Bewildered Newbie

[Bojingles]

Cheers to all!
I've got a Windows XP Intel [R]; Pen4, home edition; 2002, 1.50 GB Ram, with hyper thread, duel processors and duel screens running with ATI.
But.....due to a boat load of problems with MS updates, I've done my last full system 'restore' and am just using the basic SP1 that my system restores too. [as soon as system restore was complete, I immediately rebooted into safe mode and done away with the norton stuff] and installed my own PC firewall etc.
I followed the above procedure once before, but as soon as I tried to work with video conversions and burn to dvd, my programs stopped working...thus I'm at a stand still now with just a SP1 system.....
I've read and studied until my old eye balls are on my cheeks now... so if anyone can help point the way that I should go from here it would be sincerely appreciated.
Also: Can I go online to check my emails with Linux?
I've read somewhere on this forum that I can also delete Windows off my computer, I sure love the sounds of that music!!!

[oz]

Welcome to the forums!

You can check the link in my signature for lots of good information on getting started with Linux. Note that there are a couple of quizzes there that might help you to pick a distribution for starting off with.

Once you've decided on a distribution to try, check this HowTo for downloading the ISO file, burning the file to disk as an image, and booting the new installation CD.

Don't hesitate to post new threads with any questions as you go along.

Have fun with it.

[danielsmw]

Bojingles,

Welcome to the Forums! Concerning your problems with Windows, I can't really help you too much with the info you gave me. What I can say is that wiping your old system and just installing a brand new Windows XP image is often good way to start clean, installing only the programs you need and only the best ones. Just backup your personal data first.

As for Linux, it is a full featured operating system that will let you do almost anything you can do on a Windows system, and much more in some respects. Checking email is definitely possible on Linux; in fact, it's as easy (and sometimes easier) than on Windows, depending on your email service.

And yeah, you certainly can remove Windows from your computer if you desire. I suggest that you replace it with something, though, like Linux or a new Windows image.

If you'd like more detail in any of those things, or if you have more questions, let me know! If you'd like to explore different types of Linux, you may want to check out DistroWatch.com: Put the fun back into computing. Use Linux, BSD..

-danielsmw

[rokytnji]

If you have anything you need to save off your windows box you can use a linux cd to save your data to usb using a linux live cd. Oh, and welcome to the forum too.

Yet Another Technology Site: How to recover your Windows files

[Bemk]

Welcome to the forum!

I suggest you use a clean Windows setup, and make a dual boot with GNU/Linux. If you're going to use a Debian based distribution I'll probably see you back on the forums. If you are going to use Ubuntu you can make a fake dual boot with Wubi installer, this is an Installer that installs Ubuntu as a common Windows application.

The biggest draw back for this feature is that when you delete Windows from your disk, you also lose Ubuntu, so it's better to make a normal dual boot. This can be done with all OS'es. It's just a matter of installing Windows on a partition(for me it was 50% of the disk space) and about 49% Linux and 1% swap.

I recently threw Windows out of it self and it felt great. It probably will too when you do so too(only this time for you). It took me about 6-8 months to get that far.

Debian Tutorial

This is a link to a manual for Debian(usable for Ubuntu too), but I think, because it's about (ba)sh, it'll be usable for many other distro's too.

Hope this'll help.

[Bojingles]

Hay ya'll, thank you kindly for the info links and your imputs of wisdom/experience.
Both are very helpful and I can see that this Linux isn't going to be as easy as I'd thought...
Geeeeze...you guys are way up there in brainville compared to what I know bout' it..... but just ya wait and see.... in 6 to 8 months I'll be do'n the bojingles dance with some know~hows to contribute too.
The Ubuntu sounds more user friendly for beginners?... [works okay with dvd/cd programs & burner etc??]
Hope all ya have a relaxing and enjoyable weekend...
Thanks again!
Bojingles

[GNU-Fan]

You are right, Bojingles. Nobody is born as an expert.

Actually, your situation reminds me of myself when I realized I and Windows would have no future together. But I did not delete Windows at once, instead I installed Debian GNU/Linux alongside so I could dual-boot.

Having a well-known "fallback" operating system during the first days can take most of the pressure one might fear when switching to GNU/Linux. At the beginning, there was a lot that didn't work in a way I wanted it to work. But this was ok, because I didn't rely on it.

So I decided to improve _one_ issue per day in Debian. All these small things, like installing a printer or pulling the task-panel in the right corner. There was no hurry because I could always start Windows until everything working in Debian. After some weeks though, I realized I have actually forged the operating system of my dreams. All these little customizations I have done over the time suddenly summed up to something that fitted me perfectly.
Not to mention all the things I have learned.

[Bojingles]

Thanks for the tips GNU~Fan, I was looking at the Debian couple days ago, but just now downloaded the Ubuntu 8.10 and burned the ISO image with dvd decrypter, so at least I have a bootable dvd of it to start...
The duel reboot of both OS's sounds like a wise thing to do too! But I was wondering if I might set up an additional partition [letter] onto my hard disk to install another OS to, [I was reading something about this a couple days ago, but still have to go back and get the steps to doing it.
Would this be the same as the duel reboot method? [Please foregive my ignorance if this sounds really dumb..]
Thank you kindly for your helpful guidence.
Bo

[Bemk]

I think you should do just one OS at a time and when you've got some GNU/Linux experience, switch to another distro, which is a bit more complex, and you can keep doing this until you get to Linux from scratch, which is just tweaking and compiling every thing, including the kernel, from the ground up.

You think we're all experts, but I'm just some newbie who has already had that part of switching and can help others now, that doesn't make me an expert.

By the way, partitions don't have letters in GNU/Linux, they have mount points. What you would normally see as C: is / in GNU\Linux and what you'll see as D: and is used for D:\Documents and Settings\ goes in /home, if it's just an additional partition, it's going to be mounted as /media/disk, this makes your directory tree much more easy to handle, and is the same on practically every *n*x pc you can find. So forget about drive letters, it's just an annoying Windows thing.

This is also a thing I went through by the way, but now I'm used to it, and feel like the way it's done in Microsoft ways is a whole load of crap.

[Bojingles]

Thank you for taking the time to share Bemk and will follow your advice,
I don't think that "everyone" here are experts, though I sense that some might just be humble~tech. wizards at this stuff too!
but I do have the highest respect for your experience and
wisdom from that which you have learned...Giving credit to
where credit is well deserved....so my hat is off to you all.
Thanks especially for the tips about the partitioning with the dark side, and your right on, I certainly don't want to go that route!
It sort of sounds like I might be getting knee deep trying to build my own complete system from scratch though... so will try to check out some basic OS that I can install to start adding to might be my best path.
I must say, that even though this all sounds like a tall mountain to be climbed from where I stand, I'm really looking foreward to it! :-}
I've got a bunch of questions spinning around in my head right now, about how and what gets done first, steps 1,2 etc..but hopefully, I'll come to light with it all after finished reading the FAQ that Oz referred to, then back to the Linux Lessons.
Thank you again Bemk! Bo