I've been trying to find different distro's to download, but I've been runnin' into a few problems... First off, I don't know (my architecture?) which download to pick... there's PowerPC (macs, i know that one loll) x86, x86_64, i386, and a billion other ones. Then there's different versions, and I'm never sure that I have the latest one! There are triple, quad, and quintuple file associations and I don't know what they mean! There are Biz-card files, floppy files, LiveCD files, install files, etc. Sometimes they have the source, which i know i don't need, but then they have /current folders and it's not current at all! What the heck? And people wonder why everyone sticks to Windows? That is the biggest hurdle to jump out there! I have an AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3400+... and I have a Linksys WiFi card (if that helps), A DVD-RW drive, a wide-screen LCD monitor, and a cheap HP printer. Can anyone explain what downloads I need to look for? I'd rather have a DVD than a CD, but CD's are OK. I'll try any LiveBoot CD's, and I want some regular install DVD's to install linux... Please help me, these download sites are so confusing! Mostly all I want to know is what architecture to download.

That's what forums are for. No need to panic.
You have a 64 bit processor, so can run a 64 bit kernel (x86_64). I wouldn't recommend that from my own experience, and I think most people will agree that for a new user it isn't worth the hassle. Download the iso for the i386 architecture.
PPC (powerpc) is for macs
And a live cd starts into a working system Without installing anything anywhere! This is useful for troubleshooting, data recovery, working with the root filesystem, special purpose machines...

If you don't know what distribution to choose, the popular choices for new users are:
Ubuntu, Mandriva, Fedora, Suse... maybe even Debian

And everyone is going to recommend to you what he prefers. So you have to figure that one out yourself.

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On a side note - I don't care about that, but alot of people won't answer your posts if they consist of 50% pointless linux bashing.
Most people couldn't care less if newbieX makes the transition. It works for them, period.

Sorry about that, I was kinda freakin out... well, my newest thing is, I wanna know if you can put multiple Linux CD images onto a single DVD? I hope so, b/c that would save me a lot of disks!

You can put ANY file on a DVD--including a CD image---but WHY??
Blank CDs are cheap. blank DVDs cost a bit more, take more time to burn, and conceviable can be less reliable (higher density)

Plus, if you do put them all on to one dvd you won't be able to run any of them during boot up. To do that, you'll have to burn the image onto its own cd anyway.

An ISO is a disc image. One image per disc. You can't have multiple images on a disc. You can copy the ISO files to a DVD but in order to actually use them each one has to be burned to a disc as "burn image".

As for your processor, you could use either a 64 bit (x86_64) or 32 bit (i386)system. The problem is that 64 bit is still relatively new and a lot of stuff hasn't been ported to 64 bit yet. Running either a 32 bit or a 64 bit with 32 bit libraries is the best solution for now. To be honest, unless you're running some seriously heavy apps you won't be able to tell the difference between 32 bit and 64.

Your best bet at this point is to stick with 32 bit until 64 bit matures a bit more.

Since you're a newbie looking to explore Linux I'd recommend checking out Ubuntu or Simply Mepis.

The reason I wanted to know is this: DVDs generally cost maybe twice as much as CDs (actually, it's a little less) but here's the thing, DVDs hold 4.7 GB, while CDs hold 700 MB, so 4.7 divided by .7 = 6.71! So 1 DVD holds the same amount as 6.71 CDs, plus my drive reads DVDs faster than CDs. It also gets rid of a lot of clutter (say you want all the newest vesions of SLAX, it would take approximately 1 DVD instead of a bunch of CDs). I got Linux for Dummies from the library, and it had a bootable version of Slackware (i think) and it had a bunch of other Linux distros. I'd love to make a SUPER DVD lol. I'd have like 7 or 8 distros (maybe LiveCDs) on one DVD, and maybe there could be a boot loader to switch between them, idk... anyway, I'm not trying to flame you, and thanks for the suggestions every1.

You could burn the distributions to a rewriteable cd or dvd, since you're only going to use them once anyway. It's not reasonable, even if it were possible to put more than one installer on one cd/dvd.

Linux.com | Multi Distro is Linux times 9 on a single CD-R
http://distrocenter.linux.com/articl...353239&tid=127

It is obviously possible. The dvds that come with the various Linux for dummies, come with several distros as well.

So there is a way to do it, but why bother. Get some cd-rws , burn a few livecds to get the feel for things. Once you find one that you like install it.

If you have a usb drive you can even put them all on there.
Boot and run Linux from a USB flash memory stick | Pen Drive Linux
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

Why should I use a rewritable CD/DVD to burn an image? I use regular CD/DVD for that... If you burn an image to a rewritable disk, you can never re-write it. Also, I finally found my flash drive/ thumb stick/ pen drive (whatever it is you want to call it), so thanks for the suggestion! I think I'll try some of those, that would be great for using on other pc's! Also, I've already discovered the "embedded" Linux's for using w/ windows, and I think I'll experiment w/ those for the time being, since that's the only way I can use the internet . My main wish is to find some Linux groups, but I don't have the psychic abilities required to know what to type here, and what to click there to find some pertinent information, I guess I'll have to wait until a real human comes around who knows Linux . I know about all the websites and stuff about groups, but I don't have 5 hours to interpret them... Well, if I do ever figure out how to use Linux, I'll write a book about my troubles w/ switching from Windows to Linux, so that maybe the Linux community can learn how to make Linux more accessible to Windows users, and maybe Linux won't just be the 2nd runner up of OS's. I know I'm babbling, but I'd just like to say thanks for the support. Maybe the solution is getting off WiFi lol. Till next time...

yeh the soultion is allmost definatly to connect with an old fationed wire to the internet untuill you get somthing you are willing to stick with, then try to install the wifi drivers for you card.
(you normally have to dwonload thease from the internet so the wire is neccacary)

i like the way that suse hndles internet conections (with KNetworkManager) as it is easy to set up once you have got teh wifi drivers tehre (in my case madwifi as i have an atheros based wifi card)


as for support just post here and in the forum of the distro you choose, most people will help you out as much as they can

What's that about you can never rewrite a rewriteable disk????

I burn iso's to CD-RWs (and DVD-RWs) all the time, and then erase them and burn a new one....

And yes, lots of people have tried to write a book about switching to Linux from Windows (I considered it), but it's not worth the effort -- linux just isn't for everyone.

At the same time, if you stick with it, and keep asking questions (the psychic abilities will come, with time , you'll be a linux guru (read: user) in no time