Thinking about it.

[Bleeb]

I was thinking about making the switch from Windows to Linux. I've never had any experience with Linux, nor would I know where to start.

I do however have a few questions. Does Linux run alot better than Windows? Is it a power hog? I hate running Windows sometimes, only because I think I'm not getting everything I want out of my PC.

Also, what would be the best distro for gaming? I play World of Warcraft right now, but I really don't want it to be a problem if I ever quit and decide on a new game all of my friends are playing.

[HW_Hack]

Linux is perhaps a bit more efficient than XP - but primarily is more stable and more secure. And its free - except you will need to learn some new things.

Gaming (at the full blown PC / XP level) is new to linux but you can check here
TransGaming Inc.

But if gaming is focus - Linux is not your best choice

As to which flavor is better --- do to distrowatch and see whats up

[bigtomrodney]

First thing is that Linux is not Windows so it does not run Windows software. If you approach Linux with that frame of mind you will find it a much better experience. Yes you can run some applications under Wine but ultimately the applications are not running natively. WoW runs very well as I understand it though.

Linux can be as resource efficient or as much of a hog as you want it to be. The trick is that it is up to you what is running and what isn't. Generally speaking the biggest thrill for new users is not having your system crippled by huge antivirus applications choking the CPU and hard disks so from the start it may be faster for you.

Check out one of the more user friendly distros like Ubuntu, SUSE or Fedora. Also for your first while it might be an idea to run what we call a live cd. What happens is that you can run the system from a CD without ever installing it.
Granted because you are running from CD there will be a lot of reading and writing so it won't have full performance but the systems are not limited and run solely in your computer's memory. That way you don't change anything and you have your Windows back on a simple reboot.

If you need any help or have any questions post back and someone will try to help. Good luck!

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

Have a look at the link in my signature for lots of information on getting started using Linux.

Have fun with it!

oz

[Bleeb]

Thanks for the help guys. I used to have Knoppix, but my little brother has a tendency to ruin all of my stuff, therefore the CD is scratched and now says there's nothing left on the CD.

However, can you get a live CD of Fedora or Ubuntu?

[techieMoe]

Thanks for the help guys. I used to have Knoppix, but my little brother has a tendency to ruin all of my stuff, therefore the CD is scratched and now says there's nothing left on the CD.

However, can you get a live CD of Fedora or Ubuntu?

Yes. Ubuntu is a LiveCD by default. Just download the regular ISO and you're good. You can download a special edition of Fedora 7 that's a LiveCD. Here's one link:

ftp://ftp.uni-klu.ac.at/linux/fedora...es/7/Live/i386

[Bleeb]

Thanks techieMoe, I'll check those out. Thank you everyone for the help.

[Bleeb]

Oh one question techie.. which of the ISO's should I download? Both or just one of them?

[techieMoe]

Oh one question techie.. which of the ISO's should I download? Both or just one of them?

I assume you mean from the Fedora site? The one that says KDE uses the K Desktop Environment by default. The one that doesn't uses GNOME. It's really up to you which you choose, but you only need one. The only difference is in the way they look.

[Bleeb]

Yes I did mean the Fedora.

Oh ok, thanks for the info. So I can just burn the ISO to a CD and run it as Live? Well or mount the ISO I'm assuming.