Any Linux experts around? This is supposed to be free open source software so where can I download Linux for free? Also some good websites to learn about it would be useful since I know absolutely nothing about it.

Thanks.

www.linux.org

That should link you up to a lot of Linux distributions (where you can learn about the distribution, download it, and read up on how to install and maintain it, etc), and a lot of info as well, to start off.

wats that thing for?

I tried installing Linux on my system a couple months back.. only problem was that most of my hardware is either new or the company doesn't issue Linux drivers. So I am left with a community driver that has to be complied with the kernel. So it runs but not really well.

One major tip I have. make sure you have a well know Network adapter card as Linux likes to grab all the updates off the net. The motherboard I have has a realatively new chip so none of the drivers worked off of the cd. this made the system very hard to get fully configured.

I have given up on linux for a while until I get more time to figure it all out. (my sound card still doesn't work) My brother has been trying to help me but he is normally way to busy. Heck he has been microsoft free for about a year now and is not looking back.

It is fun to play around in a different environment. My brother recommeneds the following distros

Commercial based
Red hat or Mandrake (for most average uses)

Community based
Debian (i found this was a pain in the butt to install)
or Knoppix (debian based but for main stream users)

there are a plethora of other distros.

for information I used google group searches and sifted through the distro forums.

I have heard linux for dummies is pretty good though.

I ran Redhat for a while. But I prefer BSD (www.freebsd.org).

Linus is nice, but my home machine is for games mainly (and some video work) and nothing beats XP for that. At work everything we do is windows too. I run an old Sparcstation 5 as my home server though.

Linux is fun but not practical for me.

You can download ISO CD images's from http://linuxiso.org/

Start with Knoppix.. It is a system runs entirely from a bootable CD.. try it out, surf the web, try out the office suite(s) ... once you've decided to wipe M$ windoze off your machine, go with a nice commercial distro like SuSE9, Debian, Mandrake. Redhat is phasing out their Desktop OS in favor of Entrprise Server OS's.. Fedora is the free project they have branched off, but I haven't tried it yet.

I've been using Linux on servers sicne 95, and as a desktop since 98. It has come a long way since then .. and is far more usefull for me than that other OS.

I have both Windoze XP and Mandrake Linux installed on my main home machine. Dual boot setup so I can switch back and forth as I need to. The other machines at home run Win98, Redhat, and then there is my son's MAC running Panther. It all pretty much runs together through the 100 Mbs ethernet that runs through the house. I mainly use the Linux side to write code and develop applications (simulations mostly). Drivers for Linux can be tricky to get working, especially with the newer (or very old) devices. I had a tiny 5 node Beowulf cluster running for a while. It was lots of fun. And Linux really would sing on it. Lately, most of my work is just powerpoint briefings, spreadsheet models, and word documents. Oh well......

Thanks guys, should keep me busy or frustrate the hell out of me :p

The multimedia drivers are a concern as Kaliken mentioned. I guess that's why Linux is great for servers where you don't need the multimedia drivers that so many of the consumer apps require for full functionality.

If I do mess with it, I'll be sure to use a spare HD I have lying around so that I can keep my XP desktop intact.

I'm just curious to see what the Linux movement is all about and from what I've been reading they say 2005 is the year Linux tries to make head way onto the desktop. I know companies like IBM and Oracle are trying to get rid of Microsoft apps completely.

What I currently do is run a partioned drive for my computer. the windows goes in a partion, linux goes to another and then all my programs and junk goes in another partition that can be seen by both OS.

The number one thing is.. BACK YOUR STUFF UP!!

Good luck! I may have to go try to get my sound card working this weekend.. hmm should be fun. .

if this is ur first install of linux i wud suggest RH9. EASY Install.

Long-winded word from a long-time DOS fanatic (I still do almost everything from a command line):

It's been hard for me to justify playing around with the *ixes at home. I too in the past have had one PC that was primarily for gaming. I've had a number of installs with a dual-boot setup, but I always found myself primarily in windows since I could do everything I had setup on the *ix install, plus play games when I wanted to. I only had one experience at work where I had a chance to put up an OpenBSD http proxy box, but right when I got it finished we decided to buy a hardware firewall that included similar functionality.

Maybe I don't have enough nerd in me, but I need something to motivate me to be able to apply things beyond just setting up modules for my hardware and getting the same common software pieces that provide my day-to-day functionality in Windows to work.

My new setup should work better for self-motivation: I now have a separate box on a network in the apartment dedicated to running *ix (currently Debian). It's currently just a code box for schoolwork, but my plans are to set up different common dedicated server pieces on it, such as smtp & http, and play around maintaining/administering those for a while.

Just relaying my experiences, with my advice: if you run into issues, don't let them discourage you - keep pushing forward!

BSD is for people who love Unix, Linux is for people who hate Windows.

I tried Mandrake which didn't make it past my SCSI card during the install and Knoppix. Knoppix couldn't figure out my digital LCD so once I put in the analog cable it was all good.

I was suprised how quickly Knoppix loaded and it looks pretty good. I didn't have internet connectivity though but it could have been my ISP since they were having problems last night. Everytime I went back to XP though net access was ok but terribly slow. Everytime in Knoppix I had no access to net but I'll try again tonight.

If anything it's just a novelty right now. I don't see anything that would make me switch to Linux full-time.

if you have never used linux before i HIGHLY suggest you go with mandrake linux, you can get it from www.mandrakesoft.com of better yet www.linuxiso.org

mandrake has tons and tons of documentation on thier site(s) and they recognise more hardware then most other distrobutions

I tried Mandrake and it couldn't figure out what to do with my SCSI card and wouldn't not let me continue the installation. I would have said just skip it but it wouldn't let me.

If I really want to try Mandrake I suppose I could disconnect my SCSI card and 2 SCSI CDs. I have a Atapi CD connected as well so no biggie there.

I have Knoppix working so there's no urgency to get Mandrake working. Now that I have Linux running on my machine what am I supposed to do? I'm just curious what it is about Linux that is supposed to be so great?

haha...

just use your computer as normal. you should have some basic things already installed on it such as browser or email programs. Pretty much its just going to replace your OS.. so its like a blank windows installation.

some useful software.. is mplayer (for movie files) and XMMS for mp3s. Ximinan evolution is pretty nice for email and for your browser I use either opera or mozilla firebird.

Just have fun and play around with it. If you don't play many video games you probably won't be missing much.