Panarchy Posted September 27, 2007 Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 Hi everyone (again!),I want to install linux on my computer, but I don't know which version to install (there are so many!)I am a first time user (well I will be) of linux.Thanks in advanced,Panarchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted September 27, 2007 Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 It's a personal thing, but I think Ubuntu (for all it's odd name) is very good. I have played with a few, the last being Fedora 5 and previously SUSE 10, Linspire, Knoppix and Meppis. However Ubuntu seems to be much more to my liking. It seems to require less "nursing" but that may now be true of the others I have tried as the advancement in quality and ease of installation and use seems to be improving at a great rate. I suppose it is because the people behind all the different Lnux variations are doing because they like doing it and are interested in it, rather than doing it as a job just for money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panarchy Posted September 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 ^Okay!Thanks!(What about kubuntu and the other distro's that have the word ubuntu in them? Are any of them good?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted September 27, 2007 Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 They are all variations on the basic Ubuntu. Kubuntu uses the KDE display system otherwise it is basically the same. I reckon it would be worth while ferreting around in http://www.google.com/linux ,Many of the Distros (as they are foolishly called) have live CDs which you can run as a test on any PC without affecting Windows. They just boot up from the CD and leave everything on you HD intact.I built myself a cheap computer to experiment on and downloaded various "Distros" from the Distro's web sites until I found one that was to my liking. All the downloads are gratis and are well worth playing with.There are also several support sites, some almost as good as WF!!!One of the things that I found very good is the fact that I have never yet had to load any drivers. All my external drives, card readers, printers, scanners etc have been P&P. There are one or two oddities with activating CD drives ("mounting" as the jargon has it) but I think that may be my fault as much as that of Linux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted September 27, 2007 Report Share Posted September 27, 2007 If possible, you should always try a LiveCD version of a distro before installing it. This way you get an idea of what you're getting into, and how it looks & feels.Here's a good list:http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trackrat Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 You could try Linux Mint Cassandra, it is based on Ubuntu and comes with Video and Sound codecs.It also has a program called Envy that allows you to install ATI or Nvidia drivers with two clicks. Also from the install it will allow you to read & write to NTFS partitions.It can be run from a live CD and can be downloaded from here.http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/Li...load-17252.htmlAs scarecrow man says try a some different live CD's and see which you fancy.Use a CDRW to burn the ISO too, then if you do not like it, just erase it and burn another one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike567 Posted September 28, 2007 Report Share Posted September 28, 2007 Kubuntu, I love KDE desktop :D.edubuntu is for educationand xubuntu is light weight, good for really crap machines.PC Linux OS is rather good as well.But after all the linux distros I've used I love kubuntu.I think its more of what suits you.I say try the best options fedora, ubuntu, pc linux, mandriva and slackware Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted September 29, 2007 Report Share Posted September 29, 2007 Mike 567, I have to disagree with using Slackware, it is definately not for a beginner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike567 Posted September 30, 2007 Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 I was thinking of something else :P. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted September 30, 2007 Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 There is a third option for installing Ubuntu, called WUBI.This allows you to run Ubuntu within Windows and can be installed and uninstalled like a normal program in Windows, so no partioning or messing about with the MBR.WUBI can be downloaded here,http://wubi-installer.org/I have tried this and it works without any problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panarchy Posted September 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2007 They are all variations on the basic Ubuntu. Kubuntu uses the KDE display system otherwise it is basically the same. I reckon it would be worth while ferreting around in http://www.google.com/linux ,Many of the Distros (as they are foolishly called) have live CDs which you can run as a test on any PC without affecting Windows. They just boot up from the CD and leave everything on you HD intact.I built myself a cheap computer to experiment on and downloaded various "Distros" from the Distro's web sites until I found one that was to my liking. All the downloads are gratis and are well worth playing with.There are also several support sites, some almost as good as WF!!!One of the things that I found very good is the fact that I have never yet had to load any drivers. All my external drives, card readers, printers, scanners etc have been P&P. There are one or two oddities with activating CD drives ("mounting" as the jargon has it) but I think that may be my fault as much as that of Linux.^And what distro did you end up choosing?You could try Linux Mint Cassandra, it is based on Ubuntu and comes with Video and Sound codecs.It also has a program called Envy that allows you to install ATI or Nvidia drivers with two clicks. Also from the install it will allow you to read & write to NTFS partitions.It can be run from a live CD and can be downloaded from here.http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/Li...load-17252.htmlAs scarecrow man says try a some different live CD's and see which you fancy.Use a CDRW to burn the ISO too, then if you do not like it, just erase it and burn another one.^That looks better then normal ubuntu, does it have all the Audio/video codecs?Kubuntu, I love KDE desktop :D.edubuntu is for educationand xubuntu is light weight, good for really crap machines.PC Linux OS is rather good as well.But after all the linux distros I've used I love kubuntu.I think its more of what suits you.I say try the best options fedora, ubuntu, pc linux, mandriva and slackware^Can we have a vote on this? To see which one I should download and burn?(I have already tried installing ubuntu, with hassle, I couldn't install it, I think it may be because of my hard-drive)Thanks in advanced,Panarchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catgate Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 It's a personal thing, but I think Ubuntu (for all it's odd name) is very good. I have played with a few, the last being Fedora 5 and previously SUSE 10, Linspire, Knoppix and Meppis. However Ubuntu seems to be much more to my liking. It seems to require less "nursing" but that may now be true of the others I have tried as the advancement in quality and ease of installation and use seems to be improving at a great rate. I suppose it is because the people behind all the different Lnux variations are doing because they like doing it and are interested in it, rather than doing it as a job just for money.I am sorry. I thought my original answer said that I was running Ubuntu now.The poll idea, whilst being interesting from an academic point of view, will not help you to chose which one suits you. A wise old friend of mine always said it was impossible to describe the taste of an apple. So too I found with Linux. So I put together a cheap machine and tried some. It's a bit of a pain, but it is educational (it taught me a lesson!) and very character forming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike567 Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 I agree with Alan use wubi, I have introduced my friends to linux using wubi it really is great :). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan2273 Posted October 1, 2007 Report Share Posted October 1, 2007 Hi Panarchy, (using WUBI to install Ubuntu), when I tried it out my sound worked without having to install any codecs, but the Video codecs do need to be installed, but it is easy to do if you follow this answer on the Ubuntu forum.http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=75278 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prost Posted October 5, 2007 Report Share Posted October 5, 2007 See www.linuxlinux.co.nrI recommend Mandriva. They have the biggest group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
P.Rudra Posted May 29, 2008 Report Share Posted May 29, 2008 See www.linuxlinux.co.nrI recommend Mandriva. They have the biggest group.I am late in spotting this string.Why hasn't anybody suggested openSUSE 10.3 ?It is very user-friendly like Windows.I have previously used Debian Sarge, but now am a staunch supporter of openSUSE 10.3.For the first time users installation with Expert Mode is a bit tricky.Dependency problems are almost nil.For additional packages, packman and guru repositories are extremely helpful.P.Rudra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panarchy Posted June 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 Thanks for replying.OpenSUSE? I'm going to be using that later this year as part of my course.Also, it is a bit of a bump... 8 months? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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