You can go to a site like Distrowatch.org and download the latest iso for either PCLinixOS or Ubuntu. There are differences that you should be aware of.
PCLinuxOS uses a different desktop from Ubuntu. PCLinuxOS is based on KDE, although now there is a Gnome version out. Ubuntu uses Gnome. The difference is in look and feel. Gnome is more basic and looks more Mac-like. KDE is more robust and is more Windows-like. This is a gross simplification. You can change them both quite a bit and both have their pluses and minuses. If you want Ubuntu, but KDE, download the Kubuntu iso. Another big difference is the way they handle packages. PCLinuxOS is rpm based while Ubuntu is deb based. This is really just a question of preference. PCLinuxOS has some nice tools that Ubuntu doesn't. Ubuntu has much larger repositories, that is it has many more programs available for it. Once you have decided (and you can't go wrong with either) and you have downloaded the iso, you need to burn it to CD. This is important. Do not burn it as a data file, but open it as a project in your burner program. An iso file is a compressed file which when written to CD will create a bootable CD. Conversely you can buy a CD of either for a couple of dollars. There are links in Distrowatch on how to do this. If you want Ubuntu you can also download a single Windows exe file from: http://wubi-installer.org . This file is booted from inside Windows and creates all of the space etc. It is not the latest version however, 7.04 instead of 7.10. Alternative ways to install Linux can be can be found at:: http://lubi.sourceforge.net/ . Then you need to put in the CD and re-boot your computer. I am assuming your computer can boot from CD. If not you may have to go into the BIOS to turn on booting from CD. If you have a Windows CD then it is probably already enabled in the BIOS. Both Ubuntu and PCLinuxOS use live CDs. That is the CD boots into a fully functioning OS that runs from the CD. Once it is booted there will be a desktop icon telling you to Install. I think that PCLinuxOs requires you to logon as root, but it has been a while since I installed it. You will need to tell Linux where you want to install it. This would be your blank drive. Drive letters will not be familiar to you. Linux does not use Drive C: or Drive D. Drives are numbered hda1 or hda2 or maybe sda1 or sda2 depending on whether it is IDE or SATA. You can just tell Linux to use the whole drive or you can manually partition it. I prefer this second option, but for the first time the other is more straightforward. You may be asked the format type and mount point. Formats vary, but ext3 is most common. It is probably the default. The mount point will likely be / which is the root level. Linux will create a home directory for you. One of the advantages of doing manual partitioning is to have separate root and home partitions which gives more protection to data. This way you can re-format your root partition without losing your data in your home folder. Linux also likes to have a small swap (cache) partition. Once you make your decisions the files will be extracted and copied to the appropriate folders. when this is done you will be asked to create a user name and a password. Ubuntu uses one password for user and root by default. PCLinuxOS uses separate user and root passwords. user names will be one word all in lowercase. You can use punctuation such as hyphens or underscores. Passwords are case sensitive. BTW, file names in Linux are case sensitive, myfile is different from Myfile. Also suffixes do not mean the same as in Windows. For the most part they are meaningless in Linux. Any file can be made executable by changing the properties whereas in Windows just a few file types are executable. I believe that Ubuntu asks you to import your Windows settings and PCLinuxOS does not have this feature. I am not sure how well it works, having never used it. After all this is done it will ask you to re-boot. At some point you will be asked to remove the CD. It will boot into Linux by default. You will have to change the boot loader if you want Windows to boot first, by default. Once it boots you will be asked to input your user name and password. If you are using PCLinuxOS you will need to login under your user name, not as root and you will use the user name passoword. Then it will load into the desktop. From there you might want to open the package manager and update. The update may take some time, especially for