I want schooled on Linux...anybody?

[burntheland]

I want to know where I can look up some good dumbed down info on how to run Linux. The "do's and dont's". I remember running DOS quite frequently, but it's a little hazy since I was eleven at the time. lol I'm tired of running windows all together. And mostly, I'm sick of being 1 of the 95823498529348752897345789237489523987589234 people who help pay bill gates' bills just for providing an inferior "easy to use" product. I would rather get into the technical side of things. Any good tutorials? Or anybody want to give me their number to use as a 24 hour help line? lol

[Airbozo]

http://www.linux.org/

Is a good place to start.

You can use a "Live CD" to play with linux without destroying the data on your HDD. Personally I would use a dedicated drive to install linux and just change the bios settings to turn the other drive off (if it is running windows) you could also setup dual boot, but you can dork things up. The best method would be to use an old spare computer to install and run linux. That way you can have one system up and running to browse the web while playing with the other one.

SAMS publishes some good books on learning linux but all of that info is available on the web.

[x88x]

I'd recommend starting with Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/) (or Fedora (http://fedoraproject.org/), if you prefer). They're both making major strides in usability, but personally I think Ubuntu is built on a better base.

Both have active user forums, so pretty much any issue you run into has probably already been done, and you can usually find a fix on there.

The absolute best way to learn Linux fast (imo) is to install it on your primary computer, and force yourself to use it for everything. It might be painful for a few days (though with the later versions of Ubuntu and Fedora, maybe not), but you'll get on your feet a lot faster than if you have another computer that you can easily fall back on.

[burntheland]

THANKS GUYS! Way to save me a few extra hours of browsing the web first. I might wind up trying Ubuntu first.

:D

[Airbozo]

Even though I prefer Fedora, Ubuntu is probably the best place to start. It is usually easier to install and get working with all your gear. The main advantage (or disadvantage depending on your point of view) with Fedora is that RedHat uses it as a test bed for all the bits that eventually show up in the RedHat linux (a very stable version of linux mainly used by large companies and systems).

Good luck and post your experiences...

[burntheland]

Will do....whenever I actually have time to get around to making the switch that is. lol

[Luthien]

I've considered switching to Linux myself. I'm not familiar with it, but I keep hearing a lot of good things about it. Should I go for it?

[billygoat333]

Linux mint is by far the easiest flavor of linux I've messed with, and its faaast. (well, compared to win xp on a pIII lol)

[Luthien]

I'm trying to decide between Mint & Ubuntu.

[x88x]

Mint is sort of a spruced up Ubuntu, with some of the proprietary stuff prepackaged in ways that Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) can't do because of licensing concerns.

[Luthien]

Very helpful info. Thanks!

[Luke122]

+1 for Mint.

[chaksq]

+1 for Mint.

X2 I have installed this on computers for people who have no clue about computers and they love how it just works. Use it personally on any Linux machine I run.

[Luthien]

I'm downloading Mint tonight.

[Luthien]

I downloaded Mint and it does not agree with my system. It basically gave me the finger and refused to recognize my RAID configuration and my networking. Tried two different cards and it wouldn't work with either. So now I'm downloading Ubuntu. Wubi should make it work.

[Luthien]

In the end, I did get Mint installed. So far, it's working well. Now I just have to get the hang of it.