Posted: 4/25/2007 8:45:21 AM EDT
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Would Linux operating system be a good idea for someone building a computer for the first time or should they stick with Windows? Should a someone from the baby boomer generation even be thinking about building their own computer? The intended application would be mostly web surfing and word processing. No gaming. Best Regards, HTG |
Since you're asking smart questions, I will assume you know a bit about computers. With that in mind, I say yes. You can put Linux on your box for free and play with it to your heart's desire. You will do fine. If for some reason *nix doens't suit you, you can pay your Franklins to Mr. Gates and join the hoi polloi. |
| It's fun to learn and use but the question you really have to ask yourself is 'What programs can I not live without?' and if that includes any Windows-exclusive programs with no worthy Linux analogue then Linux might not work for you. For surfing and typing up documents it will work fine. To really harness the power of it you should learn as much as you can about how it works, how it's configured, and how to use the shell. |
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Yup I agree you should try, to. Am I wrong when I say the box is independant from the Oporating system? I mean build the best box you can with supported hardware and then you can use either OS Or both. try lindows its the best of both worlds. or forget it all and run dos in a unix shell. Anyone ever play that game street hacker, it sucked. |
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I just did a clean install of debian 4.0 (etch) for the first time since i installed debian 3.0 on my computer a few years ago... i couldn't believe how simple it was, my system booted into GNOME... which is a first... i was used to having to tweak all sorts of XF86config settings... the new "NetworkManager" stuff is supposed to be pretty awesome for wireless and DHCP support... once again i was used to compiling the WLAN packages (in older 2.4 kernels) and having to tweak settings to make it work... the GNOME desktop also checks for updates for you... it automatically detected my iPod, flash drives, it was mind boggling how easy it was. debian is geared more towards experienced users... within a couple hours i had debian 4.0, with 2.6.20.6 kernel, NVIDIA's drivers, GNOME, and the beryl window manager which is awesome... i have heard a lot of good things about Ubuntu (debian based distro with a better installer, more user friendly)... that being said... i would have no problems recommending Linux to anyone... the only things i am having problems with are getting some video types (WMV) to work... which is probably just a codec issue. |
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Thanks for the replies. Here is the situation. The computer I am using now is getting old. It has an AMD Athlon processor running at 1GHz, 512 MB RAM, and a 10 GH hard drive. It has Windows XP home addition 2002 build. I could probably find better components on the curb on trash day. So I want to build a more up to date computer using parts that go on sale at Fry's. If it takes a while to collect the parts that's ok with me. This computer still works. The reason for the Linux question is that I am a tight wad and really like the free part of Linux. But I have a very limited knowledge of how software works and also a low frustration level when working with computers. I know how to use Windows but don't know much about how it works. So should I stick with Windows for the new computer since most if not all of the people who I will be asking for help are familiar with Windows, or go ahead and try to use Linux? Best Regards, HTG |
I'd say try it and see how fast you get to that frustration level.  Your best source for support will probably the forums of whatever distribution you use. The software installation/configuration methods usually vary for each one. For the vast majority of Linux apps it's not like Windows where you download an exe file and let it do all the work. Sometimes the only way to install something is to do it from source code. |
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If you have to ask, you probably shouldn't run Linux. Although I would recommend throwing it on a second partition to become familiar with. I've used Linux, and other flavors of unix, for aound 15 years and love it, but it is not designed to be user friendly. Even the distributions around for newbie users seem to lack quite a bit of the desktop experience. If you want to get into unix, my recommendation would be to get an Apple, which runs on BSD Unix. You will have access to all the 'clicky clicky' things you want, and as you learn more, will be able to open a terminal window and hack on a real *nix operating system. If you can't afford a Mac, there are plenty of hacks out there to run OSX on an Intel platform. As a Linux and unix expert, I personally haven't got time to dick with it. I spent countless hours up at night recompiling bluetooth stacks and custom kernel drivers to care about having anything to prove to the script-kiddie crowd. I have several Linux servers running various network services, and used to run it on my thinkpad as a desktop OS. It is a great server opearating system, but it blows hard for desktop. Beware. |
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Decide if you like the idea of computing as a hobby, and be honest with yourself. Using Linux can be a very rewarding experience, but you'll only realize it if: 1. You DO NOT compare it to Windows in any way, shape or form. It is fundamentally different. Appreciate it for what it is, not what you think it should be based on prior experiences. 2. On a home built computer, where hardware support under Linux is far from guaranteed, you must be willing to accept that there will be some work involved. Work like this is a pleasure if computers are your hobby. If your primary reasons for building a computer and running Linux are price, and sticking it to Gates, you will be sorely disappointed. |
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Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty) is the most user friendly linux distro that you will find. Upon install it detected and installed every single hardware item that's in my system. That's something that not even Windows XP could do from a recent install. Ubuntu also comes with a full office suit of tools, that is very similar to Microsoft Office. Plus pretty much all linux software is free. I've got a dual boot laptop that has XP and Ubuntu on it. If you have something you just need to run on windows do a dual boot. But you don't really need to do that, because with the linux program Wine, you can run whatever windows program you want. More and more when the boot screen comes up I chose to boot into linux. Download the free Ubuntu live CD and test the operating system out, without having to install anything. It will run from the CD. Check out this link, it's a great read: 30 Days with Linux It's not the most current version of Ubuntu, but you get the idea. |
I like your enthusiasm, and I'm a huge Linux geek, but I think you're a little too rosy with Wine. "You can run whatever Windows program you want" is VERY far from the truth. There are alot of them that flat out don't work, and many are extremely buggy. People that expect Linux to be all things to all people are setting themselves up for disappointment, in my humble opinion. |
Not only does wine only run a very small number of programs, but that list is constantly changing depending on what version you're running. New bugs and lack of good quality control has made wine relatively unstable. If you seriously want to get into Linux (specifically Linux) then I would recommend using a virtual machine. |
No. Your next PC should be Windows. Take the old PC and install Linux on that. Use that to learn Linux. By the time you've become used to Linux and can make your own decision on your question, you'll have the money for a new PC you can set up with Linux.
