thinking about installing linux

[potentialnewbie]

hello everyone,
I'm off to University for the first time this October, and am currently looking around for a cheap computer to take with me (around £500 is my limit). I am seriously considering doing a dual windows/linux boot on the system, but I want to find out in reality, well, just how hard it is to install linux!

My computing ability is probably above average, particularly being a girl, but I am by no means an expert and am the sort of person that didn't know that SCSI isn't pronounced "S, C, S, I" until my boyfriend laughed himself to pieces when I said it. Anyway, I just want to know if someone like me is actually capable of doing it. I don't exactly want to mess up a new system which will be the result of many painful hours work at Tescos on the checkouts...

Basically, I just want some feedback on how competent one has to be to install linux, and also whether people think that custom-built systems from small independent companies are generally a good buy- they seem simply so much cheaper on comparison of specs than the bigger corporations.

Many thanks
alice

[z0mbix]

Installing GNU/Linux these days is not hard atall with thanks to RedHat, Mandrake, SuSE and others so it's easy to "get you foot in the door". Reasearch is a key thing to remember with the Linux/UNIX community as 99% of the tiem you can find the answer to your question on the www, so bookmark google.com/linux which is excellent. But ask away here and everyone will be happy to help out where they can :)

I've only been using Linux about 18 months and have loved every second of it and starting to learn how powerful the OS actually is. If you looking to play games on it there is a fairly limited scope, but for most other things it can do equally well as mac/windows if not a whole lot better! Programming for instance :)

What are you aiming to possibly use GNU/Linux for?

[GaMMa]

Linux is actually pretty easy. Get Mandrake, SuSe or Red Hat and you'll have no problems. It's almost idiot proof. As for the limitation on games... put it this way, all the good games can be played on linux :).

[earache]

If you want to try linux go for RedHat. If you get a new version 7.3 -7.2 and you have common components you should have no trouble. I have a Gforce 2 video card and SB Live! sound and linux found everything. I only had to install the nvidia drivers for the Gforce and that took a whole five minutes. The on problem you might have a problem with is the modem. If you're getting the computer locally make sure you get a external serial modem and you should have very few problems This site can help out alot. I would suggest getting a book like "Red hat linux bible" or "Teach yourself Red hat linux in 24 hours" they include install CDs and the cover almost everything.

Try it and you will like it!

Good luck.

[evdama]

People on this site got me out of bother when I was trying to install mandrake.
I had gone too far down the road with windows and my brain could not accept that things could be any different.Get documentation and plenty of time to read it through.Stay with the newbie sites -shropshire linux users group is another good stop as well.
You wont damage your computer-dont worry.
And I know all about painful hours at tescos -Ive had five years of them.
Good Luck (would you like help packing ,madam?....)

[potentialnewbie]

Thankyou everyone for your encouraging replies. It is really nice to know that there is a place I can come to and feel okay about asking a really silly question. I will definitely follow your advice and read through copious documentation before actually tackling the installation.

I have a spare external modem I can put on my new machine once I get it, so that should hopefully not be a problem. As for which distribution, I will probably end up going for Mandrake or RedHat, though I haven't totally decided on which yet, but again thankyou for your suggestions. I will no doubt return here in a couple of weeks with a pile of questions, but hopefully fingers crossed things should go okay.

Thankyou ever so much for replying
best wishes,
Alice

[Dun'kalis]

An untrained weasel could install SuSE. Go for it!

[RudeCat7]

ABSOLUTELY! Untrained weasels unit!

A SuSe install is easier, and less boring than any windows install!

Suse doesn't require you to know how to FDISK to prepare partitions!


windows uninstall help available @

WWW.F**KMICROSOFT.COM:D