I got to use Linux a short while ago on a machine that belongs to a friend of a friend. I really enjoyed it and was hoping to make the change. They were using Gentoo linux, and everything was simple and easy to use. I did some web browsing, word processing, listened to some music, etc.

So I thought I'd put linux on my own computer. Tired of Windows. I downloaded what I think is the most recent version of Gentoo linux for an AMD64 machine and started the installation process. It quickly became clear that I have no idea how to install this operating system.

Do I need an experienced person to come and install linux for me? Am I missing something in terms of all these steps to install? I even looked at the installation instructions on the Gentoo site, but I don't know what I'm doing and rote following of instructions didn't help.

Thoughts?

Help?

Thanks, guys.

welcome to LQ!!

IMHO, Gentoo is not the place to start. Go to http://distrowatch.com and pick anything in the top ten on their "hit list". Things like ubuntu, mint, opensuse, mepis are all quite easy. I personally do not like Fedora, but many people swear by it.

Gentoo is for more experienced users. For first-timers, you might want to try Ubutnu.

Edit: Gah! Ninja-ed!

Ok. I've heard of Ubuntu, of course, and I've heard people talk about Mint. So these are easier to install? I'll check them both out and download one. What about Arch - I see that's what you list as your distro. Tougher? I guess I didn't appreciate that there was such a wide range of experience-levels with different linux distros.

Thanks for the advice!

Heh. Thanks Bratmon. I appreciate you taking the time to answer. Like I said above, I didn't realize there were differing experience levels in this sort of thing. Why make one that is harder to install? More customization for the experienced user?

Some people like to have complete control over everything that goes on in their system, others want it to "just work". Don't know about Arch, but Mint is a lot like Ubuntu, with a few differences (mainly, comes with codecs and flash).

Got it.

Ok, thanks again. I'll check out Ubuntu and Mint and see how the install goes. I knew I was a noob, but I guess I'm even more of one than I thought. I appreciate the cool community here, and the quick responses.

good distros for those new to Linux include

any Ubuntu
Slax
MooLux
Debian (Debian-Live too)

Ubuntu is probably the easiest for most
there are others too

gentoo, arch, and others are more in-depth
no doubt

basically, it comes down to what do YOU want?
what kind of apps?
what desktop, kde, gnome, xfce, lxde, others?
are you gonna boot from hard drive?
from usb/cd?

are you gonna dual boot with windows?

Arch is super-simple and super-easy......assuming that you have done lots of Linux installs already. Not **normally** recommended for a begineer, but I would not rule it out.

Good questions. Yes I am going to dual boot to start with, see how it goes before making the switch. So I'm hoping the installation will set that up. I'm using a laptop so I want the wireless to work. I don't know about KDE versus gnome versus the others. Booting from hard drive.

For apps, I just need image editing (I already use GIMP in Windows so I'd prefer that), word processing, web browsing, PDF viewer, and I'd like something to play music while I'm on the computer. That's it really. I don't have many requirements.

Thanks for the help, Linus.

Hmmm. Well I've only done one linux install attempt (Gentoo) and it failed. So maybe that's a distro I can look forward to

Take a look at
http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/15/how...nd-windows-xp/

Awesome, thanks. I already shrunk the Windows partition inside of Windows so hopefully that will be good enough. Looks like there is a good link there for a Ubuntu install. Judging from that it looks A LOT simpler than the Gentoo install.

Yep!! I have used ubuntu, gentoo, slackware, still use debian because of hardware restrictions, Funny that when someone asks about "easy", it takes awhile to bring up Puppy Linux... My personal "easy" favorite! I don't particularly care for the newest version, 4.3... my friends [most windoze types] really like 4.2.[whatever]. Takes a few minutes to download the live CD.. a whopping 100MB generally.. and awayyyy we go... HTH
RP

well, I would suggest trying different livecd distros that dont install to hd or do anything to your pc
I mean, you got probably a couple thousand to choose from..

they'll run faster off usb vs cd
and faster off hd vs usb

if you want a no-frills Ubuntu-9.04 with LXDE light-weight low-ram consumption desktop
with the ability to make your own ubuntu-9.04 (remastersys)
try
Masonux-9.04
http://sites.google.com/site/masonux/

I used Masonux-9.04 to make Phalanx-9.04 via remastersys backup
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...wnload-767766/

so, my 2 cents is to try the easy-to-use ones, then go deep into gentoo/arch/soulmage,etc