Hi every one, I'm a real newbie to Linux, Life took me to Win when i started but....

[divemaster74]

Well, again hi to every one...
really really new, starting in trying to find the right destirusion for me and really over welmed by the choices that "Linux" gives me...
i have ubuntu at home so thinking about installing it....
can't get the deferance between KDE and GNOME, just can't understant that is the diferance and why should there be two GUI's for the same OS? Ubuntu/Kubuntu??? what is that all about?
well, when i was surfing the web i saw meny good things about Ubuntu, especialy for newbies like me, but over here i dont think that people think that highly about it...am i right and if it is so, why???
last thing for this stage, On the HD that i am going to install the Linux OS I have 3 pertitions. the one that is going to be for the Os, a fat32 and a NTFS pertitions(both active right now with importent files on them. can i do that? and would i be able to see (read and write) all my files on the fat and ntfs pertitions after installing? does Linux have the same atribs as win so i can leave the atribs as they are right now?
well, thanks for you all and i hope i wrote it in the right place....
see ya all, and 10x again, i think that i found a new home...llooollllll
Erez

[techieMoe]

can't get the deferance between KDE and GNOME, just can't understant that is the diferance and why should there be two GUI's for the same OS? Ubuntu/Kubuntu??? what is that all about?

Choice and personal preference. It's the same reason there are multiple manufacturers of automobiles or stationery pads. Some folks like the pink polka dots, others prefer the blue floral pattern and some just like plain white. There's no real advantage to one or the other; it's just personal preference.

KDE and Gnome are not your only choices either. There's also Xfce, LXDE, Fluxbox, FVWM, and many more. The only difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu is that one uses Gnome as its desktop and the other uses KDE. They're the same OS under the covers. In fact you can install one and change it to the other afterward.

well, when i was surfing the web i saw meny good things about Ubuntu, especialy for newbies like me, but over here i dont think that people think that highly about it...am i right and if it is so, why???

No, actually. I think there's quite a few fans of Ubuntu on this forum. The important thing to remember with Linux if you're just starting out is that just like desktops, Linux distributions are mostly about personal preference. There's thousands of versions of Linux out there made for different reasons and different types of people. What works great for me might not work at all for you. Take opinions on distributions with a grain of salt.

last thing for this stage, On the HD that i am going to install the Linux OS I have 3 pertitions. the one that is going to be for the Os, a fat32 and a NTFS pertitions(both active right now with importent files on them. can i do that?

That's fine. Just make sure you know precisely where your partition is that you want to use for Linux, or leave it unformatted empty space and let the installer use it.

and would i be able to see (read and write) all my files on the fat and ntfs pertitions after installing? does Linux have the same atribs as win so i can leave the atribs as they are right now?

Linux can read and write just fine to NTFS and FAT partitions, however Windows and Linux have vastly different ways of setting up permissions for things. The good news is you probably won't run into any issues, because Windows is pretty sloppy when it comes to handling permissions for files you copy over from Linux. Long story short: I'd be very surprised if you ran into problems accessing files you copied over from one to the other.

[divemaster74]

f**k, i was writing you a long answer on my "great" strong vista computer and my even "greater" IE7 crashed....i wonder why i want so much to move to a Linux OS...lllooollllllll
well, to make things short, i thank you for the quick and helpful answer...
what i was writing in my long asnwer was that i still don't understand the deference between KDE and GNOME and asked if there is a good article about it or is it just two deferent GUIs and that is all, you have to remember that as a Microcrap users we don't have choices and just have to get what we get from them and shut up (or download crapy thems that dont work really good) so the concept of just two defrent GUIs that people made the efort to make just for the fun of it seem strange to me....it is so, there is nothing else to that???
othere then that, i will try in the next few days to install the Ubuntu as it is the one i have and go from there....
p.s. why do people (over here and in other articles) say that if you need the Linux for program development and other busines matters ubuntu is not the right one? The thing is, I'm a Programming engineer student and i will need to be able to install a c++ compiler (as soon as i install the Linux Os) and c# and java (next year) so i need to know that i can do that, how hard (or easy) is it to find the programs i need and know on my one Win for Linux?
10x again and i hope i am not "bugging" too much....
Erez

[coopstah13]

The primary difference is the libraries they use. KDE uses QT, and gnome uses GTK. Applications are *usually* built around one or the other, and while they will all run on any window manager, they integrate best when run on their native one. It is really only a difference in how the GUI looks and is presented to you.

