTER key. Just like any other editor you have probably used before, it will insert another blank line and the cursor will jump down one. Hit the up-arrow key one time and get back up next to the line of text above. Type in what you see here:

priority=1

There are no spaces there. Now, repeat that process three more times, so that our added line appears below each of the four sections named with square brackets: [base], [updates], [addons] and [extras]. If you have any other lines below that, give each of those sections a priority=2 — you might see [centosplus] and [contrib].

Your file should look like the one linked here. If you are just extra cautious, feel free to copy mine to your machine. If you’ve ever used a browser, you’ll know you can right-click and “save as” or something like that.

If you are pretty savvy, you’ve figured out by now the repositories labled base, updates, addons and extra are generally the most important ones to you, and the others are almost as important. Let’s save that file as it is by using the visible commands at the bottom of the window. Now, this is Linux and some steps are broken down into each baby step, so we have to save it as a separate action from closing it. So first type ^O (CTRL + O) then ^X (CTRL + X). The editor should disappear and you’ll be back at your prompt.

Congratulations! You have just edited a configuration file and nothing broke. Okay, now we need to tell Yum things have changed a bit. So do that — yum update. It may say something slightly different from in the past, but for now we’ll just be glad if Yum doesn’t complain, choking on what we did. If there’s no complaints, we can take a break and get ready for the next step. Be sure to log out of the root account by typing exit at the prompt. Yes, we’ll be using the command line Terminal again, so get used to it.

If Yum complains, you can post your sorrows in a comment below and I’ll try to help, perhaps even explain how to copy my file to the place where your machine can use it. Mine works.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

At this point, what you have is useful for most ordinary computer tasks. You have a web browser, an email program, an office suite, and handful of other goodies. Yet, because Linux is generally not a commercial product, there are some things missing which you might expect on a PC. As things stand, you probably do not have any games, you won’t be able to watch any videos, flash animations will not display, and a lot of music files may not play. Getting those things to work will require the stronger do-it-yourself instincts. Thousands of people do it every day with Linux, but most of them are fairly serious Linux hobbyists, not average SOHO users, and especially not typical home PC users. What makes this a little more challenging is CentOS does not make it easy, because Red Hat doesn’t make it easy for their corporate clients. They don’t prevent you from doing it, but it’s not a simple point-n-click operation.

If you want those things to work on your CentOS computer, you will have to dive into some technical competencies most Windows users can’t imagine. If you just cannot do it, but need them, you’ll have to get someone competent in Linux to set it up for you. If you are inclined to accept a little adventure in technology, it very quickly becomes rather easy.

First, let’s take a moment to understand the basic concepts. You may know in Windows Land, it’s pretty simple for someone to create a package for PCs because it’s all pretty much one thing. There are different versions of Windows, but a lot of software can be made to work on just about any version in a single package. That’s because Windows is a commercial product from one big corporation. What if several companies were allowed to make their own version of Windows? They might all be a little different. A piece of software for one might not work on another. Lots of consumer products are like that, and Linux is like that. Indeed, you pretty much have to find a specific software package to match your specific type/brand of Linux, and then to match the specific version you are running. If no one makes it, you have to build it yourself. We may yet do that, but not right away. It’s our good fortune most of what we could want is made by someone who uses CentOS, or at least is made for Red Hat’s EL5 (almost identical to CentOS 5), and we can use them.

Still, most of those things are not one big single package to cover everything. Instead, we have to figure a way to get all the little bits and pieces of software together, everything each item needs to work, so the things you actually want to use will work. You may have heard of the Windows “DLL hell” — trying to get the proper collection of DLL files (reference libraries for software) to make things work properly. Linux isn’t really all the different, but we need to activate some procedures which do all that mixing and matching for us. So instead of plunging you into the full-blown hobby Linux user’s world, we are just going to do that little bit necessary to get past this one problem of missing entertainment software. The nice part is, we only have to work through the gritty details just once.

You may recall, during installation, we talked about package groups. I advised you to save some time and simply choose the GNOME Desktop. That was a lot of little packages. At about the same point, we also set up something called “repositories” — a fancy word that means a storage place where stuff is collected. All the software we installed from the DVD is matched by a collection in some repositories, which are “mirrored” all over the world. Used to, you had to choose one yourself, but nowadays the software we will use does it automatically. All we have to do is tell it to add certain other repositories not included from the start. If you really want to see all the gory details, go here. We are going to focus on just one item from that list, which should give us all the most popular multimedia software.

