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Thread ID: 59165 2005-06-23 17:43:00 Wish to give Linux a try, what are the steps? Renmoo (66) Press F1
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366529 2005-06-23 17:43:00 Good day, folks. After participating this forum more than 3 months and hearing a lot of people praising the performance and reliability of Linux, I wish to give it a try. Note: A try. I will be probably using Xp Home as my computer's main OS. What are the free and recommended distros that you guys think is suitable for me? I am not a hardcore gamer, just occasionally play Chess and alike. Do I have to partition my HDD to allocate a certain volume of space for extra OS? I've got a 74.47GB HDD, and only 30 GB or so free. What are the first few steps that I should execute? Much thanks!

Cheers :)
Renmoo (66)
366530 2005-06-23 20:12:00 If you want to try it out without an install I would reccomend one of the many live cd out there Knoppix seems to support most hardware ( I have had problems in the past with other live cds).

Basicly you boot off the cd and the linux OS is loaded into and runs from ram no changes are made to the harddrive of the machine.

Another live cd I some times use is puppy linux. It writes changes to a configuration file on your hard drive which it uses to set itself up on next boot ( file name pup).
Dick Smith sells A Ubuntu set which has a live cd included but I found it doesn't support my hardware it goes into Kernal Panic on load

google "linux live cd" youll find heaps.
beama (111)
366531 2005-06-23 20:55:00 The SuSE Live cd is quite good, as is Mandrake Move 2.0. Both are available for free download from various mirrors. somebody (208)
366532 2005-06-23 22:09:00 I wish to give it a try. Note: A try. I agree with Beama - just play around with a live version to start with. Mepis is quite a good one. FoxyMX (5)
366533 2005-06-23 22:19:00 I would second the 'live CD' idea. Put one in and give it a whirl. Doesn't install (unless you want it to).
If you want to take it further and install a version, a lot of people recommend Xandros, then maybe Ubuntu. These 2 distros are said to be the easier installed distros to play round with.
I recently bought the live CD (Knoppix) from Dick Smith for $1 (mainly for their partitioning ability) and if you want Xandros Os3 (recent release), send me a PM with your address and I will send you a free copy burnt to CD (it came free with APC magzines June edition).
Best thing about Linux... its free (mostly*) so it can't be pirated :D

*some distros (mainly server) cost
Myth (110)
366534 2005-06-23 22:34:00 I agree with Beama - just play around with a live version to start with. Mepis is quite a good one.I second that.... the beauty of MEPIS, is that it runs as a live CD so you can check if you like it, and that it likes your computer set up, and then gives you the options to install. When it does install it will detect all exsisiting OS and stuff, and will repartition the HDD making a seperate space for itself. At all stages you are in control. VERY simple clean and logical.

I'm running it as my only OS on my crappy little flaptop, and its the best its ever run.
personthingy (1670)
366535 2005-06-23 23:05:00 Damn, I was about to fly the flag of Mepis, But that seems to be already taken care of.

Bought time I built up another linux rig......
Metla (12)
366536 2005-06-23 23:26:00 opps forgot mepis and I use it on a p2 196 ram it even detected my softmodem contexant chip but will not detect my lucent chip on the other pc beama (111)
366537 2005-06-24 00:16:00 Good topic jameskan.
I've been interested in the same thing but not sure where/how to go about it.
After all the good reviews for mepis i think i'll try it out.
Does anyone in NZ sell it?. I'm only on dailup
lazydog (148)
366538 2005-06-24 00:34:00 There is another thread running on live-CD's (plus Mepis) here (pressf1.pcworld.co.nz) which may answer some of your questions.

Does anyone in NZ sell it?. I'm only on dailupIf someone has the latest version which is SimplyMEPIS-3.3.1-1, then they might be able to post you a copy. I only have an earlier version, although I am tempted to download the lastest version out of interest.
Jen (38)
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