Hi!

Ok...this may sound a little stupid but there are so many version of linux os that i really don't know which to choose.

The main reason i want to install linux is 'couse i am really fed up with my currently installed os windows XP.

There is not enough room in this topic to write down all the things i don't like in WINDOWS XP

I have two computers one is 1600 Mhz Amd Athlon 4
and one is 433 Mhz Intel Celeron

I would really like to learn about linux.
I saw suse and it's pretty cool....

If you are going to install on the old machine you might want to look at Slackware. On the newer machine Suse or Mandrake could be good choices to get you started. My own personal favorite is Debian, but it's not for everyone.

aha...ok thanx... there is another question....

I go to college where all computers have windows 2000 installed.
I have to write a lot of reports and other things ...... So how does linux for example suse (I had it on my computer once and was trying to set up my adsl for a week ...my bad...) work with windows i mean can i use word processor in linux and then use those documents in windows 2000 or xp ? So how is with linux and windows compatibility?

If you're talking about .doc and .xls and stuff like that, never mind. You can install OpenOffice.org and be happy. It creates, opens and saves every win file. You can even save in pdf as you wish, with a single mouse click.
Take a look at www.openoffice.org.
The suite is quite standard on a linux distro, these days.

Before you jump onto the bandwagon, and wipe off XP altogether, try a Live-Linux CD. This month's issue of Personal Computer World (DVD edition) had about 6 or 7 Live-Linux distro's to try. Just burn them onto CD, then reboot! They are amazing pieces of software to say the least! For older hardware, try Morphix (google it...). Instead of the resource heavy KDE, or Gnome, it runs XFCE - a very light GUI. Its a little harder to use than, say, Knoppix (the best, in my humble opinion) - but it's quick and works on older kit. When you have played around with them - and gotten the feel of how Linux will work - it's time to back-up that data..... and wave bye bye to XP.....

Just a note: As there are many Live Linux distro's to choose from - they are all different in some way. Some might be based on Debian Package Management, others on Redhat Package Management. Try them!
Resources: Current PCW Issue DVD Edition; Google; www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php (whole list of LiveLinux CDs.....)

For a good rundown of the major distros, check out DistroWatch:
http://distrowatch.com/dwres.php?resource=major

Most of the smaller distributions are based off of one of the major ones. As a newbie, you probably won't need to look any farther than the main ones.

Good Luck!!

As a suggestion for a live CD, I've found Knoppix to be the best. And so have many many other people too .
http://www.knoppix.org/ . There's over 2GB of stuff on a single CD.

Funny, Debian caught my eye. I've been looking around for a distro to start on. I basically know nothing about Linux, but I find myself deciding between Debian and Mandrake.
Are these good options for a beginner?
All I'm looking for is something that can do the same job as Windows, and come with all (or most) of the stuff that anybody needs (OpenOffice.org, etc.).

That's the beauty about linux, you have a choice. Try one, then try another, try them all! I would recommend a live cd first, then get into dual booting (which I still do) because if you do run into problems, you can boot back into Windows to get some help. I've ran into some problems and it was a good thing I had an alternate OS to use. Mandrake or SuSe would be a good starting point, but that's just my opinion. You won't learn anything until you start trying them out for yourself so just get one and experiment until you find the one that's right for you.

Many thanks for all the replies...

About dual booting.... Now i'm using Powerquest bootmagic to dual boot Win Xp and Win98, i made a little partiton (600 Mb) for win98 (on college we have to use programs for calculating coordinates made by our professors that only works in win98 ) ...back to the point , i know that suse will recognize that i have xp already and made its own partition on which it will be installed and made dual boot menu, what about others linux system will they do this ? I presume that when you install suse a partiton or something will be made so suse can see windows files and windows can see suse files ? For example if i download amule with xp there is a way that i can install it in suse and vice versa. I know that the best way is to install suse and try on my own , but the last time i installed suse i didn't have a clue what to do ...something went wrong with the dual boot menu and could boot up my computer not in xp and not in suse ....

The best way"In my opinion"is to buy another hard drive for linux,make's it easy as hdb is linux and hda is windows.

Mandrake is a very good starter distro. It's very easy to set up and the configuration tools it provides are pretty good too. The main drawback is the RPM package system it uses. RPM is very bad at handling dependencies, what some people call "dependency hell", and it's the main reason I changed over to Debian. RPM distros also can't be easily upgraded. You pretty much have to download and install each new version that comes out. Recent advancements have made RPM better, but the Debian Apt system is still preferrable. (It's also possible to use Apt on an RPM-based system, but you have to set it up seperately.)

Debian is better if you're seriously interested in learning Linux It does much less handholding for you than some of the others and requires more hands-on configuration and manual reading. But Apt is a breeze to use and it will easily update your system for you, and all the effort you have to put in will make you REALLY learn Linux, as opposed to just the GUI interfaces.

Pretty much all distros have the same basic packages available to you, either by default or through easily installable packages, so don't be concerned about software selection. Besides, you can always get anything to run by compiling the source if there's no other way around it.

When you get your Linux disto running, I suggest trying to get those special Win98 applications you have to run under Wine. If they work, you can ditch Winblows 98 for good.

Comprookie had the best advice. There are horror stories aplenty about people accidentally screwing up their Windows installs when trying to put another OS on the same disk. Having a second disk available is the best way to avoid problems. Even better would be to completely remove the Hard Disk with Windows until after you get the basic Linux system installed. Then you can plug it back in and update your bootloader to have both OS's safely installed and available.

You could most likely run that programunder linux via WINE... Wine most closely resembles Windows 98... It's a worth a shot... oh, and I would recommend SuSE 9.1 for a newbie.. It's nice and polished and makes a good starting point to later get into the more difficult-to-configure distros such as Debian/Slackware/Gentoo

Hello Everybody

Iam new to Linux and want to get some information about it.

Can anyone please tell me which version of Linux should i use?

Does the version of Linux depend on the hardware configuration of the system?

Regards,

Nobody can "tell" you what distro to use, you have to decide for yourself. That means researching it for yourself. Read the forums here. Use Google. Check out various distro home pages. When you think you know which one is best, download a copy and try it out. If you don't like it, just delete it and try another. It's all up to you. We can only advise based on our own experiences. Most people tend to recommend the distros they use themselves anyway.

Some people refer to them as "flavors" of Linux. They're all made of basically the same core ingredients, they just have different ways of spicing them up. Only you can know which flavor suits you.

The distro you choose will affect what hardware will work "out of the box", so to speak. They each choose a subset of Linux-supported hardware for initial installation. They generally cover most of the common hardware, so you probably won't have much trouble. Overall hardware support however depends more on the kernel and whatever drivers are available. Most of the time, if it's not supported right away, it just means you have to locate the right drivers or perhaps do a custom kernel compile. There are some problem areas though. The newest and greatest, and the very old and esoteric may not be supported. And there are some manufacturers to avoid. Canon's scanners are mostly unsupported, for example. There are lists of supported and unsupported hardware on most distro home pages, so it's wise to check before you install.