Re: The best Linux Distrubution for...

ChrisC wrote:
I have a very *** system and I'm thinking of ditching Windows and
using Linux because I believe it's faster. Also my current edition of
Windows is Windows 2000, and because I'm living in South Africa now, I
can't afford to keep up with Mr Bill Gates prices for operating
systems. The system I have access to is an:

AMD 733MHZ.
512MB of ram.
12GB Hard Drive.
US Robotics 56k modem.

Thats about it. Ok here's what I'll be using it for. To browse forums
on the web. Access my email on the web and using standard email.
Watching DivX, playing mp3s. Using a Microsoft Word program or
equivalent. Burn CD's, DVD's. Reading and posting to USENET. And the
most important of all plugging in my removable USB 250g hard drive,
which contains a NTFS (I think) data partition with 40g of information
I do not want to lose. One of my main questions is how friendly is
Linux with USB stuff now? I'll plan to use my digital camera with
linux, which is USB. Also is there any easy to use torrent software for
Linux? So basically whats the most user friendly and best edition to
use?




Browse forums - I suggest Firefox.

Access email - I suggest Thunderbird, Mozilla's free email program.

Watching DivX - no problem, check out http://www.divx-digest.com/software/divxcodec_linux.html

Playing MP3's - many free players available, e.g. http://www.mpg123.de/

Using Word or equivalent - OpenOffice is an Open Source package, includes word processor, spread***, presentation software etc. Very good.

Burn CD's, DVD's - OK as long as you can get a Linux driver for your CD/DVD writer, check out http://www.driverguide.com if your Linux distro doesn't have one.

Reading & posting to newsgroups - no problem, use Thunderbird

Plugging in remote USB NTFS drive - possible, but you may need additional software e.g. http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/ I've had few problems connecting USB devices with the latest Linux distro's.

Torrent software - no problem, read http://www.linuxlinks.com/Software/Internet/File_Sharing/BitTorrent/

Good luck, and welcome to Linux!

Julian
.

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