Just bought Linux Kubuntu

[arellanova]

Well, I just bought a new Dell and after 2 months of windows vista I got fed up and decided to look for other options. Rather than paying another 100 some dollars for xp I decided to try something different. It will arrive in 3 days or so, and as a constant computer learner I will be back to this forum for much knowledge and advice.


As a total newb I welcome any words of advice before hand.

[Manchunian]

Welcome arellabova!

You'll find Linux faster and more reliable than Windows, but don't forget that the two operation systems are different. I suggest you read this for starters.

Good luck, and don't hesitate to post shoud you need any help.

[smolloy]

Welcome to the forum!

Just remember that linux can behave very differently from xp (something we think is a good thing), and that that can be frustrating at first. Don't think that your windows knowledge will transfer well to linux. And remember to have fun!

[arellanova]

I think I expect it to be different, but am hedging on my lerning ability to overcome the bumps. I appreciate the link and pointing me in the right direction!

[smolloy]

Just out of interest, you say that you bought Kubuntu. Does this mean that you requested it be shipped to you, or that you actually paid money for it? You know that Kubuntu is availble free of charge (entirely legally I might add)?

[arellanova]

well, paid to be shipped, rather.....thanks for pointing it out. Even as a newb I knew it was free, but I dont have access to download at work. it was like 5-6 bucks for shipping. I made the dicision on an impulse, but have been sitting at work here reading the "Linux is NOT windows" article as sugested from above and the grin on my face keeps getting bigger and bigger.

The impulse happened because I was searching the forums for Vista for help with getting into my Vista account because the sign on was "invalid" - and I just said to myself "self- I am the administrator of this computer....I should not be having an identity crisis with it". so I tried to go out and find a cheap version of XP when I ran across Linux and decided...."I am a smart person, why the hell not." Never hurts to try...

[jayd512]

Welcome to LinuxForums!

I have the feeling that you'll enjoy the Linux experience. Especially since you already know it's a totally different beast than Windows, and anything from the *buntu family is a pretty good choice for testing the waters.

Post if you have questions, and have fun with Linux!

[Manchunian]

"I am a smart person, why the hell not." Never hurts to try...

You don't have to be smart to use Linux, and you don't have to be a computer expert either. However, one of the nice things about Linux is that it only pushes you as far as you want to go. If you want to get down and do everything yourself and personalise every single aspect of your computer, then you can install Slackware or Gentoo; if however a computer is just a tool for you, or if you're just starting out, then *buntu is an excellent choice. Indeed, in my opinion, some of the Linux distributions have attained such a level of automation, while Windows has become more and more of a headache, that they have actually surpassed Windows on user-friendliness. So, install Kubuntu, learn everything you can, and if you want to install a faster, more configurable system later you can do so.
Good luck!

[geniuz]

Welcome to the forums !!

I'm so glad to see so much new linux users ! You should know that everyone once started out with linux, in the beginning there were only few choices. Now Linux has thousands of flavors to choose between.

As for using Linux...well these forums are very helpfull, if you bump into any problems you could always start a thread here, but remember you're probably not the first one encountering that very problem, so a quick search in the forums will do wonders as to solving the problem. And ofcourse you always have google. Those two helped me out bigtime !!

[KyKo]

Ooo, Grand Rapids user! I used to reside on Tamarack.