Running Linux from CD?
 

Hi there, I'm brand new to Linux. I'd like to try it and see if I like it. I'm semi computer illiterate, I apologize if I seem really stupid...

I did a little research online, I didn't realize Linux still existed. It seems like a pretty neat operating system. I went through a site called Why Linux is betterhttp://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/ and thought I'd try it on disk. I tried to download the Knoppix version and got a whole lot of garbage, I think I got around that but I can't find it on my Laptop. I have HP with Vista 64bit.

Can anyone help me through this? It says put it on disk, I don't know how to do that. Thanks.

You should try Live CD of your favourite distro, in which you won't need to install in on the H/D.

To choose a distro, you can apprear for this test, and based on recommendations from this test, you can download your fav. distro.

If you are new to Linux, you should try ubuntu. Ubuntu is a popular distribution of Linux, easy to use, user friendly and good for learning linux
It is very easy to install if you install ubuntu with wubi (windows based ubuntu installer).

You can find hundred of links which describe how to install Ubuntu using wubi.
I am showing you a highlight.
Here are the steps :
1) Download iso file of ubuntu from here.
2) Download wubi.exe for your downloaded ubuntu iso from here.
3) Put wubi.exe and ubuntu.iso in same folder.
4) Click on wubi.exe. Now it starts installing ubuntu.
5) Select drive(if you have multiple partitions) for installation if it has around 20GB space free, it will be good.
20GB is not compulsory but when you will install multiple Linux Softwares for learning, it would be enough for you as well as now days 20GB space is no big deal.

Advantages
***********
1) You can install it in any drive of your windows partition where you have free space available.
2) It is installed like a other software of windows, you can see it in Add remove program of windows.
3) If you do not want just remove from add remove program and ubuntu will be uninstalled.
4) When system boots before it gives you option to boot your desire OS like vista or ubuntu.

Enjoy Linux !!!

No one seems to have answered that question, so I will.

I suggest getting a freeware program (for Windows) called Imgburn

http://www.imgburn.com/

There are many programs to burn .iso files to CD's or DVDs. I expect you already have one installed in your Vista system. But those programs tend to be confusing. Beginners tend to give wrong commands and waste media.

Imgburn is the best of such programs and free, and less confusing, and I can tell you how to use it. Look at the screenshot here:
http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=screenshots
The only thing that may not be obvious is that you must use its command "write image file to disc", not its command "write files/folders to disk".

Other CD burning programs also have both the image mode and the files/folders mode, but terminology varies. The most common beginner mistake is to burn a CD or DVD in files/folders mode, which is useless for an OS install or liveCD disc. It must be burned in Image mode.

I'm sure you have a CD/DVD drive that can burn (write) blank media and I'm assuming you have blank media and just needed to know how to write the .iso file to it. I'm also assuming you were able to select a Linux distribution and download an .iso file (Knoppix might not be a good beginner choice).

I've never tried a wubi install of Ubuntu. But eklavya's advice looks reasonable. If you don't want to use a CD or DVD, wubi might be a good alternative.

I disagree. Ubuntu used to be that way, but more and more it's becoming alpha-level bloatware and spyware. In the latest releases, many things that SHOULD work, don't, and instead the CPU wastes its cycles logging your activity and selling it to online retailers. Its ideology actually makes it more difficult to learn Linux since it tries to do everything itself (often failing) and does everything it can to keep you out of the command line where you could fix it.

I would run far, far away from Ubuntu.

Deleted, misread the initial post.

........................................

ArchBang is a good CD/FlashDrive iso for me.

If you want to live dangerously, you can always start with Arch itself and make a bootable CD/FlashDrive thats minimal and tailored to your needs.

Let's start again!

You can run Linux by installing it on your hard drive alongside Windows, which is what more people do. There are also versions (like Knoppix and Puppy) designed to be run from a DVD or USB stick. Typically they can copy themselves into the memory (creating what we call a RAM disk) and run from that for greater speed.

