Friday, May 25, 2012

Today, I am going to talk about starting Linux.

I can no longer consider myself a newbie on Linux, but I still have much to learn.

But if you are a brand new user to Linux there are a few things you should know.

I suggest you get Mint Linux or PCLinuxOS because they both are internet ready.  They have the flash and java already installed.  Most of Linux "YOU" have to install the flash and Java.   One thing about Linux is there are thousands of programs for you to download and install.  You can't use Windows.  So programs that end with .exe are usually Windows and unless you have Wine (free) and a wine support program (That costs)  You just might be able to run that program on Linux.

I started off with Debian.  I downloaded the entire Debian distro.  It was like 14 cd's of programs.  You don't have to do that.  You can just download one of the two above and go to the software download section and download the programs you want.  There is almost everything you can think of available to download. 

Education, Games, Graphics, Programming, Video, Sound, Internet, Office and Science thats not counting the system tools and accessories.  Thousands of programs. 

Another feature of Linux is the different Desktop programs.  The two powerhouses are Gnome and KDE.  Gnome is going through an identity crisis at the moment.  But there are many more desktop programs to choose from.

Not only that then you have virtual desktops most of the distros give you 2 to 4 but if you download Debian you can have up to 32 different desktops.  That is if you have enough memory.

Once you get started with Mint or PCLinuxOS and you feel comfortable you can move to Ubuntu.  I have Ubuntu on one desktop computer and it found my web cam, camera and printer with no disk required.  My printer is one of those multifunction printers and it made sure I had scanner software and printer software for MY printer. 

If you are wanting to just surf the web, play simple games and chat with your friends Linux is the best.   

Another benefit of Linux I don't have to purchase a anti-virus, 



Best of all it cost nothing. 


Okay I had to purchase a cd to burn the distro to.



Now if you don't want to burn a cd you can purchase a magazine with a cd/dvd in the back or a book with a cd/dvd.

Now I mention cd/dvd because some older systems don't have dvd drives.  So if you  purchase this make sure you can use it.

Another feature of the cd/dvd is that you can run most of these distros right from the cd/dvd drive.  Nothing is written to your disk.  Another option is getting a flash USB thumb drive that is 2 gigs or higher and install Linux on the flash drive and you will also have the ability to save any work on the same flash drive.



Now can you do that with Windows?  95/98/2000/ME/XP/VISTA/and / or 7?  Or how about Apple?

By the way the newest Apple OS is actually a crippled version of Linux.  That way you can't do everything Linux can and Linux can't do what you are doing on Apple.

I hope this gives you some insight as to where Linux is, and is going.   I like Linux for many reasons.  Games, Office programs, Internet, Programming and the price.  When the word free is used its free as it doesn't cost you any money but also free because you can change and modify it for your own personal needs.  You are not stuck with an out of box this is all you get and paid huge bucks for program you need to install and hope it runs on Windows.  Not saying that Linux is bug free.  But any bug you find and submit will get you a fix in a few weeks to days or even hours.  With Windows you have to wait until enough bugs will fill up an update for you to download and wait, wait, wait. 

You will see some sites charge for Linux.  Actually they are charging for the disk that they are going to ship to you if you ordered it that way.  Some are pretty pricey.  But if you have Linux installed you can download distros and burn disks.  You can even Virtually install it and run it from memory.  Again that requires that you have plenty of memory.  Once you are feeling very comfy with Linux you can download almost any source code and modify it, recompile it and run it on your computer.  That includes Linux itself.  But that is a long way away.

I think I am rambling on so if you haven't tried Linux, give it a shot. 


By the way, if you are going to be using this on a laptop, right now most Red Hat Distros will read and run your software wifi.  If you have a wifi that you can  turn on or off only after the operating system is installed then, that I call a software wifi.  If your wifi can be turned on even when the operating system is not installed then you have what I call a hardware wifi  and you can use Debian or Slackware  based distros.  But that I will save for another day.  For right now just look up on the internet what distros are Red Hat/Fedora based.  You may have problems playing music or watching movies because the programs needed to run music and movies are not usually installed on these versions of Linux.


Have fun....  I know I covered alot.  Just play and it will fall into place.  Next will be the several branches of Linux and Unix.