Very new to linux

[juststartedguy]

I'm a verynewbie...would like to know advantages and disadvantages of linux versus windows at a personal computer level and at company level (i know amazon uses linux and saves money). I just bought a computer (came with windows) and only know that that linux is another operating system. Please help me! :confused:

[johnjacobjingleheimersmit]

Well, you've come to the right place! The major advantage of linux is that its free. Parts of every linux system are always under development. (Not so good for 56ker's ;-)) Its stable and generally the people who use it are jolly good people! Disadvantage - You need to be motivated to use it. Too many people try it and give up because it is 'too hard' They generally tend to be the people who can't use windows with out ringing someone to find out how to install XYZ or how to open that terrible browser that comes with Windows (Its name escapes me)

If you would like to learn more about computers (And I do mean learn), you are one of those people who will 'investigate' if they don't know what to do, and you have a bit of spare time then give Linux a real go. For a newbie I would recommend Linux Mandrake. I've used both Slackware and Mandrake from the start and I'd say that Slackware makes you learn a lot while Mandrake helps you to learn.

Just my $0.02 + inflation @ 3%= $0.0206

[juststartedguy]

Thanks for the reply, friend! But i got more silly questions...when i bought my computer it came with windows (i guess the cost was hidden) and its been pretty easy to use. So far it's been pretty stable (only the so called blue screen of death a few times). Other than the motivation of learning (which seems good enuff to me), why would i wanna switch to slack or mandrake? :confused:

[euroslash]

Glad your taking an interest! I'm pretty new myself, but Im a win veteran (tho im scared to admit that here!). Linux is just a whole different way of doing things,and there are recreational gains, from the way it is customizable and fun to learn, academic levels, because you learn how a computer really ticks, and on a social level, cos as our good kiwi said, all us users are pretty good people.

I dont class myself a linux user, i just like to dabble in my spare time, but thats why its fun.

enjoy it mate!

€/

[S.D.Willie]

youd want to go with mandrake 8 or 8.1 as opposed to slackware. ive installed both and mandy is defintely the easier of the two. if youre new to computers in general i would say stick with windows until you feel more comfortable.

if you have the drive space (or even better) another hard drive you can choose to dual boot with windows and linux after a while. im kinda new myself and i get real frustrated but i have alot of patience as well luckily. :)

heres a few sites to help you along. http://www.linuxjunior.org/
http://www.linuxhelp.org/

SD

[ 04 November 2001: Message edited by: S.D.Willie ]

[slacker_x]

I would say that linux is a great server OS and a hobbyist desktop OS.

Windows is easier to use as a desktop OS and the desktop applications are better in 99% of the cases.

I think Linux is way more fun than windows. I wouldn't reccomend it as a Desktop to someone who just uses computers to get work done. If you enjoy using computers, give it a try.

Be prepared for a rough ride though.

[juststartedguy]

Wow! Just wanted to thank all those that have replied. I didn't expect such an overwhelming response and from so many different parts of the world. Guess linux users are good people! Only had computer for a month, but I have noticed some restrictions on windows (been playing with msconfig and regedit and the thousands of windows and checkboxes). Been checkin out some sites too, im thinkin of starting with mandrake...wondering how hard it could be. Ive already taught myself a little DOS, java and html... :)

[nfallon]

You'll never see the blue screen of death in Linux.

[Dave Anderson]

Heh heh.

As much as I love Slackware, do not INSTALL IT! It is definitely not for newbies.

Mandrake, Redhat, or Suse would be the way to go. Those are 3 great distros and are user friendly.

If you're going to switch to Linux you really need to think about WHY you'd want to switch. Honestly, I end up telling a lot of computer users NOT to switch to Linux because I know it'll be too much work for them.

-Not everything is going to work right away in Linux. This is the case in Windows as well, but it happens more often in Linux. You need to be prepared to search for solutions (here or google) and ask for help (here or google).