PCLinuxOS, since Ubuntu 7.10 is more recent. In PCLinuxOS use your root password to access the package manager and to do any administrative tasks. Ubuntu uses the same password for everything. Then the fun really begins. You may want to play around by adding applets, widgets, eye candy and other desktop managers such as Gnome (if you are running KDE) or KDE (if you are running Gnome), XFCE, Enlightenment or Fluxbox. If you have a 3D card you can load Compiz to get 3D effects, etc. The sky is the limit.Compared to Windows Linux is infinitely configurable. There is lots more to be said, but this should get you started. Good luck, Roy ----- Original Message ---- From: Ty Giannattasio <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Linux <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, January 9, 2008 5:06:54 PM Subject: [LINUX_Newbies] Bootable external hd Hey everybody, I just got a new HD and I was to make it bootable with Ubuntu or PClinuxOS. Can somebody run through the steps real quick. New to linux but very experiance win user. Just want ununtu to have fun with and show off every once in a while. Is is a simple as making another partition and putting ubuntu in that one and them boot off the usb partition drive letter drive in the boot menu? Ty [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] <!-- #ygrp-mkp{ border:1px solid #d8d8d8;font-family:Arial;margin:14px 0px;padding:0px 14px;} #ygrp-mkp hr{ border:1px solid #d8d8d8;} #ygrp-mkp #hd{ color:#628c2a;font-size:85%;font-weight:bold;line-height:122%;margin:10px 0px;} #ygrp-mkp #ads{ margin-bottom:10px;} #ygrp-mkp .ad{ padding:0 0;} #ygrp-mkp .ad a{ color:#0000ff;text-decoration:none;} --> <!-- #ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc{ font-family:Arial;} #ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc #hd{ margin:10px 0px;font-weight:bold;font-size:78%;line-height:122%;} #ygrp-sponsor #ygrp-lc .ad{ margin-bottom:10px;padding:0 0;} --> <!-- #ygrp-mlmsg {font-size:13px;font-family:arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;} #ygrp-mlmsg table {font-size:inherit;font:100%;} #ygrp-mlmsg select, input, textarea {font:99% arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;} #ygrp-mlmsg pre, code {font:115% monospace;} #ygrp-mlmsg * {line-height:1.22em;} #ygrp-text{ font-family:Georgia; } #ygrp-text p{ margin:0 0 1em 0;} #ygrp-tpmsgs{ font-family:Arial; clear:both;} #ygrp-vitnav{ padding-top:10px;font-family:Verdana;font-size:77%;margin:0;} #ygrp-vitnav a{ padding:0 1px;} #ygrp-actbar{ clear:both;margin:25px 0;white-space:nowrap;color:#666;text-align:right;} #ygrp-actbar .left{ float:left;white-space:nowrap;} .bld{font-weight:bold;} #ygrp-grft{ font-family:Verdana;font-size:77%;padding:15px 0;} #ygrp-ft{ font-family:verdana;font-size:77%;border-top:1px solid #666; padding:5px 0; } #ygrp-mlmsg #logo{ padding-bottom:10px;} #ygrp-vital{ background-color:#e0ecee;margin-bottom:20px;padding:2px 0 8px 8px;} #ygrp-vital #vithd{ font-size:77%;font-family:Verdana;font-weight:bold;color:#333;text-transform:uppercase;} #ygrp-vital ul{ padding:0;margin:2px 0;} #ygrp-vital ul li{ list-style-type:none;clear:both;border:1px solid #e0ecee; } #ygrp-vital ul li .ct{ font-weight:bold;color:#ff7900;float:right;width:2em;text-align:right;padding-right:.5em;} #ygrp-vital ul li .cat{ font-weight:bold;} #ygrp-vital a{ text-decoration:none;} #ygrp-vital a:hover{ text-decoration:underline;} #ygrp-sponsor #hd{ color:#999;font-size:77%;} #ygrp-sponsor #ov{ padding:6px 13px;background-color:#e0ecee;margin-bottom:20px;} #ygrp-sponsor #ov ul{ padding:0 0 0 8px;margin:0;} #ygrp-sponsor #ov li{ list-style-type:square;padding:6px 0;font-size:77%;} #ygrp-sponsor #ov li a{ text-decoration:none;font-size:130%;} #ygrp-sponsor #nc{ background-color:#eee;margin-bottom:20px;padding:0 8px;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad{ padding:8px 0;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad #hd1{ font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold;color:#628c2a;font-size:100%;line-height:122%;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad a{ text-decoration:none;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad a:hover{ text-decoration:underline;} #ygrp-sponsor .ad p{ margin:0;} o{font-size:0;} .MsoNormal{ margin:0 0 0 0;} #ygrp-text tt{ font-size:120%;} blockquote{margin:0 0 0 4px;} .replbq{margin:4;} --> Ask a question on any topic and get answers from real people. 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