[womcom]

I'm finally going to switch over to Linux.

Sick of BSOD and other Windows bloaty pain in the asses.

I have a few questions which I hope Linux users will be able to assist me on.

1. Which is the best Linux to get stated on?
2. Can I install Linux without deleting all the files of my hard disk?

[446.09375]

http://linuxmint.com/ is based upon Ubuntu, but with a sane user interface that shouldn't scare Windows users.
You can set up your PC to dual-boot (select either Windows or Mint at startup) without losing anything, using spare diskspace for the new Mint.
Or just set up a USB stick to load Mint, boot off that, and play with it to see how you get on before altering anything permanently.

[womcom]

Quite like the look of this one.

Sabayon

Though I suspect I'd better start off with something a bit more simpler, Mint looks good, I'll give that a go.

[emptybox]

I would agree Mint is very good for the beginner, but Ubuntu is good as well.

When you download Mint you have to choose which desktop on the download page; with a choice of MATE, Cinnamon, KDE or Xfce.
Obviously the choice is yours, but I like Cinnamon.

Ubuntu gives you the Unity desktop by default, but you can change later.
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

[ironjade]

Sabayon is very elegant but may be a bit of a trial for beginners. Mint is pretty much idiot-proof but use the Live CD/DVD first to make sure everything works before installing.
If you go to wubi.org you can download and install a slightly earlier version of Ubuntu alongside Windows. This how I started and it was very helpful. It's also easy to remove (via Windows' "add/remove programs") if you don't fancy it.
Let us know how you get on.

[emptybox]

Originally Posted by womcom

Quite like the look of this one.

Sabayon

Though I suspect I'd better start off with something a bit more simpler, Mint looks good, I'll give that a go.

That Sabyon video is more than 2 years out of date, and is using the classic Gnome 2 desktop, which has been superceded by various versions of Gnome 3. Unity and Cinnamon being 2 of them. Gnome Shell being another.

You can still choose to use a classic Gnome desktop though, with a lot of distributions. and indeed the MATE desktop is based on Gnome 2.

[446.09375]

LiLi is a great free and open-source way to set up an old USB key, in Windows, to do something useful and load up a Linux distro.
http://www.linuxliveusb.com/

You download an ISO file (designed to creating a "live CD"), use LiLi to create a Live USB stick instead, and boot from that. You may need to dig into the BIOS to allow booting off a USB stick though, but it's all good fun and educational

[max99]

Originally Posted by womcom

2. Can I install Linux without deleting all the files of my hard disk?

Before you even think of messing around with Linux, ensure all your files are properly backed up first.

Next, you need to read up on Linux and be prepared to roll up your sleeves and find out answers and solutions for yourself. Linux isn't for people who need to be spoon-fed. Fortunately, there are numerous online resources which should have answers and tutorials to most of your queries.

As the other have said, start by burning your choice of Linux to a disk or bootable USB stick. Do not choose to install anything to your hard drive at this time. This will give you an opportunity to play around with various distros and decide which one you like and whether Linux is really for you.

Mint is also my choice for a beginner, so here is a good place to start:

http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/20

[Kal_El]

Good post Max.

Like everyone says, I'd go for the latest version of Mint, and try the Cinnamon version. It's an incredibly friendly OS, very easy to use. Have fun, and keep us posted.

[Maxatoria]

When going from windows to linux the first thing you need to remember is that a lot of the power is contained using the terminal to enter the commands needed and also every version of linux has its particular oddities so if you are not confident with entering lines of code that sound like absolute gibberish then you might as well stay with windows or spend a grand buying an apple system where you will notice the lovely crafted, trademarked and lawyer protection curved corners on the machine

[womcom]

Currently testing Ubuntu 12.10 now.

Very user friendly, Libre Office working with all my existing Word and Excel files without any problems.

Default Movie Player struggling to play my video files so will probably need to install VLC player.

