what is a kernel? im thinking about switching to linux and these seems important to know about.

what is the easiest platform?

is installation is hard as it appears, if you use graphics?

umm....im sure i will think of somemore

Well kernel is the heart of the linux os . Everything is built around it.
Linux is cool and installation is very easy if you do the partition part correctly.

If you have windows and you want a dual boot with linux you must be carefull with partitioning the HDD.
Want only the linux os..then no problem in installation. Everything goes fine.

Hey

The kernel is the core of the operating system. It is what everything functions around. All the drivers, all the hardware input and output passes through the kernel. The easiest platform.. well most of us will be using x86 (Pentium, AMD Athlon, Celeron, and a few others that are common). If you ment Distrobution, personally, give Slackware a try. It's not the absolute easiest to install, but it is quite easy. And for using it, well, that's just upto you. People either love it, or hate it. It's not to hard, just gota give it a try.

thank you....one more...how does kernel effect me, and what does it do

ok ok slackware vs. fedore core 1 and or 2

If you are used to using windows or if windows is the only OS you have used, Xandros 2.0 will be one of the easiest to become accustomed to. All major distros are similar at there core, because they tend to have the same kernel. The difference in most distros is in the GUI and utilities surronding the kernel.

Xandros has a free version of Xandros 2.0 called the Free Edition. If you go to www.xandros.com, they have instructions on how to obtain a copy over the Internet from both Linux and Windows machines. They also have instuctions on how to get the copy to a CD and then how to install the copy.

Other editions that tend to be easier for Windows users include Mandrake. The reason Xandros tends to be easier is because the GUI looks and acts like windows and the update utility called Xandros Networks acts like Windows Update.

Many users will switch to a different distro once they get comfortable with Linux.

Be warned about folks (including me) recommending distros. The Linux of choice for any one person is a highly personal and opinionated topic. Probably the only thing all Linux users agree on is it is better and cheaper than Windows in many ways.

ok another thing that concerns me is for college, i mean i have reports and i have to use publisher and powerpoint, are there equivalent programs for linux and programs that will still allow me to run these programs on any linux platforms...what are your opinions on Fedora becuase i found books for both core 1 and 2 and i dont know which one is different in anyway.

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The problem with Fedora is it is still somewhat advanced. Fedora is sponsered in part by RedHat since RedHat decided not to support home users anymore. Fedora was around before RedHat for home use went away but didnt have the following it does now.

Fedora is fairly easy to transition to for RedHat users and it supports Open Office and Star Office which both can open Office documents. Xandros sells a version of there free OS that has an extra program that allows Office to be installed on the Linux box. The problem here is that you have to pay for this version and you still have to pay for Office itself. The "business" version of Xandros is $89 USD which is not unreasonable but you can get and "upgrade" copy of XP for $99 so Xandros has not proven to be competitive on cost.

Xandors is superior to Windows in most other ways but that topic is for another post.

I am not saying Xandros in partitcular and Linux in general are not economically competitive with Microsoft but I am saying for your particular needs and an individual consumer, needing Office is prohibitive. The bigger topic on total cost of ownership is not relevent in this post I dont think.

Perhaps instead of focusing on which flavor of Linux you want to start with try looking into the capabilities of OpenOffice and see if you can use this product to replace Microsoft Office. Since OpenOffice will run on all the major Linux distros, the flavor of Linux becomes somewhat less important as long as you can get your work done.

Another consideration may be to either dual boot or run Linux on a separate box so that if you get backed into a corner (ie home due in a few hours) you can always use Microsoft Office as a backup plan. If you use Linux enough to get used to it, you will eventually dump the Windows box anyway or relegate it to permanent backup status.

I'm not qualified to give recommendations here since the only distributions I have tried are Libranet and Red Hat...

But just out of curiousity, why did you decide to switch to Linux?

I switched to Linux because I was sick of reinstalling Windows every 2-3 months

And a word of advice, don't give up easily on Linux, it may not be as easy to use at first, but once you get the hang of it, you'll get addicted to it... that I can guarantee

First off, if you are not interested in the nitty gritty of linux you don't need to know anything about the kernel except for MAYBE what kernel you have, althogh basically the higher the version number of the kernel the more advanced and up to date it will be. Windows also has a kernel and you don't know anything about that (mostly because it is illegal to see lol). As for a newbie distro DO NOT use fedora, please please don't. I have used both and from my experience people that use fedora as the first linux experience tend to dislike linux. Use SuSE 9.1 if you want to stick with easiness, use Knoppix if you are just curious (no permanent changes to your comptuer with knoppix). If you want to get reall nitty gritty then use Slackware, debian, or gentoo (I can't even figure out gentoo lol). As for compatability with the MS world it is quite easy. Open Office is a free program that will do excel, powerpoint, and MS office documents. There is a program called wine that will emulate windows programs with a little bit of tweaking. There is winex for directX games. There is a way to do all the windows stuff on a linux machine if you really work at it (with the exception of games made my microsoft...those don't seem to work lol)

Ok this is a stupid question considering what has already been said. But i am running redhat and am not having much luck (ie. programs dont run, or try to run but fail, cant get LAN to run, WiFi not recognized). This is just an experiment. I have 3 2ghz plus machines so i just figured i would throw a dual boot on my laptop and see what happens. Was redhad a bad decision? I chose redhat because all the engineering department computers dual boot into windows 2000 or redhat.

PS. All you guys that hang out in here and tell us what to do and what we are doing wrong rock. I have not leanred anything from the two 400pg manuals except what not to do.

Like someone said earlier, ones distro is very personal, like your steak, some eat them medium rare, and some well done, its all in personal taste.

also, by the time you get it down, you will most likely change your distro several times.

i would recommend suse for a beginner, yast works like a dream, and it works extremely well, the set up is flawless, and it supported all of my hardware without an issue.

Ive now moved to mandrake, and i like it well also, start with something easy, and then moving to something more difficult, you didn't start out on a mountain bike, you started witha big wheel, then a tricycle, then training wheels then a 20" and then a mountain bike, then your car, take baby steps, and prepare to take some time.

-ross.