August 25, 2006

• Step 1, decide what you want your computer to -do-. Linux is cool and all - so is BSD. If you enumerate what you need done (like: "I want to drag and drop x into y and get z") then you can verify that whatever kernel, WM and applications you select will do that. It takes searching. Many many programs don't "carry over". The M$ programs you cite don't run on Linux at all. OpenOffice has similar functionality to the Office suite, including PowerPoint. If you use Linux on the internet you will probably suffer fewer attempts to interfere with your machine. Yes, if you format your entire hard drive to work with Linux you will lose the Windows functionality. It isn't easy to dual-boot Windows and Linux, and the more recent the Windows version, the more difficult, but it is do-able.
• Ubuntu is probably the best bet. It is based on Debian but is designed for ease of use. No microsoft products work natively on linux (there are ways to make Microsoft Office work, but best not to mess with them as a newbie) However, nearly every program has an equivalent on linux. Here is a list of Linux equivalents to windows programs Ubuntu comes with most of these pre-installed. Openoffice.org, Firefox, Gimp, Gaim, all replace the products you have mentioned. Moreover, they are all available for windows as well so perhaps install them on windows first to get used to them. Most games, however, won't work. If it isa casual card game or soemthing, there is almost certainly a version on Linux. Half-life 2, for example isn't on linux though (again there are ways, but they are more complex and best not to think about right now). internets is internets. it doesn't matter. Wireless networking is a bit more work as not all wireless cards are well supported. when you reformat you are going to get rid of everything. So back up all your files, bookmarks, emails and such. No antivirus is needs. The best thing to do would be to download a live cd first which you can burn to a cd or dvd and then boot from it without installing anything. That will allow you to play around with it before installing it (just a note, it will be much slower since it is running from the cd. linux is just as fast as windows once installed) ubuntu has a version that you can download and either run as a live cd (that they call a desktop cd for some reason) or you can install. I say download it, burn it to a disk, run the live cd to see if your hardware will work. mess around with it, then you can decide if you want to bite the bullet and get rid of windows.
• Step 1) find bootable-CDs that will load up Linux and let you test it out on your system before you spend time loading it on the hard drive. Knoppix I've tried and liked, This is ostensibly a list of "Live CDs" for such a purpose. Step 2) having found a distro you like and played with it, either (a) get an old machine and put it on there or (b) give up on Windows or (c) frustratingly figure out how to run both together. I chose "a" because old machines run Linux happily and the price is right. Plus I have a windoze box to look up where I broke the Linux install. Step 3) Never be without the Internet. Two machines, friend-on-the-phone, whatever. You need Google to figure things out and if you just hosed your machine that'll be difficult. Step 4) If you are without the Internet, refer to step 3. $0.02!
• Good information, thanks. I'm glad this was asked. My wife says she's been li-curious for a few years now - about the time I started spending most of my time in the basement alone building PC's.
• Secret option #3 is to run windows with all the open source software like firefox, gaim, openoffice, gimp, etc. XP isn't that expensive (as free as linux if you already got it), is perfectly stable for typical use, and is way easier to set up. You can take a nice clean XP install and use open source software, and get a machine that performs very well. You save a lot of money, protect yourself from most viruses (since you're not using IE or outlook), and don't bog down your computer with ads and stupid features. I switched to linux when my alternative was winME. The aggravation of setting it up to recognize my hardware was less than the aggravation of crashing winME 2+ times a day. But when I got an XP disc, I switched back and kept all the software I'd grown to love with linux. XP has been stable as long as I don't try to run it 24/7. Sure I crash it sometimes, but it's rare, and usually only occurs when I'm pushing it with games that wouldn't work on linux anyway. I like it. YMMV.
