Dual Boot/linux virgin

Agent Smith

Right.... i'm taking the leep into Linux....


I'm looking for somthing easy to use on my laptop, so i can connect to the college network,
keeping Windows xp home

somthing simple and has good driver surport....


ohh! and Free!

any sugestions?

Sarunas

try something like mandrake or fedora.

pickarooney

Have a lash at Ubuntu, they say it's the next big thing. Never tried it myself but if I had a clean system to mess with, I would.
Alternatively, try Knoppix - if you don't like it, just press eject

aidan_walsh

Same with Ubuntu, which can also work as a LiveCD I hear.

The problem is that Linux distros can be fairly hit and miss when it comes to compatability with laptop hardware, so you might want to take a look at www.linux-laptop.net/ to see what might work best on your particular machine.

happydude13

Well, it's not always a case of install and forget.

In order to avoid a lot of initial frustration I would reccommend
getting your hands on a bootable linux cd like knoppix
although there are lots of other so ask google
find one that suits, ?, what you plan to use it for.

Even try a few different cds.

Next step would be to do a hard drive install of that cd.
I've only done this off knoppix but I'd imagine it's a common feature.

You now have a dual-boot system...

After a while you'll find the cd installs are not ideal.
I find the knoppix one very messy. But they will get you up
and running.

Then you can try a full install after that, when you are confident
& a bit more clued in with things.

Syth

happydude13 wrote:

Well, it's not always a case of install and forget.
....
Then you can try a full install after that, when you are confident
& a bit more clued in with things.

I agree.

A Bootable CD is good for checking if things work before you install.

Oh, and they're all free.

Agent Smith

sounds like thats the one for me!

any links to download this iso file?

aidan_walsh

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

Is your Google broken or something?

Capt'n Midnight

http://releases.ubuntu.com/warty - like Knoppix it's debian based

ftp://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/knoppix.org/ - closer to home (sometimes old)
http://www.knoppix.net/forum/ - Forum

Sarunas

pickarooney wrote:

Ubuntu, they say it's the next big thing.

[ot]
i dont really understand whats up with the hype about ubuntu? i just keep on hearing about it more and more. see something about it on /. , etc... so whats up with it?

[i havent had linux on my home machines for nearly a year, and didnt really have time to keep up what was going in the linux land].
[/ot]

tomk

Looks like Sarunas' Google is broken too! I wonder do Google know about this problem?

Seriously, though.....

http://www.ubuntu.com

http://www.google.ie/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&q=Ubuntu+Linux