Re: Linux

[Joe Malin <jmalin -at- jmalin -dot- com>]

I will encore Barry's recommendation of Ubuntu. They designed it to be
easy to use, and of course it's completely free.

It is distributed as an ISO CD image. You will have to have a CD writer
and software that can write an ISO image to a CD; fortunately, Windows
XP can do this. Once you make the CD image, you have to boot your
computer from CD. Again, fortunately, most computers made in the last 5
years can do this. You may need to go into your computer's BIOS setup to
enable this feature.

You can even set up a late-model computer to use both Windows XP *and*
Ubuntu Linux. The process is not for novices, though, so you may want to
enlist the help of a computer-savvy friend or co-worker. Ubuntu comes
with the GRUB boot manager. This installs a "mini" OS on your hard drive
that you then use to choose between your Windows XP and Ubuntu OSes. A
note: Linux does not yet handle NTFS very well. For that reason, you may
not be able to work with your Windows XP files while in Ubuntu or other
Linux varieties. You may want to establish a "shared" partition/drive
using FAT32; Linux works seamlessly with FAT32 partitions.

Some nomenclature and notes on Linux:
* varieties of Linux are called "distributions" or "distros" for short.
Ubuntu is a Linux distro, so is Red Hat.
* Linux distros usually include third-party application-level software.
For example, most Linux distros contain a version of Apache HTTP server,
which you use to run a web site from your
  computer. Each distro contains its own default set of applications,
which in Linux lingo are known as "packages". The defaults vary from
distro to distro. Red Hat Linux contains a very
  large number of packages, and its GUI installer allows you to pick and
choose which ones to install. Ubuntu's default set is much smaller,
which makes it easier to install.
* When you install Linux, the boot-up/installation process may hang. The
installer tries to guess what hardware you have, and does this by
loading a multitude of general-purpose drivers.
   Some of these drivers may be incompatible with your computer,
especially if you have modified it or you built it from scratch. All
distros will have instructions for overcoming this
   problem.
* You really should consider getting a UNIX reference. The best one I
know is Unix Systems Administration, by Nemeth, Snyder, Seebass, and
Hein (http://tinyurl.com/ymtjyw). Just
   *reading* this book will teach you as much about the real innards of
Linux as using it!
* The UNIX/Linux community is extremely helpful, supportive, and
knowledgeable. Don't hesitate to use online forums to ask questions!

Joe

Barry Campbell wrote:
> On 11/22/06, Caroline Tabach <Caroline -at- radcom -dot- com> wrote:
>
>> I would like to give the users some basic information about Linux.
>> Actually I think I would like to read a little bit about it myself,
>> Can anyone direct me to an internet site they have found useful?
>
> Reading about Linux is a good idea, but the best way to learn about
> and get comfortable with Linux is to use it!
>
> Many distributions are now available in "Live Distribution" format; if
> you have a PC that is capable of booting from the CD-ROM drive (most
> recently built PCs will do this) you can download a disc image, burn
> it to a recordable CD, and then boot from that and run Linux on your
> own PC, whenever you want to, without changing anything on your hard
> disk.
>
> There are a gazillion "live" Linux distributions, but the two
> best-known are probably:
>
> http://www.knoppix.net/ - Knoppix
> http://www.ubuntu.com/ - Ubuntu
>
> My opinion is that Ubuntu is probably best for beginners, especially
> since there's quite a bit of good documentation at
> https://help.ubuntu.com/ and good advice at the community wiki:
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/
>
> - bc
>
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