Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4544 in Software
• Brand: Red Hat
• Model: RHF0120US
• Released on: 2003-04-14
• Platform: Linux
• Format: CD-ROM
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 2.00 pounds

From the Manufacturer
Red Hat Linux 9 combines the latest Linux technology from the Open Source community in one easy to use operating system. No other operating system offers so much control in an easy to use package. Combining the latest Red Hat Linux technology and stunning Bluecurve interface, Red Hat Linux 9 is the ideal OS for home computing and technology enthusiasts.

Red Hat Bluecurve interface is easy to use

• Simply adjust settings using graphical tools
• Organized desktop makes finding applications less complicated
• Choose specific packages and themes to customize personal workstations

The installation program features an easy to use tool for selecting package groups. Select the packages that best support your individual workload.

The first time a system is booted after installation, the Setup Agent gives step by step guidance for:

• Setting up date and time
• Sound card testing
• Registering for Red Hat Network
• Installing additional software

Conveniently organized menus make finding applications and tools simple with fewer clicks.

Ximian Evolution is an E-mail client, contact manager, and calendar. The summary page can be customized to quickly display important information such as news and weather.

Selecting system settings gains the user access to many graphical configuration tools.

Customer Reviews

Serious Desktop Alternative to Windows
I own XP and I do like it very much -- but I also want to expand my OS options and I really do like Red Hat 9 among other Linux distros. Here is my review:
1. Red Hat 9 is better than RH8 in the areas of MUCH IMPROVED fonts (in all applications, esp, in mozilla browser, it is clear and sharp), STABILITY (no more strange lockups), and SPEED (applications pop up faster). Plus Red Hat 9 easily installed and found all the drivers necessary for my HP ZE1115 notebook. Even though I have RH8, I can recommend heartily RH9 to others.
2. Red Hat 9 is better than other Linux distros I tried (Mandrake 9.0 and 9.1; SUSE 8.1). SUSE is NOT friendly to notebook installation and its font is not comparable to RH8 or RH9. Mandrake 9.1 is better than Mandrake 9.0, but still while it is improved, its font lacks RH9's sophistication. However, in Mandrake 9.1, you can import MS TTF automatically by clicking (a big plus), but not in Red Hat 9 (you still need to use shell command lines). In overall comparison, Red Hat 9 satisfied my needs better than all other distros.
3. Windows users should easily migrate to Linux especially using RH9 (b/c it is easy to install and desktop is much like windows). If you are not into games, but in everday computing (web surfing, word processing [OpenOffice.org is compatible with MS Office], and other needs, then RH 9 will not disappoint you. As a Windows user, I really like Linux's Virtual Desktop; literally you can have four (default setting) desktop and use each desktop according to your catagoriezation of work. Windows cannot do this.

In sum, I think, anyone who tries RH9 will not be disappointed but will enjoy Linux's world with ease even those who are diehard Windows users.

Linux is great, if not fully compatible with all hardware
First, let me start off by noting that almost all of the reviewers that gave Red Hat Linux 9 very low marks had mostly hardware incompatibility issues. They bought Red Hat, threw the CD in the CD drive, and hoped for the best, expecting it to be able to successfully detect and configure all of their particular hardware.

While Linux has made tremendous strides in hardware compatibility and usually can work with most hardware right out of the box, it does not have the advantage of market critical mass and monopolistic power that Microsoft has. Thus, all vendors that sell hardware for the home PC provide drivers for Windows, being that Windows has about 95% of that market. That being said, Linux now has made tremdous stides in hardware support. It supports most major hardware products, but lacks in the area of some of the more exotic or bleeding edge graphics cards, sound cards, network cards, and most winmodems. It's getting better all the time (due to open source developers reverse engineering, and many vendors providing drivers), but Linux can't boast the level of hardware support that Windows can, due to market realities.

The people who gave bad reviews attempted to blindly install Red Hat Linux on their machines, without checking for hardware support ahead of time. Thus, due to hardware incompatibility or configuration, they had headaches and wrongly blamed Linux.

My personal experience with Linux in general and Red Hat 9 in particular has been wonderful. I've installed it on an IBM Thinkpad 600E. The installation went smoothly and I only had to manualy choose the correct video driver. It did not detect the Mwave internal winmodem (I expected this) and did not detect the sound card, but I do not need sound on my notebook. Apparently it is possible to configure so that Red Hat can use the sound card, but I don't need it. But Red Hat did seamlessly detect everything else and it all worked beautifully.

I've had a lot of fun with Linux. I'm a programmer and it is chaulk full of development tools (without having to pay mega $ for MS Visual Studio). Linux is a programmers paradise. It also has everything MS Office has (with Open Office and KOffice). It can manipulate graphics with the GIMP, it has tons of games, and endless configuration possibilties. RH Linux loads both the Gnome and KDE desktop environments, and it's fun to play with both, being that they are not exactly alike, and both have different strengths and weeknesses. And both, quite frankly, are much more attractive and fun to use than the Fisher Price interface of Windows XP. They are also far more configurable, with much more eye candy than XP. I've also been able to successfully download and install and use huge software titles like JBuilder 5 and Eclipse (Java Integrated Development Environments).

I've also been completely impressed with the amazing stability and efficiency of Linux. I can crash an application, but it never affects the OS. I just have to kill the app, and everything else goes about it's merry way without a hitch. Contrast that with Windows XP, and all of it's bugs and the slightest application problem can bring it to it's knees (prompting you to send a bug report to MS). Or, of course, the infamous Blue Screen of Death. No BSOD in Linux at all. And finally, there are far fewer virus worries with Linux.

In short, Linux is great. It might be a bit rough around the edges for some newbie/non technical users, but it is very easy to use (just requires a small learning curve, just like anything else new) and can do so many great things, at a small fraction of the cost of MS alternatives.

Those new to Linux should probablly start off with a distribution that runs from a CD, like Knoppix. Knoppix automatically detects and configures your hardware. All you have to do is pop the CD in and reboot. And it is completely risk free because it does not touch your hard drive. Knoppix can give you a taste of how great Linux can be. And if you like what you see, you should first check hardware compatibility at the distros web site, than
probably re-partition your hard drive with Partition magic. And of the distro set up routines will detect the partitions and allow you easily set up a dual boot PC. Alternatively, buy a whole new PC with Linux pre-loaded (ensuring hardware compatibility). You can do that here at Amazon, or Walmart or Lindows.com, or many others. You can get a new PC for as little as $200 (the cost of WinXP by itself).

But do give it a try and be prepared for hardware compatibility and that it is a different OS, so there will be a small learning curve. It's very well worth the effort.

The only reasons I did not give Red Hat Linux 9 the full 5 stars is because Red Hat has ended their retail product, concentrating on the enterprise. Also, Red Hat Linux does not include a disc partitioning tool like Mandrake and SuSE do. But I've loved it. I'm now looking forward to partitioning my eMachines PC with WinXP, and loading a dual boot Linux installation. I just have not decided which distribution it's going to be.

Redhat makes it easy.
I use a custom built system K7ADA with AMD1600+, Gforce4 ti4200. I am also pretty new to linux. The one thing I can say is I didn't have a single problem installing Redhat9. I put RH on it's own HD, and it installed everything just fine. I started it up and everything worked great. It even recognized my gforce4 which was a nightmare on RH8. (but luckily nvidia's drivers are getting easier too.)

IMHO this is a great distro for all people interested in linux. It has the ease of use for us begginers, but also comes with all the advanced stuff you'll want to learn later on. All in all a great OS!