# Linux?



## L.A. (Nov 15, 2007)

Hey Guy's
I'd like to try out Linux. What would be best to start on, Puppy, Ubuntu, etc?


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## OntarioMan (Feb 11, 2007)

The free "flavour" of Linux appears to change every so often : at one time, it was FreeBSD, then RedHat, then Suse, now it appears to be Ubuntu and maybe some Fedora. I now run Ubuntu - its an easy install, works well and is well supported/documented. 

Although every flavour of Linux shares much in common, each is just different enough to cause some headaches when switching between them.

If you plan on using Linux as a desktop, you'll be better served by Windows XP. Linux is a great system and lots of fun - but its not a great desktop - not because of what it is, but because of what its not - its not Windows.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

There are a number of linux variants out there, Ubuntu has a lot of online support right now, opensuse, fedora. Right now I would try ubuntu. I dont fully agree with Ontarioman about desktop is better on XP. For most people who just launch a browers or email program either will work. its a little different than XP but very usable.


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## Jack T. (Feb 11, 2008)

I'm also running Ubuntu on my desktop machine. . .I run Debian on my server, and the two are *quite* similar. I switched from Fedora/RHE a few years ago, for no reason other than I wanted to.

For most people, Linux will work fine on a desktop. Open Office is a drop-in replacement for MSOffice. Firefox/Thunderbird are long established browser/email clients. Gimp is at least as powerful as PhotoShop. All of those are free.

There are a *plethora* of help websites out there for Linux. . .but beware. In the MS world, you do things the way MS wants you to do. In the Linux world, there are boatloads of different ways to do things. 

Pick you up a cheap, low end computer and jump in there. Doesn't take much of a machine to run Linux. MS does less and less with more and more resources, Linux is just the opposite.

Oh, one more thing. . .the "Windows" you are used to is a Window Manager. Linux has more Window Managers than Carter has pills. Want your desktop to look like XP? Not a problem. Want your desktop to be flat black with fly-out menus triggered by the mouse? BlackBox is just the Manager for you. . .and there's everything in between.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

L.A. said:


> I'd like to try out Linux. What would be best to start on, Puppy, Ubuntu, etc?


Depends what you want. If you want to switch from Windows and you want everything to just work with a minimum of hassle and learning curve, any of the more popular distros that use the KDE interface will do fine. KDE looks & works a lot like Windows, but is much faster than XP and much more adaptable for those who want to customize things. Gnome, XFCE, and a couple others have sizeable followings, but you'll have a bit more of a learning curve with those.

I use PCLinuxOS because when I was looking for a distro, it was the best choice for easy installation, multimedia stuff already set up, etc. But there are others worth a look -- Mandriva and Kubuntu (the KDE version of Ubuntu) would be on my short list.

Over the last couple years I've switched 8 or 9 friends' machines (representing a dozen or so different users) from Windows to PCLinuxOS. Most switched after a catastrophic virus problem with Windows. Most are typical computer users -- all they know, or want to know, about computers is where to click to do what they need to do. That sort of user doesn't usually really notice the change to Linux; 10 minutes to show them where to click for web browser, email, etc., and they're good to go.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

I personally would suggest Puppy or PClinuxOS for newbie. Ubuntu though has lot online support. Knoppix and Mepis very worth a look also. But there are literally dozens of distributions available. Then there are unoffical varients of many official distributions. Puppy has dozens of unofficial variations offered by enthusists for various purposes, everything from super minimalist onebone with no gui to fatpuppy with every known modern linux software out there. You can get Puppy with default JWM window manager or ICE or even KDE or blackbox or whatever. There is Churchpup for the devout and Puppeee taylored for the Asus EEEpc users. Some of the variants alas dont get updated. The only thing about Puppy is it could be bit confusing for some as it is so versitile and can be set up in so many different ways. Windows people are used to "THE ONE WAY" from on high.