[GNU-Fan]

GNOME was born because KDE used to be dependent on non-free software and the Free Software community wanted a non-proprietary desktop.

Nowadays KDE is completely free software too and both desktop environments are in friendly competition.

Linux Today - Stallman on Qt, the GPL, KDE, and GNOME

[divemaster74]

Cool, 10x, i thought that Linux was always free...i know that Red hat and susa and maby othere are not for free, but the KDE or GNOME? that i new for me....10x
so Linux is/was not the free OS that i thought it is? or am i wrong again....lol, having fun being wrong over here and learning new things

[techieMoe]

...the concept of just two defrent GUIs that people made the efort to make just for the fun of it seem strange to me....it is so, there is nothing else to that???

As was mentioned by someone else, it was originally based on a practical decision which is largely not an issue anymore, but both desktops are so well developed at this point (and have a strong fan base) that they continue on their separate ways.

p.s. why do people (over here and in other articles) say that if you need the Linux for program development and other busines matters ubuntu is not the right one?

I doubt you'll hear that opinion on this forum. Any Linux distribution will let you program on it, so don't worry about that at all. For businesses, there are a couple of very popular commercial desktops that you are more likely to run into in America, and the reason people suggest using them is familiarity.

Redhat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop (SLED) are probably the two most popular Linux workstation distributions in the USA. If you're going to encounter Linux in a corporate environment it's likely it will be one of those two. Internationally Mandriva and Novell are fairly common.

If you're a desktop user this doesn't matter. All Linux desktops share the same kernel, and they all work about the same way with only minor tweaks here and there. The biggest difference between most distributions is how they handle software packages.

Redhat, SuSE, and Mandriva use something called the Redhat Package Manager (RPM). Ubuntu, Debian, Knoppix, and several others use the Debian Package Manager (DEB). They operate about the same, but packages for one won't install on the other without some work.

Again, if you're a desktop user none of this matters. The minutiae of what package format your distribution uses or whether the desktop is developed by a large corporation is largely irrelevant. You'll be able to install and run software of all kinds on whatever distribution you choose and ignore the opinions of those people who might want to steer you one direction or the other.

The thing is, I'm a Programming engineer student and i will need to be able to install a c++ compiler (as soon as i install the Linux Os) and c# and java (next year) so i need to know that i can do that, how hard (or easy) is it to find the programs i need and know on my one Win for Linux?
10x again and i hope i am not "bugging" too much....
Erez

Most distributions include the GNU C Compiler by default, and if not it's very easy to install after the fact. In Ubuntu you simply install a package called build-essential. Java development is also possible in Linux using Eclipse (free from IBM) or NetBeans (free from Sun). C# and .NET applications can be developed using Mono.

[GNU-Fan]

so Linux is/was not the free OS that i thought it is? or am i wrong again....lol, having fun being wrong over here and learning new things

That's why I try to avoid speaking of "the Linux OS". It's just too ambivalent and seems to confuse people.
Linux and GNU - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation (FSF)

[techieMoe]

Cool, 10x, i thought that Linux was always free...i know that Red hat and susa and maby othere are not for free, but the KDE or GNOME? that i new for me....10x
so Linux is/was not the free OS that i thought it is? or am i wrong again....lol, having fun being wrong over here and learning new things

There's more than one type of free when it comes to Linux. There's "free as in beer" and "free as in speech." Most distributions are free of charge. That means you don't pay for the right to use them. Most of the software available for Linux is the same way.

However developers on Linux also concern themselves with the freedom to download, modify, and redistribute the source code for software as well. This is the "free as in speech" part. Say you find a really cool program that organizes your CD collection. You want it to also organize your DVDs, but the developers are too busy to do it.

If the software is free as in speech you can download the source code and add the feature you want yourself, or have a buddy of yours do it, and the two of you can pass out copies of the modified program either for free or charge for it. The only thing you can't do is try to keep the modified code to yourself. So if the original developers of the app want to use your new feature, they can.

This is made possible because software in the Linux and open-source world is usually released under the GNU General Public License.

[divemaster74]

10x guys....very much....