Help installing Linux?

Question

Windows XP sucks big time. And Vista is too slow. This is the last straw and I am done with Microsoft. Can you guys give me some tips on how to install Linux? And another question. I have two other Hard Drives on my pc. After installing Linux, do I have to reformat those harddrives or will they be recognized? Or should i back up everything on dvds? Thanks.

Answer 1

Firstly dont allow yourself to be convinced that Linux is difficult, its not. It just requires a few grey cells and those who tell you otherwise wouldnt understand Linux and have probably got so few grey cells left as they have been using Windoze for too long.

I would suggest Dual Booting with XP, so you give yourself a chance to aquaint yourself with Linux. Heres how :

Ubuntu is free as it is open source, the download link is :

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Once you have downloaded Ubuntu 7.10, you will have an ISO image file. You will then need to create a bootable disc of the file.

This can be achieved by using Nero Burning ROM if you have it or MagicISO a free trial of which is available for download :

http://www.magiciso.com/

Once you have created the bootable disc, we are going to call it the LIVE CD.

Start your PC from the Ubuntu live CD, select start or install when prompted, once the Ubuntu desktop has appeared in the top left hand corner there is an option to install, double click and the installation screen will appear.

Once Ubuntu has asked you about regional settings etc. it will then take you into the partitioning table, if you select the default setting which is on the top, Ubuntu will then automatically sort the space it needs and install its own Grub bootloader creating a dual boot scenario.

When all is installed you will then on bootup receive a message asking which operating system you wish to boot into ie: Ubuntu or Windows XP.

For further details read the link below carefully :

http://apcmag.com/6101/dualboot_windows_xp_and_ubuntu

This tutorial refers to the earlier Ubuntu 7.04, but is unchanged.

I am so taken with Ubuntu 7.10, I have ditched Windoze and I am now running Ubuntu as my primary operating system.

You can run quite a number of windows applications on Ubuntu using WINE, a piece of software that emulates windows. For details of this visit :

http://www.winehq.org/site/download-deb

http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/wine

Using Linux may initially seem daunting in places, but you will get use to it, I did.



You can also run Ubuntu using the Live CD without any kind of installation. However this will be somewhat slower and you would be restricted as to running applications, it would just for browsing the web really.

I hope this has been useful.

ENJOY !

Answer 2

visit www.goodbye-microsoft.com. It can pretty much guide you to the last details. May be there are such pages for other distributions as well. I don't know.

For now, being a Windows user, don't delete Windows from your computer. Just delete a partition and go to the above mentioned site to start installing Debian Linux. Delete Windows when you come to believe strongly that it is eating up your hard disk space that can be put to better uses otherwise.

After installing, search the web for 'how to mount Windows partitions on Linux'. If that doesn't help, join a linux forum or mailing list where you can get a close guidance.

Answer 3

Hi, installing Linux is very simple now and most of the installation should be as easy as Windows is. All hard disks will be recognized immediately, and u won't need to reformat them as Linux can recognize both Windows and Mac OS X hard disks. I still suggest that u backup all ur data on dvd's just incase. While installing Linux the only problem u may have is the partitioning other then that u won't need any help. Here is how to partition ur hard disk:
Linux needs 3 partitions for itself so I will assume that this is a 100gb hard disk.
The first partition should be of 20gb with the ext3 file format and its mount point is "/". This is the root partition where Linux will be installed and 20gb will be enough space for it even though Linux itself won't take more than 4gb.
The second can be made of 78 gb remember this is a 100 gb hard disk. The second partition should also be of the ext3 file system and uses the mount point "/home". This is ur home partition which u will have access to and this is where all ur music, videos, software and stuff and every personal stuff u have is kept. Think of this as My Documents in Windows.
The third partition is the swap partition and I will make this of 2gb. This is for extra memory and is required for power save options such as suspend to ram, disk, and standby. This partition should be made with the mount point "swap". U can make this of any size, when making a swap partition its size should actually be 2 times ur ram for example if u have 1gb ram multiply that by 2 and make a 2gb partition. Though 2gb should be enough.
The rest of Linux installation is very easy.
Here r some powerful and some of the best Linux distros out there if u want to check them.
Ubuntu Linux: http://www.ubuntu.com
PCLinuxOS: http://www.pclinuxos.com
OpenSuse: http://en.opensuse.org
Mandriva: http://www.mandriva.com
Fedora: http://fedoraproject.org

Hi, yeah one more thing like the people above me said that remember Linux is different than Windows and u will have to do a bit of learning and if u aren't ready to do that then like they all said, u will be crying to go back to Windows. You have probably seen videos with all those cool effects on Linux, but don't think everything is easy. If u want something that u don't have to learn about and u want to take the easy way then upgrade ur ram and install Windows Vista.
I hope I helped.
Good Luck!

Answer 4

Honestly, if you don't know about Linux don't get Linux. You will probably hate it more. There are many different versions of the Kernel along with the ability to run Gnome or KDE for the most part (I prefer KDE for some reason). Basically since you've been using Windows also any software you're running now most likely becomes unusable and you'll have to find Linux equivalents. IE Microsoft Office to OpenOffice. I love to write code on my Linux box, but I still use my Windows OS for everything else.

I am willing to guarantee that if this is the only computer you have, as soon as you make the switch and get your first hang, you'll be crying to go back to Microsoft.

Answer 5

there are a number of approaches you're able to do this. the single that works superb for me is as follows, 2 separate problematic drives with the capability related to it one on the time with a AB swap. It does no longer clean up your predicament with one stress, yet once you sense like being in Linux mode, then capability up the Linux stress. If domicile windows is the alternative for the day, then swap to the different stress and voila! it somewhat is kinda like using, you the two take the 4 wheeler out for a spin, or the Ferrari, relies upon on your temper on the time.

Answer 6

The modern distributions of GNU/Linux have been made extremely user-friendly. If you have installed the various versions of Windows over the years, you will certainly be able to install a modern version of GNU/Linux.

However, because you are unhappy with some aspect of the performance of Windows XP or Windows Vista you might not be satisfied by GNU/Linux. There is a learning curve that may cause you to dislike GNU/Linux just as much as you now dislike Windows.

Answer 7

For Installing Linux you should see the Websites below. This process is too big it cannot be written here. So see Below.

Answer 8

Lunux isn't good longterm! Stick with Xp and install windows shrine! XP with the look of vista!