Thread: Linux Query

If you have no experience with Linux and you want to try it out without removing the WIndows OS you already have installed, you might want to try a Live CD.

This will allow you to boot Linux from the CD without doing any install to the hard disk.

As far as a distribution goes, I'd give Ubuntu a try. Select the desktop CD.

I will have no problems with a clean install and no MS Windows at all. Will that affect my choice?

Most Linux users have a favourite distribution and can be quite vocal as to why their choice is best.
Personally, I use Centos because it's business oriented and suits my job requirements.

For a laptop, a more desktop oriented distribution is probably more suitable. If you have a
sacrificial laptop, install Ubuntu and see if you like it!

If you want to choice from the hundreds of different Linux distributions offered, have a look here. You can see
from the top 100 that Ubuntu and it's variants (Kubuntu, Edubuntu, etc) are the most popular.

Before you try with a laptop...just checkout if it will run Linux. Sometimes laptop manufacturers customise chipsets, and occasionally you'll hit something for which no-one has reverse engineered a Linux driver.

http://www.linux.org/docs/beginner/platforms.html

That said, Ubuntu is your best bet, if you are happy to play around. Just run the install and see how it goes. Have another PC handy for your internet connection if the install borks out or you get some weird and wonderful error!

(that said, I've had less fiddle with Linux drivers over the last year or so than Vista users have had with their drivers....and to think, they pay for their operating system...and anti-virus...and office software...and DVD viewing software...etc etc etc)

Check out this site for details of running different Linux distributions on various laptop brands.

Thanks for the replies fellas. Is it still obligatory to use command line or have I got the bull by the horns and the wrong impression.

You'll find GUI's for most applications so using the command line will not be necessary in most cases.

The style of GUI will depend on whether you use KDE or Gnome as your desktop manager.
I think Gnome is the default with Ubuntu.

Of course one of the advantages of Linux is that you can use the command line if you prefer. Sometimes it's easier than working out the GUI.

OK, I had a look on my ISP's FTP site and came up with this page

http://ftp.iinet.net.au/linux/ubuntu/dists/

Now I am totally confused, the advantage of a DL from this page is it does not count against my monthly quota, I looked at a Ubuntu site and the DL is 600MB. So on the link what are all the files and which one(s) do I download? I hate FTP sites because all the file names mean zip unless you are totally familiar with them.

I suspect you want something out of the http://ftp.iinet.net.au/linux/ubuntu-cd-images/ directory rather than the one you are looking in.

I don't know what the current releases are. 8.04 looks like it might not be stable, 7.10 looks like the last stable release.

Maybe try http://ftp.iinet.net.au/linux/ubuntu...sktop-i386.iso

You'll need to burn the image to a CD. Another optoin would be to buy one of the PC mags at the newsagents that has Linux cover cds.

Thanks Fuzzie. What were the files I was looking at?

Version 8.04 (Fiesty Fawn) is beta so you want to get 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon)

Not sure what those CD images are, they might be the Live version or may be a basic install that then downloads the rest of the distribution from the Ubuntu web site.
Then again, it might be enough for a basic desktop install.

As fuzzie suggested, get that desktop image and burn it to CD. Nothing to lose

[FWIW I grabbed a copy of the distribution DVD from the main Ubuntu site and it weighed in at 4.5GB. ]

If the CD install doesn't work for some reason (pretty sure it will), I can pop a copy of the DVD image in the mail for you.

Originally Posted by Mini

Thanks Fuzzie. What were the files I was looking at?

Hi Chris, I'm not sure as I haven't really been looking at Linux distros for a while, but I think it was just a compressed form of the installable files - not really suitable for a new install.

Depending on your hardware you need either a bootable DVD or a set of CDs as your starting point. The benefit of buying a magazine with cover DVD/CD will be that you should also get a step by step guide to help you through the installation and configuration process matching the version you are trying to install.

Cheers, Franklin

It sure is a new world, isn't it. I have downloaded 7.10 but will look at a magazine copy and see what they have. What is with all the funky names, it appears that each new version gets one? Now the challenge I have is to convince the cheese and kisses to move on to a better machine which I have configured for her and give me the old one. She is technically challenged at the best of times and this is going to be a major step for her. My wife and electrons definitely don't have the best reationship in the world. I bought her a new embroidery sewing machine and she looked at it for months and then used it a little bit but it was a year before I could convince her she had to have a computer to fully utilise the thing.

Ubuntu put out a release every 6 months. The current release is 7.10 (Oct 2007 - gutsy gibbon). In about 4 weeks time the 8.04 (Apr 2008 - hardy herron) version will be released. If you can wait, the 8.04 version will probably be better.

Start with the ubuntu-7.10-desktop-i386.iso version. This has a "live boot" option so you can boot from the CD and check it out before installing.

If your installation fails, which can sometimes happen because of hardware issues, then fall back to the ubuntu-7.10-alternate-i386.iso version which makes fewer assumptions about your hardware. This alternate version doesn't have the "live boot" option however.

BTW, the first site you looked at was for updates. Ubuntu has a package manager that will download and install new packages and updates for you. If you configure your system to download from that location rather from the default ubuntu server then you won't be using your download quota for updates.

Good luck!
Andrew