Overall impression good and when Windows XP support finishes in April 8, 2014 I don't think I will be investing in Windows 7 or Windows 8.

[1saintly]

Originally Posted by womcom

Currently testing Ubuntu 12.10 now.

Very user friendly, Libre Office working with all my existing Word and Excel files without any problems.

Default Movie Player struggling to play my video files so will probably need to install VLC player.

Overall impression good and when Windows XP support finishes in April 8, 2014 I don't think I will be investing in Windows 7 or Windows 8.

You didnt mention youre previous computer knowlege in youre OP?
But going off youre OP you seem to be managing fine with Linux
If you ignore any Troll posts in youre thread, there are plenty of people on the DS computing section willing and able to offer help and advice.
Just please remember the golden rule, its not trying to be Windows and you should get along fine, going of youre experience so far.

Google is youre friend
http://www.techsupportalert.com/cont...buntu-1204.htm
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ub...ient=firefox-a
But so is DS

[LION8TIGER]

Mess about with it from the CD and see how you get . You can install it and boot from it or Windows but be careful if you want to uninstall Linux as for me (Ubuntu) installed it's own MBR and when I removed it (Ubuntu) it took it with it and Windows would no longer boot.

[emptybox]

Originally Posted by LION8TIGER

Mess about with it from the CD and see how you get . You can install it and boot from it or Windows but be careful if you want to uninstall Linux as for me (Ubuntu) installed it's own MBR and when I removed it (Ubuntu) it took it with it and Windows would no longer boot.

Yeah, but it's simple enough to restore the Windows bootloader if required.

[Oscar_]

My suggestion for anyone wanting to try Linux is Puppy. Especially if you are going to run from Live CD for a while it is much faster than most of the other more bloated Linux distros.

http://puppylinux.com

Try Wary Puppy on very old hardware. Precise Puppy or Slacko Puppy will run perfectly on most machines and are a bit more sophisticated.

Create a single save-file to store your settings which you can just delete at any time if you decide it isn't for you. Alternatively you can even save your settings and installed software back onto the CD. No need to disturb your existing operating system and files at all.

[ironjade]

Originally Posted by Maxatoria

When going from windows to linux the first thing you need to remember is that a lot of the power is contained using the terminal to enter the commands needed and also every version of linux has its particular oddities so if you are not confident with entering lines of code that sound like absolute gibberish then you might as well stay with windows or spend a grand buying an apple system where you will notice the lovely crafted, trademarked and lawyer protection curved corners on the machine

The chances of you having to use the terminal and enter any commands are slim to none with Mint or Ubuntu.
Some older, hairier Linux die-hards look on it as some kind of test of manhood, that only real men use the command line.
The terminal is there if you want or need to use it but it's not vital.

[Kal_El]

Originally Posted by Oscar_

My suggestion for anyone wanting to try Linux is Puppy.

Without wishing to be rude, I'd only recommend Puppy if you're using dated hardware.

Originally Posted by ironjade

The chances of you having to use the terminal and enter any commands are slim to none with Mint or Ubuntu.
Some older, hairier Linux die-hards look on it as some kind of test of manhood, that only real men use the command line.
The terminal is there if you want or need to use it but it's not vital.

I agree. It's much like the command prompt in Windows. It's there if you need it, but not an everyday necessity.

Ubuntu is pretty good too and very forward looking. It's become popular to slag it off these days because of their new desktop, but as you'll have found trying it for yourself OP, it's pretty nice. The only issue I'd have with 12.10 is the bugs. We still use 12.04 here and it's excellent.

[womcom]

Originally Posted by Kal_El

The only issue I'd have with 12.10 is the bugs. We still use 12.04 here and it's excellent.

What kind of bugs does 12.10 have?

Does anyone know how Ubuntu is able to automatically detect all my drivers? As Windows XP requires the motherboard drivers etc.

Also will Ubuntu ever crash like the Windows blue screen error?

All I am lacking now is a decent CD Burner. Any suggestions?

