Wolverhampton Linux User Group

There are some important things to take into consideration when first thinking about Linux. Most of them are listed below.

1. Linux is not Windows.

Linux is not an exact replacement for windows, however most applications (apps for short) that a windows user utilize are available in most Linux Distributions (Distro for short). These apps may not have the same name and some of the functionality may be different, but on the whole they work in a similar fashion to their windows counterparts. Examples of this would be Paint shop Pro's replacement in Linux is The Gimp (the GNU Image Manipulation Program). MS Office's replacement on Linux is called OpenOffice.org and Firefox is the browser of choice for nearly all Linux distros.

2. The Choices start here.

Within Linux there are two main Desktop Environments, these are Gnome and KDE.

A desktop environment is a number if pieces of software which provide a cohesive look, feel and feature set for the user. Under Linux, the main desktop environments provide applications, menus, centralized preference settings, toolbars, taskbars, themes, screensavers and so on. On Windows, this might be considered to be Windows Explorer or even Windows itself due to the fact that the Windows desktop environment is not changeable.

Gnome is the younger of the two. Gnome has gone about creating it's apps and desktop to a set of rules called the Gnome Human Interface Guide (HIG for short). The key to this guide is simplicity of design, ie point click does it, but this doesn't mean lack of power or choice.

A Gnome Example Screenshot

KDE is the other main environment and is the more mature. KDE's apps tend to be more feature complete and flexible than those of Gnome. How ever the amount of choices you get can be equally good and bad. This can lead to some confusion.

A KDE Example Screenshot

The apps that both teams work on tend to be able to work in both environments.

3. The Choice of Distros.

This is probably the biggest Linux choice of all. There are now so many different distros out there that I couldn't list them all. However the ever popular Distrowatch lists just about all of them. On the right hand side of Distrowatch's site there is a table of the most popular distros. The top four of these are worth looking at as your first Linux distribution.

This is a Link to an Extensive Selection of Linux Distros

Blurb about some of the more popular Linux distros:
Debian
Knoppix
Mandriva
SuSE
Ubuntu

4. The Choice of Live or Install.

If you have a Broadband connection I recommend downloading the Live version of a distro first. A live cd is one that runs from cd so it is slower than the os would be in real life but it doesn't effect you hard drive at all. Then when you find a distro you like download the install version and put it on your machine. However many of the distro's now are including an install option onto their live cd's so if you have one of those just go ahead and start the install process if it is a distro your happy with.

What next?

Once you have chosen your Distro and Desktop of choice it is advisable to join their mailing lists. This information will be available on their website.

Another thing you can do is join your local Linux User Group (lug for short). On the whole these groups tend to have a mailing list, a website and regular meetings. Some meetings more formal than others, but on the whole these group are filled with Linux enthusiasts who will help you out the best they can. It is always advisable to do a search of the Internet for your particular problem before contacting these lists as nine time out of ten the problem has been hit before by someone else. Hopefully they will of documented this so that others don't need to ask. If you are still stuck after this then ask away. Please if you hit a problem not documented write down what you did to remedy the problem as this will help others who hit the same problem. If you don't have a blog or your own website then feel free to add it to this site.