Hi everyone,

This would be my third attempt to get out of the MS grip and start using Linux.
In 2004 I got several CDs (my second attempt to break away).
I have DSL, KANOTIX X-2004,YOPER, Lorma Linux, KNOPPIX Linux 3.7, Feather Linux 0.7, GNOPPIX Linux 0.8, Morphix Linux 0.4. When I got these CDs the promise was that they will work. Ha!
I got so many because I was hoping that at least one will work correctly. Unfortunately that didn't happen!
Is there a Linux CD that I can install on my computer just like windows? I learned windows by doing it, working with it after it was installed. I didn't read any book about windows but I learned it by using it?
Hands on learning by examples are the best method to gain knowledge.
Is there anything available along this line to learn Linux? No books please. I do read a lot but I don't want to read about command line instruction first before an operating system is not installed.
Way back I had DOS installed on my machine and then I started to use command line and learning DOS. I didn't read a book about DOS! The DOS book was used as a reference for the commands.

Thanks for any helpful answer

If you want to really learn, you can try reading the Slackware HOWTO in advance (yes, do it) and see if it sounds promising enough to download the Slackware 12.1 ISO and start installing it.
Slackware is always pictured as "hard to install" and "not for novice Linux users" but I assure you that this is not true at all. Give it a try and then use the Slackware forum here at LQ to get assistance with post-install questions.

Regards Eric

For an as-easy-as-possible start you'd probably want something like Ubuntu, which is simple and quick to install and get working with. But like Alien Bob, I recommend trying out Slackware (and reading Slackbook) - based on what you said in your post about learning things.

Just out of curiosity, how did you pick up those distributions you mentioned in your post? None of them seems to be a "major" distribution, one that has a wide user base (often because such distributions tend to work well enough to attract users); instead they sound like somewhat specialized lil'distros to me. Nothing wrong there, but I'm not exactly surprised if you didn't get much out of them if you started off without previous knowledge..

Hopefully Slackware does better for you.

Pick anything in the top ten at distrowatch or in the recent "Member's choice" awards here at LQ. Then stay with it until you get it working. Changing distros to solve specific issues will usually get you chasing your tail.

With the latter I can partially agree, but the former is really just untrue. It's nowhere near "hard". There isn't a single moment during the whole installation process during which the user could feel lost. It's just that, for some reason, no fancy GUI scares people off. It's actually one of the easiest distros to install. Don't be afraid of it, it's really fun. If you have the right attitude.

So, Slackware if you have time for some dirty work and some REAL learning.
If not, I'd say Mandriva. If I remember well, there's even a special feature/mode/guide/whatever for Windows users who want to learn Linux. On the basic, desktop/GUI level, though.

And by the way, all the CDs you listed.. leave them alone. As said before, grab something from the top ten distrowatch and have fun.

The most important thing is to try and get some help if your install doesn't work. I find this forum very helpful, usually, although the traffic is so high that sometimes a request for help gets lost through the cracks.

Second, it helps to know what hardware you are trying to install onto. Ubuntu 7.10 is pretty good about working "out-of-box" with most hardware, but if you run into problems it's better to ask for help than to just give up altogether.

In 2004, Knoppix was one of the best linux distributions for auto-detecting and auto-configuring hardware. That's one reason why it was so incredibly popular to base other linux distributions off of. All of the CD's you got in 2004 were based on Knoppix, except for Lorma Linux. That more or less meant that either all of them would work out-of-box or none of them would. I'm sorry that you unwittingly wasted your time trying so many different Linux CDs all with the same hardware detection scripts.

If you want to try a "scattergun" approach again, then it's best to use a variety of linux distributions that aren't based on each other. Today, that would mean mainly Ubuntu, SUSE, Mandriva; maybe also Mepis or Kanotix or Sidux. That's assuming your computer has enough RAM (192+megs).

I think your original "scattergun" approach is actually not a bad way to start. Of course, it helps if you're actually trying out linux distributions with different hardware detection scripts.

Personally, I started with Knoppix because everything "just worked" out-of-box. After I became familiar with how things worked, I switched to Debian (which is what Knoppix is based on). Debian not the best in terms of automatic detection/configuration of hardware, so it's usually more effort to get going. But for me, it's worth it because the resulting system is leaner and uncluttered by the extra cruft that Debian-based distributions add.

So, what hardware are you trying to install onto? That will give us some idea of what problems you might run into.

They didn't work how? Who "promised" they would work?
Breaking out of the MS grip?
You need to read this article.
Now that is just a foolish question.
There are dozens of Linux distributions that will install to your hard drive. Are you ready to repartition your hard drive or add a second hard drive to your computer for this? It's not tough to do.
However you can head over to the Ubuntu website and download Ubuntu 8.04; see if the live CD boots/works on your PC and then install it to your hard drive if it does. You also have the choice of a normal installation to separate Linux partitions or you can choose to install an image inside of Windows without partitioning. I have done this and it works very nicely.
Do I promise anything I have said will work for you? No way.

Good Luck

Thanks fellows!

I got the CDs from (where else) EBAY!

Check out PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu.

My recommended newbie distro list is (in this order): Mint, Mandriva, Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Mepis. Others may disagree but that is a good starting point.

You should check out VMWare and download some appliances. That way you can run Linux as a regular program inside Windows and it is guaranteed to work, because the appliances come with a Linux installed. You could also try Virtualbox. Virtualization is slower than a hard drive install, but will allow you to play with Linux, with no concern about how to install or screwing up your Windows installation.

You can use Wubi that comes with Ubuntu 8.04. That way you can install/uninstall Ubuntu without messing with your hard drive partitions at all.

It's pretty easy to learn to use the newbie distros for basic tasks. You'll have to do some reading if you want to use Linux as your only OS, though. Not to be rude, but rather to give full disclosure, you can't learn a new OS without some effort any more than you can go from driving a tractor to driving a car without some training.