should i try linux?

benji182 · 13 Jul 2007 at 22:25

hey

not sure really where to start but my family going on holiday with out me (very nice of them) next weekend and i thought that i'd do something i've not done before and being a lil bit tired of hurting myself doing sports and random crap i thought i'd try linux.

a few questions first of all.

1. i'd like to give linux a try but unsure what version i should give a go as there are so many. i guess i'd just like to get it up and running and be able to use it for browsing the web and playing a few tunes and trying new things.

2. i rooted around in the loft for my old PC to see if it was still in one piece and it is but i don't know if the spec is suitable for linux.
+Athlon Thunderbird 800Mhz
+Geforce MX2
+256Mb PC133 ram
+20Gb + 4Gb IDE HDD
+CD-RW drive
+network card

3. i'm not sure what benifits linux has over XP but are there any cool features to have fun and fiddle around with?

i'm willing to give it a good shot. please advise

GarethDW · 13 Jul 2007 at 23:00

My thoughts...

Yes, give it a go. The only thing you've got to lose is a bit of your time and a blank CD or DVD.

As for which distro to try, I'd suggest Kubuntu. It's a nice introduction to Linux. The latest version has great hardware support, so the specs you listed should all work fine. It also has a great community in case you do run into any problem.

One thing you should realise before starting out, though, is that Linux is not Windows, so there are things that work differently. Not necessarily better - just different. Just bear that in mind and you'll be fine

.walls · 13 Jul 2007 at 23:15

Absolutely give it a go... as GartehDW says - all you have to lose is a bit of time and a blank dvd/cd... and KUbuntu (or really, any other version of Ubuntu) does sound like a good place to start - it has a huge user base and an excellent help forum.

GarethDW said:
One thing you should realise before starting out, though, is that Linux is not Windows, so there are things that work differently. Not necessarily better - just different. Just bear that in mind and you'll be fine

Absolutely right - Linux != free Windows... it does work differently... and if you have the time / inclination to play with it, you may find that you enjoy it a lot

benji182 said:
3. i'm not sure what benifits linux has over XP but are there any cool features to have fun and fiddle around with?

Linux is substantially more tweakable than XP

benji182 · 14 Jul 2007 at 00:01

awesome replies

while waiting for a reply i was scouting these forums and people had said they tried first or liked it so i was downloading ubuntu ready hoping someone would mention it lol.

well the best thing is my old pc would suck at running XP and in deff. never going back to 98 or ME which i think was 98 with a few extra BSOD errors thrown in for good measure lol.

burning to CD now so i'll let you know what i think or if i manage to get stuck on the install lol. or if my pc even works - it has been a while. only 1 stick of RAM is being recognised also but not to worry.

thanks again.

.walls · 14 Jul 2007 at 00:06

The bonus of Ubuntu (as well as all variants - XUbuntu/KUbuntu, etc and most other linux distros) is that it has a live cd installer - i.e. you can boot from the cd and play around with it like that. If you don't like the way that it looks - you can easily modify it (really modify it - not just the way you can with XP)... that's one of the beauties of linux

benji182 · 14 Jul 2007 at 00:28

well i eventually got onto the desktop (if its called that)

but the old 0.8Ghz processor is working its arse off so a good 5second or more delay when clicking something but its fine.

i don't think its installed to my hard drive though as cd drive keep blinking.

is there a way to format my hdd as its full of windows ME and old stuff i don't need like lemmings 2 etc etc then install a fresh on the drive?

SiriusB · 14 Jul 2007 at 01:54

Double click the Install icon on the Desktop and it will take you through a step-by step process - including nuking the HDD.

GarethDW · 14 Jul 2007 at 02:02

Yeah, running the LiveCD is slow and clunky as everything is read from the CD and held in memory, rather than anything being written to your hard drive - although it is useful if you don't want to destroy a Windows installation.

As you're happy to take the plunge, however, just do like Sirius says and look for the icon on the desktop that says to install it to the hard drive.

One of the other things I really liked about installing Kubuntu was that the LiveCD stayed running during the install, so I could carry on surfing the web and listening to Digitally Imported whilst waiting for the install to finish. Such a great idea.

SiriusB · 14 Jul 2007 at 09:37

I agree, the installation is very good.

The only bad point is the partitioning part. You have a choice of automatic which gives you really vague options and you're never sure what each option is, or you can do it manually with GParted - which isn't ideal for most new people.

The wording changed from Edgy to Feisty too.

richardbirks · 14 Jul 2007 at 12:22

If you've got a spare HDD (doesn't have to be anything massive - 20GB is more than enough to just mess around) then select the "install to unused (it might be unpartitioned) space option"

If you don't mind blitzing whatever's on your HDDs then just let Linux choose for you.

And version 7.04 is definitely the way to go.

--
Richard

benji182 · 14 Jul 2007 at 14:37

i had wondered what the install icon was on the desktop but i avoided clicking it encase it did something like implode

did it taken anyone else 5minutes to finally work out you have to look for london not Britain, England, Great Britain, United Kingdom.

lol

i'm just having a go at the prepare disk space section :-/

benji182 · 14 Jul 2007 at 15:49

this post comes from my new linux install

haha. thanks for your guidance all those who replied.

just got to figure how to use it now lol.

expect a few posts from me lost and confused.

SiriusB · 14 Jul 2007 at 17:16

Go here

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty

Tells you how to install/configure most of the software you will be coming across

Probably the first place you should look if you want to know how to do something. Next place after that is the ubuntu forums. Use the search facility as more often than not certain problems/issues have been answered a million times.