Y should i change

[neochivers]

i was wondering what the advantages of using linux are and can some 1 recomend a version withe a nice GUI?

[doctorgonzo]

Why change? To learn something new, to be different, to experiment, because you hate M$, because you are bored...there are lots of reasons.

Most distros of Linux come with KDE and Gnome desktop GUI environments, so you can choose what you want to use. Linux is about choice.

[neochivers]

Thanks i have some live cds of linux to play with.. i might install it on my new system

[Auriga]

It is indeed a refreshing change. Although for people who have never used a *nix system before you will be in for some hair pulling moments!

I have XP and Fedora Core 3 on my PC and have to admit i tend to use Linux more for learning about the whole system and for general 'playing with'.

Go do it and enjoy!

[neochivers]

thanks i am quite bored of windows and the blue screen of death

[Auriga]

Any idea what flavour of Linux you'll be trying?

[neochivers]

either Suse or Lindows, which version do you think is the best?

[mikeL]

I would lean towards SuSE, or Mandriva not Lindows. Although this is my personal preference, I would also think about trying one of the live cd's like Knoppix or one of the others, because at some point you will become so frustrated with Linux, and want to give up. But that's what I like about 'nix it can be challenging, and very rewarding.

good luck with your choice, and have fun most of all.

Mike

[neochivers]

is it possible have Windows and lunix on the same hdd using a boot selector

[Auriga]

But of course!

[MulderMan]

yes, but it is alot easier to have windows installed first. when going through the linux installation process most distros pick up windows and will add it to the boot list.

[neochivers]

thanks guys

[Ind-PC_student]

"Welcome to the club "Im tired of putting the restore CD on the cdrom"

About the boot loader on the instalation screen you have usually a choice of boot loaders
either GRUB or LILO use the distros default and then it will add win$ as aboot up choice automaticly.

[357mag]

You shouldn't be getting any blue screen of death unless your using Windows 95, 98, or ME. If you're using XP or 2000, there is no blue screens. I've got Xandros installed and I gotta say it's pretty good. Although it seems when I get one problem solved, another creeps up. I also have Linspire but I don't like the interface at all. I want to install Fedora and see how much I can customize the interface.

[mairving]

Originally Posted by 357mag You shouldn't be getting any blue screen of death unless your using Windows 95, 98, or ME. If you're using XP or 2000, there is no blue screens.

Windows 2000 and XP have blue screens as well. Not quite as frequent but they are there.

[catacon]

I have SuSE 9.1 Pro and I love it. Comes with tons of software. It can be harder to setup, because you have to manually do things, but that allows you to customize it even more.

[ffreeloader]

I'll put my usual plug in for Debian here. You get more software choices with Debian than with Mandriva, Redhat, SuSe, NDL, etc.... I understand that Lindows has a comparable number of software choices, but why pay for something which you can get for free, and is the original, not a copy?

People will tell you that Debian is too hard to learn but I don't buy it. I had tried Mandrake twice, for very short periods because it was too buggy, and Redhat once, again for a very short time but this time because of rpm hell.

A year and half later I got the courage to try it again and installed woody. As I hadn't touched Linux for the entire time I'd basically forgotten the very little I knew about it. It was like starting fresh. Now woody was a lot more difficult to install than either Mandrake or Redhat, but once I got it installed it wasn't buggy and package management was so easy I was hooked. No more rpm hell or buggy software.

Today sarge is a piece of cake to install. It's a modern OS and is as solid as a rock. Type linux26 at the install cd boot prompt and you'll get the 2.6 kernel too. If you have broadband you can install it over the internet so you don't need to even buy the cd's. You simply have to download the 100 mb netinstall cd and go from there.

[neochivers]

ok freloader u just confuzed me im looking for 1 with a gui

[digitalfreedom64]

Originally Posted by mairving Windows 2000 and XP have blue screens as well. Not quite as frequent but they are there.

Oh yes the blue screens are for sure there. Microsoft kept blowing steam about how WinXP is almost impossible to crash. Well......I took that as a challenge. It is harder to do than previous windows but...oh yeah, it's possible.

[neochivers]

just go to run then enter C:\con\con

[ffreeloader]

ok freloader u just confuzed me im looking for 1 with a gui

LOL. Well, I've run Debian with Icewin, Blackbox, Fluxbox, Gnome, and KDE. I normally run Gnome, but I haven't really found any of them that I find objectionable. It just depends on what you like. There are some more gui's available too, I just haven't tried them all. And, best of all, you only need one command to install them any of them: apt-get install gui_of_your_choice.

You're not going to find an OS that will give you more choices than Debian does. You can modify/customize to your heart's content. Debian places very few limits upon what you can do to and with your system, and it's as solid as a rock.

[ffreeloader]

BTW, here's a some of the other gui's available as packages to be installed using apt-get too.

fvwm, fvwm2, icewm, afterstep, olvwm, wmaker, mwm, twm, enlightenment

I'm not sure how many more are available, but I doubt I've given you a comprehensive list yet. You should be able to find one you really like. Debian kicks butt.

[Colonel Sanders]

I myself would not recomend Linspire at all. When I tried Linspire, I did not see any changes that would make it easier for a Windows user to switch to Linspire. What I did notice was every piece of software on a standard Linux system was present, but renamed. . .

I have been very happy with an install of SuSE 9.3 Pro, but I also like Gentoo. Gentoo will leave you staring at a terminal for a while during the install, and it's not for newbies, but it will create a great system in the end. Debian and I never got along to good, but I think if I took control of the install more things could have worked out.

L J

[Ind-PC_student]

Originally Posted by neochivers just go to run then enter C:\con\con

Although the blue screens are less visible an frequent what now makes me very angry is the wat sometimes windows slowsdown withought any reson whatsoever.

Even when you used all tools for maintenace provided and aquired

disk managment and virus firewalss stuff, what a waste of time

[Ind-PC_student]

Now specially with the Debian sarge 3.1 release its the easiest debian ever.

[neochivers]

srz i havnt been on this thread for a wile ... so the advice is to just go on the site get one and if i dont like it get another?

[ffreeloader]

srz i havnt been on this thread for a wile ... so the advice is to just go on the site get one and if i dont like it get another?

Well, I'd order you to try Debian, but for some unknown reason no one, including myself, thinks I'm the ultimate authority on this. So, with that in mind, yeah, keep trying them all until you find the one you like the best. Linux really is all about finding something that fits you, not trying to make you fit an OS. I just wouldn't advise you to start with something like Gentoo. It's more difficult than the vast of majority of Linux newbies should start with.

I think a lot of what decides what distro you like depends on how you look at computing. If you like to really understand what's under the hood the distro's with the reputation for being "difficult" are the ones you'll like because they force you to learn because they have very few wizards. If you just want an OS to use to accomplish daily tasks then the distro's that have the reputation of being "easy" are the one's you'll like the best. Thy will be the most like Windows when it comes to wizards and not really having to learn the guts of the OS to use it.

[neochivers]

ok thanks guys i will be building my comp pretty soon now