md5

Discuss about the "starting off with Linux" sticky over here. Any additions, corrections and comments are welcome, but please, keep in mind that this is intended as a starting guide for people who want to try Linux out, so it would be best to keep it as simple and informative as possible

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brutusmaximus

that was a great read., im sure there are many like me who want to experiment with linux but dont know where to start. ill give a dual boot system a shot at the weekend.

Thanks !

No_Style

In my opinion (and the opinion of the school I attend), the best and most user friendly way to introduce someone to Linux and not scare them away would be slightly different from what you've listed.

1) LiveCD/DVD - Great way to get someone to play around with Linux in a "works out of the box" fashion. Very little configuration required, if any!

2) VMWare - Although, you said this was an ugly way to play with Linux, I beg to differ. Most distros (We used Red Hat 7.2 up til FC3) can run in a VMWare environment very well and most of the basic/advanced functions work well. Not only do you have an environment which you can install with static hardware, you can always bail out onto Windows to seek help without dual booting. (Like you said in your post )

3) After playing around in VMWare, and you're confident with how Linux works in terms of hardware configuration goes, I would then recommend installing it upon a real machine.

A great read and I agree with most of it. I was a bit thrown off with how you view VMWare is all

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md5

Thanks for the comments

No, I love VMWare, in fact I use it all the time for testing out operating systems (testing out means "playing until I destroy everything" in this case ). E.g. I like trying out things or patches or how destructive some viruses can be.

VMWare IS much easier and friendly, however I just think it's an "ugly" way to work with a new OS, because you're not using the OS "normally", you just have it sitting there to play with. I mean, why would you listen to music from your Linux installation if you can just launch Winamp outside of VMWare? I think that VMWare is good for testing, but not for using and learning a new OS.

I will rewrite some of the things I said about the VMWare solution, although as I said I don't agree that people should try that first before actually installing the OS and working with it (instead of playing outside it)

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No_Style

I agree that nothing beats the real deal (especially in the speed department when you run Linux in VMWare), which is why I believe a Live CD/DVD solution would work best for absolute new comers to experience what Linux has to offer. Trying to install an actual distor can turn off the average user though. I mean, some onboard devices do not even work properly and that could tick people off. At least VMWare would portray a non-LiveCD/DVD Linux in a working form and showcase Linux in some form of glory.

I guess the best way to list these as methods and not in any ranking, because they all have their pros and cons.

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md5

Indeed, that seems like the best way to write those. Thanks, I'll rewrite this part of the guide tomorrow when my brain will work. It's getting late and I'm sleepy at the moment. Again, thanks for the comments, I love constructive criticism

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No_Style

Not a problem. I'm not the biggest Linux advocate, but I do believe it should be experienced by all and experienced in its working fashion.

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md5

Updated the VMWare section... hope it's better now

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Matth

If you run a second PC as a Linux box, you can use it as a "server", and connect to it using X-Windows on your main PC
http://x.cygwin.com/

Just to be confusing, the display is usually called a server, and the applications running on the server are called clients - AARGH!

UberLord

C'mon - it's better than giving someone Windows to start with

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procupine14

in response to your sticky there is a version of winamp for certain distros of linux btw
when i had an extra machine in my house it ran on SuSE 9 and i downloaded winamp linux from the website and vola i used it for a media palyer all the time
just thought id add that in
although the realease doesnt contain a whole lot of distros so not that useful

i mean i realize that this thread is a little old but hey just keeping it current incase people are reading it (me)

DarkFoss

Excellent writeup. I agree the best way is trying out live cd's or dvd's.
I made a comment in the live cd thread since the link in your writeup
to osnews showed MandrakeMove being recommended for testing Mandriva. Mandriva One cd's are a much better way to go. I'm not even sure that MandrakeMove has been updated in the last year and a half.

Also LinuxQuestions.org is an excellent source for help as well, very active forums for many distro's.

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