To do this requires you use what we call “the command-line” at least a couple of times — that little window with no icons, just a blank space where you type stuff and hit the ENTER key a lot. I’ll try to keep it as simple as I can, but feel free to post questions on the blog here.

After you have logged into your CentOS computer, and wait for the desktop to finish loading, I want you to find the Linux version of the old Windows “Start” button — in the upper left-hand corner of your screen, on the gray colored bar, you’ll see the CentOS icon and the word “Applications”. Click that, and a menu drops down; select “Accessories”. Slide down to the word “Terminal” and click that. The menu will disappear, and you’ll see a window open up, with a frame, a menu bar across the top, and a big white space. In that space will be some black characters displaying your user name, an “@” symbol, and something which amounts to the name of your computer. There will be some other symbols, followed by a “$”. There should be a vertical bar (called a “cursor”) flashing there. That is all called “the prompt”. That last symbol is an obscure reminder you are a regular user. If you start typing, the letters will appear under that cursor as it moves to the right.

What to type? First, we have to gain administrator rights to the machine, because we have to change some things which users should not normally be able to do. In Linux, most commands are quite simple, often two letters which abbreviate things some of Linux people don’t even remember any more. However, we are going to use the command which means “switch to another account” — su — followed by the account to which we want to shift — root. It looks like this:

su root

Type that, and hit ENTER. The cursor will jump down to the next line and respond with Password:. Now, in this one example alone, nothing you type after that will be visible. Try to picture yourself in a place where folks might sneak a look over your shoulder and “steal” your password for the root account. So you won’t see it, and you’ll have to be careful to type the password, with all the proper letters, capitals, numbers and punctuation, blindly. It may take some practice, but it’s the only place it will happen to you. If you do it right, the prompt will change; the $ gets replaced with a # to tell you that’s the root account.

Don’t be deathly afraid, but be cautious, because typing one letter wrong can cause some trouble. Let’s do a couple of things to get used to the feel of how it works. In fact, let’s do some things we have to do anyway. Let’s tell our computer we want it to check to make sure all the software we have is up to date. Some of these commands will appear silly, and they should, because Linux people do have a sense of humor. In Red Hat/CentOS Land we have our favorite command for changing software. That command is yum followed by some specific instructions. It’s a lot like talking to a three-year-old kid. Be very specific, and keep it simple. Type:

yum update

As always, hit ENTER and watch what happens. It should report back to you several lines, showing it’s checking some places out there on the Internet to see if it can find any newer versions of what you already have from the repositories. Chances are, it will come back with a list of things to update. Right now, it’s not critical you learn too much about reading all the details, just notice whether it offers a list of stuff to replace, and wants you to type “Y” (yes) or “N” (no). I can’t think of any reason to say “no”, so hit the “Y” key. It should then report back several lines indicating it has checked out the dependencies, grabs the packages, installs them, and cleans up.

On the other hand, if it tells you there’s nothing to upgrade, that’s fine, too. Congratulations! You have just performed your first administrative task. Breathe a big sigh of relief. We are half-way there on getting the multimedia stuff added. That comes in the next part of this series. For now, type the word exit and hit enter to close your root access for the time being. You should now see the original prompt.

Part 1 and Part 2

At this point, if you have experienced help on hand, or you are willing to study the issues for yourself, you really don’t need any more help from me. What follows are simply my personal suggestions which should allow you to get from here to there the quickest way possible. That said, there is just one more issue to consider before we start the installation: Do you want to keep Windows? If your hard drive is big enough, chances are the installer software will offer to let you keep your Windows installation and let it live on its own space. That way, you can always run Windows if you really need it. It shouldn’t hurt anything to keep it, but if you do, make sure you run Windows Defrag first.

Installation notes: As you follow the steps through the installation process, most of the time you can accept simply what is offered. There are a couple of places where you probably should not do that, or you might be puzzled, and this is what we will cover here. I refer you again to the visual walk-through we looked at previously.

Partition: Linux typically needs a place on your hard drive to store all the data, and another space for swapping. When you get to the partition screen, chances are good you can simply reveiw what is offered and accept it. Change it only if you’ve studied the issues invovled.

Network: On the screen which has “Network Devices” at the top, what you do depends on how you access the Internet. If it’s a dialup modem which Linux knows how to use, you’ll be offered the standard blocks to fill in; this is probably one of the places where you might face a little trouble, but your particular brand of modem is something you should have researched already. Still, it could fail and the installer won’t see it. If so, I recommend you stop here, abort the installation, and contact someone who knows Linux and modems about what to do. Unfortunately, it may require you get a different modem.

