Somewhat new to Windows - willing to give Linux a try, but having trouble with the incentives.
I would like a simple Desktop OS that lets me do the following:

1. Load to a fresh PC HD with about the same ease/difficulty as Windows
2. Has a similar graphical interface as Windows
3. Run MS Office or OpenOffice
4. Surf the net with dial up modem
5. Use a standard CD-R/RW, floppy, modem, USB port
6. Let me buy a cheap inkjet printer and run it
7. Don't mind some configuration, but I don't want to have to write any code just to get my printer,modem,CD burner to work

I don't do gaming or video editing. I mainly use my PC to work up bids/proposals and to send invoices to clients.

Have seen several versions of Linux for sale at prices ABOVE the cost of "the other OS" . How can I justify spending money on a Linux OS AND have to spend 6 months on the learning curve to get it loaded and configured to play nice with my PC , its hardware and all my apps?
I was under the impression that Linux was relatively inexpensive and am finding the opposite. What am I missing?
Any help?
Thanks

quick google search shows the cheapest price for xp home w/ sp1a is $80.00. suse 9.0 professional, at $79.99. but in reality, you can get most distros for free (as in beer).

now for your list.

1. already there.
2. depends on your definition of similar, but with kde, i guess it's already there graphically.
3. already there on both. Openoffice will run natively, ms office through wine/codeweavers. codeweavers will make it easy for you. wine is by no means trivial to get up and running, but it's free (as in beer).
4. already there, but it takes some work and configuration if you're using a winmodem. pretty much easier getting a cheap hardware modem.
5. already there. depending on distro, already configured for you or you'll need to configure them yourself
6. should be no problem. hp makes linux drivers for most of their printing products.
7. well, you shouldn't have to write any code at all, but you may need to do some configuration. the ease of this is dependant on distro and how good you can grasp these configuration instructions. not meant in anyway to be disparaging, but it's like music theory. some people get it right away, some people don't get it at all, but later have an epiphany and then get it, and of course some people will never get it.

For an easy way to see what you may be in for, check out Knoppix. It can be downloaded free from their site or purchased cheeply online.
Trying Knoppix will thin down your list some with personal experience.

if you want linux cheap try ebay, i bought SuSE 9.0 pro for 8.99, albiet this is without the support that you get for buying the retail version. with that 80 bucks you get so much more than windows. in windows that 80 bucks is the operating system, nothing else.... want Office, well fork over some more cash. In linux you get cd upon cd of free programs. I read an article on a linux news site last summer (sorry can't remember which one) where they came up with the windows equivlent of programs included in Red Hat 9.0 , they gave up somewhere in disk 2 of 3 and at a total of about 15,000 bucks.

You said that you basicly use your computer to send stuff to your clients, so it sounds like you may want to keep windows around, just in case linux takes some getting used to. I would partition the hard drive and dual boot the two. (if you need to know how to do that just search LQ).

btw: for your needs i recomend suse

shane

Welcome to LQ, Stodgee.

Well, let me firstly say this to you - if you have not been exposed to Windows too much, you may well find that Linux is not actually that hard. The biggest problem comes when people that have been indoctrinated into 'the way of Windows' try to use Linux. Since you are not there, you should, I reckon, fair better than others.

As for meeting your requirements: no problems. Most recent distros support a stupidly wide range of hardware 'out of the box', the most consistent problem is with Winmodems. If you haven't bought your machine yet, then I would suggest you for-go the temptation to get a PCI modem and get a decent serial port modem. It'll save you a lot of hassle later on.

The two biggest desktop solutions for Linux would be KDE and Gnome. Both of these are very Windowsesque, so there shouldn't be much a problem with switching over. Many people find that the menu layout is more logical in recent distros since it is based on product type rather than product name. For example, Xine (a media player, good for DVDs) would be found under 'multimedia --> video' on recent Linux systems, and under 'Xine' on a Windows machine. Which makes better sense?

As mentioned earlier, MS Office will work with WINE (which standa for Wine Is Not an Emulator), and it works even better with Codeweaver's CrossOver Office product. However, OpenOffice (which comes with most recent distros) is pretty damn good. It works with most MSOffice documents so you can remain 'compatible' with anybody you know that still uses MSOffice. That, however, is not the only solution. There is KOffice and some applications loosely bundled together to create a sort-of GOffice (KDE and Gnome applications, respectively). Use many and make up your own mind.

Surf the net? Heard of Mozilla? No, try Netscape? Many of the browsers available for Linux systems are based on the Mozilla html renderer. My personal favourite is Galeon, but Konqueror (which is KDE's 'explorer' equivalent) is also pretty hot. As for dial-up modems, see above

Use a standard CDR/W, Floppy, Modem & USB port? CDR/Ws are no problem. If it is installed in the machine when Linux is installed (certainly newer distros) then it should be recognised and configured accordingly. Floppy drives are no problem. Modems, see above. USB ports, however, are slightly different. The ports will work absolutely fine, but the devices you plug into them may or may not be supported. If you could tell us a little about what you plan on using, then we can help you more.

Cheap inkjet printers. Hmm.... you get what you pay for. Although the situation is getting much better, with many common printers now supported, you may find that the really-cheap-end of the spectrum are a bit rubbish. Just as some modems use specific software under Windows to perform, so do some printers. I suppose you could call them Winprinters, but they're not. HP printers are well supported.

Configuring - you would have to be very lucky to completely avoid it. Distros like Mandrake and SuSE are designed to make configuring your system easier, but some of these tools do not support all the possible options available. The best way you can get your stuff sorted is to stay on these forums

You should have no major problems.

Very important... BEFORE buying any printer you intend to use under Linux, look it up first on LinuxPrinting.org and make sure that the printer you're thinking of buying isn't a printer considered to be a "paperweight" by them... if it is, it can make for a challenging time getting it to work, believe me.