Linux does this too!

{{gwi:1473157}}

I do not surf the web unless I am on my linux machines these days, I do have my other windows boxes as well but what I use daily all day long is Mepis linux.

However that being said it is not for everyone and I certainly understand that. It can not be force fed it must be an educated choice and a willingness to undertake the learning of a new OS. I am eternally grateful for my terrific linux guru that led me kicking and screaming all the way LOL the man has great patience! Even us oldies can learn new tricks! (too bad I tend to forget things faster than I learn them)

yes zep it does do some neat stuff LOL
and you got to love the FREE part.

Yeah free! , I too use it daily.

But our main purpose here is to help the folks as best we can with Windows issues, find help and solutions for windows problems and hope to achieve results. Helping people here with those issues is by far the best thing we can do for the forum as a whole.

I admit not perusing the archives at all before submitting the following question, but--

How does one go about determining which one of the various Linux versions one should use ? There are many, correct ? Ubuntu, Mepis (as Ravencajun mentioned), Suse, etc. From what little I understand, some are designed to operate similar to Windows, while some try to be very different. A newbie to the whole Linux thing isn't expected to test-drive all of them is he/she ?

Thanks !

no there are literally I think hundreds of distros out there so it would be very time consuming to try them all. But many are based on core distros, for example Mepis is based on the Debian core. I have used the various ubuntu flavors but was not real happy with them, when I was turned on to Mepis I found it was much easier to use going from windows to linux and everything just worked out of the box so to speak which is what Mepis strives to do. Warren the creator of Mepis is very dedicated to making his distro user friendly and very easy to set up and use straight away. I prefer the KDE interface and Mepis comes with KDE which is a plus for me. I think KDE is easier for the new user coming over from windows.
Most of the new linux distros are all using GUI's now which make it very easy to transition to and you really do not have to learn a lot of command line, I just can not remember the stuff so believe me I mainly use GUI. And the distro comes loaded with pretty much every app you will need and if you find you need something else you just go to the repositories through synaptic or which ever one you have and look through the lists and find what you want.

The great thing is that you can download and burn an iso live cd of any linux distro for free and just stick it in your cd drawer and let it load from cd and try it out with out ever installing any thing on your pc it runs right from the cd itself, you can use linux that way for as long as you like with out ever installing it.

So many people right off try ubuntu since you hear about it so much but really I would suggest trying Mepis and Mint, PC linux, and Puppy some of those are really easy for newbies. The ubuntu flavors do have some great forums for help but there are dedicated forums for most distros, Mepis has the Mepislovers forums.

It really is something I would urge anyone that is curious to do, just get a live cd and give it a go. If you don't want to burn one go buy a linux magazine there is usually always a live cd of something in them and you can also order the ubuntu ones free online. You can find all of them at distrowatch.

Here is a link that might be useful: distrowatch

I remember the first time I put the live linux cd in the drive and it detected all the hardware, next thing I new I was connected to the internet from a cd......

Thanks for the detailed response, Ravencajun. I just may try a live CD sometime.

Quick follow-up: Suppose I get a Mepis live CD and find that I like it enough to use frequently. Does it come with some way of automatically installing it on my Windows 7 PC hard drive (making all the right partitions and such) ? Or would I need professional help for something like that to be sure I don't really mess things up ?

You can do it yourself. However I would strongly suggest you use the live CD for a while to get the feel of Linux. The reason? After creating a dual boot system you get asked every time which system you want to start and that can get tiresome in a hurry.

Perhaps you still have your old computer seeing you now have a Windows 7 machine. If so install your Linux on there. You can then buy a KVM switch (keyboard, video, mouse) to jump between the 2 computers using only one screen, keyboard and mouse..

