All About Linux

[doghucat]

I was thinking of trying UBUNTU on a serarate drive and dual booting with XP after i get done playing with Vista would UTUNBU be a good one to start with in Linux

[kenc51]

I was thinking of trying UBUNTU on a serarate drive and dual booting with XP after i get done playing with Vista would UTUNBU be a good one to start with in Linux

UBUNTU is very eay to install and there is LOADS of programs available to install. Infact it's based on GNU Debian....which has the largest software repository in the world ;)
There is loads of forums which provide support and millions of users. So if you ever have a problem, you can be guaranteed someone else had that prob too and the have already asked for a solution.
The only thing I don't like about it is that there still isn't alot of GUI based config tools. Most configuring is still done by editting .config files and such. (which can be done via the GUI, unless you mess upp the display settings)

My personal favourite is OpenSuSe. Like UBUNTU there is tons of support and loads of software available......but its based on a commercial version so, to me it's easier to install stuff like ATI drivers etc. It also have a GREAT control panel called "YAST" -> yet another setup tool. You can install / remove software like windows.......setup a firewall, run a web server, dns server, mail server etc. with a few clicks of the mouse. But since it's Linux, you can also do it via command line etc aswell if you want to learn. Also if you ever mess up your display drivers etc in SuSe, it's Sooo simple to fix........just run "SaX2" from the command line, select your gfx card and monitor resolution and your done.

UNBUNTU also uses GNOME desktop by default, it's a cool desktop but you should also try KDE and some others and find the one that's right for you. You can install KDE in UNBUNTU if you run "apt-get" but it will be a large download.
SuSe comes on a DVD and gives you the option to install all the desktops at once or non at all..............if you install them all, you can get thee feel of most of the other distros without having to download them.

It's a GNU world......