I decided to download Linux Lite as I said I know nothing about any of it. Hopefully, I can learn a little about the OS to start using it at some point. I have not loaded the software until I can find out what programs I have which it might run or, not run.
Thanks.

This is a pretty easy way to try out some very basic stuff. http://jpc.sourceforge.net/home_home.html

Linux is offered to groups usually by something we refer to as a distribution. Each distro has a targeted audience and hardware and use. See some of them listed at www.distrowatch.com

A recent innovation is that almost every distro now comes as a "live cd" It might be a cd or dvd or a usb choice also. It is a very easy way to test linux without installing it.

A next choice would be to try out a free virtual machine like virtualbox or vmplayer. Both free and easy ways to try linux.

Lastly may be some of the network booted linux. See www.netboot.me for that neat trick.

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To be honest my main concern at the moment is being able to run stuff like Windows Office 2010 as I have tons of work involved with that suite of programs. Ihave spent most of the day reading about the various Linux OS programs and I am really confused at this point about which would be he best one to try. I will try to explain a real problem I have due to a computer just giving up all together a couple of days ago. That was an HP avilion a1630y Media Center. It had Windows XP PRO on it which was installed by HP. I had two 500GB drives in the machine one of which had the OS and all the programs. The other was a basic backup drive with no OS on it. So. I rempved the hard drives and got two USB inclosures to put the drives in so I might be able to get at most of the stuff on them.
I have an older box I built which has an AMD 1.3 GHZ processor and 2 gigs of Ram and it is running Windows XP Home but the problem with this machine is the SATA interface will not find the drives but will find then via USB connection to it. I had started out looking at upgrades like Windows 7 and even possibly XP PRO but Microsoft is playing around with the licenses and I don't like what they are doing so, I decided to look into a different OS like Linux to try to get something better than Windows to run. However, I can not figure out what Linux System might be the best one to install that would run my present programs. The more I read the more lost I am getting as I looked into Wine an Ubintu. But it really is difficult to understand as Wine seems to be for Mac's running Windows programs rather than what I have. I would love to know which system would possibly work the best and where to get it.
Thanks for your answer.

Might help on picking a distro. or not.

http://tuxradar.com/content/distro-picker-0

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I tried the program that recomends the Distro's but it really doesn't give me enough information to go on concerning a lot of it. I did go to one of the sites you recomended. I saw a Distro called "Zorin Lite as well as Ultimate. That seems as though it might work but there is really little information to go on too. My great interest is being able to run the Windows Office as well as some other expensive programs I have on the Hard Drive. This is where I really need the help to discover what OS and add-on would be able to do that.
Thank you and all for the help offered to me thus far.
I have tried the Open Office program, (the word processor) and found it gets lost after a couple hundred pages with picture mixed in. Word 2010 so far has allowed me to go over 500 pages and has kept things in order. I have over ten years of work stored and that is why I need to try to get all of this a right as I can. Again thank you very much.

I recommend Microsoft Windows as your operating system so that you can have 100% compatibility with Office 2010 (since you already have so much work invested).

Then in your spare time, you can begin experimenting with Linux on a spare PC. Most beginners are happiest with a popular, user-friendly distribution such as Ubuntu or Linux Mint. I've been on these forums for a few years but have never heard of "Linux Lite." You will get more support if you choose one of the major distros: http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

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I had downloaded Limux Lite from Source Forge. They also have sent me a notice of a download update as well. I have not tried the program due to the fact that I am trying to get my old computer up and running somewhat due to mt HP Pavilion totally going south. I have not tried to figure out if one brand of computer is better than another as of this time and want to see who has which brand has the most problems so I might try to avoid all the stuff I went through with my HP. I had bougt my machine directly from HP as well as their recommendations and all of that. It took about two years of calls, e-mails amd talking to Reps before most of the machine was able to function "almost as it should" running W- XP- Pro. Not to metion all the other stuff that was a total headache.
I have been trying to read as much of the suggestions as well as chcking out all the various links and soforth about the various Linux based OS progrsams trying to see what might work out as I totally desire to divorce MS as they haven't had a real OS sense Windows 3.1 as far as I am concerned as well as most of their programs are also not very backward compatible either. It is like being between a rock and a hard place plus your are alwys being forced to upgrade continually with expensive programs that also have many problems as well. So, I appreciate all the info but, being rather dense, it takes me a lot of time to try something before jumping in as well as reading a lot of the forums. I will take your seggestions as well and thank you for the help.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can run Linux as a "Live CD" or "Live USB" without installing. This allows you to take Linux for a "test drive" without making ANY changes to your machine. I recommend that you try some Linux distros in "live" mode to get a sense of what Linux is and what it can do for you. If you are expecting it to be a free version of Windows that will flawlessly run all of your Windows applications, you will probably be disappointed. If you are expecting it to be a completely different operating system with some nice native applications (like LibreOffice instead of Microsoft office) then you may be pleasantly surprised. So do yourself a favor and test-drive (without installing) a Linux Mint live DVD/USB today!

