Bitcoin Forum

Well, from I keep reading, compiling for windows seems to be diffucult, and I may have better tools available to me in linux so I thought I'd ask...

- What version of Linux would be the best to install as a partition on my windows pc? (is it better to boot from a USB?, can I boot from within windows?)

- Once I have linux, what's the best freeware for editing and compiling code. Will practice by compiling the litecoin code if that helps.

Sorry I have been asking a lot of questions, I'm just very eager to learn all these things.

You might have better luck on one of the linux forums.

Before you install on any hard drives make sure you have  backup. If you dont do the install properly you can wipe the wrong hardrive etc.

My suggestion would be to install virtual box https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Then you can try out multiple distributions of linux all you want without effecting your windows install.

For me currently (depends what you want to do eg desktop or server)
These are for desktop

1. Linux Mint  http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php  (cinnamon version with codecs)
2. Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop   
3. Debian http://www.debian.org/CD/torrent-cd/

As for code and compiling on the first two
sudo install build-essential 

will install gcc etc

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-linux-and-open-source-developer-tools-you-should-not-overlook/579

There are  hundreds of blogs/articles out there on coding/developing etc

What are you trying to compile? If you want to use the reference client you can just use the pre-compiled binary.

I like Gentoo. Since it compiles everything anway, all the dev stuff is installed already...but it's not great for newbies, I guess..

Mint - if you want fancy very-user-friendly interface, suitable for your grandma. Debian - if you fine with less convenient and more secure and stable environment. Arch - if you want to control and know (and study) everything :)

I've downloaded vitualbox and am setting up my first virtual machine and downloading the latest version of Linux Mint

I guess once the vitual machine is built and the linux iso is downloaded, the next step will to be to figure out how to install on the vitual machine, but that probably shouldn't be too diffcult.

Stuff still left to do:

- Understand the Gensis Block creation process... can't find a good explanation of what all the pieces and how they work

- compile and test.

great learning experience, renewed my old interest in programming

here's what i did to compile bitcoin-qt on windows
1. install vmware workstation 9
2. download ubuntu VM
3. create new ubuntu VM
4. install gitian builder (https://github.com/devrandom/gitian-builder)
5. use sipa's script (http://bitcoin.sipa.be/builds/bitcoin-build.sh.txt) to build bitcoin

it's much easier to building on windows, and it builds windows executables in addition to linux ones. no need to mess with cross-compile.

Nice, thanks, I'll give that a shot

LinuxMint just shows me a splash screen and never actually boots in my VM box after I mounted with CloneDrive.

Now I"m downloading Ubuntu 13.04 and will give that a shot and try the approach above.

I'd personally recommend ubuntu if you have no linux experience. Even if you do have some experience it is great and the community are really helpful. It's pretty simple to use and if you have windows already installed with no partitions set up you can use ubuntu windows installer (http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/install-ubuntu-with-windows) so you install ubuntu like a windows program and can uninstall it in the same way but it allows you to have a dual booting computer very easily.

But virtual machines are a great idea as already recommended for picking a distro before installing.

Xubuntu is my favourite distro its very lightweight and feature rich.  It also runs faster than any other Xfce based distro's I've tried.

Clone drive ? huh ?

Did you set the virtual box vm to the right version that you downloaded 32bit or 64 bit ?


Video tutorial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIqR--Lj0_Y

http://www.worldgoneweb.com/2011/installing-mint-on-virtual-box-from-an-iso/

LinuxMint just never booted

Both versions of Ubuntu (32 and 64 both said there was akernel problem)

I'm trying the LTS version now in 64 bit (since my pc is 64 bit)

Is it possible my hardware is the problem?

No matter which version of Ubuntu I get it saids:

"This Kernal Requires X86-64 CPU, but all that is detected is i686 CPU, please use a kernal appropriate to your CPU"

any advice?

That means your cpu is 32bit, so 32bit version should work. Check again if you have downloaded and burned the 32bit version.

https://www.kernel.org/
you should use the most recent version (3.8.10).

Well I know what you meant and probably does everyone else. But I just want you to know that Linux itself is just the kernel which on it's own is pretty useless for an enduser. And therefore asking for a version of Linux is misleading.

You are searching for a GNU/Linux Distro that suits your needs. Although I do think gentoo is the best to use, it's probably not the best for you.
You want something that works out of the box so Ubuntu should be fine for you. You could also use xubuntu if you prefer it's GUI but it's basically the same.
If you don't want cannonical to sell you to amazon follow this tutorial right after installation:
http://askubuntu.com/questions/192269/how-can-i-remove-amazon-search-results-from-the-dash

Now about your installation:
If your PC has a 64bit CPU use the 64bit version of course. Don't even try the 32bit version.

Are you running it natively or in a VM?

Your hardware shouldn't be a problem the only problem with hardware support you could get is 3D performance. WLAN problems are part of the past and your box should definitely boot up.

Could you please write down the reason for the kernel panic? The last time I installed ubuntu on someone's pc it messed up the partitions somehow and panicked that it couldn't find the root partition. After configuring grub myself it worked.

Also I don't think there's any use for the LTS version unless you are lazy because you can always do a release upgrade I suppose. Correct me if I'm wrong.

//edit
you are definitely using a 64bit image on a 32bit CPU. You probably messed something up during download.
Use this one for xubuntu: http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/raring/release/xubuntu-13.04-desktop-i386.iso

RMS is that you in disguise?

Watch the video and read the tutorial and make sure you choose the right settings for the vm you create.

I tried and got the same error for the 32bit and 64bit version using Virtual Box, the iso was mounted with clone drive.

When I right click my computer and check preferences it saids my pc is 64 bit.

I get the error with both the 32 bit and 64 bit version of Ubuntu

When I tried LinuxMint 64 bit it just showed a splash screen and never did anything.

No, I wouldn't auction a gnu for pounds on the bitcoin conference.

"This Kernal Requires X86-64 CPU, but all that is detected is i686 CPU, please use a kernal appropriate to your CPU"

I don't think a 32bit kernel is capable of spitting that message out. So did you triple check that you have the correct iso mounted?

why not use vmware?

because it's proprietary software? afaik they even want you to register somewhere.

OP isn't the first trying to run ubuntu in virtualbox. It should work just fine.

Xubunto worked, the Ubuntu 64 bit said AMD in the file name and I have an intel centrino chipset so I'm assuming that is probably why I was having the problem.

Ok, but then you did something wrong when you were trying ubuntu 32bit, because that should also have worked fine. You have probably mistaken the 64bit version for the 32bit while downloading.

Also the amd64 in the iso name doesn't mean it only runs on 64bit amd cpus, it also runs on 64bit intel cpus, the name is just because of historical reasons.

It's not so much about your computer is 32bit or 64bit it's what you set setting the virtual machine in virtual box to run as the Linux version has to match that. Just use the 32bit version for a start anyway till you learn to use it.

lol. linux stuff is open source. it is really amazing how people comming from windows have a hard time grasping the concept of opensource freedom.

Xubuntu is much better than Ubuntu IMO.  Stick with the LTS version and set your security updates to install automatically.  Then you'll be good until 2017.  Also do not add any repo's that your not 100% sure of as this is the only real way to get malware.  If you don't know why its asking you for your password don't enter it but that should go without saying.

Thanks everybody! I got xubuntu working so now it's just matter of getting down to development

here's a fun listing: http://desktoplinuxreviews.com/