Reply to Re: Newbie to Linux
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"I know of the general versions (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc..."
Those are just popular distributions of Linux. Linux itself actually just means the kernel (the core), but a Linux distribution is when it comes with a bunch of applications, default settings, package management, usually a graphical system etc. etc.
Some other popular and good distros are OpenSUSE, Mandriva, Gentoo and Fedora (Core). There's more than a hundred distros out there, but so far I myself have had the best experiences with Ubuntu.
About installing, make sure that your hard disk is relatively empty and as much data as possible is at the BEGINNING of the disk. You can achieve this by defragmenting like 5 times in a row (or just use a better defragmentation tool). When you've done that, remember that when you're installing Linux, you'll need to make 2 or 3 new partitions: first you shrink the Windows (NTFS) partition, then you make a 'swap' partition which is twice as big as your total RAM, then you make a main partition for Linux (it will be mounted under '/'). Finally you can choose to put your equivalent to My Documents (/home/username) under another seperate partition so you can always install a new distro on / without losing any user data.
Well, that's it from me. You might want to get some distro comparison tables and see what distro is best for you.
Those are just popular distributions of Linux. Linux itself actually just means the kernel (the core), but a Linux distribution is when it comes with a bunch of applications, default settings, package management, usually a graphical system etc. etc.
Some other popular and good distros are OpenSUSE, Mandriva, Gentoo and Fedora (Core). There's more than a hundred distros out there, but so far I myself have had the best experiences with Ubuntu.
About installing, make sure that your hard disk is relatively empty and as much data as possible is at the BEGINNING of the disk. You can achieve this by defragmenting like 5 times in a row (or just use a better defragmentation tool). When you've done that, remember that when you're installing Linux, you'll need to make 2 or 3 new partitions: first you shrink the Windows (NTFS) partition, then you make a 'swap' partition which is twice as big as your total RAM, then you make a main partition for Linux (it will be mounted under '/'). Finally you can choose to put your equivalent to My Documents (/home/username) under another seperate partition so you can always install a new distro on / without losing any user data.
Well, that's it from me. You might want to get some distro comparison tables and see what distro is best for you.