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What I am striving for is a program that will work as well as allow me to pull my work out of Microsoft Office 2010 and hopefully leave the work intact as it is. I am not a computer wiz or a programmer by any stretch. I have as I said previously been working on one project for over ten years and am sick of re-writing it due to many changes in Microsoft's program and lack of backword compatability. Also, the deal wher everything gets scrambled and you have to go though everythin line by line and picture by picture and so forth. Word 2010 seems better at handling large documents with many pictures than anything I have worked with up to this time.
I also am well aware that there are no perfect systems as well as programs no matter what. I am just hoping to find a Linux OS that will come as close as possible to either running the Window programs or programs that will work about the same. There are so many different Distros that it hard to decide what to really try. There also seems to be very many ideas what might work as well. I am one of those folks who is slow at learning by reading and better at doing. I certainly and, deeply appreciate all the replies I have gotten thus far and I also have been weeding through most of them as all you folks know much more than I for certain about it all.

It does not matter which distro you choose; you will either be running LibreOffice (an excellent open-source alternative to Microsoft Office, which you can actually install in Windows, without switching to Linux) or else trying to get Word 2010 running using an emulator called WINE.

Here is what the Wine website says about running Word 2010: http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManage...sion&iId=22248

It has a "silver" rating which means the basic features mostly work, but some of the more advanced features do not, and overall Word 2010 will not run as well in Linux as it runs in Windows. I would not trust software with only a silver rating for an important 10 year project!!! I recommend to install LibreOffice in your current Windows system and evaluate whether it is viable as a Word 2010 replacement for your needs. If LibreOffice works great for you, then you can feel more confident about ditching Microsoft Windows/Office in favor of open-source Linux/LibreOffice.

You say you don't like the disruption to your workflow when you upgrade Windows releases or between versions of Office. Please understand that switching from Windows to Linux will be a much bigger change than switching from XP to Windows 8, or from Office 2007 to 2010! It is a completely different operating system, and you will have to relearn many basic skills. If you want to experience this for yourself then please test drive a Live USB of Linux Mint or Ubuntu. Try opening your documents in LibreOffice and see if it is acceptable for your needs. Also try installing Word 2010 using Wine to see if it is acceptable for your needs.

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I thank you for that information which dose help a lot.
I think I could probably learn the Linux commands as concerning running things but all I can do it give it a try. Even though I have all but forgotten the commands now days, I did run programs that once had run under Dos 5 -6.0 years ago. I also have one and did use the Commodore C128 programs as well and most of which were much more complicated to use in some areas that the programs of today.
Again, Thank you.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in the Linux Newbie forum and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

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I need to know if getting a Distro on disk is the best way to get a Linux Os running. I tried downloading Zorin and burning it to disk but it doesn't run. I tried another as well but it doesn't run either.

Using a Live DVD or USB stick was already suggested?


"Doesn't run" doesn't really give us a clue (and neither does "I tried another") what's going on. Did you check the hash before burning the ISO? Does running the CDROM or DVD show any errors? At what stage does it halt? What kind of HW are you running this on?

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When you burned the ISO to disk, did you use the "Burn image" menu selection on your burning program.

If you just copied the file to a disk, all you will have is a copy of the downloaded file. The "Burn image" option (and what it's called and where it is on the menu may vary slightly depending on the burning program) replicates the original disk's file structure, directories, and files.

It's a mistake I made once, long after I knew better.

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