The first time I used a computer was when my Dad brought one home from his office. It was made in 1997 and I thought it was great. After a month I knew how to use it. Since then I have become a network nitwit. I love setting up network for people, it seems so easy all the IP addressing and configuring.
All this networking I've done was with Windows based computers.
I have never used linux.

What web site do any of you recommend I download linux pro.

Thanks

Hi,

I'm glad that you are trying out Linux. I think that it is a great alternative to Windows, and it is certainly a very powerful operating system.

Firstly, I would like to explain a few things. Linux itself, is a command-line operating system, much like DOS. However, it had since had many GUIs written for it, the most popular two being KDE and Gnome.

KDE is quite similar to Windows in it's layout, and so if you have not used Linux before, I suggest a distro which has KDE as it's default environment.

Kubuntu [which runs KDE] screenshot, click it to view more.

Gnome, is also easy to use, but it does take a while to get used to it. Here is another screenshot:

Ubuntu, which runs Gnome.

For your first steps in Linux, I suggest that you try either Ubuntu [http://www.ubuntu.com/] or Kubuntu [http://www.kubuntu.org/]. Both of these can be downloaded for free and burned, and you simply reboot your PC and you can use it in a "live CD" mode, which means that the OS will run from your CD-ROM and RAM. Of course, if you decide to install it to your hard drive, it will run much faster [you can also dual boot both Windows and Linux].

If you have any more questions then feel free to ask them.

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Ash
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You told me which one I should get, but where can I get it on the web?

Thanks

You can download Ubuntu at http://www.ubuntu.com/products/GetUb...irect=download or Kubuntu at http://www.kubuntu.org/download.php.

You can also order some completley free Ubuntu CDs at https://shipit.ubuntu.com/. They can take up to six weeks to arrive, though.

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Ash
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Yes, Ubuntu is really good, but it is debian based. You may want to download something else. Maybe Fedora which is RedHat based. but it all depends really. When you become comfortable with linux which is pretty easy to grasp, you could try out FreeBSD, a free version of berkeley unix. it takes you into a bit more of a complex system again, and once you get there you can set up pretty much any server or workstation in the world, even non i386 stuff, so you can use stuff like SPARC or Alpha CPUs.

Rob
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I downloaded kubuntu and ubuntu and I am going to try learning how to use it.

Thankyou

It is very simple, not a hard task at all, Installation is just as easy, if not quicker and easier than a Windows installation. The only slightly different bit is the disk layout, but the setup utility can do that automatically for you. Once you get installed try using the GUI tools installed. But maybe search google for the configuration text file ways of doing it. It will add to your knowledge more. If you want any help with any configuration files or the tools for setting up Linux just ask on our forums

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For a Linux newb I`d definitely recommend SuSE. If someone loves the way Window$ looks, then they can also download Linspire (formerly Lindows). It`s really all up to you because it depends on what particular style you like. But my personal two favorites are Slackware and SuSE.

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