For those of you using DSL, cable, or most other types of networking via an ethernet port, there is little you’ll need to worry about. If you know you have to set some information here, have it on hand before you start. You might check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP), but many of them won’t help you. Most of the time, just accept the default answers and keep going.

Timezone: Linux does this a little differently. Make sure to un-check the box which says “System clock uses UTC” unless you know for sure you do use it. For timezone, at least in the US, you choose the nearest city from the list in your time zone:

• Eastern = America/New York
• Central = America/Chicago
• Mountain = America/Denver
• Pacific = America/Los Angeles

For those few places in the US which don’t follow that pattern, you’ll probably recognize which name on the list matches your zone.

Root password: This is the same thing as “superuser,” the master of the computer. By now you should understand there is virtually no reason at all you’ll spend much time logged in as root. You’ll need the password to make administrative changes to the system, but otherwise always run as a user. You will set up that account later.

Software sets: The next screen will offer you several options as “desktop.” Just accept “Desktop Gnome” and click the box for “Packages from CentOS Extra”. It will pop up a window asking to confirm your network settings, simply because a lot of businesses install stuff on a computer in one place, them move it to another place with different settings. This should not apply to you, so just click “OK”.

Desktop Environment: Just accept the default GNOME and keep going.

After a couple more screens, it will begin the actual installation and you can take a break. It won’t need your attention for a while, until it’s time to reboot. At that point, everything is on the hard drive, and there’s some more set up and configuration to do, but it has to be done while running Linux. Reboot, and watch the pretty colors.

Firewall: Unselect everything, unless you know why you need to keep something on that list.

SELinux: Select “Disabled” — you just don’t need this. It will complain by popping up a box to tell you it has to “relabel” the system. That will come later, and you don’t need to do anything special.

Date and Time: After you set the first page, click the second tab marked “Network Time Protocol.” Unless you are on dialup, this is handy to have working. Just click the box “Enable Network Time Protocol” and accept the defaults.

Create User: This is your day-to-day user account. For the block marked “Username” this is typically a 2-4 letter nickname or abbreviation. It’s no secret mine is my initials, jeh. Type twice the password you created earlier and move on.

Sound Card: If the installer finds one it recognizes, it will allow you to test it here. If not, you may need some help getting things to work. On occasion it will find it, but can’t make any sound. Most sound cards or chipsets are discussed on the Net somewhere under Linux.

You probably don’t have any additional CDs, so just reboot. On the way, if you kept your Windows system and installed CentOS beside it, you’ll get a list indicating you can select Windows or CentOS. Unless there is a compelling reason, make sure it’s on CentOS, then hit ENTER. After that, you’ll eventually end up at the login screen. What happens next will be our next episode. Feel free to login and look things over. Find the icon for the web browser; surf the Net a little. Welcome to Linux.

You can view Part 1 here.

For most people, “easy” in computers means “familiar.” When I tell them and show them Linux is different — unfamiliar — that’s usually the end of the discussion. If the price of change is too high, this is not for you. If the price of learning something new is just another of the costs of having a computer in your home, you’ll accept the relatively small price you pay up front for something which gets a lot easier later. If you are still trying to find the “ANY” key, Linux is not for you, especially CentOS. If you have the time and inclination to learn enough to get by, you have come to the right place. The primary advantage of using CentOS in particular, among other types and brand of Linux, is you install it once, and it tends to work exceedingly well until the hardware breaks, as “stability and security” are the primary selling points.

Getting Started

0. Mental migration: It’s an old computer geek joke to start a numbered list with zero, but it serves to symbolize the different mindset required for Linux compared to Windows. The first thing you need to reconcile yourself with is the trade-offs. While it’s possible these days to run a Windows emulator under Linux, and keep your old Windows favorites, it requires a bit of extra horsepower, and can be quite tricky. In the long run, it’s best to change your expectations. For the average home user, there’s a Linux tool which does just about everything you’ve done in Windows. Sometimes it’s not as neatly integrated as it seems to be on Windows, but that’s because Windows is pretty much one thing, whereas Linux is all sorts of different things. We will try to explain how to make CentOS offer the cool stuff you take for granted under Windows, but we will also discuss the cool things Linux offers which you may not do, or won’t do quite so easily, under Windows. If you really struggle with the different assumptions, but are determined to see it through, perhaps you might benefit from reading some of The Clueless User’s Guide to Free and Opens Source Software (FOSS).

