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I'm ready for an operating system for the computer I'm building (see specs. at bottom)I was 100% sure I was going to put in windows XP then while looking at E-bay I saw these prices for Linux systems software.
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?
from=R40&satitle=Operating+systemThis is just too cheap whats the catch? And what's with all the different versions? What's the best for my system?
Will my HP scanner and Canon printer still work?
Where can I go to see what additional software is available for a Linux system?Many thanks Maparus
Asus K8V-X 754
Crucial CT6464Z40B Ram
PC-3200 2x512Mb
Sempron 2800 64 bit
MSI RX9550-TD128
420 amp power supply
Forget e-bay and go here:
http://www.linux.org/vendor/retailer/index.html
or here:
http://www.linuxcd.org/
or here:
http://linuxcentral.com/_v3/
or here to download and burn CD images:
http://www.linuxiso.org/
98% of the population is asleep. The other 2% are staring around in complete amazement, abject terror, or both.
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Linux is completely free. Even with expensive server-oriented distributions like RHEL, the GNU General Public License that covers most of the software requires free access to source code, so CentOS and Whitebox are able to make 100% legal clone distros.
"All the different versions" are distributions. Linux itself is just a kernel and mostly useless without a bunch of other open source software. Since so much of the software is developed by hobbyists all over the world, there is no clear unified vision guiding "Linux". But that's a good thing because you won't want to use the same distro as someone who likes to compile all their software from scratch and only uses the command line.
"The catch" is that Linux isn't Windows and you don't know how to use that which is not Windows...yet.
If you want a distro for easy desktop use, check out Fedora, Ubuntu, SUSE, or Mandriva. Which one you pick will determine precisely what you have to do to get your printer and scanner working, but none should be more difficult than Windows, just different.
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FYI You can get Ubuntu free from their website (http://www.ubuntu.com/). They will even ship it anywhere in the world for free....why pay money on ebay for it?
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yes, forget Ebay
I been buying Linux CD's here for 2 years,
excellent service
http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/
Currently running Libranet 2.7 classic on a
400mhz, 384mb ram , old pc. It is fast as my
1 Gz Windows machine.
With Linux, the catch is u will have to work
at it, don't expect easy setups &
installations like windows, some frustrating
moments trying to learn it.
Once u learn the basic commands, it is fun
to use. Lots of programs to experiment with
& plenty of challenges.
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Thanks to all for the information. I just ordered the Ubuntu Linux 5.10 Live CD from Edmunds Enterprises. I'm sure to be asking a lot of questions in the future.
Thanks again maparus
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Good choice, I've just installed it, I've tried about 4 or 5 linux os before and like this on the best. I downloaded the dvd 2.8 gigs, when you put it in you have the choice of booting live or installing. By the way they have pretty much experts on Ubuntu over at the Ubuntu forums.
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You can also download other distros of lunux s you want them i am a big big biiiiiiiiig fan of vector linux SOHO it has everything you could need ever on one cd open office many many meida plays inculding mplayer (wooHoo) Xint(itblow)
2 media players 2 media recorders editors dc ripping cd rw and dvd rw firefox a few mail programs you can use KDE (love it ) and icewm (good for slow systems) both are vv good you also get alot of KDE packages alot of office stuff built for Kas it is slackware based you can use all the slack pacages too along with vectors pacages
cool yah
an its vv easy to set up (altho yo may have problem with the Geforece4 MX cards all overs i ahve tryed have workd just fine inc th crappy s3 pro savage aka slow as S%^$ graphics card in my laptop howerver it plays vid and dvd flawlessly and in 2k on dual boot i have many problems with it jumping and gneraly sucking for media but vector like the little workhorse that it is plays them without problsm and not one complaint or crash
the sound system in vector is not 100% but they are fixing that for the next distro it works fine just needs a bit of config before it works how yo want it
if you go for it go for Vector linux SOHO 5.0.1 its the most stable and works the best
www.vectorlinux.com
there are alot of good prople on the form to help you out and get you all set up and running"Kernrel Panic"
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I'm a slack-a-holic myself, run it on my servers here at work as well as my desktop. I've heard good things about Vector too. I have started pushing out Ubuntu to some of my users workstations and have found it to be pretty good. I have started getting into Gentoo recently and have it installed on my laptop.
If you do go for Ubuntu make sure you check out the unofficial ubuntu guide at http://ubuntuguide.org/
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my 50 ubuntu cds are in the post as we speek
i hope a slack-a-holic like yourslef dones not mind that we steal all your packages :P
Get Firefox
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....only as much as a Debian user would mind you stealing all their packages for use with Ubuntu! ;)
rpm2tgz, alien and checkinstall may be of interest to you.
Do you know if you can use swaret with vector.
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I've had bad luck w/Ubuntu for some reason? Just doesn't like my PC's hardware, I guess.If you find the same thing- please do try Xandros Open Circulation Edition (OCE). It is a free download via Bitorrent.
For a good torrent program: ABC (Yet Another Bit Torrent site)...
None have loaded as quickly, included so much, & detected my personal hardware as well as Xandros.
You'll get many opinions, of course. You could d/l, burn, & boot to a CD of Knoppix to test the waters while you wait for your Ubuntu to arrive?
Tracy
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