Hello. Excuse the length of this message.

I am completely new to Linux and am getting fed up of Microsoft and being worried about viruses, costs, etc. What I have now is a P4 with winXP pro and Office XP with MS Access. I use Hebrew in word and even set my mother's computer with it because she is a teacher and types to her family in Hebrew. Same with my father. From this you can tell we are very stuck to MS. I am willing to change it. I like learning and challenges. I set up a few pc's and help a developmental center for children with their network. I learn quick.

Where is the best place to start learning about Linux and which to get? I've been looking through all the different websites and there is way too much information and I lose track of what I am looking for. I have a few goals in mind if this will offer you any help.

1 - Install Linux on a new machine (cheap one).

2 - I currently use MS Office XP with Access (I use database software for the children's center receipting program) and Office apps are what are used at school (all the essays, excel sheets, lab reports, etc.).

3 - In the long run (1 year to 2) I would like to put together a network (peer to peer or client/server, which ever is better) with a mix of Microsoft(for those who are computer illiterate and those who care about data integrity) and Linux machines.

Can you offer any suggestions? For the third point, I would need a link to where is a good place to learn how to network with Linux. (I am doing this for the center as a volunteer because they are great for the community and for what they are paying their computer repair man now, I am fixing for free in less time)

I thank you in advance for your help.


Yarom

1. Use RHEL 3 update 3, since it's a stable and mature version for you.
2. Use OpenOffice as alternative.
3. Samba can do the job, check it at http://www.samba.org

I would suggest starting off with Mandrake or Suse, or other distro's that have graphical installers and wizards to help you set up and configure.

I don't do spreadsheets/database, but I'm pretty sure OpenOffice (free) or StarOffice (not free) can handle that.

There's a very good site here about getting Hebrew to work in Linux.

There is plenty of information on the internet about Linux networking. Here's one page to get you going and this is a general Linux beginner site