Trying to get into Linux

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So far, I tried Ubuntu 12.10 with unity and KDE, then I tried Linux mint 14 with cinnamon, both on Virtual Box. I personally like Mint better.

What is a good distro for a Linux noob and should I completely switch over form Windows 7?

I don't play games often, so that won't be a problem.

And do you think Linux is better than Windows and Mac OS?

What are you looking to accomplish?

I've recently gotten the 'Linux bug' but it's more of an emphasis on servers and RAID arrays.
I've found CentOS is pretty versatile and translates a lot into enterprise experience with its RHEL compatibility.

I just want a day to day thing, I don't do much but browse the web, I am trying to get into programming though, I heard Linux is better for that or something. And Windows is feeling kinda old.

you think you hate win7/8/OSX for _______ and ___________ reason. Then you try linux and for 99% of people they come runing back to their original OS. Its just by its nature not very good at the whole day to day thing. Its great for the whole programmer thing, and there are many fancy tools that help extract the potential of any device with it, but for most people it requires too much new knowledge to use properly.

So, I'll try to get more into programming and if I really want to, I'll switch over to Linux, after I learned a lot more about it.

For the record, I have no problems with Windows.

Sense this isn't my computer (my older brother's, but he's away) I'm not allowed to mess with the OS or hardware.

I don't really want to fully switch over to Linux until I move out in two years, if I do want to switch over.

I do have a old 2003 computer running Windows XP black edition, that I might want to switch to Linux so it will run faster.

So, would Linux run better than XP on the old computer? I only use that one as a test computer, or to go on the web.

The old computer specs are:

AMD athlon 32-bit processor 1.24 GHz
1 gig of RAM
Nvidia Geforce FX 5200
and a 152 gig harddrive

Use XUbuntu. What makes it so awesome is the fact that it allows you to edit partitions as you install it, allowing you to keep your old OS as well. It's the best way for a noob to attempt dual booting. However, you will want to be extremely careful. If you have a laptop, keep it plugged in, and make sure you have a good battery. A power outtage or the like will ruin everything. This happened to me once, and I resorted to nuking the hard drive, reinstalling windows, and then attempting the XUbuntu installation again.

You will also want to keep track of how much space the files on your windows partition takes up, and defragment your disk......several times. Defraggler works amazingly at this.

I'm not entirely sure about linux always going faster than XP on old computers, but it will increase the lifespan of your computer. My computer is 6-7 years old, and it's still showing signs of the fact that it's about to bite the dust.

This is an interesting tool. Your OS can live on a USB Drive. This way you don't have to make permanent changes like Dual Boots or messing with partitions.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/universal- ... -as-1-2-3/

I'm a firm fan of Linux Mint, and still use it and advocate it for a general-use newbie-friendly distro.

If you're really hankering to learn the depths of how an operating system works, I'd give Gentoo and even Linux From Scratch (still my OS of choice) a whirl. I still feel dirty when I download software binaries; give the the source tarball, please!

Also, if programming's something you want to explore, I'd give Michael Kerrisk's "The Linux Programming Interface" a read. It's very in-depth and goes well with understanding what LFS teaches you about building an operating system.

Thanks guys, I'm going to try to install Linux Mint 13 on the old computer, and maybe even get rid of XP on it, and then just fool around with it every once in awhile. Nobody even uses that computer anyways.

I'm learning this for college anyway, so I threw Ubuntu Server onto an old Desktop. It's been an experience learning with no GUI.

I also put Ubuntu Desktop onto my Netbook and it seems to work well enough. For school work it covers web browsing and word processing. Or I could write scripts to run on my server.

i got tired of vista on an laptop i have and switched over to ubunti, I stil need to learn now to use the command prompt stuff but it seems to work okay,, I have it on another desktop also which i refused to pay the 300 plus for windows 7,, ubunti is free, ,, and it runs fine,,, just havent figured out how to set up the printer yet, are there drivers for linex for canon and hp printers/

Hard to give advice these days because the distros are in such flux. I'd recommend avoiding the abominations of Gnome 3 and Unity and sticking to KDE, the only usable desktop left. If you're using KDE, the distro doesn't matter much, unless you want to learn about how Linux works under the covers. Fedora and Ubuntu have differences. But, then, each Fedora release seems to be different than the previous one. After the Fedora 18 debacle, still unfolding now, I wonder if some backlash isn't starting to build from all these random, gratuitous changes. Fedora and Ubuntu are starting to get user backlash like Microsoft from Windows 8. These companies have pushed users too far.

I've always used Fedora because IBM supported Red Hat Linux and Fedora/RHEL with their database and J2EE stuff, but if I had to build a system now from scratch I might consider trying some other distro.