-Check to make sure your hardware is going to be compatible. You could have a Winmodem that may not work under Linux.

-What do you use your computer for? Linux does decent in providing comparable apps in some areas (office, for example), but is weak in other areas (personal finance and games, for example).

What's great about Linux is once you have everything working, it'll almost always work forever and never break. Of course, many of us like to screw around with our systems and try beta software, which can often cause problems. That's another story, however.

Good luck!

[fateswarm]

Originally posted by Dave Anderson:
<STRONG>Heh heh.

As much as I love Slackware, do not INSTALL IT! It is definitely not for newbies.
</STRONG>


Oh my GOD! Where were you when I was a complete newbie and I got this "because it was the best".

/me barking in dark

Aauuuuuuuuuu!

[sasa]

hi iam new to ...i install redhat as they toled me it stabel :-( when i upgrad ram from 64 mb to 128 mb it didnot work more and more error ....scand time when my AC faild down .. igot error and error my squied stop working ..internet stop working :confused:
what do you mean about stabalty..have i to buy UPS .. to save my computer :mad: :rolleyes: :eek:

[ihateBill]

Hi! Just a proposition...

I had troubles with the dual-boot install
when I first try Linux. So, i get myself a
nice old Pentium 100 32RAM and installed
red hat on it. Now, this nice old box
is spliting my internet connection with my
Win98SE (yeah, i do use more Windows as a
Desktop PC games etc.) and it is also
a nice, stable FTP server...No more disconnecting from internet like i had with WIN caus it freeze so much.....

So, fisrt time with linux: Get yourself
an old PC 486 or Pentium 1 and install linux on and play around with this till you feel more comfortable....

[deadlock]

I reckon that if you are genuinely interested in Linux, you should go for RedHat 7.2. It's still a fair bit off from making Linux a viable Consumer OS, but if you don't mind a little work, it makes a perfectly good desktop OS for hardnose types ;). Installation is perfectly straightforward and it detected all of my hardware - even my 3DFX Voodoo4000, which was cool, since 3DFX went bust just after they released this card.

I've tried Mandrake 8.1 and to be honest I wasn't all that impressed - it had some problems with most of the machines that I've installed it on, all from either Dell or Compaq. Others here have said great things about it, so you might get different results.

The best thing to do is to read up on Linux installation - go to RedHat (http://www.redhat.com) for starters. You should probably keep Windows installed as well, since it is a good deal easier to use than Linux - find out what you can about dual-booting - which isn't as difficult as it sounds. If you do decide to go down the dual-boot road, then your biggest stumbling block may be resizing the partition that Windows is installed on to make room for Linux - check with us here and we'll give you a dig out on that one. Again, it's not as complicated as it may at first seem.

On a corporate level, Linux is very useful, since it is extremely cheap (ranging from free for a basic set of distro disks to £100 for a full set), very stable and can operate with a low overhead in terms of memory and disk space. An awful lot of server apps are free, which is very attractive, since their counterparts on Windows can be very pricy (Squid Proxy for Linux versus Microsoft Proxy Server, for example). Plus, the Open Source nature of Linux and a lot of it's applications means that there is a huge amount of flexibility and customisability.

[ 05 November 2001: Message edited by: wonk ]

[UltraMagnus]

I'd say skip the whole linux transition and buy a copy of NetBSD. That'll seperate the men from the boys! Guaranteed to make you stare at the screen and ask, "now why did it just do that??" *shoutout to my boys in Atlanta, two more weeks.*

[X_console]

As much as I love Slackware, do not INSTALL IT! It is definitely not for newbies.

I would disagree. I've introduced a couple of newbies to Linux and the distribution I had them start out with was Slackware. They had little problems with it and got it up and running almost immediately. Now they use it because it's stable and secure. It would be more accurate to say that Slackware is not for those who do not know a lot about their hardware or are not interested in configuring their system. It is not for those who want Linux to be working immediately after installing.