I have always used windows but I'm sick of the corporate nonsense and constant EXPENCIVE upgrading every few years. All i want is an operating system that does it's job.

A friend advised me to get Linux he told me that it's extremely reliable and its comes at a minimal cost.

But Where do i Start? I'm no genius on computers and just find getting anything downloadable imposable. Please help.

Well, if you don't know much about computers, maybe linux isn't for you.
It does require a good amount of setup to get it running smoothly.

You could always get a LiveCD and try it out without having to install it.
If you look at the right side, you should see a "Download Linux" link.
That would be the best place to start.


Good luck, I hope linux works out for you.

If you can't or won't download anything, have a look for Linux magazines - they give away CDs or DVDs with distros you can try live and/or install.

Never mind the disparaging tone of some. Go here http://www.ubuntu.com/ and click on "Get Ubuntu" on the left side. Download the 7.10 32 bit version or ask for a cd to be sent to you (free of charge).
Here are some basics: https://help.ubuntu.com/

I would advise not starting off by telling us what you can't do. For example: downloading. Tell us what problems you have and let us help.

The "getting started" link below might help.

If you already have windows installed on your computer and have a broadband internet connection, you can easily install ubuntu (a very user-friendly distribution of linux) using unetbootin;

You just download it to your desktop and open it like you would any other windows installer (.exe file)

http://lubi.sourceforge.net/unetbootin.html

I agree that if you can get a live-evaluation CD, it would be best to try that, so you can see if it recognizes your hardware and meets your expectations before you install it to your hard drive. You can get many live distributions CDs sent to you for minimal cost, if you don't know how to download and burn a bootable CD. On the left side of this website are lists of linux CDs you can have sent to you for just a few dollars:

http://distrowatch.com/

You can dowload, buy, or have a free set of ubuntu CDs sent to you from this website;

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu

The free CDs sometimes take a few months to reach you.

A bit off-topic, I know, but this ...

... is the very best signature that I've seen for a very long time :-)

My first ever Linux install was Slackware in 1996.
Other than that, I advocate using Fedora, get it here:
http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

Bye,
M

Thanks. I can only claim credit for the "brianL..." bit.

I never meant to tell him not to give it a try, what I was trying to tell him was that it does take some setting up.
I was saying for him to get some live cds to try them out and see if its something he would like.
(I have a feeling that "disparaging tone" was directed toward my first comment )

Never mind, I thought the wording was a bit unhappy but that can happen.