With XP soon to be ditched for Vista, I feel its time that I take the plunge and ditch Microsoft all together. The problem is, however, I have no idea what Distro I should use, or even if my computer can use Linux. I also play many computer games that I don't think will run in Linux (many are old, and are long abandoned by there makers.)


I also use the internet alot, and MSN. Is there a MSN replacement for Linux?

Welcome to the world on Linux. You can try a LiveCD. A LiveCD is a disk you burn which loads the operating system off the disc, rather than the hard drive, so you can try any version of Linux without taking the risk of installing over Windows. Ubuntu is the most popular distro at the moment for new users. Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 was recently released: http://www.ubuntu.com/

Download the iso, burn it and reboot your computer. It should load automatically. Have you seen compiz fusion in action? Here is Linux running with compiz-fusion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lawkc3jH3ws

JC.
Since you would be totally new to Linux I would do as suggested and try A few Live Cd's.
I would also look at those with KDE desktops as the KDE desktop gives you a familiar feel similar to the windows desktop.
The top rated ones at the moment [according to distrowatch anyway] would be the 'buntu's and PCLinuxOS.
Kubuntu would be the one with the kde desktop and PCLinuxOS2008 comes standard with the KDE desktop.
Both have several games that come with the install and several more that can be downloaded and installed.
With PCLinuxOS be careful to not download the one with the Gnome desktop,,, give yourself time to acclimate before making drastic changes to your pc world.
Pidgen is an instant messenger that allows you to use AIM, MSN and Yahoo instant messengers and is KDE compatible as well as friendly.
Simply go to tools/preferences/bowser and select Firefox and your mail account will open up there.
Pidgen can be downloaded and installed from the respective repository.
You can also use it to access your email accounts.
With KDE, your cd/dvd burner would be K3b.
There are several audio players to choose from and it all depends on your taste.
As for games, if they are old, they will probably play in wine.
If they are DOS games, there is dosbox.
There is a program called Cedega which is a pay program that runs lord knows how many windows games.
Some games have been kind of "retrofitted" to work with Linux such as Doom and Quake to name a few.
The overwhelming majority of your "software" will come from a repository that you access from your installed distro.
This software has been tested and retested to make sure it's safe and compatible with the distro your running.
For your video card, nvidia is the friendliest but several of the ATI cards work well and there are many others that are compatible.
You'll probably need at least 512 megs of ram and about 20 gigs of hd to run most distro's. [Actually 10 gigs of hd is more than adequate but...]
Most disro's will format and partition your hd for you.
I know the two mentioned above will for a fact.
For printer/scanners, HP is the friendliest but it's best to check all of your hardware and peripherals before making the leap.
No sense in making a sour experience out of it as I myself am a convert and am totally thrilled with my change.
A word to the wise,, DO NOT let someone bully you or tell you what you want, try them all and make up your own mind.
It's also good to peruse the respective forums as you can see what's available in them.
Take your time and don't rush into anything and don't get frightened off by the terminology used, they're just words and most forums are friendly enough to help you grasp the terminology.
for now, I'd steer clear of the forums and distro's that have you using the terminal/shell regularly.
Grasp the terminology first, then ease into using the terminal/shell as it can get rather frustrating trying to grasp something as totally new as Linux.
One final word on the live cd's, they run a heck of a lot slower than when they are installed.

Thanks for the help, im downloading ubuntu right now, and all give that a look, then all try PCLinuxOS


My computer specs are 160 GBs of HDD space, 512 Ram, 1.8 Ghz prossesser. and a ATI Radion 9050

That computer should have no trouble with Linux. The "getting started" link below might help also.

Hi JC

Everything listed above is good advice. I switched to Linux almost a year ago and
never looked back. I have an IBM laptop and it took trying several different
distros till I found one that everything works out of the box (mostly). Currently
I run Ubunutu 7.10.

What I was going to suggest was if you have more than one hard drive you can install
Linux on one drive, and leave another for windows, which is what I do. Actually I
have three hard drives. The third is for experimenting with other distros. I have
only 4 apps that require windows, and I dont use them much anyway.

This is very easy for me to try out different distros without loosing my current setup.

One place to get live discs is from Linux magazines. They include them with the magazines.
Linux Format is the one I buy most often. There are many more you can find at a book
store.

Good luck in selecting a distro and welcome to the wonderful world of Linux.
Oh yeah did anyone mention that there are practically no viruses in Linux!!!

Vanessa

Thanks for the help everyone.

I do have a second hard drive, but its an external HDD. Will that still work?

Of course yes! Never doubt linux ability now! It will detect as soon as you plug it!

Of course they will work with linux, currently all usb stuff works ok in linux.

Good look and welcome to Linux world.

Does M$icrosoft Vista come with a liveCD? Then I can download it and run it for free!

I did not know what a liveCD was till I read this post. How do they work?

_______________________________________________

I gave Linux a try because of M$crosoft. My M$crosoft ME started to huff and puff and told me to get Vista. I tried to recompile my M$crosoft ME, but I did not know where to start. Now, I have been compiling Linux. It compiles. I just got to get it to boot.

oh I meant if I install Linux on my external HDD, will it still work? or internal HDDs only?


Sorry for the confusion.

Depends if your bios allows you to boot from a usb device.

You CAN install Linux on almost anything, including an external USB drive. I do not recommend it, however. The system can get confused if something is changed on the USB bus.

IMHO, the best way to utilize 2 drives (1 internal, 1 external) is to put 2 OSes (or more) on the internal and use the external for shared data or backup.

Sorry for all the questions, but I just relised another one


my family who uses this computer also use Ipods, I don't think Itunes runs on Linux, how can I put new music on there Ipods?

I do not know about ipods, but I tried an mp3 player and it was for M$crosoft ME and I had no Linux software for it. I was able to put mp3 music onto it without any problem.

1) Can you tell me if it also works for ipods when you try it?

________

I gave Linux a try because of M$crosoft. My M$crosoft ME started to huff and puff and told me to get Vista. I tried to recompile my M$crosoft ME, but I did not know where to start. Now, I have been compiling Linux. It compiles. I just got to get it to boot.