I'm a bit late to this! Lots of great advice already, but I'll stick my
oar in anyway.
On 20/03/13 15:43, David Smith wrote:
1. Is this the right way to go and if so what distribution would you
recommend? Should I buy DVDs or download?
I'd suggest downloading. As others have said, you can burn to CD or use
USB sticks. Most distros now have a live variant. I recommend making
good use of these. Firstly, it lets you get a look at the distro before
you commit to it. Secondly, it lets you test if your hardware works well
with that distro.
Generally now if a piece of hardware works with one, it will work with
most of them since most distros use an unmodified kernel.
Remember, they are all free so go crazy! If time permits, try out a few.
It's /reasonably/ easy to switch later. (If you get asked when you
actually come to install something, try to choose a separate partition
for /home - it will make switching distro or upgrading much easier).
2. Is it simple to find say printer drivers that run under Linux?
I've found it to be easier than XP. http://www.openprinting.org/printers
might help too.
3. Do I need antivirus software? (MACs now do) Any other security
software essential?
No.
5. Does Linux have the equivalent of DOS batch files?
The nice thing about Linux is that most distros come with a number of
programming languages installed already. As Ralph and others said you
get a default shell which is very powerful and choice of a few others if
you don't like that one. You probably also get Python and Perl installed
by default. FreePascal is available. You can also get C#, lua, ruby and
pretty much anything else you can think of!
FYI I run the following software at present:
Open Office
Most Linux distros have switched to Libre Office now, a fork of Open
Office but you will find it very familiar.
Foxit pdf reader
There are several PDF readers avaible.
Firefox
Tbird.
Available and possibly installed already.
Free Pascal
Available
A couple of other interesting things about Linux distros; firstly, after
install you get a fairly complete suite of applications already
installed (depending on the distro) so there's no need to look for
browsers, office suites, PDF readers and the like. Secondly, most
distros use some type of software repository from which your system can
fetch software to install. Depending on the distro, the choice can be
vast or fairly limited. Most mainstream distros have enough choice for
anyone.
One more thought - why not get a live CD and try it out on your current
desktop? Or, try one of the portable lightweight distros that is meant
to run from a memory stick, like Puppy. Just for fun. Remember it's
free, so you can just have fun and play with it. It's like having the
keys to a sweet shop! :) It might get you a functional machine to go and
look at all the other links people have given you ;)
In addition to the distros suggested (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Fedora)
you could consider one of the Linux Mint variants (the XFCE one is
nice). There's also OpenSuse and Mageia. All of these are very competent
and decent distros.
Have fun!
John
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