Well hello

[Blue_Beard]

According to the forum discription this is where I am to introduce myself, so here I am.

A few details....

I'm 16 year old male, who's been subjected to microsoft my entire life. My first computer ran Windows 3.1, and now I'm on vista. After much research I have came to the conclusion that I'm running the wrong OS for what I want.

I need the flexibility of linux, I need the feeling that I'M in the drivers seat, not some shady corportaion. Also I'm attracted to the idea of a community based OS.

I figured that Ubantu would be my safest bet for a newbie such as myself. So when I get home on friday, I'm going to pull my old computer off the shelf, partition part of the hard-drive, and install linux.

I really hope to become a productive member of this forum, and the Open-Source community as a whole.

[fingal]

Hi Blue_Beard and welcome to these Forums. It's a good place for sharing your knowledge or just chatting, and I hope you come back often.

[oz]

Welcome to the forums, Blue_Beard!

Pull up a chair and make yourself right at home...

oz

[bigtomrodney]

Welcome tot he forums

[devils casper]

Hi Blue_Beard !

Welcome to the LinuxForums.

[Blue_Beard]

Ah, thank you, I'm glad to have recived such a warm welcome, in most of the essays I've read on the open source community, they portray linux users as unwelcoming towards newbies, but I suppose thats only the ones that ask vauge questions, or complain about the functionality of linux.

[fingal]

Ah, thank you, I'm glad to have recived such a warm welcome, in most of the essays I've read on the open source community, they portray linux users as unwelcoming towards newbies, but I suppose thats only the ones that ask vauge questions, or complain about the functionality of linux.

Well the 'community' you've mentioned is quite complex. We're not all the same ... The problem is if people ask vague questions they're hard to answer. And very often people who complain about 'functionality' are nit-wits.

[tom-tjtech]

I figured that Ubantu would be my safest bet for a newbie such as myself. So when I get home on friday, I'm going to pull my old computer off the shelf, partition part of the hard-drive, and install linux.

As a suggestion you may get frustrated installing in old computer first-time,
try a 'Live' distro options first on your existing machine; it won't touch the hard-drive and is perfectly safe (you can keep any special files or settings to a USB stick)-- virtually all the main distr'os have a liveCD option (except Susie I think). Once you get the hang of using a friendly linux distro then you can install--be warned that modern linux distros usually require fairly good spec machines say (except for specialist small-footprint DSL etc.).

Check out distrowatch for details and ideas or do a search here "distrowatch" for polls etc.

[MikeTbob]

Ah, thank you, I'm glad to have recived such a warm welcome, in most of the essays I've read on the open source community, they portray linux users as unwelcoming towards newbies, but I suppose thats only the ones that ask vauge questions, or complain about the functionality of linux.

Hiya Blue_Beard and Welcome to the Forums.

I think in the old days (1990-2000), Linux users were not very nice to newbies, mostly because back then Linux was sort of an "outlaw" OS, and Linux users really didn't want all these new folks to be a part of that. But that's all blown to hell in a handbasket now and we're all just a bunch of fun loving, eager to help, nice people.

[Cabhan]

Welcome!

Yeah, I've heard rumors about such unfriendly communities, but I know that this one is one of the friendliest forums I've ever been involved with.

Best of luck with the Ubuntu installation, and please ask if you have any problems. It's what we're here for .