• Newbs who don't want to tackle the learning curve should use Suse 10. You get all the eye candy and ease of use. It easily incorporates a lot of the MS software into your system. Download it for free or order it ($60) and get tech support. Ubuntu is not the most newb friendly, even though it is getting there. Suse 10 is cutting edge, with a kick ass graphics engine, good hardware support, and stable as hell. I am an Ubuntu guy, but I still recommend Suse for you. With Suse you avoid all that, "do this" then "do that," NO just install Suse, I don't even need to tell you what to do, Suse will do it for you. But with any fresh install, back up your data. That goes for any OS. Download for free or order it
• There's something even easier than Ubuntu? Wow. As far as I can remember the install process in Ubuntu consisted of pressing enter a few times, choosing a password and booting. Everything worked.
• Step 3) Never be without the Internet. Two machines, friend-on-the-phone, whatever. You need Google to figure things out and if you just hosed your machine that'll be difficult. A-freakin-men. I could not second this advice enough. No matter how "out of the box" linux experts think a certain distribution might be, I guarantee you that you will need help. Many of the more popular distros like Ubuntu have a large community of people to help you along the way. Me? I tried it twice also being the adventurous "build your own computer, work in IT, so I must be smart enough for this" type of guy and both times I've given up because of the amount of work it required to set up (including things you currently take for granted without realizing it like installing software with one file). I like the suggestion that was made to try XP with all open-source software. There are even versions floating around called TinyXP and XPLite that are stripped down to remove as much extra stuff in XP you probably don't need. I've personally never tried it but if you're adventurous that might be a first step (as well as playing with Live CDs of Linux distros).
• Second pete_breast's suggestion of playing with live CDs before you do anything too drastic like formatting your HD or setting up a dual-boot. Linux is good software, but you'll have to play with it awhile to get used to it. You don't want to do this while not having your Windows installation available just to check your e-mail or whatever. One thing I discovered in playing with Linux distros -- though Linux itself runs fast on slow computers, the GUIs are another matter. Be sure you play with both KDE and Gnome before choosing your install -- KDE's got a lot of cool stuff, but it's thick and chewy and needs some hardware to run at a decent speed. It's been a few years since I played with it, but I remember seeing a HUGE loss of speed in launching applications once I replaced Win98 with a SuSE installation running KDE on an old Toshiba laptop. YMMV on how easy installation goes. Generally nowadays distros with reputations for "easy installation" really deserve them, but there are always plenty of systems, not fringe stuff, that will give you trouble. Last year I popped an Ubuntu live CD in a year-old Dell desktop, and couldn't get the fucking thing to give me better than 640x480 screen resolution. I haven't touched it since, because my feeling is that if I need to spend more than an hour getting it to run my video card and monitor properly, it ain't for me.
• I switched to Linux early this year VoL, and have really been loving it (I use newbie-friendly Ubuntu) I use OpenOffice to edit .doc files from clients or send translations and they never even know it wasn't Word. The Chinese input is excellent too, and there's all sorts of languages available. One thing that prompted the move was the horrendous vulnerability of the dodgy version of XP (all you can get here in English is pirated) to various hacks and viruses on the wilds of the Chinese net. Linux has been solid as a rock and of course is practically virus-free at the moment. I'd heartily recommend giving it a go, maybe trying a live disk version (like pete said) then going for a dual boot until you know whether it suits you or not.
• i'm installing Ubuntu as we speak. I downloaded the install CD on bit torrent and, as it's a live CD managed to test it out by running it from CD. It picked up the hardware (although this is an old machine) including the woreless mouse and keyboard. Having played with it, and checked out the excellent support forums, I decided to give it a go. I'll post here after it's done and I've played some more.
• A few months ago I formatted my HD and installed Ubuntu without knowing anything about Linux. I haven't looked back since. As long as you manage to get online, you're in the green zone. Every possible newbie question has already been asked on the ubuntu forums, so if you encounter any problems, all you have to do is search. You'll probably want Automatix
• I've been using linux for the last 10 years or so (damn, that makes me feel old). I still ask newbee questions online and get a mix of helpful answers and chaff. My one piece of advice for you is one that was given to me 10 years ago: "I hope you like to tinker!" Have fun! --stomper
• ps: I forgot that it's a faux pass to sign your sig on a comment. sorry. --stomper. // d'oh!
