Please assist me in Linux Installation.

[Doomfest]

Hi, I'm a frequent windows user. I want to change to linux. Any tips will be extremely appreciated. Thing is- I don't even know where to START installing linux! D: Help?

[SgtM]

Which distro of Linux are you installing? I would suggest Fedora or Ubuntu as they are both GUI based, and not hard to work with. Basically, the installation is rather simple. Download the distro you want, burn it to CD, and then boot the computer from the CD just like you would a Windows install. Ubuntu takes 1 CD and Fedora takes 5. I am by no means a Linux guru.. I just started playing around with it myself. I'll be happy to assist in whatever way I can though.

[Doomfest]

You have no idea how much help that is. I dont even know what distros are. How many linux distros are there? what exactly are they? Where can I get them? Thanks a lot.

[SgtM]

www.distrowatch.com

Fedora: http://fedora.redhat.com/

Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/

I hope this helps.

edit: I almost forgot. If you choose Ubuntu, it will run off of the CD before you install it. That way, you can have a look around. If you choose to install it, there will be an icon on the desktop to start the install. You can also install a LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) server with either distro. With a LAMP server, you have everything to effectively run a web hosting server. That's why I started playing around with it in the first place. Just something to tinker with and run a small intranet at home.

[xmastree]

Yep, I recommend ubuntu too. I use it exclusively on my laptop.

As sgtm said, download the CD and boot from it.
(you do know how to burn an image, don't you? If not, see this)

Once you have it running (and you will, it's that easy), head over to the forums and join us there (I'm xmastree there too).

Don't worry that it won't be able to play your mp3s right out of the box, the codecs aren't included for political reasons, but there's an easy fix for it.

[Luke122]

Ubuntu rocks.. I've just started with Linux too, and I'm running dual boots with ubuntu and XP on my desktop (Karma), my laptop, and building a cluster at work with 8 old p3 systems.

[Doomfest]

I've just downloaded Ubuntu. I'm dual-booting it as well. Later this afternoon I will try it (Still downloading some stuff) Thanks a lot for the help, guys! Btw- Does KDE or Gnome come with Ubuntu?

[SgtM]

I've just downloaded Ubuntu. I'm dual-booting it as well. Later this afternoon I will try it (Still downloading some stuff) Thanks a lot for the help, guys! Btw- Does KDE or Gnome come with Ubuntu?

KDE

[.Maleficus.]

KDE

Actually, Ubuntu comes with Gnome. Kubuntu comes with KDE. I personally think Gnome is better, KDE just kinda annoys me.

I haven't read like any of this, so if I ask something already stated, sorry :/.

Is this going to be dual-boot? I assume that's what it's going to be, since that's what most Windows users trying Linux do. Dual-boots are pretty easy, though you need free hard drive space, and I imagine that Windows is taking up all of your hard drive space. Here is a quick guide to dual-boots and if you're not dual-booting, just skip to the last part.

1. Free up some space on your hard drive. Defrag, using 3rd party software, and see what the hard drive looks like after that. If it needs it, doing it more times. Also, you need to resize your Windows partition. I don't know if Windows has a utility for doing this, and I'm too lazy to check, so just download some NTFS compatible resizing software.
2. Insert your LiveCD and reboot.
3. You will see lots of text and stuff about GRUB. If you don't know what that is, it is the boot loader that will let you choose between Windows and Ubuntu later.
3. ...DESKTOP! Isn't it shiny? If you so choose, have a look around. It will be slow, if you're used to Windows, almost unbearably. That's just because it's running completely off of the CD, it will speed up once it's installed.
4. When you're ready, click the "Install" icon. You will be taken to a set of install instructions.
5. If you've installed Windows, this will be a walk in the park. If not, just follow the on-screen instructions. It's pretty straight forward stuff.
6. !Tricky Part! You will now be at the partitioning setup, and if you were jumping ahead, are probably confused. Here is what you need. A linux-swap, a "/" and a ext3. Make the linux-swap like 1 gb, the "/" your Windows partition, and the ext3 the rest of the available space. Please note: I have done this once, and was very skeptical on my install. You can seriously screw your Windows partition if you do this wrong. To be extra sure, do a Google on dual-boots and see if I'm right. I believe "/" goes on the Windows, but I'm not 100% sure.
8. Click install. Let it do it's thing. If you are installing over Windows, then just have it install everything on the Windows partition.

Hope this works out for you and have fun learning Linux!
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! I'll help you out as much as I can.


Edit: xmastree had a good idea; join the Ubuntu Forums. It is an excellent place to find help. Also, I'm .Maleficus. over there too.

[SgtM]

oops.. thanks for correcting me Mal. +rep