Here is a link that might be useful: Gparted disk partitioner tutorial

Thanks, owbist, for the information! :-)

When I installed Ubuntu in a dual-boot on my Vista machine, I used the Vista "Shrink Volume" tool to create the unallocated free space for Ubuntu. It worked very well and didn't cause any problems with the bootloader.

all of the various distros do come with a partition tool on the live cd to aid in your partitioning, I would say as to if you do it yourself just how secure you feel, I was quite nervous my first time worrying i would wipe out my existing partition so I had a friend come over to watch me do it and give guidance. It is critical to understand which of the partitions it shows is your existing one, so you know not to mess with it. In my latest install which I was doing on a separate hard drive in the same machine with my existing windows which was on a different hard drive it for some reason named them exactly the opposite of how it normally would or should have, Thank God I decided to just make sure and check the actual volume of each before proceding because when I did that I saw that it had named my new drive what it should have named the existing drive. Had I gone by the normal instructions I would have been in deep trouble.

One great thing about Linux is the linux community, and I don't mean just online. They have linux user groups all over the country, they have meetings and get togethers and help each other and newbies with linux. One thing they all do is have special meetings where you can bring in your pc and they will help you step by step install and partition and get everything up and running for you as they teach you. I highly recommend looking for a LUG in your area.

Linux User Group

another option to consider is using WUBI which is a new way to install say ubuntu directly into your existing windows with out a partition, it installs it basically as a program and it can then be removed from your add remove programs list. Personally I suggest those going for the ubuntu flavors to try Kubuntu since it comes with the KDE manager rather than GNOME, which I think is more user friendly for those just transitioning over.

Wubi

linux has lots of options!
as azinoh stated with Vista and 7 you now have the shrink volume tool which is yet another option when you choose to do a partition type install.

You do want to use the live cd for a while to make sure first of all that everything does work right on your pc, try it out fully so you will know if you might encounter any issues prior to install, if it all works good on live cd then you likely will not have problems when installed.
Mepis has special "assistants" built in which are useful in working out some of the common issue that may occur.

If you consider Mepis this is the site to review first, look through the various tabs on the site and you will get a step by step look at what will happen and what to expect.

MEPIS Linux

here is the link if you want to order a free kubunu cd, everyone should have a live cd in their possession should you ever need one to help you recover a windows system anyway. They ship these pretty quickly.
free Kubuntu CD

Wow ! Thanks for all the great additional information !! :-) I'll definitely be looking into this further !

Oh, one more quick question, if I may. Since I have no blank DVDs or CDs at present I thought I'd order a few online (Amazon?). Is there a particular brand or type that is best for these types of things (i.e. burning Linux distros) ?

FWIW, CCleaner (on its start-up page) shows my system as follows: Windows 7 OS, 64 bit, Pentium Dual-Core CPU E5300 @ 2.6 GHz, 4.0 GB RAM. I don't know if any of this is relevant to what type and make of disc I should use to make my Live-CD.

I used CD-R purchased from Office Max. Probably any brand will do. The important thing to remember is that, after you download the .iso image, the burning software that you use to create the live cd must have a setting to BURN THE IMAGE. If you simply burn the file, you will have a useless coaster that won't boot your computer. Your machine is probably capable of running the 64-bit version of Ubuntu. You should locate the specs for both versions and then make a decision on which one to use.

Apologies...I meant to say that your machine is probably capable of running any Linux distro in a 64-bit version. I wasn't trying to push you towards Ubuntu. By all means-there are several distros you should look at before deciding. I personally thought Mandriva looked beautiful, and if I had found Linux Mint before Ubuntu I probably would've installed that instead. Now that I have Ubuntu up and running on two machines, I probably will keep it unless something goes wrong that I can't fix.

Thanks, azinoh, for your comments ! I'll check out Mepis and Mint (and Kubuntu) for starters.

Also, I imagine the only "burning software" I have is whatever's already on my Windows 7 PC. So, it should be sufficient. ??

Thanks again !

our main purpose here is to help the folks as best we can with Windows issues, find help and solutions for windows problems

And when the cause of the problem IS using Windows? When the problem is the inherently insecure OS and the way programs hook into each other leaving gaping holes for viruses?

My house-mate has a standing offer to anyone who wants him to fix their Windows PC - he'll set them up with Ubuntu Linux and their old version of Windows running in a VMWare sandbox. I'm running Win2K right now, as the "guest" on my Ubuntu "host".

It's all very pointy-clicky and easy.

