Unutbu and other OS systems

[iwc5893]

I'm a little confused by that. Why do you want it to resemble XP? One of the hardest things for me to learn (and it wasn't really that hard) was that Linux is NOT Windows. Things are different, and once you accept that fact, you will be better able to decide what you want from your Linux distro and it will make your transition a lot less painful.

That being said, if you're looking for a Linux distro to get yourself acquainted with Linux in general, Ubuntu is a very good choice. My 62 year old mother made the switch from Windows to Ubuntu about 18 months ago, and hasn't looked back since.

Linux Online - Distributions and FTP Sites has a filterable list of Linux distributions that you may want to take a look at.

 

[avg1joe]

Still missing half my HD

Hyperguy, I believe if you boot up with your ubuntu cd you can resize the ubuntu partition to to cover what used to be your vista partition. Definately do a little more research before doing it on my say-so but it may be easier than you think.

 

[tracker1998]

Well I just put Debian on a USB and runs pretty smooth. I think I will burn this one and try it from a disk next.
I'm having issues seeing my drives saying it cannot mount them but I think if I load to a hard drive, that may take care of things?
It found my network easily! I like the fact that that these Linux systems detect things easily without having to jump thru hoops.
iwc5893, the reason I stated that I was looking for something close to XP is like you said. The fact that I'm using that now and have to get used to other systems. As you can see I'm just starting to look into this Linux thing. So far I like what I see!!
Running fast now with a clean start. Do things slow down as apps get loaded up?

 

[iwc5893]

It will slow down just a little bit, but not nearly as much as with Windows, and only if you have several apps open at once. Linux tends to be very frugal with system resources, and as a result will run decently on machines with as little as 256MB of RAM.

In addition, disk fragmentation is not an issue with Linux, especially with the ext4 file system.

The one spot that Linux lags behind Microsoft is in video games, but it has improved over the past couple of years.

 

[iwc5893]

Hyperguy, I believe if you boot up with your ubuntu cd you can resize the ubuntu partition to to cover what used to be your vista partition. Definately do a little more research before doing it on my say-so but it may be easier than you think.

GParted is included on the LiveCD, and will do that with ease but you will lose any data on that partition. A few mouse clicks and a few minutes is all it takes.

 

[tracker1998]

My goodness, I have been looking for hours for a Debian 5 Live CD ISO and can't seem to have any luck? I found the USB ok!
All I'm finding, the links are no longer working?
Could someone post a link if they run across one. I think a Gnome version is what I'm looking for but I really don't know the difference just know that one works on my USB.
Thanks,, tracker.

 

[iwc5893]

Bittorrent would be the best solution for that, Index of /debian-cd/5.0.4/i386/bt-cd

The problem (and it's not really a problem except in your case) is that Debian doesn't really have a true LiveCD. They have the NetInstall and Business Card CD's, but you have to be connected to the internet to download most of the additional packages.

 

[tracker1998]

Oh, I saw this where it said you can download a small package and the install the rest via internet. Is this what you are reffering too? If that the case the internet works fine as I am using it right now on Debian USB version.

 

[tracker1998]

Boy, Debian don't make things easy to get thier software.
Strange how they offer a USB live version but not a CD or DVD?
I guess they want you to load it in hopes that you will stick with them??
I'll burn CD (ISO 1) and see where that takes me??

 

[BuddyBoy]

Boy, Debian don't make things easy to get thier software.
Strange how they offer a USB live version but not a CD or DVD?

You're not looking hard enough.

 

[daddyzlod]

tracker1998
Check out PCLinuxOS, you may like it, or Mepis 8

Bob

 

[tracker1998]

I'm diggin'!!
Give up for today.
Thanks all!

 

[ynnedibanez]

i use ubuntu for most stuff but i also use puppy on a thumb drive so if i have to use someone else's computer i can boot up in linux and not wait or have problems with their usually slow and possibly unsecure computer
i also love slackware for its unsurpassed stability, but it is a very complicated distro
the only windows box i still use on the net has xp on it and it is just used for magic jack (for my telephone) they are supposed to be coming out with linux support in the first quarter of this year, then it will get ubuntu or slackware
i still have another computer using xp, but it never gets hooked up to the internet, it is just for protools and adobe audition (multi-track music recording programs for musicians)

 

[Jim S.]

GParted is included on the LiveCD, and will do that with ease but you will lose any data on that partition. A few mouse clicks and a few minutes is all it takes.

I thought GPartEd could resize anything non-destructively? I know it worked with my NTFS partitions.

 

[iwc5893]

I thought GPartEd could resize anything non-destructively? I know it worked with my NTFS partitions.

It can, but there is always a risk when working with partitions. I've never lost any data yet, but that doesn't mean it can't happen.

 

[tracker1998]

Found a neat free program today called MobaLiveCD.
It starts a live ISO from your hard drive or a bootable stick.
I tried it from within Windows so I'm not sure if it works in Linux?
It was very slow when I tried it but this PC is not fast to start with.
I may try it in another machine some other time?
I just thought it was a great way to try an ISO file without burning disks and then not liking the program and wasting that disk.

 

[wallyhts]

My favorite Linux distro is Cent OS

 

[tracker1998]

Well I tried PCLinuxOS and Mepis today. I might try Cent?
I now have 7-8 live disks (programs) to explore a bit more in depth and see which one is more to my liking before I load one to a HDD.
I want to thank you all for your suggestions and input.
tracker.

 

[14karat]

The PS3 runs Yellowdog.
The media PC (and my other PCs) are on 14Karat Linux (my personal variant of Fedora 10 currently.)
I have used Ubuntu (and other Debs), Mandrake, Mandriva, SUSE, Knoppix, Slackware, Gentoo, Linspire, Freespire... and some others I can't recall currently.
Settled down with Fedora and made it do everything I need it to. Dropped my XP partitions and never looked back.
Not sure what the "you're not missing much" comment about Fedora was earlier - I guess I don't know what I'm missing.
I've been running various Linux distros since the late 90's. Aside from a few driver issues here and there, I think they are all equivalent - just depends on what you want them to do.
For a Windows user coming to Linux, they don't see Linux... they see X in whichever environment that was chosen...so, Gnome or KDE (or the few other lesser knowns out there.)
For some, Linux has too many choices and they don't like that... but that's what I do like about it...

The media PC is a 4-core AMD Phenom. 8GB RAM. Twin 1T SATA drives (hoping to expand to 4 drives & RAID 5.)
Dual Head NVidia. Dual OTA Tuners. Twin dual-layer DVD burners.
It just works...

Someone was asking about an XP variant?? Maybe try Darkstar - it was touted to be similar to XP... if it's even still around...

 

[14karat]

Eww... looks like Darkstar hasn't been updated in a couple years... it may be a dead one? But... hey - that makes it more like XP, right?

DARKSTAR Linux Project | Secure and Easy to use!