One Evening with Linux

Two days back I wanted to install Linux and write a C or C++ program which could call some Linux APIs. I acted fast, I installed Microsoft Virtual Machine 2007 on Windows XP box and did a RedHat Linux 9.0 setup in that. The setup process guided me with very good GUI screens. After spending one and half hours of long setup course, virtual machine got restarted. It welcomed me with a black background and blur (almost impossible to read) fonts!!?? I was damn surprised and upset. I wasn’t able to understand the difficulty of an operating system to identify my VGA card because setup was able to recognize it and showed me nice setup screens. After several attempts I was able to boot machine in console mode but wasn’t lucky enough to configure my VGA card in Linux root. I don’t know how I proceed next. I know its an improper hands-on activity. I should refer some documents and online materials to understand core Linux/Unix properly and then start on it. I feel, for an ordinary dot net programmer like me, it’s pretty hard to switch from “Windows” mindset, where a wizard and few button clicks takes you in the smooth installation path and most of the time with the happy ending. Linux way might be little different and once I comprehend it, I might also start feeling the same easiness what I am experiencing now with Windows. Everything takes its own time.

By the way, I am searching for Mac OS CD/DVD also ;)

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