Discussion on:

Linux 101: Installing Debian GNU/Linux

Thanks Chad

I am one of those Windows users wanting to migrate to Linux, this article inspires me to give the Debian distro a try.

So far I have d/l and installed two distros, PCLinuxOS and Puppy Linux, both Live CD versions. The first for its apparent Windows look alike theme, and the second for its very small footprint of around 60MB.

However of the two, Puppy gave the best result for my requirement of being able to try Linux, without feeling too lost from a Windows environment.

I was amazed - no astounded with the wealth of packages installed, it was a piece of cake to get online through my LAN, and set up a printer. The only problem was that there were far TOO MANY choices!!!!

** grin **

I intend to try out several other distros as well, altough I am techie and can handle the new OS, my aim is to find one that my fiancee can use and not feel as if she is in a room of people all speaking a foreign language.

BOY! Am I going to have fun!!!

Cliff

I too have started a switch from MS to Linux. I have tried several varieties and found that I liked SUSE 10 from a user standpoint.
Also, in several other threads, this seems to be a commonplace for people who want to run/use Linux. Several other Distros are also listed for beginners.
BUT keep in mind that I have also received a lot of feedback about SUSE Linux use outside a basic OS usage environment. It would appear that many other distros will work better in many situations. So, my advice is this.
If you know anyone who already knows/uses Linux, what they run should help to influence you until you know more. Then they may be able to help you out in some situations more easily.
And
try seveal distros. Find one that fits you best. I had tried 5 distros before I chose SUSE, but now I know a bit more and was thinking of trying some others out now.

. . . and you're welcome.

Let me (us) know how your experiment with Debian goes. I'm glad you've had a positive experience with Puppy Linux thus far, and hope the same is true of Debian GNU/Linux.

I'm an admitted "noobie" to Linux. Have tried many distros during last few months. Try different ones and cruise the forums. There are so many out there and they all do something different or target different uses. I was specifically looking for one to use on an older machine. I really liked Ubuntu but too heavy on the resources. SimplyMEPIS was amazing, had great hardware support and was very easy to use. Set up was easy to, but with KDE desktop (which I personally prefer) was still too slow. Ultimately settled on Xubuntu which use Xfce destop. Very simple and runs very well on P III 500Mhz with 192MB. Support should also be very important in your choice. The Ubuntu Forums are great and provide mountains of info. Given a faster machine I would have selected Kubuntu (KDE desktop) or SimplyMEPIS. Probably SimplyMEPIS since the hardware support is so good and as a noob getting unsupported hardware to work can be a bear. Good luck and welcome to the Linux revolution. It's almost there. I can taste it.

I'm another who is finally looking into Linux. When I was going to school for Computer Sciences a few years back, I had a classmate that was really into Open Source... (he bought RedHat stock as often as he could) should've listened to him then. The Debian article was very informative and gave me the excuse to seriously get started. I've loaded Debian on an Athlon XP 2400 and all seems well so far. Now on to learn some commands. I'm not sure I want to load a desktop on this new Debian install.... I kinda miss command line entries and the good ole DOS days.

Two other articles I have written will prove quite helpful if you need to learn basic commands on a new Debian system:

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877-6104158.html
(about software management using Debian's Advanced Package Tool)

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-10877-6102898.html
(about using manpages to learn about commands, utilities, et cetera)

Best of luck. You know where to find me if you need a nudge in the right direction.

Hi 'Ya Dannyboy61! I have tried way to many distro's and found one called VectorLinux that uses the slackware base topped with a XFCE desktop. It runs awesome on a reduced memory and / or speed system. Being Slackware based, it steers away from any bloat and XFCE takes very little resource to run. If you're interested, you can check it out at http://www.vectorlinux.com/index.php
One word of caution though, I wouldn't recommend it for a NAT distro as the setup tools are great unless you deviate from the norm.

Have a lot of fun!

I've done a few Debian installs recently. If you choose XFS as your primary partition file system, the installer will advise you to use LILO rather than GRUB for the boot loader. Whether GRUB can boot Linux off a XFS partition is sort of a crap shoot and varies by hardware; for me, it's failed more times than not, so I use LILO with XFS, which always works but may not be as newbie-friendly as GRUB.

Thank-you!! I am 62 and not a computer whiz. I know that I am tired of digging in my wallet for microsoft. I am retired, disabled and on a fixed income. With the guidence you have provided and my desire to kick microsoft to the curb, I will now learn and install Linux..Thanks again Joe