[Tutor] Python

[Warren 'The Howdy Man' Ockrassa]

Sam LeFlore wrote:

> I would like to have recommendations on which version of Linux to purchase.

Red Hat seems to be the most popular, partly I guess because of name
presence, and partly because it makes admin relatively easy.

I've heard good things about SuSE though, as well. What I've found with
Red Hat is that you need to be careful if you're using relatively new,
high-end, flashy hardware, since odds are pretty good the drivers
haven't been produced for such stuff yet. So while you might be able to
get a more or less functional GUI going, you may not be able to take it
out of 16-color 640x480 mode without a little experimenting with the
config files for the monitor card.

What I'd recommend is installing it on its own computer rather than on
the main one you use. If you can pick up a decent pre-owned box for a
relatively low price, it's probably a good start to try it out on,
epsecially if it's already running Win95, since it should be able to
handle Lin as well.

I say this because you might get into a tangle with the install
procedure and it's good to have another machine so you can go online and
seek help if you need it.

Here I dualboot Lin and NT, but generally stay on the NT side because of
my software development needs.

> I would like to learn the Python Language and would like the opportunity to
> read open source code but I am unfamiliar with any other operating system
> except windows.

Well bear in mind that open source is just that -- raw, uncompiled C or
C++. It can be hairy.

If you're more interested in Python, there's no reason you can't DL the
Windows version of that and use it in the environment whith which you
are the most comfortable, and then move on to Linux when you feel ready.

Linux is, after all, UNIX, and UNIX is a monster of an OS. Terribly
powerful but very confusing if you've had little or no experience with
it.

Hope this helps!

--
    warren ockrassa | nightwares | mailto:warren@nightwares.com

       Bad news hits hard. Only The Indigestible punches back.
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