Re: Where the F**K do I begin?
- From: GregForester@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2007 13:08:12 -0500
On Fri, 31 Aug 2007 10:31:07 -0400, Oldtech <me@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
GregForester@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
I have never even had any interest in Linux, but since I just got a
new computer I have my old Pentium III 700mhz. I also have a spare 15
gig harddrive to install it on, and by swapping hard drives, I can put
back my regular drive. Anyhow, I went to linux.com to download it.
That's where I about shit my pants. First of all, there are 20 or 30
different versions. So which one do I...?
Greg:
Linux is the kernel. Folks take that, and wrap the applications they
want around it, and call it by a name. I see there are ~300 distros at
http://livecdlist.com and hundreds at http://distrowatch.com that are
ALL FREE! Or, some vendors will mail you a CD or DVD for FREE, or a
nominal charge.
Also, you can purchase Xandros Linux at most Office Depot stores!
Greg, on dial-up, it is best for you is to go to http://ubuntu.org and
ask for a free liveCD to be mailed out.
Please also, find a Linux Users Group, and attend a meeting or mention
your interest on their list. Many of us burn and distribute all the
Linux distros for free.
I pick up free curbside donation systems, and install a GNU/Linux Distro
and donate it to a single parent home, or church, or private school.
the kernel and many of the suportting files and appplications can be <
49Mb, as in the Damn Small Linux, or the Mini-Knoppix 205Mb distros!
Fits on the 8CM small CDrom, for carry in a pocket! Great tool kit to
fix and run 'broken' Microsoft systems with, as a mobile repairman.
Welcome, and enjoy!
Thanks to all who provided useful replies. Those who were a$$holes
proved that my DEL key works. As I said originally, I am not bashing
linux. It's extremely confusing. At least I now know much more from
reading the helpful replies on here.
With that said, and without spending weeks reading all sorts of
things, which may help or may further confuse me, lets get to the
basics.
About myself. I am am elderly man, semi-retired rural farmer, who
likes to go on the internet, take digital pics, store and modify them,
and I use my computer as a basic home and farm office. My present
software I use the most is Eudora for email, Agent for newsgroups,
Paint Shop Pro (older version) for photo editing, Firefox and IE for
the web, WOrdpad for typing letters, and I still run a Dos Database
for my address book. I much prefer Win98 over XP and I actually put
98 on my faster computer and XP on the slower one because I rarely use
XP. I do not play any games at all. I have never burnt a CD, do not
have a drive that burns, and most of the time my CD player is not even
plugged in because I generally have 4 harddrives installed (one is for
backups).
I do store and play a large collection of MP3 music (all the oldies
from the 50's thru the 70's). I use Winamp for the music. I have
some USB mem sticks and my camera card reader in USB. I use an older
Canon Laser printer and an external USR modem for dialup (which is all
I can get out here on the farm). I dont care about dual booting. I
can easily unplug the HD with XP on it, and use my spare 15G drive for
linux. The computer is a 700mhz PIII with 256M ram.
With that said, you know mostly what my needs are and what programs I
run the most. Since I have never burned a CD, I had no idea what an
ISO was, and still have no clue how I'd get the thing on a CD even if
I did have a CD burner, which I really dont have a desire to own,
because my USB mem sticks and spare hard drives are all I really need
for backups and file storage, and I still regularly use floppies too.
I also still use Dos quite a bit because I learned computers back in
the days when Dos was the only OS.
Now that you know what I do with my computer, what distrubition or
version, or whatever you call it, would best suit my needs. Keep in
mind this is a slower computer, I dont want any power user stuff, and
dont want games. My basic needs are home office, internet, music, and
photo editing. Whatever package I was to choose would be one that did
these things and was simple and non-bloated. I absolutely hate
bloated software, and consider any version of windows above Win98 to
be nothing but bloatware.
Now that you knop what I do, which Linux dist. would best suit my
needs? Since I can only get dialup internet, I will have to get it on
a cd. I am not going to say "I wont use it", but at this point I am
just looking to play around with it. Therefore I dont want to spend
any real money on it. A few bucks would be fine (only from a USA
address, using dollars).
Since ubuntu is offerring a free CD, I'd consider that one, but I have
to ask if this is the one that will fit my needs? What magazines have
Linux disks included? Or what about that damnsmalllinux.org. I could
probably download that one in one day, after looking at the filesize,
but it appears they are all CD images. I want one I can put on a mem
stick, or just install from the hard drive. For example, I have not
installed Win98 from a CD in the past 8 years, I just keep all the
files on my HD. I bet it's a good 3 years since I even used a CD on
the computer.
Thanks
Greg
.
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