Linux for Complete Beginners Page 1: Introduction

Send to Friend Written By: Andrew

Many people these days are thinking about switching to Linux from Windows. So why don't you?

Why should you?

How often do you get really annoyed at Windows. All the lockups, restarts, slowness? I expect that's most of you. Switching to Linux will give you a much better experience on your computer. Most of the software that you currently use on your Windows operating system probably has alternatives for linux also.
And what's the biggest reason for switching? It's free!!!

Why's it Free?

It's time to introduce you to a little thing called open source. It is a wonderful thing where all the programming code that was used to create the software, is available to the public for download. Because all of this source code is available to the public, it also means the software is free. The base of the linux operating system is free and used by lots of other companies to make their own "distrobutions" of a linux operating system. Generally, these companies then offer their distribution for free, but some do charge.
As well as the operating system being free, you can get quite a lot of programs that are open source, meaning it's free as well. You can probably get almost every program you would want to get open source for linux.
Great, isn't it?

What Distribution to Choose

There is a massive choice when it comes to what distribution to choose for you. But recently, a new distribution has caught my eye. It's ubuntu! What is good about this distribution is that everything is nice and simple, even for the complete newbie to linux! Another excellent part of ubuntu is that you are able to try out the operating system without installing it to your hard drive.
So the rest of the tutorial focuses on how to install ubuntu on your system and then set it up the way you want it.

Before Starting Off

Make a backup of all of your current data on your computer. Later you can chose whether to install ubuntu on the same hard drive as windows or wipe off windows and install ubuntu. Either way, you'll need to backup. Resizing the windows installation to make space for the ubuntu installation can sometimes go wrong. So it's better to be safe than sorry.

Next Page Downloading the OS