Jump to content

Welcome to Geeks to Go - Register now for FREE

Need help with your computer or device? Want to learn new tech skills? You're in the right place!
Geeks to Go is a friendly community of tech experts who can solve any problem you have. Just create a free account and post your question. Our volunteers will reply quickly and guide you through the steps. Don't let tech troubles stop you. Join Geeks to Go now and get the support you need!

How it Works Create Account
Photo

XP pro to Linux


  • Please log in to reply

#1
Riore

Riore

    New Member

  • Member
  • Pip
  • 1 posts
I am very clueless about Linux and I would like to try it out. I have had to format every month because Windows XP has brought up alot of problems. My brother uses Windows XP pro and my computer connects direct to him so I can get the internet, this might not be the case in a few months though.

I like to play online game and watch movie alot on my computer.
Chat on MSN.

I hope this helps. I don't know what linux to choose. There are so many different version that I don't understand how each one is different. If you could give em a rough idea of what one would suit me the most it would be a big help. I have 512KB/s cable and unlimited downloads and uploads so there won't be a problem downloading it and I can buy any version if I have to pay for one.

If you need any more information just ask. :] Thanks again.
  • 0

Advertisements


#2
Antartic-Boy

Antartic-Boy

    Visiting Staff

  • Visiting Consultant
  • 1,120 posts
Hi Riore,

There are so many different distributions of Linux, which are free and you can download one from here -> http://www.linux.org/dist/ -> This site will help you to decide which Linux to download..
  • 0

#3
Thef0rce

Thef0rce

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 380 posts
linux is free so you don't need to pay. I'd suggest going for a distro that looks and behaves very much like windows. very few games actually work in linux, there is a windows emulator but you might find it quite difficult to configure. instant messaging is easy because linux comes with gaim, a multi protocol messenger program. there are also movie players that work well to play dvd's. the closest you can get to windows these days is suse, but I think you have to buy the new releases.
  • 0

#4
warriorscot

warriorscot

    Member 5k

  • Retired Staff
  • 8,889 posts
Windows xp shouldnt be causing any need to reformat on such a regular basis most people never need to reformat using windows. It sounds like you might have a faulty hard drive, they tend to pick up errors as they start to die and need to be reformatted regualrly in order to work which sounds like the problem you are having. Look on your drive manufacturers website for drive diagnostic software and make sure your windows is fully updated to SP2 with all relevant updates.
  • 0

#5
derek2005

derek2005

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 45 posts
Another site to look at is http://www.distrowatch.com

I don't think anyone can tell you which one to use since many of us Linux users use different ones. What you will probably need to do is find a couple of them and test them out basically. Also with linux, their are different graphical interfaces to use like KDE or GNOME. If you don't know what those are, each of those websites should explain it. Since you use windows XP, you might like the KDE look better than the GNOME.

I've used a couple of distros and the two i like the most are Kubuntu and Mandriva. I wish i could use Mandriva but for some reason it will not turn my PCMCIA card on. But Kubuntu turns it on just find. Some linux distros find your hardware just fine and then others just frustrate you.

Edited by derek2005, 13 November 2005 - 08:02 PM.

  • 0

#6
maxeem_com

maxeem_com

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 12 posts
okay, i am glaringly showing my ignorance here but i have to say Antartic Boy and Derk2005, that selection of Linux software doesn't narrow it down at all. for a user switching from XP, the sites seem to be more geared to those who are familiar with Linux. e.g.; how would 'red hat based' narrow my selection versus 'embedded'? to me this is a rather useless feature! and the one search feature which is but a google embed? thanks for nothing! it's no wonder people are upset at Linux for claiming to be so easy to use versus M$, when there's all this technobabble involved in an intelligent selection. zounds!

i was going to ask for advice to switch my Office/Adobe Suite machine to a Linux based system but it looks like nobody has advice on it. all the suggestions are just like 'oh, go here to research this' ... go there for this thing. it's frustrating when nobody knows anything about anyone else's machine because of the simple fact that every machine is different. Linux is made out to look more like some cobbled-together patchwork thing than it actually is. no wonder M$ windows is more successful even though it sucks; despite how awesome the end-result of a Linux machine is, the Linux community puts too much responsibility on the user to be a technician, and directs very little sensitivity towards those who they regard as ignorant. it's like a bunch of mechanics scoffing at someone for buying a ford when they could "just build their own car."

it's clear that being somewhat of a tech-junkie is important in this day and age to do what you want, but boy -- looking at the Vista message boards, one would think it is easy to switch over to just some basic Linux package as an alternative to windows. it's clearly not. i'm not complaining though; I have my research ahead of me and i'll do what it takes to figure this out, but most people wouldn't, and that's why Linux will never beat M$.

[bleep], i went way off topic, but it just occured to me. can i still ask for advice about an Adobe Suite or did i blow it with this angry-sounding post?
  • 0

#7
warriorscot

warriorscot

    Member 5k

  • Retired Staff
  • 8,889 posts
Nah its fine people who use linux tend to forget that people arent as used to it as they are after what is more often than not a difficult transition, they also find all that stuff very interesting and dont think that a normal user would be bored to tears by it.
They also love bashing the fact that windows is so slow in comparison, but windows is slow for a reason, all the functionality that makes it so easy to use holds it back. But linux is a coobled together patch work thing they all just use the same bits of material.
  • 0

#8
Thef0rce

Thef0rce

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPipPip
  • 380 posts

i went way off topic, but it just occured to me. can i still ask for advice about an Adobe Suite or did i blow it with this angry-sounding post?


xpdf handles adobe pdfs remarkably well. you'll find it with every standard install of fedora core 4 and most of the older redhat installs. redhat is a very popular distro of linux, however it is often put down because it is difficult to install additional software without downloading tons of other software that make the original software work. I believe adobe makes acrobat reader for linux anyway, look around their site, if they do at least the reader will be free.

why not just try linux before you go on ranting about how difficult it seems? at the end of this post is a link to the live cd version of the distro knoppix, burn it as an iso image using nero or the free cdburnerxp and boot it over your windows installation. it does not install anything and has everything that a normal linux distro will offer you, including openoffice, which handles microsoft word and office files and is also available as a windows version.

and research is what people who use linux do. it's no good making a post every time you find something difficult, google is your friend.

and warriorscot, I don't think windows is 'slow'. I think that it lacks functionality. you can do so much in linux just by using the command line that you can't even dream of doing in windows, at least not without downloading more programs. linux is exceptionally powerful and the partition system makes it unlikely for viruses to get into the main filesystem. for this reason, I think linux is superior to windows. windows has exploits because of its popularity, but even if linux were to become popular, I think the damage that people could inflict upon a system is much less than they can inflict on someone running windows.

here are the links:

download knoppix: http://knopper.net/k...s/index-en.html
free cdburnerxp pro that has become my only dvd/cd burning program because its brilliant
http://www.cdburnerxp.se/

remember to burn it as an iso, there's an option to do that. if you don't, its the wrong format and knoppix won't boot.

Edited by Thef0rce, 15 November 2005 - 08:32 AM.

  • 0

#9
maxeem_com

maxeem_com

    Member

  • Member
  • PipPip
  • 12 posts
"why not just try linux before you go on ranting about how difficult it seems?"

no reason. i was just being a whiny [bleep].

but thanks for the advice. if more people were as responsive as you on message boards, problems would frickin get solved.
  • 0






Similar Topics

0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users

As Featured On:

Microsoft Yahoo BBC MSN PC Magazine Washington Post HP