Some casual users can use distros like Mint or Ubuntu, and even openSUSE or Fedora and almost never see the CLI (command line interface); this was me for the first few years. But one of Linux's prime features is its UNIX command line - which, after some learning, gives you a lot of efficient control over your system. If you plan to use Slackware at one point, it would definitely be wise to learn the command line.

For beginners, the most useful commands to learn would probably be fdisk, parted, file/directory management like cd, ls, mkdir, rm, mv, apt-get (if using Ubuntu, Mint, or any other Debian related system), man for manpages, and how to do init/system control (like rebooting). The UNIX/Linux command line usually uses a quite nice shell called bash, has many more useful system commands and utilities, and is in general vaguely similar to the old DOS prompts but *much* more powerful. Christopher Negus has a "fill in the blank distro" Toolbox book series that covers many useful commands. The Ubuntu would be great for both Mint and Ubuntu as they're similar under the hood. He might have updated his books with a second edition.

Mainstream distros have pretty GUI utilities for almost anything now, but down the road you might want to pull up a terminal and play every now and then.

Your plans on trying an older Mint and other distro combinations are solid. Mint 13 is how I got Linux running on my brother's HP Compaq Presario with an Nvidia graphics card. Speaking of Nvidia and Linux, you outta google Tarvalds comments on the Nvidia. With your current frustration, you'll probably chuck with and agree with his rather blunt statement.

You might find this handy, too: the Linux timeline

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...th_Android.svg

Thanks for that! Just to let everyone know, all is good here. I am going to bed tonight with Linux Mint 13 (Maya)on my 8600. It's good until 2017, apparently, so I've got some time to learn it. I was able to do a dual install and keep XP on the computer so my daughter can continue using that for school until she starts learning Linux and we get her a better machine. I had to go with Maya because of the kernel. X86. It was not having fun with 32 bit Cinnamon. So, we are good now, I have already started playing with Linux this evening, I had a serious talk with my kids about the dangers of staying with MS, and I think they are on board. We will be a free range computing family soon. As soon as I get comfy with this, which doesn't look like it will take that long, I'll be putting the Ubuntu on my HP Pavilion. Before long, I'll be king of the terminal.
Thanks a lot to everybody who helped me today. It was sort of stressful, but I made it through it.

For your Inspiron 8600 I would recommend (again) Slackware 14.1 (the stable release).

Download it (from LQ or your favorite mirror), burn it on a DVD.

Boot the DVD which will load the kernel and (few) utilities for installation.

You will need to partition your disk drive before you start installation; you'll need a swap partition and at least one other. You do that with cfdisk (it's on the DVD). You select the type (swap or Linux), set the swap at 2X RAM, set Linux as the rest of the disk.

You are wiping out whatever is on that disk; get anything you value off first.

When that's done, type setup and away you go.

You'll be asked a number of questions, read what's being asked, select an answer (most of the right answers are the default). You'll be asked about installing packages, you want to install all (don't pick and choose, take the default).

The installer is not a GUI (X is not running), it's text forms that are easy to read, easy to move around in and easy to understand. I strongly recommend that you select Xfce as your window manager (you can always change the window manager later).

It's going to take, maybe, 15-20 minutes to install (maybe longer if the box is really slow).

When it's done, follow the prompt to reboot (which will eject the disk) and when the Slackware logo pops up, hit the return key and watch 'er boot.

It will boot into console. You log in (you created the root account during installation and you added a root password). You can start X (with the command startx) and go from there. If you want a GUI log in, you can do that later, for now, stick with console and startx.

It's quick and easy, no fluff, gives you a chance to see what's what.

Hope this helps some.

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Congrats! Linux and kids aren't necessarily bad - I got into Linux on my own when I was 11 years old. If Cinnamon gave you a had time and you haven't switched already, you might want to you MATE. You probably can get Mint 13 or 17 MATE to run ok on your old laptop with some RAM upgrades on your 1200. Switching to MATE from Cinnamon isn't bad - http://www.itworld.com/article/27270...on-system.html, then select MATE at the login screen.

Personally if I were you, I'd wait to mess with Slackware until you knew more about the internals of your system and some basics of the command line.

I'm beginning to fall in love with the penguin. Everything is telling me that I have made the right decision the way we are going. Yea, I know that the 1200 is a joke as is any old computer, but based on what you guys have been telling me, if I can get more life out of it for awhile, then why not? And I can do it cheaply. Besides, my daughter is three years old, and maybe she would like the little dog. Why wouldn't she? She likes unicorns and bunnies too. The 1200 is for her to learn how to function in a Linux environment. I think of this as being free range. I want her to grow up in a world where MS doesn't exist. I want her to think free range because this is what the world needs. She will go to school someday and blow her classmates away with what she can do and with what she has learned. The 1200 is a learner for me too as I get to play some more with its guts, and I will attempt to run some form of Linux on it that will work. This is a blast. It has been stressful, but I am learning a lot in a short amount of time because of all the awesome help I am getting. Being in the company of you folks feels very comfy. That's good. So, I am taking lots of notes. I got Linux Mint 13 running on the 8600 late last night and I got to start playing around with it. I'm a wee bit intimidated yet with the terminal and the root, but I am going to do a lot of studying before I start really messing with that, and hey, even if I do break something, I presume I can always uninstall and reinstall just like I did many times before with windows while I learned it too. I am very, very excited with this and am happy that we are making this break. I want to spread the word. Free your mind and your ass will follow. I'm still having some difficulty getting online, but I have a hunch about what to do, and I am going to experiment before I throw up the white flag. Undoubtedly I'll be back with more questions, but I appreciate you all taking the time to help me and give me all your great insights, suggestions, comments, and ideas.

