On 05/01/2008, John Jason Jordan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> On Fri, 4 Jan 2008 13:26:15 -0800 (PST)
> Gregory Forster <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> dijo:
>
> >My current computer is barely hanging on, as it is. I'm having the
> >motherboard,CPU, memory & hard drive replaced. I'll be able to have 4
> >hard drives simultaneously connected, besides my CD-ROM and CD-RW. On
> >one of the hard drives I want to have Linux as a bootable operating
> >system. I've had no problems with OpenOffice with WinXP Pro SP2,
> >however there are many different Linux versions. Which version of
> >Linux would be the best for OpenOffice? Do I have to use Linux to
> >download Linux, or OpenOffice for Linux, or can I use my current
> >Windows XP?
>
> There are tons of Linux distributions, and which you choose depends on
> your personal needs. Some are really bare-bones and don't even have a
> GUI. At the other end of the extreme there are distributions which are
> almost 100% GUI and preconfigured for just about anything. If you are
> coming from a Windows or Mac environment and don't know anything about
> Linux yet, I would recommend a distribution that is as completely
> graphical as possible.
>
> There is also the matter of hardware detection and configuration.
> Again, some distributions do a better job of this than others. Some
> distributions, for example, deliberately install no drivers at all and
> expect you to figure out which ones you need and install them yourself.
> This would be great for someone with years of experience with Linux,
> because the more drivers you include the bigger the kernel becomes, the
> more memory the operating system requires, and the longer the boot
> time. There is much to be said for keeping things lean. But if you are
> used to Windows or Mac, you'd be better off with a distribution that is
> more automatic in this regard.
>
> Luckily there is something that the Linux world pioneered that will
> help you a great deal in figuring out which distribution is best for
> you and runs best on your computer - the "live CD" (also sometimes the
> "live DVD"). You download an ISO image, burn it to a CD (DVD), and boot
> to it. All you do is have the live CD (DVD) in your CD/DVD drive when
> you restart the computer. Most computers these days are set to try to
> boot from the CD/DVD drive first and boot from the hard drive only if
> there is no CD or DVD with an operating system in the CD/DVD drive.
> Thus, when you boot the computer it will boot Linux from the CD/DVD
> drive. The cool thing is that the "live CD/DVD" is designed so it
> cannot touch your hard drive (unless you specifically tell it to), so
> you can actually run the Linux distribution exactly as though it was
> installed on your computer, without actually installing it. CD/DVD
> drives are far slower than hard drives, so Linux will run pathetically
> slowly, but at least you can play with it to your heart's content to
> check it out. An important part of the "checking out" process is to
> make sure the distribution found and configured all your hardware -
> video, ethernet, wireless, etc.
>
> Having said all that, my recommendations for a beginner are Ubuntu and
> Fedora. Both automatically install OpenOffice.org, and include it on
> their live CD/DVDs as well. The latest version of Ubuntu is 7.10
> ("Gutsy Gibbon") and the latest version of Fedora is 8.0. You can
> download them from here:
>
> http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
> (choose the Desktop edition of 7.10, and select 32- or 64-bit)
>
> http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora
> (choose 32- or 64-bit and I suggest Gnome for beginners)
>
> Once you have the ISO file, burn it to CD or DVD using whatever CD
> burning tool you have (Nero, etc.). You can download and burn from any
> version of Windows.
>
> Going any deeper into Linux would be off-topic for this list, but there
> are lots of online discussion lists, wikis, blogs and forums that you
> can participate in.
Note that Fedora does _not_ include the entire Open Office suit as
available from OOo. Some of the code that does not meet Fedora's
software policies for FOSS is removed. Therefore, on my Fedora system
I install Open Office from the OOo tarball.
I recommend Ubuntu for Linux beginners. I use it on my laptop and on
the wife's desktop. It is very easy for MS Windows users to get
accustomed to, and has a terrific newbie-friendly mailing list.
Dotan Cohen
http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il
א-ב-ג-ד-ה-ו-ז-ח-ט-י-ך-כ-ל-ם-מ-ן-נ-ס-ע-ף-פ-ץ-צ-ק-ר-ש-ת
A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
