Another option: look for Linux magazines, they give away DVDs, usually with one or more distros, and guidance how to install them.

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I would suggest that you pick the one you liked the best from an installation and user interface perspective, reinstall it, then come back here to LQ or go to a distro-specific forum and ask for help with the problems you encounter. Most problems can be solved with a little effort.

Periodic maintenance and occasional upgrades will be necessary, no matter what OS or distro you use.

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Hi. The Linux magazines (with disks) are nice they tend to work well to sell more. Tweaked by professionals I'd guess? I also second the Library as-well if available lots of books like the Linux-bible come with hands on learning, here too, but the sea can be overwhelming... first link in my signature offers some diving platforms.
Good luck and have fun.

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Apple is Apple it appeals to some and not to others, I like Mac's there are 3 in the family we also have 2 Dells. Actually for the OP and his slow internet I'd be inclined to also recommend a used Mac.

Two out of the three are mostly about the moneyopoly but even they may reap the benefits because one is all about the freedom IMH!

Linux mite seem like a hard cookie to crack but once that cookie is wide open you gonna enjoy it, you mite cheat on it sometimes but it will be from something close and familiar perphaps another distro you will never want to use windows again for anything serious besides gaming.


The is help all over the internet about linux related problems and you won't have to pay a cent. Great part is that the help will be coming from way smarter people than the one's that get paid to tell to take your pc to the nearest microsoft or apple outlet for a silly problem which can be fixed in a matter of minutes by just DIY.

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If only we could have learned Linux first... like my 10 and 2 1/2 yr old nephews, next best thing is second.

I'll do that. Instead of downloading I'll send for Linux Mint and Red Hat both of which can run Wine . Two more questions before I go ... I've got a desktop computer I bought at a garage sale. It's fully functional and has an 80gb HD, Single core CPU 2.66 ghz, 2mbs of upgraded ram, IDE and SATA connections. Mobo probably made in roughly 2008. Will that be adequate for small videos and music ? Music is important to me and someone said something about using a USB device for that. How does that work? I'll miss my M-Audio card (no driver). Sniff.

I would recommend not to do Red Hat. One, it is not free, there is an annual support charge. Second, it is more of a server distribution and not really for current desktop use, especially with respect to multimedia. I am not saying it is not stable or such, just that it may not meet your needs.

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Thank you. That will save me some fuss.

You could use CentOS which is virtually identical to Redhat (but no charge) but again, not so good as a desktop OS.

You might want to take a look at PCLinuxOS. It is a rolling distro, just keep it updated and no reinstalls when new versions come out. It comes with many drivers and such with it. You could give it a go without installing to see if you like it.

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That should be fine for playing music and videos, but media will rapidly eat up your storage space. 80 GB is not much when you consider that a full installation of most modern distros will need 20 to 30 GB for the OS, a typical complement of system and desktop software, and temp space. You may need to upgrade the hard drive (a good idea anyway if it is five years old), or add a larger hard drive for additional media storage. You can get a 2 or 3 TB drive for not much money these days. Upgrading your RAM to 4GB, if possible, would also be worthwhile.

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I may be getting this wrong but my impression is that the OP has one computer and a phone. If say the distro updates and breaks his NIC how does he go about figuring out how to fix it without being a nerd or being able to research? The $147 per year will give him a lifeline if something goes t*ts up. After a year he'll have some chops and can move to a community distro. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place XP support is gone in April, Windows 7 is scarce really scarce in rural areas, Windows 8 is a new paradigm, and he's computer is not exactly state of the art. We're telling him that it's a good idea to buy a HD (which it is) but not a good idea to pay for an OS with a lifeline. If he's survived all this time on 80GB he'll be good with 80GB going forward worst go to newegg and order a 320GB drive but it's still really throwing good money after bad.

Have you ever paid for Linux support, I'd guess more complains than home-users do? Interested to hear what you'd get? Support comes in many ways from most OSs the bulk of it debatably (like to use m$\mac$) is the net and sure some times freedom ain't easy. (E.g: how would we survive without our precious government$\border$\tradition$ or would we simply not have this me$$? )

I seriously doubt I would ever need a storage drive that was larger than 250 gb. I'm real picky about my music and videos are generally small ones from YouTube. Most of my time on the computer is spent doing research of some kind.