I plan to download Ubuntu 8.10 and see what happens. I really hope that with the help of this forum, I can eventually join the Linux community.

I downloaded Ubuntu 8.10 then burned it on a CD. Success!
I ran it from the CD without a problem. Now I must learn how to use it.

Again thanks to all for the many informative replies.
Now the next step.
I have two hard drives. One already has Vista on it. The other one is empty. I would like to install Ubuntu 8.10 on the empty one. What is the best way of doing this? I do not want the Vista installation to be affected in any way.

Go into BIOS and re-order your drives so that the empty one comes before the other one, making it the boot drive. Make sure that it is set to boot off cd and that's it, pop in the cd and it will install Ubuntu on your empty drive. It will also place a boot menu on it so you can select the OS you want to boot.

The empty drive is not showing at all in boot priority. It is there somewhere in the BIOS however.
In addition, I do not have a clue how to go online with Ubuntu. I have a cable modem, with a wireless network.

Thank again for you assistance

Maybe you need to select the boot drive and press Enter to be presented with the list of devices? Or maybe there is a different heading that handles driver ordering?

I don't think the cable modem is your problem, it's more likely that Ubuntu has not got any driver to handle your wireless. What needs to be done would depend on the model.

Thanks Jay

I now want to understand what is happening.
What exactly is the significance of Ubuntu 8.10 working where as 8.02 would not?

I am not blaming it on my cable modem, I just do not know how to configure Ubuntu so that I can go online with it.

Drivers, that is all. Ubuntu 8.04 is older than your motherboard so it has not got the drivers to handle it. In the six months that have passed since 8.04, Ubuntu must have added newer drivers so that 8.10 does not have any of those issues. Of course, you could download and build those drivers yourself and slipstream them with an 8.04 ISO but that is not something a beginner should be exptected to do.


Well, like I said, that would depend on a number of things. Maybe Ubuntu has not got the driver for your wireless. Or maybe the thing simply needs to be properly configured. For example, if you have a fixed internet address, you need to enter it into System > Admin > Network; select "Unlock", select your NIC, click on "Properties", then select Static IP and enter your details. If there the Network dialog does not show any NIC to configure, then it's really a driver issue.

Note: I did not read any of this thread.

However, the hands down best working Linux distribution for Desktop use is Slackware.

Nearly everything works out of the box on a wide array of systems. This makes it easy for the new GUI user. It is a bit harder than Ubuntu to install though.

SuSe and Fedora also claim to be great on the desktop but they simply to do not touch Slack.

Note: I prefer the CLI environment for everything though, an area which Slack also shines in.

But how is that going to help? I can hardly imagine that Slack 12 has a 2.6.26+ kernel out of the box, which is definitely needed in this case. That would leave the OP to compile a custom kernel as an introduction to Linux. Phew!

Exactly

If the OP feels like an experiment Kubuntu (newest-8.10) should also work.

Kubuntu is Ubuntu with a KDE desktop instead of GNOME. I prefer KDE to GNOME.... Of course others will swear by GNOME and throw rocks at KDE.

Kubuntu link:

http://www.kubuntu.org/

What KDE is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KDE

What GNOME is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME

Couldn't hurt to check it out since Kubuntu is FREE.

I am sorry if this is an inane question, but how do I determine my network address.
I got as far as being asked for my network address.

thanks

Do you mean while installing?

If affirmative, then either your ISP provided a static IP for you (you should then know) or you need to configure it to obtain one automatically using DHCP. I guess that the install program should provide such option, but it's been a long time since the last occasion that I tested Ubuntu.

If you mean "how to see your IP once you have installed Ubuntu", I guess that there might be graphical frontends where you can see it. However, "sudo ifconfig" in command line should give you all the info as well.

I feel like a blind man tripping over everything.
I now see that my WiFi card is detecting several networks, but I do not know where to go from here.

I am trying to get connected to my wireless router. I see it listed, but do not know how.
there is a box that asks for the following.

SSID
SSSID
MAC ADDRESS