Linux Plunge?

[Neophant]

I am finding myself more and more fed up with windows and its problems and I think i am ready to take the Linux plunge but I am little apprehensive. So I thought would ask my fellow Egyptians for suggestions and tips.

What distro?
Problems to prepare for?
Should I just delete windows and start fresh or dual boot?
Etc

Thanks

[Bahruphet]

Probably the single largest "gotcha" still involved in setting up Linux is WiFi support. If you use wireless networking, look at the chipset support you need very carefully first.

For distros, I'm currently a fan of Kubuntu (I've always preferred KDE - Ubuntu if you like Gnome), or Centos. A current Fedora would likely be fine too, but I haven't tried them since FC3.

[Hirokache]

I would second any of the Ubuntu's (I use Xubuntu myself). Of the machine with a wireless card of any sort that I've installed it on, the card ended up working 'out of the box'. I was a long time fan of Fedora (and still run that on two of my workstations here at work), but I could never say the above in regards to wireless. (it also requires something like 6 cd's now, yikes!).

Ubuntu comes as a 'live CD', so you can boot off the cd and get a feel for what it would be like to run it. Definitely worth putting a little time into playing with the live CD to see if you like it at all.

[Neophant]

No wireless network set up.

How about Debian distro?

Xubuntu is another one been looking at.

So a Live CD is a way to try with out installing whole new system it runs directly from cd?

[Bahruphet]

No wireless network set up.

How about Debian distro?

Xubuntu is another one been looking at.

So a Live CD is a way to try with out installing whole new system it runs directly from cd?
That's right - launching stuff is slower than it would be fully installed, but you can get a good feel for the system that way. The Ubuntu live CDs can also install on your system, if you wish. Once you do that you can easily add packages via the 'net.

I've never seriously tried Debian, the release cycle has always seemed quite slow and I've always been after newer kernel releases.

[Corwitep]

How about Debian distro?


Debian is generally not a good idea if you are a linux neophyte because after installation you will have a pretty barebone system and a lot of the setup has to be done by hand. It comes in three flavours (stable, testing and unstable) with testing being a good compromise between stability and actuality.

Ubuntu is basically a Debian with an improved installer, a reasonably preconfigured desktop and faster release cycles. Imho it it's the best all around distro currently available. If you use Ubuntu, Xubuntu or Kubuntu is a matter personal preference.


So a Live CD is a way to try with out installing whole new system it runs directly from cd?


Yes, and I would very much recommend you try out a live cd first.

Personally I use Debian (unstable) on my desktop and Ubuntu on the laptop. Both are excellent distributions.

[Pluribus]

Distros... I can only attest to how well the Redhat/Fedora distros work, I currently run FC5 and FC6 with RH9 as the development build server.

[Neophant]

So if i install linux and keeps windows. Is there a way to switch back and forth between the 2 other than rebooting?

[twokay]

So if i install linux and keeps windows. Is there a way to switch back and forth between the 2 other than rebooting?
You can use something like vmware, which allows you to run one 'virtual' os, in a window on another os. There's no emulation going on, so it runs fast.

The downside is that vmware (or the other alternatives) haven't yet got good 3d support, so you can't run games on the 'guest' os. (Unless you count minesweeper)

I tend to run atitd on my linux box, while running Windows (for development and suchlike) in vmware, and it works well. Actually, atitd multitasks much better than on Windows, that way.

But... If you want to run 2 operating systems with full support for all your hardware, your only choice is to reboot when you want to switch.

[Neophant]

Having a problem with installing xubuntu. Posted on ubuntu forums but no real help ant ideas here.

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=372805


Thanks

[Hirokache]

Let grub install to hd0.

[Neophant]

WOOOOOOHOOOOO!!!!! Xubuntu installed as dual boot. Now exploring linux and setting it up for my preferences.
Next step is to get my 2 screens working or at least get linux over on the good screen and not the bad one. :smile2:

[Neophant]

Ok the screen problem has lead to major head ache if any one could help, would be greatly appreciated.


http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=2292571#post2292571