New

[Guest]

Noob question, where are the best places to find easy tuts for learning ubuntu or kubuntu? And which would be easier to learn to use? Also how would I find what hardware is compatible and where do I get the necessary drivers? Ive tried both but not for long, I got to confused. XP User here. Is it better to learn about linux distros while using them and getting help when problems arise? instead of trying to learn everything from a windows os?
Here are my system details from belarc if needed. Would like to switch asap, thinking of a switch to kubuntu, but if you could recommend one for me that would be great. Open to using Xfce, KDE, Gnome etc.
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Operating System System Model Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (build 2600)
Install Language: English (United States)
System Locale: English (United States) MICRO-STAR INC. MS-6788 10A Processor a Main Circuit Board b 2.85 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
512 kilobyte secondary memory cache
Hyper-threaded (2 total) Board: MICRO-STAR INC. MS-6788 10A
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. V2.0 on 07.00T 10/12/04 Drives Memory Modules c,d 80.05 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
66.57 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22LP20 [CD-ROM drive]
LITE-ON COMBO LTC-48161H [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

SAMSUNG SP0802N [Hard drive] (80.06 GB) -- drive 0, s/n S00JJ20X754118, rev TK100-24, SMART Status: Healthy 1024 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

Slot '0' has 512 MB
Slot '1' has 512 MB
Slot '2' is Empty
Slot '3' is Empty Local Drive Volumes


c: (NTFS on drive 0) 80.05 GB 66.57 GB free Network Drives None detected
Printers None detected Controllers Display Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 24DB
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 [Display adapter]
Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor] (14.9"vis, s/n HMFTA22122, October 2002) Bus Adapters Multimedia Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D2
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D4
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D7
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24DE
Intel(R) 82801EB USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 24DD Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM)
Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device Virus Protection [Back to Top] new Group Policies No details available None discovered Communications Other Devices Conexant HCF V90 56K RTAD Speakerphone PCI Modem




Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
USB Human Interface Device
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
HID-compliant mouse
USB Root Hub (5x)
pcouffin device for 32 bits systems

[stychokiller]

Re: New

If you like how Windows does things , then I would recommend that you try Kubuntu, which uses KDE.
Ubuntu uses gnome as the desktop environment, which does not make it easy for a Windows user to
figure out how to do things the gnome way -- It's really a matter of personal preference, but I use Kubuntu
since I can make it behave a lot like Windows. Now if they would just come up with a Linux Distro that behaved more like the Amiga OS, I would jump to it in a heartbeat

[dibl]

Re: New

Take a spin through the "Top 20" in my signature. Note the references to documentation. 99% of the questionsthat you will have have already been asked and answered (in writing) -- just Google it and see.

Also, bear in mind that what you "know" about running your computer, based on your Windows experience, is not necessarily true with a Linux system.

Welcome, and good luck!

[The Liquidator]

Re: New

You might also find this helpful

http://www.tuxradar.com/linuxstarterpack

[bturrie]

Re: New

Lots to say here but I'll try to keep it short. I started with Kubuntu early in 2006. I started slowly by installing Kubuntu in VMware player under WinXP. When I finally got to where I was using the Kubuntu virtual machine nearly exclusively I swapped by installing Kubuntu on my hard drive and then loading a Norton Ghost image of my XP OS into a vmware virtual machine. I ran that in vmware player and later vmware server on my Kubuntu system. (Both vmware player and vmware server are available at no cost from vmware .com). Your machine should be able to handle either approach though 1 gig of memory is a bit tight.

As far a learning Linux, I'm certainly not an expert but I've tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Debian Lenny (Debian is the basis for all the flavors of Ubuntu). I liked them all pretty well. Moreover all of them will come with all of the drivers you are likely to need with the possible exception of off-brand wireless network cards or off brand printers. I don't really see anything on your system that should be a problem driver-wise. I also don't see a video card listed...which likely means it's on the Motherboard. It should work just fine with the generic drivers but you'll need something a bit better if you want 3D graphics.

At this point I'm using Kubuntu 9.10 which I only left because the earlier releases of KDE 4 were a bit too buggy for me. The current release is very stable so I'm back. The other folk's comments are quite right, KDE will feel more familiar than the others to someone coming from Windows.

I have a couple of books I like; one is Ubuntu Hacks which is a bit out of date but sill useful and the other is Ubuntu Unleashed. Both focus a bit more on Gnome (the Ubuntu Desktop) than KDE but they still give lots of insight about what's going on under the hood.

Frankly I think the best way to learn is to install Kubuntu (or some other Ubuntu) and then use it. Then when you run into problems check the Kubuntu and Ubuntu forums. If you don't find the answer post a question. I posted a lot the first year or so and learned most of what I know in the forums. In closing I'm sure there are other excellent distros out there SUSE, and Fedora to name a couple but I haven't tried them so I can't comment. I never saw a reason the try them after I found the Kubuntu and it's siblings.