I can see my help is totally unappreciated here. I'll be deleting the account.

Joe.

Joe you need to seriously reconsider your last post. Why would you allow the pro Linux element the satisfaction of driving you away when they are not the ones who need your valuable input?

As I have mentioned before in these pro Linux threads most of the folks coming here need assistance with learning - and a bit of security problems too. Why would any of these folks remove the expensive Windows program, what ever version they are using, to move to an unknown to them operating system?

One day Linux will be popular enough for the attackers to pay it some attention too.

Is this one of those global warming debates, niche group versus the populace? Or is it another Obama-like instance where we members are being told what is good for us?

DA

I think a discussion thread where questions are being asked and answered(calmly) is great, which this pretty much has been. As I said in my first post in this thread It is NOT for everyone and it can not be force fed and I sure do not think it is right or proper to try to force it on anyone. However in light of someone asking questions and needing answers I do think that is a good way to help someone decide if they want to give it a try.
Many of us here have tried linux and many of us do use linux. I in no way ever would want a discussion about anything at all cause anyone to leave, I definitely was not posting with that kind of intention, just simply answering the questions asked by not2bright. I sincerely hope this discussion has not caused anyone to be upset.
I for one am NOT in any way telling anyone what to do, I use windows and Linux both period and probably always will so nope in my case definitely not pushing for linux only.
I don't think Joe should ever leave here he is a HUGE asset to everyone here and we would definitely be missing out.
Hopefully he will reconsider and be back soon.

Good the account is still here. In my haste I tried to delete the account. I'm not going to take my ball and run like a baby, perhaps I read into the one post to much. I will take a rest for a while though.

Joe you are here daily helping out and giving graciously of your time and knowledge and I can promise you that many many here appreciate that greatly, I know I do. I have often had to take a little breather from time to time on various forums and that can be a good thing, so glad to know you will be back and soon I hope!
biggg giant huggggs.

and since it may not be said often enough
THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO HERE!

Joe I can definitely understand a time for a mental health pause.

Quite a while back I absolutely tired of certain members attempting to take over the forum. It was like a contest as to how many threads, be they simple or complex issues, they could answer between them, who could profess the most knowledge, and who could do it the fastest. No one else had a chance. The newer members who were happy to have an answer so they could participate were afraid to do so. If anyone disagreed with one of the self-anointed you had to be prepared for flaming. Many members just left or began to only lurk. The behind-the-scene communicating was prevalent.

As reluctantly at that time dubbed the "social conscious" of the forum I tried to mediate both overtly and privately. When the roof fell in I posted a couple of responses that were not truly me, and I was not proud of. I had to go on sabbatical. I was even banished to Disney by Spike, and only allowed to return after iVillage acquired the site and my friend, Pooh Bear, contacted the powers-that-be and spoke up in my behave.

So I understand if you have to get away, and I do encourage it. Just let out the bread crumbs so you can find the way back when you are ready.

DA

My two bits-worth for Zep, whom I have come to depend on as a dependable source:

>>Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go
Baby, please don't go, down to New Orleans
You know I love you soWell. You know what we mean!

:-)M

Zep, I just KNEW you couldn't possibly leave in a fit of anger. We have come to depend so much on you, and you have been such a big help to me on several occasions. Do what you must, take a short leave or whatever, but come back and don't abandon us.

Zep, you have responded a few times to my cries for help, and I have appreciated it tremendously. A big thanks to you and everone else that has helped. I know that I always keep in the back of my mind that if I ever have a problem that HJT would help I know just the person that can help with that. Please know that there are lots of us out here lurking that hope you will take a little rest, then be back raring to go. We need you to round out all the patient helpers here.

Zep, let me add my 2 cents here if I may. I am one of those people who knows enough of computers to be a danger to one self....There are only a hand full of people here on this forum that I come to trust and YOUR one of them. So again don't leave, stick around we ( I ) need you LOL

Big Al, you described me perfectly (about being a danger to oneself), and expressed perfectly and succinctly what I was trying to say.
Thank you

Just echoing everyone else...yes, take a break, but don't leave us. :) You're very much appreciated.