1. Chasing information: Preparation for this migration requires time and effort, not money. This is do-it-yourself territory, but you’re never alone. Using your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.), use the search terms which characterize your hardware alongside the abbreviation “rhel” — the most common shorthand for Red Hat Enterprise Linux, from which CentOS is derived. In fact, CentOS is essentially Red Hat with different artwork. For example, I typed in “inspiron 4100 rhel” and found some useful information about someone who had installed an earlier version of Red Hat. I ran another search substituting “centos” for “rhel” and got slightly different results, but less usable info, since a lot fewer folks are commenting on CentOS compared to Red Hat. If your machine is built from scratch or highly modified, start by researching the motherboard name and model. Either way, some of what you find will inevitably be highly technical, and will require you read it more than once to follow. I believe it’s worth the persistence.

Be aware of one significant item: When the Linux folks come up with a driver for some piece of computer hardware or peripheral, Linux will always have that driver. Microsoft has to make a profit, and can’t afford to support every piece of old hardware, even if it still works. Most of the time, the company which produced the hardware has to create the Windows drivers, and they tend to drop older products. Some drivers are simply no longer available for companies that folded. There are lots of things you could use with Windows 98 which won’t work at all under XP, and you may know with Vista and Windows 7, drivers are a major problem. For Linux, the vast majority of hardware drivers are written by someone who has to analyze the hardware and make it work, all without any help from the manufacturer. Once they make it work, it will likely always work in Linux. I use some ancient hardware which Linux recognizes instantly, and it works quite well, but for which there are no Windows drivers anywhere, not for any version.

One of the things you really need to read through at last once is an installation guide. You can find the official version online, but it’s overkill for most of us. Much simpler walk-throughs, with graphics, are also available (especially the first three pages). Please note: The instructions are the same for any part of version 5, so “5.1” is the same as “5.3” in terms of what you experience.

2. Getting the software: Assuming you have reason to believe CentOS will run on your hardware, the next step is getting the means to install it. If you have a really good, fast Internet connection, the best bet is to do what’s called a “netinstall” — booting from a minimal CD and installing straight from the package libraries online. This way it will be up to date from the start. Next best is the full installer DVD. If you don’t have a DVD reader on your hardware, you’ll have to settle for the stack of 6 CDs. If you are able to burn your own DVD/CDs, the place to start is here. Choose one of the links to a server offering the ISO images, a big fat file designed to be written as a usable DVD/CD. If you lack experience in that, you can look it up on the Net; there are hundreds of places explaining how to do it. Of course, you can skip the whole thing by paying someone a few bucks for the trouble. They can’t charge you for the software legally, but for the service of creating and shipping you a disk. Again, you’ll find them by searching the Net, probably using terms like “buy centos dvd”.

3. Schedule installation: It’s possible for an experienced installer to have everything completed in one hour, and in two hours have all the various enhancements and modifications we will do later. If you simply have some savvy, the basic installation can be under two hours. The delay is often figuring out what to choose at certain points. By reading through an installation guide first, you can be primed to choose more quickly. The best situation, of course, is having the help of someone who is familiar with Linux. Let them talk you through the installation process and explain the whys and wherefores of various choices, along with initial use of it.

4. Transitional learning curve: If your first experience with a PC was DOS, OS/2 or an early version of Windows, you had to learn a basic set of habits and expectations. Now you learn some more. Literally millions of ordinary folks have already done it. Honestly, the majority of them are not hobby users, but folks like you who are content to know enough to get by. Once CentOS has been installed, and is running, give yourself some time to get used to it. It won’t sing and dance, you may still have to make adjustments (some rather cryptic), but it’s largely a matter of trading one set of conveniences for another. You may well be surprised at just how much overlap there is. The one thing which does not overlap is the virus and spyware stuff. I’m exaggerating only mildly when I say you can forget about that completely, because, not only have I never faced that on Linux, I don’t even know anyone who has. Running CentOS is as close to immunity as you’ll get with so little work.

The last item is reminding you before you start to create two very good passwords. I prefer the method of picking a song (title or line from it) or sentence I’ll always remember. Take the first letter from each word in the line, capitalized as appropriate, along with any punctuation. If you are creative, you can subsitute numbers for letters (1 = i, 4 = t or f, 3 = e, etc.), and so forth. You need 7-9 characters, so sometimes a critical word can be abbreviated. Here’s an example I once used: an old favorite song from the `80s, “God Is in Control” = Giictrl! Notice I took the common abbreviation for the “control” key to make it come up with enough characters, adding an exclamation point. As long as I associate that song with typing my password, I’ll never forget it. Best of all, tests have shown even the smartest computer cracker is unlikely to guess it, nor is cracking software likely to get it. Create two passwords like this, one for “root” and one for a user account.

