Thread: Recommendations for a learner to Linux

I got sick of the instability and horrendous slowness of winblows so i went out and bought a basic system of fleabay for all up about $100. Its an ex government dell. I am running the latest version of Ubuntu on it and using it for all my computing needs without a single problem. I think it outshines windows by a large margin and if a nonce like me can work around in it anyone can. Give it a shot you will be impressed.

Try out Mandriva Free, Ron.
There are several editions, my recommendation, for what it is worth, is to download the ISO of "Mandriva 2007-1 free". It is a Live CD, that will boot and run entirely from CD, or can also be installed to a hard disk if you like the system.
They also have a 4 Gb DVD ISO, that is the one I downloaded to install on my machine.

I use it myself, (Mandriva Spring-the latest updates are coming in as I type.) installed to the same machine XP is, just a different disk set.
I'm speaking through the penguin right now.

Web site is www.mandriva.com or maybe you are lucky like me, and your ISP provides a free mirror server. That way the massive download doesn't count in my monthly download limit.

Also check out www.distrowatch.com www.freshmeat.org www.slashdot.org

or just google the word "linux" and see the several million results come up.

It really is a LOT bigger than the Microsoft publicity machine is trying to pretend.

Good luck with the penguin mate.


Shorty.

I've downloaded Knoppix and Ubuntu.

Knoppix won't support my video card very well nor does it support my WiFi card but Ubuntu works a treat on both. The biggest problem I've dound so far on Ubuntu is that the mouse is quite hard to use. I've played with the preferences but can't get a satisfactory resolution to the difficulties in control.

Mandriva was to be my next port of call.

I really need a bigger hard drive in my laptop so I can run a dual boot system.

I still need Windows for some apps.

Ron

I'm told ubuntu is really good. It's a fascinating story about how it has come about too. Check it on Wiki.

I know I'm a mac person now, and I'd never go back, but if I had to jump to another OS I'd go straight to Ubuntu. I'm toying with the idea of doing a media centre PC. I will use Ubuntu if I do.

For the pedantic, Mac OSX is not Linux, it is a distribution of UNIX with it's nearest ancestor being BSD.

Ubuntu is easy to install and manage. Does a great job of bringing over My Documents and your bookmarks from Windows if you install as dual boot. My 69 y.o. mother in law now uses it and I sleep better now (she's the kind of person who clicks on every pop up window to see if she really did win a $1m!!!).

Personally I like SuSE which seems to be one of the better distros out of the box at reading Windows file systems. Used it for years and loved it.

Linux is invaluable for giving older Intel / AMD hardware a new lease of life once its Windows installation has slowed to a crawl.

I tried Ubuntu <-- spelling? ONCE

easy to install, but you dont really want my opinion of it as an OS

Originally Posted by LoveMyV8County

invaluable for giving older Intel / AMD hardware a new lease of life once its Windows installation has slowed to a crawl.

thats one of my biggest gripes people always want to run the latest version of XP/Vista on a PC that's so old there's no fan on the CPU.
People should match the OS to the specs. Old PC, Old OS.

Originally Posted by HangOver

I tried Ubuntu <-- spelling? ONCE

easy to install, but you dont really want my opinion of it as an OS

Yes. Why not.

Ron