Same boat I'm in with a friend of my wifes. Her computer has XP on it, and xp has crashed and is unusable. I've told her basically her realistic choices are:

1. Buy a new pc with a supported OS.
2. Switch to linux to continue using the old pc.

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Thanks Wagscat! Yes, I'm intrigued with Slackware and am anxious to start messing with it. Right now I am just so thrilled to have any form of Linux on a machine so I can play with it. I am anxious to play with the terminal and start learning about the shell, etc. But I can wait. One thing at a time. As time goes on, with experience, valuable advice from others, and experimentation, I feel confident that before too long, I'll be walking windows to the recycle bin forever.

Good suggestions, and while we aren't in a position right now to run out and just buy new laptops for those who might need them, we are in a position to take what we have, repurpose them, and make them work. The three year old won't ever know the difference, and I prefer she learn on a "doorstop" than something brand spanking new anyway. If she pours her juice all over it to see what happens, it isn't the end of the world. But seriously, she's smarter than that, and she will take care of that box. She is not only learning Linux, but she is learning the value of taking good care of what she has, and lessening the demand for new resources. When the time is right, she will be upgraded, and at that time, she will recognize and appreciate the value in that. In the meantime, this is part of what I love about Linux. We are done literally having to buy into the belief that we HAVE TO have the latest and greatest computer and the latest version of crappy proprietary software. Linux is reality. Free range penguins.

Thanks! Yes, this does help immensely. I am not ready to put anything on the 1200 yet as I need to beef up the ram. That will happen soon though, and as soon as it does, then I think I might try Slackware. It's actually good too for me to be installing different versions of Linux on different machines so I can test out the different flavors to see what tastes best and what works best. Excellent step-by-step directions here that should be difficult for me to screw up, but hey, I'm human. Since I got Linux Mint 13 to go on the 8600, I'm going to be playing around with that until I get the ram issue fixed on the 1200. So, I have lots to do and to start learning for now. Thanks to all you guys for welcoming me to this community and helping me out. This is what I had hoped for and tells me I am in the right place. It's like coming home to a better place that you've never been to before.

Congrats on immigrating to the computing free world, we are always a growing community welcome new members. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to come back to LQ. We have fora and experts for just about any questions you might have. Have fun with the hidden jewel of Desktop computing. Learning Linux is like learning a new language - you can get pretty good at it, but there's always more to learn. Even folks who started with mainframes in the 80's and hang around here as a Double Guru or LQ Addict still learn new things occasionally.

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Debian is getting a bit heavy. It's definetely not a light and clean distribution anymore, and its going away from some of its core principles. I like Debian, but its not lightweight, and many important dependencies are not accounted for in the core system.

I tried the netboot version for this purpose, since its only a 350mg image. Its very good as a lightweight Debian, which you can build on yourself.

I always do the netinstall and then build it myself. Only way (IMO) debian should be used, as otherwise I do agree, it's far too bloated. But, I believe the "masses" (if one can call linux users masses) prefer that.

Just be sure that you cut the prize for each of your future computer purchases by 100 dollars as well. This however is not always so easy, as Microsoft and the computer companies try to force Windows on to everyone at an additional cost to the hardware.

I bought my computer in Europe. It took awhile to find the perfect one. No one was selling any computers without Windows. I looked online and found a few shops who had without Windows, and the savings were clear.

Better yet, build desktop computers. There they cannot force you to buy Windows. If you need windows for anything, its better to buy a Windows DVD for a couple of hundred dollars.

No need to buy many new computers all the time. With GNU/Linux I just don't need that. And with the money saved from Microsoft licences alone, I can easily buy a Windows DVD and still save money on licence fees.

I have had Windows 7 in a virtual machine, and it runs better in virtual machine than on the same machine directly.

Besides, if you like old stuff, and compatibility with old stuff, even Windows 98, Windows XP age stuff, then you have Wine, which is much better at compatibility with old Windows, than new Windows itself is.

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I have been getting the impression that all the Linux folks really, really like it and I am starting to see why. It is already becoming somewhat addictive for me. I can't wait to sit back down and tinker with it, and well, being a dad, I love fixing things and making them work. Ha! In a few days I have gone from never having been exposed to Linux to being able to install it on a machine, play with it, and dig into its mysteries and wonders. It's fun! I regret not having done this a long time ago, but better late than never. It cannot be stated enough also, how wonderful it is to find myself in the company of patient experts. Thank you all again!