You are ready to install.

Intended audience: (1) Those folks who use PCs, but don’t particularly love them. It’s just a basic convenience, on a par with telephones, washer & dryer, refrigerator, etc. This is easily the majority of Americans who own a PC, and perhaps a big part of the rest of the world. (2) Small business owners who have workstations for pretty much the same reasons — an asset which improves the profit margin, may even be critical to operations, but is not the primary nature of the business.

A major element in understanding these users is realizing, while they aren’t cheapskates, they hope to minimize the investment of time and resources into their PCs. If it consumes too much, it’s more trouble than it’s worth. There are trade offs involved, but the most important thing to understand is the computer is just a tool, not the central function, not even a hobby. This is no place for purists and zealots. Nor will this series be of much use to those who must run specialized applications on those computers. The primary use pattern is common documents, standard communications and research, with a minor concern for mere entertainment.

Why would you consider migrating from Windows to Linux? In my work as a volunteer computer service technician, the one thing which finds traction is the impending death of XP. That Vista is significantly different without necessarily being better, and requires hardware they can’t afford, while their current machine is still in good shape, and perhaps the fear (justified or not) which results from all the sales pitches they can’t avoid designed to prod them into buying the next new security package, are all contributing factors. But they don’t want a new hobby; they just want their computer to work with less hassle.

I tell these people there is no magic pill. Switching is a way of shifting the cost profile, which includes time and money. When you start having more time than money, Linux starts to look a lot better. If you aren’t willing to invest that time up front, you can’t get past the hump of migration. If you can put some effort into it, you can afford to relax a lot more on the other side. Naturally this calls for a Linux which doesn’t require constant attention, and there’s precious few projects which consider this at all important, as noted in the past. There are two paths I recommend to folks considering migration: Ubuntu and CentOS.

Try Ubuntu first. There are multiple versions offered at any one time, but for those seeking stability, look for the “LTS” label. Never allow yourself to be tricked into using the most current just because it’s the latest and greatest. Six months from now you’ll have to update, and it will surely break things. If you don’t consider your computer a hobby, stick with the LTS releases, because they are good for a couple of years. Next, join the Ubuntu forums; it’s the best and cheapest support system you’ll ever find for installation and initial setup. Be prepared to explain every time you aren’t a hobbyist and LTS is essential to your purpose. Don’t be drawn into discussions which revolve around why “you just gotta run the latest”. Those who actually can help you the most will understand.

It’s possible you won’t be happy with Ubuntu. The biggest issue is hardware setup, followed closely by the particular system of The Ubuntu Way of doing things. It’s not for everyone. Also, please note as your LTS version ages, somewhere short of two years from the release date, the volunteer support degrades rapidly. The term “support” is a bit ambiguous here. The company which produces Ubuntu offers support in the sense you can expect them to keep providing updates and fixes for the operating system and some of the packages which run on top of that system. They also sell the other kind of support, where you can contact someone who will help you with specific issues. The forums are a way of avoiding the costs of that second kind of support. But the free forum support is provided mostly by Linux enthusiasts and serious hobby users, and they tend to lose interest when you don’t keep up with them. Otherwise, they are some really nice people, and this is about as good as it gets.

If the problem is your hardware is just not powerful enough to run Ubuntu, but is in pretty good shape still, you will need to accept the necessity of spending a lot more time making this work. You can try Puppy Linux. The folks on the forums are just as nice, just as helpful, but the project is much smaller. Also, it simply won’t work on some older laptops, for example. Still, for older machines, it’s one of the best options.

If your PC is less than six years old, and you are more independent, capable of chasing solutions scattered randomly across the web using search engines, or finding and reading somewhat more technical documentation which comes with the system, then I recommend CentOS. This is a project based on the commercial grade Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You can pay for a Red Hat license and get their business grade support (help), or you can use CentOS for free, and still benefit from their system support (updates and fixes). Know up front, this is a more no-nonsense approach to things, but with that comes stability. You install once, and keep it working just fine for a long time — at least five years.

Let’s be frank here: The folks who offer CentOS aren’t all that helpful if you aren’t running a server. That’s the focus of their work, and most of them simply don’t have the mindset for typical consumer computer habits. You can join the forum, but you may be disappointed. However, the product is versatile enough to be used on a home PC with some modicum of effort. As the information for this tends to be scattered and scant in some areas, the rest of this series will be dedicated to describing how most common home PC users can tame CentOS. Most of this is explained elsewhere, but the writing tends to assume a level of expertise most home users don’t have and don’t want to cultivate. You don’t really need to, at least not right away.