Which Linux?

[printerman]

I want to install and play with a linux system (cos i'm fed up with MS), but which one should i choose?
I just do general surfing, emailing, newsgroups and burn dvds occasionally.

It also must be easy to install, i can't be doing with all of this typing stuff in to get the graphics card working?

So which one is easy to intall and easy to use?

P.S. I'm thinking of trying Suse 10.1.

[Timeless Stew]

Try Ubuntu, it's the most user friendly one...

[dilligaf1701]

I'd have a go with ubuntu as well if I was you.... Download the dvd iso..You can boot from it to try it and if you like it even install it from the desktop.

I've recently also tried mandriva as well.

Definately try a 'live' version first as that won't damage your windows install while having a play with ut

[Gareth]

Well, you shouldn't be disappointed by SUSE. Otherwise Ubuntu is always a popular choice - although I personally prefer Kubuntu (really the same thing but with a nicer GUI... runs KDE instead of Gnome).

Like Dilli says, Mandriva is another option for you.

Lastly, a distro called Kanotix is nice. There's a review of it here.

Well after a few months playing with suse10 then 10.1 i have now decided to keep shuffling and installed ubuntu after 2 days messing with it i can honestly say i like it more than suse, its a lot less bloated than suse quicker to load and shut down plus the ubuntu forums seem friendlier to imbeciles like me.So upto now im a happy chappy give me a few more days and i will try and fix something that isnt broken.

[Robster]

Good to hear you are doing well with Ubuntu, I tried it a few times with the Live CD last week then took the plunge and installed it dual boot with Windows. So far finding it pretty good, although there are a few things that people would expect to be installed that aren't eg flash, and had a brief problem mounting my NTFS drives.

Otherwise generally finding good equivalents to windows software, i'd been using firefox/tbird and openoffice on windows for a while anyway

[AntiSilence]

What programming applications exist for Linux?

[Graham M]

Depends on what you mean by "Programming Applications"

[AntiSilence]

Originally Posted by Zeph

Depends on what you mean by "Programming Applications"

Well, any equivalents of Visual Stuido or is it all command line C/C++ compilers?

[Tristan]

Originally Posted by AntiSilence

What programming applications exist for Linux?

Do you mean like IDEs?

Well the big one is probably Eclipse, which I think is also available for Windows. It's chiefly intended for Java, but there are plugins so you can use it for C/C++ and many other languages.

If you're a C# programmer, then you might have heard of Mono -- it's a .NET implementation for Linux (and other platforms). They have an IDE called Monodevelop, which is reputedly excellent.

If you're programming for KDE, then you'll probably want to use KDevelop.

If you're programming for Gnome, then Anjunta (I think that's right) is intended to make your life easier, but I think it's still at a fairly early stage.

There are also GTK, Qt and AWT GUI designers available too. And, of course, the traditional Emacs + Makefile approach...

[Gareth]

Also, Borland's products are available for Linux, and like Eclipse they're free (although not open source, iirc) for personal/non-commercial use. I used to get on better with JBuilder than eclipse, but YMMV.

[Obese]

I installed ubuntu but I had to remove it because I had to fiddle with it (Laptop instalation, no drivers for most things as the laptop was a brand new model). Ubuntu partitioned my hard drive, how do I put it back together?

I tried and failed:

Partition Magic (It will not load, it gives me an error)
I tried to extend the Windoes partition using MS tools, no success.

Any suggestions?

[Aragorn]

Originally Posted by Obese

I installed ubuntu but I had to remove it because I had to fiddle with it (Laptop instalation, no drivers for most things as the laptop was a brand new model). Ubuntu partitioned my hard drive, how do I put it back together?

I tried and failed:

Partition Magic (It will not load, it gives me an error)
I tried to extend the Windoes partition using MS tools, no success.

Any suggestions?

Download the System Rescue CD (http://www.sysresccd.org/) which has a copy of the same partitioner as Ubuntu (QTPartEd). Just delete all the partitions after the XP NTFS partition, and then XP should be able to create a new partition from the free space.
Did you manage to get rid of the GRUB loader?

[cockbeard]

Hey guys, I'm using Ubuntu, and despite knowing nothing about puters, I think I'm getting on OK, really clean interface and file structure, I like the neatness.

Anyway as I said I know next to nothing about computers and my setup is a pretty old one, what I'm trying to do is get ubuntu to connect through the USB side of my ntl250 (I know I should just buy a router but I can't afford one at the moment) Can anybody here help me?? Finding info about that modem is very tricky.

Ignore the middle section of this post, and allow me to sing further praises of Ubuntu, I spent the morning looking for drivers and the like, just powercycled both puter and modem and suddenly it's online through the USB, freeing up my ethernet port (just the one, I'm poor) to stream all my media through the playstation in the front room.

I took a big plunge and actually removed Windows whilst nstalling Ubuntu, and thouugh it's only been a week or so I don't think I'll be going back, I'll try Vista, but for now, I see no advantage

[Aragorn]

to CF

The problem is lack of drivers - afaik no one has ported the NTL USB drivers to Linux. In theory, you might be able to use the ndiswrapper & the XP drivers, but you would be in uncharted territory and is not for the faint hearted! What about buying a PCI LAN card - £5 or less now (Ebay search) - if you are happy installing a PCI card.