[Esot-eric]

Originally Posted by womcom

Does anyone know how Ubuntu is able to automatically detect all my drivers? As Windows XP requires the motherboard drivers etc.

The Linux kernel in Ubuntu (3.5 in 12.10 i think) is much more recent than the kernel Windows XP is using. If you installed Windows 7 on your machine it would also likely have all the drivers you need included.

Although Linux does tend to have far more extensive support for hardware, especially older stuff that manufacturers never bothered to create drivers for newer versions of Windows.

Also will Ubuntu ever crash like the Windows blue screen error?

No BSOD. Sometimes applications may crash but are unlikely to bring the whole system down.

Sometimes the GUI may lockup but that's pretty rare in my experience.

All I am lacking now is a decent CD Burner. Any suggestions?

Last time i had to burn a disc on Linux K3B was the most popular/recommended burner.

The burning app included in Linux Mint is called Brasero. Should also be in the Ubuntu Software Centre if not already installed.

[Oscar_]

Originally Posted by Kal_El

Without wishing to be rude, I'd only recommend Puppy if you're using dated hardware.

That's quite OK, you're not being rude... but....why?

The current Puppy releases like Precise and Slacko are ideal for recent and current hardware.

The Puppy community are producing some other brilliant derivatives too with different desktop environments and features. Check out the forum to see what they all are.

Running Ubuntu derivatives from Live CD will always be horribly slow. Puppy is truly different and in many respects superior. Runs in ramdisk so much faster. Ideal for people wishing to try Linux which is what this thread is about.

[ironjade]

Originally Posted by Oscar_

That's quite OK, you're not being rude... but....why?

The current Puppy releases like Precise and Slacko are ideal for recent and current hardware.

The Puppy community are producing some other brilliant derivatives too with different desktop environments and features. Check out the forum to see what they all are.

Running Ubuntu derivatives from Live CD will always be horribly slow. Puppy is truly different and in many respects superior. Runs in ramdisk so much faster. Ideal for people wishing to try Linux which is what this thread is about.

Running Mint from a live CD isn't "horribly slow", in fact the difference between that and a proper install is minute.
It takes only a few minutes to check that everything works so even if it is a bit slower, it probably won't matter.

[ironjade]

Originally Posted by womcom

I'm finally going to switch over to Linux.

Sick of BSOD and other Windows bloaty pain in the asses.

I have a few questions which I hope Linux users will be able to assist me on.

1. Which is the best Linux to get stated on?
2. Can I install Linux without deleting all the files of my hard disk?

In case no one else mentions it, if you're a game player then Linux is best avoided. There are games for written it and some Windows games will work via WINE but in short, forget it.

[Kal_El]

Originally Posted by Oscar_

That's quite OK, you're not being rude... but....why?

The current Puppy releases like Precise and Slacko are ideal for recent and current hardware.

The Puppy community are producing some other brilliant derivatives too with different desktop environments and features. Check out the forum to see what they all are.

Running Ubuntu derivatives from Live CD will always be horribly slow. Puppy is truly different and in many respects superior. Runs in ramdisk so much faster. Ideal for people wishing to try Linux which is what this thread is about.

Good point. Yes running Ubuntu live is slow, and Puppy will indeed outpace it in that scenario. But if the user wished to install Puppy, then that is where problems can arise. Having to manually install GRUB and whatnot will see anyone off wanting to try Linux. But yes, off a CD or USB, Puppy is awesome.

[petertard]

Linux Mint is well user-friendly, and you can install it alongside your other existing OS.

[MrQuike]

Originally Posted by ironjade

In case no one else mentions it, if you're a game player then Linux is best avoided. There are games for written it and some Windows games will work via WINE but in short, forget it.

The easiest answer is to install a Windows and Linux dual boot - or use a games machine.

Also if you install a dual boot you can choose to access all your windows files from Linux.

+1 for Ubuntu 12.04 here.