• It's cool, stomper, don't worry about it. Greybeard.
• I've been using versions of GNU/Linux as my primary OS since '98. I've used Red Hat 5.0, 5.1, and 6.0, Mandrake when Mandrake was just a KDE enhanced Red Hat 5.1 (Mandrake is now known as Mandriva), Debian 2.0 to 3.1 (which I really like), and recently I've switched to Ubuntu 6.06 (Ubuntu is based on Debian) I recommend Ubuntu GNU/Linux for the ease of install and the install is only 1 CD. It will pull any other software it needs from your internet connection. (Debian will do the same if you use the netinstall CD, but Ubuntu is better configured after an install.) Ubuntu defaults to the Gnome environment, but you can install a KDE version if you prefer: Kubuntu. (I like and use Gnome, myself, but I haven't used KDE since '98 or so with Mandrake GNU/Linux.) Nice thing about GNU/Linux is the choice available. Before installing any GNU/Linux distro, you may want to try it for a non-destructive test run first. Take a look at QEMU for a free and fast machine emulator. (See also: Free OS Zoo.) There are also many live CDs available. Live CDs don't need an emulator such as QEMU to run so they're typically faster than an emulated environment, but they typically don't allow you to modify their contents either since they run from read-only media. If you decide to install and use Ubuntu, for installing new software there is a GUI called Synaptic Package Manager. You can also use the Debian way via the apt-cache and apt-get command-line tools if you prefer. In answering your other questions, I'm very happy with OpenOffice as a Word/Powerpoint replacement. Never used Excel so I can't answer that one. You can run some Windows software using Wine, but which programs work is kinda hit-and-miss still. If you're thinking about running Windows games on GNU/Linux, the commercial program Cedega is what you're likely looking for (but Wine will run some games, too.) There are GNU/Linux native games, also. While there are commercial games, many are works-in-progress by hobbyists. Firefox works very well in GNU/Linux. For instant messaging, I use GAIM, but there are others. Photoshop should work in Wine, but I've never tried it. I use GIMP for editing pictures/graphics. Yes, if you install GNU/Linux over top of your existing Windows partitions, all the data will be lost. For ease of use, I'd recommend backing up the data from your Windows install and just installing your choice of GNU/Linux over top of it. If you decide GNU/Linux isn't for you, you can fresh install Windows and copy your data back. On the other hand, you can resize your Windows partition(s) and install GNU/Linux in the free space to dual-boot, but it will be more work. Your anti-virus software most likely won't work, but there is ClamAV anti-virus software for GNU/Linux. For Ubuntu, I second Automatix. There are the Ubuntu docs, and Ubuntu wiki for all sorts of information. Also look at Unofficial Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) Starter Guide.
• Great responses and wonderful advice! Thanks monkies! I've started by installing Ubuntu on to a CD to try out and get used to first. :) One further question--is there an adequate replacement in Kinux for the programs Windows Live Messenger (formerly MSN) and AIM?
• That'd be Gaim I guess VoL, though I see the latest news was a bug on the MSN network :0 (they've fixed it already). I use XChat for 'fircing on IRC, and occasionally GYachE as it handles webcams on the Yahoo.
• Can't add anything much that hasn't already been said, but I will mention one thing about the current version of Ubuntu. It's a Live CD, so you can boot from it and play with Linux without installing anything, but then if you decide "yup, this is for me" you just hit the "Install" button and it takes you through the steps of installing right there from within the live CD. When it's done you eject the CD and reboot, and you're looking at exactly the same thing as you had with the live CD but properly installed on your harddrive. And middleclasstool, I actually finally signed up for monkeyfilter, after lurking for ages, to respond to one of your requests for help with your 640x480 problem months ago, but then my login didn't get approved for days... For what it's worth, the older version of the Ubuntu live CD didn't set up X windows very well, (nothing unsolvable, just one line needed adding to a config file, but still pretty silly) the current live CD seems to work better.