Nice thing about linux is most distributions have a live cd version. You dont have to install it to hardrive in order to experience it just boot it from your cdrom. Puppy can run from cd, hardrive, flash, or about anything else you can think of. Even a version that uses a cdrw/dvdrw for everything. Loads to memory from the disk on boot and then writes back any changes when you shut down. I will mention the 2nd release candidate is out for Puppy 4.2, the likely final releas of 4.2 expected very shortly. It will be the first official release since retirement of Barry Kauler at helm.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

L.A. said:


> Hey Guy's
> I'd like to try out Linux. What would be best to start on, Puppy, Ubuntu, etc?


What are you using now? Why do you want to try out Linux? Do you have a practical or economic reason for wanting to try it, or is this just general curiosity?


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## L.A. (Nov 15, 2007)

Nevada said:


> What are you using now? Why do you want to try out Linux? Do you have a practical or economic reason for wanting to try it, or is this just general curiosity?


 Now thatâs a hard question. Mostly just general curiosity I guess. It appears, if I'm comfortable using it, there are numerous practical and economic reasons.
I have XP pro on my laptop and Windows 2000 pro on my desk top.
I have taken the courses for the MCSE using Windows 2000 pro and Windows 2000 server, but never took the tests. Most of the "real" IT people I've met use it at home and swear by it. Many have been using it for years, so it's hard to get suggestions as they have adapted their own version.
Ubuntu is looking good to me now, but still want suggestions from the experienced. 
Thanks.
L.A.


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## Gary in ohio (May 11, 2002)

Linux has two components that you must learn. The "user interface" and the OS itself. YOu can use Linux and never see the OS, just the user interface. 

I have close to 400 Linux boxes running at work dont even load the graphical user interface. Not needed. So mainly spend my time at the OS level. MOST home users (including myself) want the graphical interface and that what is really different from Linux release to Linux release. How they present the desktop. KDE, GNOME and many other window managers are available.


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## Thales (Jan 24, 2009)

Ubuntu is a good Linux OS to start out with, minimal time spent in the command line out of the box. I've got Ubuntu on one of my desktops at work but my two servers run CentOS.

My vote goes to Ubuntu starting out, then as you become more comfortable you can move on to other versions.

-Thales


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## L.A. (Nov 15, 2007)

Thanks Guys,
I decided to try Kubuntu. Downloaded, burned a disk and am now playing with it from the live disk. I want to install it, but I need to find out if I need to partition the hd and whether to use ntfs or fat32.
L.A.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

L.A. said:


> need to find out if I need to partition the hd and whether to use ntfs or fat32.


ntfs or fat32?!? Bite your tongue, boy, those are Windoze filesystems! 

Yes you need to partition the disk. If it has Windows on it, you may need to defrag first, so there's a big enough free block at the end of the disk to split some off for Linux. As for filesystem, use ext2 or, if you want journaling, ext3. Don't forget to create a swap partition; if you want Linux to be able to suspend to disk, make it at least as big as your RAM, otherwise 512MB is enough.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

With Puppy, it can be installed as piggyback to an existing windows partition fat32 or ntfs, either one. In windows you see it as a file.

Course you can also install it to its own partition with any linux filesystem or Reiser. 

Told you it is EXTREMELY adaptive. Most other linux distributions if you want to install have to install to their own partitions as backwoods says.


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## RVcook (Mar 29, 2008)

I run KDE Ubuntu and utilize a dual-boot system so I can select which environment I want. 

The others are correct in that Ubuntu has the most support online, no problems with recognizing most devices (even old printers!) and is ready-to-go out of the box. Unfortunately most of the programs I use are windoze based with no comparable OS programs. This makes it a little tricky, but I've gotten used to it.

My preference is to surf in Firefox using the Linux environment and not running as root. SO much safer than windoze!

RVcook


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## L.A. (Nov 15, 2007)

Well Guys,
This is Kubuntu 8.1 in action! Got alot to learn yet, but I think I'm gonna like this.
Thanks.
L.A.


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## DoubleBee (Nov 13, 2006)

I vote for Suse. :clap:


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