Moving over to linux- advice please

[Sridhar_Rao]

My laptop runs on geniuine copy of windows and I don't want to have pirated windows softwares on my other system. I want to migrate to linux OS. I have absolutely no idea at all about linux. Is there a free linux based OS that has only GUI (and no command line interface) that I can install myself without any third party help. Any suggestion on this fron would be useful. Please point me some other forum or links that can enlighten me before I take this decision. I don't know if I have to format my hard drive for that or will I have to install the drivers for various devices separately. I have plenty of doubts such as, will there be softwares to detect flash drives, can I burn CD/DVDs, can I connect to net, can I play media files etc.Please guide considering me a linux dummy.

http://thinkdigit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=91680

[NucleusKore]

^+1

[IronManForever]

Well dear friend; its a very novel idea to migrate to linux for purposes like internet, playing around with media files, burning DVDs, using it for email-office use with free office suites available.

But bear in mind that as it is Linux, so it is NOT Windows. It WILL be different and you will have to anticipate the differences. It may not be able to do some things windows can BUT it might do some other things better than windows. So take care and bon voyage.

[Hitboxx]

<Moved to Open Source>

[Vishal Patil]

This is a good place for Ubuntu Linux

http://ubuntuforums.org/

Search on the internet the other best option.

[Garbage]

And a must read...

Linux is NOT Windows

[Sridhar_Rao]

What a disappointment! I went ahead with installation of suse 11 (bootable CD) that was provided by Digit last month. The installation was a failure, since some components were missing. I don't understand what kind of favour is Digit doing us by providing us installation disk "for free" with some missing components. Upon restart, XP is loading.
Since I am totally new to Linux, can anyone help me troubleshoot the issue.

[Rahim]

DOnt use Distros given by Digit!! They always botch it Better to download the CD and

Upon restart, XP is loading

Is your XP not booting?

[Sridhar_Rao]

Yes, I have mentioned that in my reply. Although some portion of the hard drive were partitioned and formatted, MBR appears to be fine. XP boots normally.

Fedora was provided by Digit in feb 08, should I give it a try or simply leave it because Digit provided it and there is no guarantee that it will work.

Since a lot of space has been already taken up by linux during partitioning, I am left with very little space in windows (40 GB HDD). What do you suggest I do now?

Which one would be better, Fedora, Suse, or Ubuntu? Suggest please

[Faun]

Ubuntu for sure !

[Sridhar_Rao]

Well thank you, but I am curious to know how does Ubuntu score over openSuse?

I am planning to download the suse ISO from http://ftp-1.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/di.../boot/boot.iso Any idea, how big this file is?

And, where can I get Ubuntu distro, Has it been provided by Digit on any CD/DVD, if so, does it install properly or botches it up just like Suse 11?

[Rahim]

Just leave the distros provided by Digit. Its of no use
Download a 700 MB iso from opensuse.org and Ubuntu and openSUSE are equally user freindly.

[Faun]

Ubuntu is simple and awesome for beginners.

Great support is the first plus point.

[Rahim]

[Off-Topic] I am off to install Zenwalk 5.2

[Faun]

Installing Linux, a dual boot system with Windows and Linux

[Sridhar_Rao]

Ok, but I am still usure which one to download, Ubuntu8 or Suse11. By the way, will the installation also contain other applications (internet, media, office etc) or should they be downloaded separately?

Any important installation guidelines that you might want to give me? By the way, now that Suse has already partitioned the hard disk, will that come in way of subsequent installation? I am not too keen on retaining windows partition. Help!

[Garbage]

Ubuntu will be good for you... as you are a newbie n Ubuntu have a very large community support.

[ThinkFree]

The apps required for everyday use are already there in the default installation( If you get the DVD, it will be even better)
OpenOffice/Koffice will be there for wordprocessing etc
Firefox/Konqueror for browsing
Kmail/thunderbird for mail
Amaork/Kaffiene for music
Using Opensuse, and only thing that I missed in it was vob file player for which you can download VLC

[Faun]

both come with office, graphics, multimedia and internet suite.

You can install any one of these two.

Read the guide provided by NucleusKore, link given in my last pos.t

[Sridhar_Rao]

So, there is a difference in downloading the installation ISO and "buying" a DVD. will downloading ISO be sufficient?

Note to NucleusKore, the link he gave for PDF of his article http://www.mediafire.com/?vuvfmgfm02j is riddled with a trojan virus. Avast detected SWF: downloader [trj] from that site, I had to disconnect from that site. I ask NucleusKore to post his PDF file elsewhere and edit the link accordingly.

[NucleusKore]

The iso you have listed, boot.iso is a network install iso
Go to
http://software.opensuse.org/
And download the dvd so as shown here

If it's too big you can use the GNOME live cd iso, don't opt for the KDE4 iso, it sux.

[Sridhar_Rao]

Thanks NucleusKore for pointing out the mistake I was about to commit. By the way, did you happen to take note of the trojan virus in the site you have hosted the PDF file? Can you send me the PDF file via email?

[NucleusKore]

Trojan?? Where?? How do you say??

[Ecko]

+1 to Suse
ubuntu still needs 1 click installer

[Sridhar_Rao]

Note to NucleusKore, the link he gave for PDF of his article http://www.mediafire.com/?vuvfmgfm02j is riddled with a trojan virus. Avast detected SWF: downloader [trj] from that site, I had to disconnect from that site. I ask NucleusKore to post his PDF file elsewhere and edit the link accordingly.

[Vishal Patil]

As far as distro is concerned, better go with Ubuntu since you are starting from scratch.
Better to use Ubuntu 7.10 instead of 8.04, because many people have reported many bugs in Ubuntu 8.04. Even I have 1 problem after resuming from standyby mode, the screen starts flickering and I have to restart my PC. There was no problem with 7.10.

If you are using a widesreen LCD, better update the kernel for Ubuntu 7.10 from 2.6.23 to 2.6.24 or higher else if you dont want to upgarde the kernal go for Ubuntu 8.04 and be ready for facing bugs.

No probs if you are not using a widescreen monitor.

[thewisecrab]

Originally Posted by Sridhar_Rao

Note to NucleusKore, the link he gave for PDF of his article http://www.mediafire.com/?vuvfmgfm02j is riddled with a trojan virus. Avast detected SWF: downloader [trj] from that site, I had to disconnect from that site. I ask NucleusKore to post his PDF file elsewhere and edit the link accordingly.

Thats wierd
Any way, here the thread posted by NucluesKore regarding the same:
Installing Linux, a dual boot system with Windows and Linux

[Sridhar_Rao]

Thanks,

I mentioned that the site (not the PDF file) has a trojan in one of its flash (SWF) files (probably disguised as ad), hence it is not safe to visit the site. Hence I recommended to host the same file elsewhere.

Well, I have already downloaded Ubuntu8, (700 MB) and hopefully installation should be fine. My concern is during previous (unsuccessful) installation the partitions have been altered and messed up. How do I proceed from here. I have already mentioned in one of my previous posts in this thread that I am not interested in dual boot system.

Can Ubuntu and Suse be installed on separate partitions and a choice to boot into either of them possible at start up. It might be a stupid idea, but I am asking out of simple curiosity (nothing else).

Thanks for the tremendous suppport from guys in this forum.

[Faun]

yes you can intall ubuntu and SUSE and boot them both.

I have Ubuntu + Arch Linux + XP in triple boot.
Ubuntu and XP are on one HDD
ArchLinux on another HDD

Mediafire website is not suspicious, its a good service. So probably you AV is giving false postitve.