You want something that's designed for a beginner, so not ArchBang; reliable, so not Ubuntu; and probably conventional, so you see a typical Linux and not an unusual one, so not Puppy.

Knoppix will be fine if you don't want to install. If you do, you might consider Linux Mint or PCLinusOS. See my reviews:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...p/product/2198
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...p/product/2397
http://www.linuxquestions.org/review...p/product/2559

You download a disk image, with the extension .iso and transfer this to the disk with Nemo or some such program. Choose the option to create a disk from an image, not just to write the iso file onto the disk. Then you can reboot the computer and choose to run from the DVD and not the hard drive. If you want to use a USB stick instead of a disk, you'll need to get special software to do that: Windows doesn't come with a tool. I think there's a Windows version of unetbootin available.

Whatever you do, read the instructions on the distro's website first. You really do need to know what the installer is going to do and what questions it's going to ask you.

For any newbie, I'd suggest that you use one of two ways to start with linux.

I don't recommend that you use any sort of dual boot to start.

The most safe and easy way to try out linux is with a free virtual machine. A vm is a software application much like Word or Photoshop except you can run almost any number of OS's in the application. It is very safe and easy if you have a newish computer.

The second way is to run a live cd/dve or usb install.


See www.distrowatch.com for the list of common choices. Many offer a live cd/dvd/usb even if they don't exactly say it is. Consider some of those listed on the right hand side of the distrowatch page.

OK people, thank you for your input...
Wow, this is complex. I took the test recommended by Shivaa and it recommended openSUSE 12.3 twice, it's like a 12hr download (4.7gb), does this sound reasonable?
I went to Ubuntu's website and it is so confusing, it appears the programs there only apply to windows 8, I have Vista 64 bit.
I downloaded Imgburn and was going to use it for Knoppix but that file is a PNG image file, not a .iso file, is that any good?
Puppy Linux was recommended, then not... So was Unbuntu for that matter...

My computer is six years old if that helps at all.

I just wanted to discover Linux. I thought it might be good to run for everyday internet and such since it seems to be virus free, and use Windows just for the Windows only stuff. It seems to have many good points.

Like I said I'm no computer genius, I have restored this thing a half dozen times so far but that is about as advanced as I got. I really hate all the crap windows installs that I don't like, use or want. I have uninstalled a bunch of programs but I don't do the ones I can't figure out if I need though.

Thanks again.

Unless you're on dial-up, 12hrs sounds a bit off; are you sure about that calcn?
I also recommend ImgBurn; just ensure you download the iso files (not png!) and burn as type 'iso', not as type 'file'.
Burn slow eg x5, for safety.

I think that is pretty typical for a DVD download with a home internet connection.

No.

I have never tried wubi myself. But I would be very surprised if it does not support 64-bit Vista.

There is no shortage of opinions, and you should not expect them to match.

I have never know ImgBurn's defaults to be unsafe. I would not advise a beginner to mess with those settings.

I'm exploring Puppy Linux now, trying to figure out which files to download. I would install it onto CD? Is that the way to do it? Then I could try it off the CD without affecting my computer to see if I like it.

I thought it might be nice for surfing the net, communicating, maybe running Youtube videos and such. When I do research that cube screen or multiple screen idea looks like it could come in handy. And it sounds like it doesn't get cluttered up like Windows can at times. Do you think it would stream videos, music and such smoother than Windows?

Thanks

That should be a single .iso file.

All correct.

Running off of CD does not give Linux a default place to store anything you do past the next reboot. There are options to use a USB device for continuing storage. An experience Linux user would know how to mount a Windows drive and store data there. But generally, booting from CD is a limited (and lower performance) way to use Linux.

It may be a good method to get some experience with Linux before installing Linux on your hard drive. But it isn't a good way to check performance of Linux (streaming video etc.). When booted from CD, you are using either CD or ram for everything that normally goes on the hard drive. CD is very slow. On an older computer, you probably don't have a lot of ram. Whatever ram ends up used for things that normally would be on your hard drive is ram not available for performance such as streaming video.