• AHA! *fires up bittorrent client*
• Awesome, Thanks! Now I just need to find a way to backup my files..=P
• I recently spent a hundred bucks on an 80 gig Simpletech external drive. Best purchase I've made in years. I damn near never leave the house without it. My wife teased me mercilessly when I brought it with us on a trip up to Missouri over the weekend, but sure enough when I got there two friends asked for copies of some of my media and my dad wanted me to take some VB code home to look over. Damn thing's better than a Swiss Army knife.
• What would Jesus Download Huh. Thats . . . that's kinda weird . . to me.
• The kernel is called The Holy of Holies. Which is secret code for if it breaks, you were unworthy to enter.
• Huh. Thats . . . that's kinda weird . . to me. The ultimate niche market. I'm sure the users enjoy it, though. Both of them.
• Writing this from a live Ubuntu session after following markr's suggestion. Running at 1280X1024. Thanks!
• Sandwich
• I'm about to take the plunge, probably tomorrow. Just installed a new HD and am going to use the old one as a Linux drive. Everything's moved over, and pending approval from the wife, I'm going to wipe the second drive and make it all Ubuntu, all the time. Any caveats on running a dual-boot this way? Google hasn't sent up any red flags, and my understanding is that BIOSes in the last couple of years no longer have the whole 1024-cylinder HD issue (my computer's about two years old). Will using the installation link from the live CD session allow for a dual-boot?
• you want to install windows on the first drive first. Then install Ubuntu. Ubuntu installs the necessary boot loader on the primary drive so you can choose which Os to boot. If Windows sees this it automaticaly overwrites it with its own loader then only lets you boot Windows. So install Windows then install Ubuntu, ubuntu will overwrite Windows bootloader and allow you to boot either one.
• Yeah if your new HD is Wintendo, it's not the primary so . . crap that'll be a fun do-si-do. Let us know how it works out. I imagine the day's not too far off where I do the same to at least one machine.
• Yeah, got that part, and I've setup a dual-boot before on different partitions of the same drive. Just never done it across two disks before, so I'm just wanting to make sure all the i's are dotted before I let it run. Thanks!
• What I did was make the new drive the primary, put in a fresh install of Windows, and moved data and software over from the old. Actually physically swapped the drives. So the old is now my secondary. The only bizznitch of the whole thing was getting folder permissions on the old drive when I was moving stuff over. The new installation was detecting the old as a separate computer and locked me out of a bunch of folders, so I had to reclaim control. Since I'm running XP Home, I had to boot to safe mode and run the "Taking Ownership" instructions off MS's support site. Took awhile, but it was pretty straightforward.
• Nice. Gotta love the '$haft. Me: "Can I have my files?" Micro$haft: "No." Me: fdisk
• You can also get around it by running a Linux live CD and just moving the shit over in that session. And if you're running XP Pro, it's easy-peasy. But my dumbass thought Home would be good enough when I ordered the box. grumble grumble no fucking remote desktop grumble
• what about realvnc or tightvnc instead of remote desktop?
• ssh
• I've been using RealVNC, yeah. But it seems to run ten times slower running at assy resolution. With VPN/RD I get a decent looking screen and significantly less lag.