OK, if the first time you boot up your new PC it just sits there an beeps and nothing shows up on the monitor. Do you want to: A) Start reading the motherboard manual and check out each cable, connector, and component in the computer as you attempt to find the problem? B) Call someone so they can walk you through some troubleshooting to fix it and, if they can't fix it over the phone, to have a place you can send it to be fixed? A = build your own B = buy a pre-built PC For basic browsing and word processing, I'd recommend a pre-built. The amount of money you'd save wouldn't be a lot. If you were going with a ubergaming machine, then you could save a lot. |
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would i recomend you installing linux on your main machine??? only if you have used linux before.. if you have not stick with windoz. then do a dual boot later, either leave space available or add a second harddrive later live cds are good if you want to experiment link |
Well that makes about the most sense so far. Good suggestion. That is probably what I will do. And I fall into the "A" catagory. I would enjoy the challange of trying to figure out why it was not working and spend some time troubleshooting. If that did not work I would ask for some help from someone with experience building a computerh who could also explain what they were doing so I could learn something form the experience. Best Regards, HTG |
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Do what I did , Install Ubuntu and run win xp or win2000 in VMWare Server ( its free for home use) for your windows only programs if any. As long as you do not want to build a gamer pc . Linux is great for ALL your Internet stuff . And no screwing around with virus's , adware , trojan's and all the other crap windows is famous for . That alone is worth going to linux !! |
| One thing I haven't seen mentioned in this thread is that you can take Linux for a spin on your current system without affecting your existing XP install. Many distributions, including Ubuntu, Kubuntu, OpenSuse, Knoppix, etc., offer "live CDs" which you can boot the machine from. The PC then runs Linux from the CD or DVD without touching the hard disk. The OS runs A LOT slower off the CD or DVD than from a hard disk, but it'll give you a chance to check out the distro. |
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Fedora Core 6 is great, and the newest release from Red Hat, if you have other experience with Linux sure, if not, you might want to build a Windows system, or do a dual-boot. Linux can run on any PC, it's got really low system req's, it's not all of that whiz-bang memory eating B.S. that Vista is, 1.5 Gigabytes of Ram recommended? Pffft, XP had 256 MB, what're they shoveling? Linux is better, but as far as applications, eh. If you're willing to put in the time and learn the Operating System, yes, it has better tools and better functionality, this is from a guy who's used Windows all of his life until January. (yea I'm in an IT Major. Actually wrapped up RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) today, exams next week.) |
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I just built a new PC a couple of months ago. I'm using Windows XP right now, but I installed Ubuntu Linux as well. Ubuntu comes with the Linux boot manager, GRUB. It automatically sets itself up when you install Ubuntu. You don't even need to worry about it. Just make sure you install Windows first, then Linux. Windows is territorial and if it sees another operating system already on your PC it wants to kill it. I'm a complete Linux n00b, but learning how to use it is fun, just for kicks. I still use Windows more often, just because I'm more comfortable with it. BTW: I'm using a ...er... "modified" copy of XP, so I've stuck it to Bill Gates twice already! Bwahahah 
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considering that it is FREE, the worst thing you are risking by trying it out and finding out that you don't like it is an evening of installing/reinstalling. Now is the time to experiment, since you can simply change your mind without having to worry about backing up data and losing settings/applications with a reinstall. I would say Ubuntu for you. I also like Fedora. Those two also happen to be the easiest to install, in my experience. |
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If you arre curious about *nix, and want to play with it a bit, get a Mac Mini, OS X is unix based, and just a plug in and go deal, no configuring hardware and stuff. I have done some php and pearl scripts on it for a web-site, glad unix is still living on 20 years after I started doing the C/Unix grind. |
+1 Unbuntu (or Kubuntu) + vmWare (for M$) is a very nice combo most folks of moderate m$ background can get the hang of. |
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as was mentioned above, put linux on your old desktop and get windows on a newer comp. i have SuSE linux on an older desktop and i play with it off and on. it's a good OS, just different from windows. there are online tutorials for linux that can help you out. here's one that i've used. http://www.linux.org/lessons/beginner/index.html |
With that hardware I recommend you try some of the "light" Linux distros made for older systems. Mainly "Damn Small Linux N" or Vector Linux (standard version with Fluxbox, not SoHo). You can go have a look at the "top 100" linux distros at DistroWatch. Have fun. |
Stay away from Linux then. Contrary to what some will tell you all flavors of Linux require patience and learning and are not for those easily frustrated. |