I've been a closet geek for many years and have decided to come out... So here I am!! Pheww, that takes a load off my mind... :-D
I've seen Linux mentioned in magazines and the like for ages, but never took any notice of what it was because I thought it was some super difficult programming language or something. So, after reading a couple of articles on what Linux was, I discovered it was actually an alternative operating system to Windows which was open source... ie. FREEEEEBIE, zip, zero, nada... Not in all cases, but in lots you don't have to pay a cent to use it.
With my interest hyped my first play with Linux involved my regular Windows XP installed PC and a Live CD version of Linux called Knoppix. It seemed to boot up fine, and seemed to recognise all of the installed hardware without drama. The Live version runs from your CD drive without inflicting itself on the normal running of your system which is pretty cool.
The bro-in-law brought up his old system (P3 450mhz, 64mb RAM, 6gb hard disk, Win98) which was completely cactus, in that booting windows resulted in an instant crash of the desktop. So with a computer that seriously required a makeover, I decided to format the hard disk and install Ubuntu Linux, after a mate mentioned he had used it. I downloaded the Ubuntu .iso file and installed it onto the hard disk, and boy did it 'chug'. It worked, but not as well as I had hoped. After some more reading I discovered that if I changed the GUI from Gnome (?) to the less resource taxing xcfe the system would seem faster. I never got that far...
I installed a bigger hard disk and another 64mb of ram, more freebies, and then proceeded to install another version of Linux called SimplyMEPIS 3.3 (You can run it from CD like Knoppix if you wish). Now, if you are a novice like me and interested at all in using Linux instead of Windows on your system, this could well be the answer to your prayers.
SimplyMEPIS is easy to install, even more so than windows in some cases, as it happily runs along discovering which hardware makes up your system and installing the appropriate drivers. The best part about it is all of the applications software is installed at the same time. No spending 1-2 hours installing Windows and then another hour installing your word processor, spreadsheet, and the like... It's all on there ready to play with.
Just so you are aware, Windows programs don't work with Linux, so you need Linux specific versions of the software. The office suite that comes with SimplyMEPIS is compatible with MSOffice documents as far as I'm aware, and Firefox comes as standard for web browsing. Internet Explorer is crap anyway, and after writing a few W3C standards approved web pages I know for sure.
After playing with it for a couple of hours I am slowly getting the hang of it, although the nitty gritty (ie. installing other programs) is requiring some internet search time. Speed wise it seems quite reasonable, and I like how it has recognised all the hardware. It sees the other computers on my network and everything. All without me hardly touching the keyboard...
If I didn't use Windows programs like PhotoShop and MovieMaker, I'd probably convert my main system over to Linux.
Some links :
Mepis.org
Knoppix.net
UbuntuLinix.org
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