• I have done the deed. This is to date my third attempt at a Linux installation, and it has been so far the smoothest. You constantly hear hype about how Linux is OMG WINDOZE KILLER DESKTOP READY LOL, but of course it's as much hype as anything. But this has been a seamless, fast install. Only a couple of minor dings on the paintjob: Configuration: There were two issues that required manual configuration before shit ran the way it should. Issue one was the aforementioned screen resolution problem, easily solved by going into a terminal session and reconfiguring the X server. Second was mounting my Windows drives -- evidently Ubuntu likes to use pmount instead of mount to do this, and pmount only recognizes removable drives, so I had to manually edit the pmount.allow file to read /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2. Again, roughly thirty seconds to find in the Ubuntu forums. Now, I want to underscore how easy this was for me to do again before I say: the average user ain't ready for this. Period. Editing a config file is for the average user like ramming a kryptonite buttplug in Kal-El's ass. It makes them feel frightened and weak and violated. Bad juju. Shouldn't have to happen. I should also add that, while the screen resolution problem stayed fixed after installation, the drive mounting problem did not. Gripe #2: The automagic "Install" icon on the desktop bombed out because I had mounted my old 40-gig drive before attempting the install -- meaning that it couldn't wipe and reformat it. It hiccuped, gave me some generic error message about how it couldn't install the filesystem and just...stopped. Bad programming there. You need to assume that the user has mounted that filesystem, check it, unmount it, and then proceed. Even worse: I had to reboot afterward, because the installation icon did precisely dick when I clicked it again after fixing the problem. That's the sort of thing I expect from Microsoft, frankly -- not working? REBOOT! Even so, this was the fastest and easiest Linux install I've ever had by a country mile, and it bodes well for the future of Linux on the desktop. Hardware detection rocked sixteen different kinds of ass, and I was online without configuring a single fucking thing. I click-a de globe, de Firefox-a she run. DSL not a problem. I was braced to do manual partitioning, but it handled even that beautifully. Detected the drive, asked me how I wanted to install on it, and then...wait for it...IT DID IT. Beautiful. I've got a nice shiny GRUB menu now when I boot up. It'll bother my wife, but she'll adjust easily enough. In short, my review: w00t.
• Ready to ride the dragon?
• I recently installed Suse 10.1 with KDE. It's ever so pretty. It was this VMWare image that sold me. Very smooth installation: only problem encountered is some WEP issue with my WLAN. The hardware is recognized (I can connect to my neighbour's unsecured wireless network), but the WEP key is not accepted.
• roryk if you can give some more detail on the connection issue, I may be able to help. What model is your wireless router? Unfortunately WPA (Wi-Fi Protected Access) has to be hacked to work. You may have this turned on, on your router. If it is you can turn it off on the router or try the hack on your own. Otherwise I can walk you through some other steps to try to get it to work. You will need to know how to open the terminal though, because I can only help you from the Command Line, I am not that familiar with the latest incarnation of Yast. I have a great deal of wireless linux experience, because I was having problems with my wireless ISP, turned out to be their problem not mine, but I still learned a lot in the process.
• "and it's an excellent comic, thanks pete!" You're welcome, ya buncha geeky ingrates! >set grumble-fuss on /blather /spew
• The router is an Apple AirPort Extreme. From memory (I'm at work and the router's at home), I've set it to 128-bit WEP using a 13 character ASCII string. Does that make sense? It's working under Windows, and has worked on other Linux distribs (Ubuntu, Fedora). I've avoided WPA because I'm occasionally using some older machines that won't support it. and thanks for the comic pete!
• 128-bit WEP using a 13 character ASCII string. Wouldn't that be a 64-bit then? I'm too dumb to google it up but I thought 128 was a longer string than that.
• Some book, s'posed to be good for you Ubuntu Linux for Non-Geeks. Anyone read it? Is it any good?
• I heard it is, but I don't remember where I heard that.
• Ubuntu Studio Yes!
• Wily Canadians Love Linux
• Things I can do in Linux that I can't do on Windows. Update every single piece of software on my system with a single action. Update nearly everything on my computer without a reboot. Keep my system secure without software that consumes my system resources, requires my time, and frequently nags me. Run an entire operating system for free without pirating software, and without breaking the law. Take my settings with me where ever I go. and more!
• Install Linux! Step-by-step, what to do when you get there, etc.
• A bit depressing to see the first two comments are from people with problems. However, Dell will ship Ubuntu preinstalled nowadays.
• A bit depressing to see the first two comments are from people with problems. LOLOMG RTFM!!1! And remember kids, always install Linux on a second computer so you can look up fixes on the other, Intertube-connected one.
• Iron Man Armor Now Comes With Proprietary Software
• The hero who sides with government fascists? Color me shocked! /nerd burn