Totally confused!!

Discussion in 'Software' started by Bomba, Jan 7, 2008.

  1. Bomba

    Bomba Private First Class

    I am getting a new pc in a few days since this one is a dinosaur and was wondering if it would be better to experiment/learn on the old one before trying to install on the new computer.

    I have also read with interest many things about different Linux packages. One person advised me to try linuxpuppy and others swear by ubuntu. On this forum I have also read about Minty.

    Is it hard to keep it updated? Is it hard to learn? Is there anything important that I must know before taking the plunge?
     
  2. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    Play with it on the old machine first. You have a long haul before you will be comfortable making it a primary OS. Is it hard to learn? Not if you are patient.

    Here, read this:
    http://adrynalyne.blogspot.com/2007/02/linux-is-free-if-your-time-is-worthless.html

    Yes, I am aware this is a biased viewpoint, but make no mistake, its fairly realistic. I won't steer anyone away from dumping Microsoft, more power to ya if you can. But you will have a ton of work waiting for you before you will find yourself proficient enough to call Linux home.
     
  3. Bomba

    Bomba Private First Class

    Actually I was already reading your blog and it sounds to me like I am probably going to be too stupid to even be able to install it.
     
  4. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest

    You should be fine with a noob distro, but most people who strive to learn Linux are power hungry and want more control (and less bloat!) than these distros can provide. These distros in general will do the hard work of installing for you, and provide you an easy-ish interface to use. I always felt suffocated with these versions, because they are like Windows, except worse: they have less software support, and dont work as well. Of course, Linux is what you make of it. The sky is the limit, at the cost of your time, however precious that may be.

    Some examples you may want to look at:

    Ubuntu
    Sabayon
    Fedora
    OpenSUSE
    PCLinuxOS
     
  5. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    Bomba, don't sell yourself short.
    There is lots of support for people that want to see what linux is all about.
    Everyone has his or her favorite distro (distribution). If you have high speed internet connection, download a few distros, try them on your older computer and see what distro likes the hardware. If the video seems strange, or you have no sound, or you have no internet connection, or you can't get your printer working, take out that CD, move it to the bottom of the pack and try the next one. Keep trying until you find one that works. If none work completely find the one that mostly works and yell for help on getting the things that don't work working.
    How much RAM is in your older computer? If it isn't a lot, then a distro like Vector Linux, which doesn't need lots of RAM might be a good fit.
     
  6. Wookie

    Wookie Sergeant Major

    You could also try some Live CD's so you don't have to worry about installing or losing anything, there are plenty out there including Ubuntu. Ubuntu is dead slow to load from CD though. Knoppix is pretty quick and also Debian based I believe. Once you get comfortable with the OS then maybe considering doing an install.
     
  7. Bomba

    Bomba Private First Class

    This computer has 766 RAM
     
  8. pclover

    pclover MajorGeek

    I say a good Linux disto to start with is Unbuntu. You can get it here for free. Also you can try the live CD that wont touch your hard drive.
     
  9. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    766 RAM means you can try anything you want.
    Any on Adrynalyne are good distros to look at. I might also include Simply Mepis and Mint Linux.
    This page
    Code:
    http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php
    has download links to grab Live CDs. You can play with linux and still keep windows until you find one that you like and your hardware likes. Then you can install it to the old computer and dual boot with windows, if you like.
     
  10. Bomba

    Bomba Private First Class

    I'm still scratching my head and reading lots of stuff. I haven't quite gotten to the pulling my hair out stage yet. I do think that booting from a cd would be a good idea but why have linux at all if I am still forced to have windows?
     
  11. Wookie

    Wookie Sergeant Major


    The idea is to get used to it, it's different than windows, just dumping windows completely and moving to Linux cold turkey will probably be pretty rough if you don't have Linux experience. The CD allows people to play and get comfortable before they start messing with partitions or dump windows.
     
  12. plodr

    plodr Major Geek Super Extraordinaire

    Bomba, I have windows 2k and lots of programs I use on those that will not work on linux. Will I wipe these computers and install linux? No. I still want to use my windows programs. I will use linux to surf safely once MS drops support for 2K and it will no longer be patched. I will use linux to burn CD/DVDs because K3b is sooo much better than any program I can find in windows. So, I use each different operating system for different needs I have.
     
  13. chubster1960

    chubster1960 Private E-2

    Bomba - go for it mate, wot have you to lose! I'm no whizkid and found it easy enough using the popular distros. I first tried PCLinuxOS live cd and loved it so I've installed it and used its wizard to dual booted it with Windows. In the space of a week or so I've know been messing with partitions, emulators, synaptics and more and enjoying the experience. I've now dumped Windows off the hard drive but loaded it onto an emulator that I can run in Linux (just in case!). I've found my Linux distro so much quicker than Windows and my internet browsing goes at warp speed. Go for it and you won't look back.
     
  14. BoredOutOfMyMind

    BoredOutOfMyMind Picabo, ICU

    When you start installing Linux on your friends computers.... then you feel you are a user. :major
     
  15. Adrynalyne

    Adrynalyne Guest


    :confused

    My net browsing has always been the same speed, be it nix, or Windows.
     
  16. chubster1960

    chubster1960 Private E-2

    Sorry, just telling him how it is for me.
     
  17. mikkh

    mikkh Private First Class

    Yes, Linux has many advantages, but getting faster browsing or internet use in general is debatable IMO. Although one of Linux's main pluses is you don't need anti everything software running, because you simply can't catch Windows based nasties if it's not Windows ! So maybe it is faster without a whole bloat of security software running. It doesn't feel any faster on my machines though
     

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