making the switch from XP to Linux

[unloco]

ok, here's my perdicament, i want to switch over to Linux, but i'm not quite sure how to start and what to do, so any helpful info would be much appreciated, i'll love you forever

[enigma_01]

Check out Knoppix from;
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Its a bootable Linux CD that you can stick in the CD drive and hey presto you've got linux without having to Bin XP.

If you still wanna bin XP, check out some of the linux distro sites.. Something like Slackware from http://www.slackware.com/

or Mandrake http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/

Read all the documentation before you go installing it's not very user friendly when it comes to setting it up, things like what Kernel to choose from so it plays nice with all your hardware etc..

[enigma_01]

Just in case you'r wondering what all that stuff on the Knoppix home page is going on about with Software Patents.. There trying to make Linux and GNU illegal. So get it while you can!

I use :macos: Apple, OSX features Unix http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/unix/

The new Mini Mac's are out and there only about 400 bucks.

Bargin price for something nice!

[Refalm]

I suggest starting with Mandrakelinux or SuSE when you're new to Linux.

[solemnwarning]

http://fedora.redhat.com

[MrX]

right now im trying to install gentoo linux. and the user guide handbook from the website is pure shit- what a mess it is. im stuck on step 6 and they totally lost me on step 7.  it really makes me appreciate the simplicity and ease of use of BeOS. and mandrake is bloatware and it's gonna go slower than your xp. so stay away from that.

Mr X

[Calum]

well for a total newbie, i would agree that suse, mandrake or red hat linux would be the best choices. they are all deliberately easy to use systems from big linux companies, who make free for home use versions. red hat have recently stopped doing this, so now their product is in the public domain (more or less) and the unsupported updated version of red hat is called fedora. and it's probably very good too.