Linux Help for Beginners

So You've Decided Linux Is For You, Now What?

Dust off those manuals that came with your computer.
You can also check the system information link on your computer for additional info.
Get familiar with the basics.

monitor specifications--resolution (e.g. 1024x768), color resolution (e.g. 16, 24, 32), Model (e.g. Dell)
Drives- hard drive size (e.g. 80 GB), more than one hard drive?, cd or dvd drive, or both? or a seriously old computer that needs new life?(e.g. 128MB RAM and 20G hard drive?
What kind of video hardware do you have? (e.g. Nvidia or Dell Integrated)
How much memory do you have? This is important and will play a part in determining what version of Linux is right for you. Do you have under 512MB, up to 1GB, or more?
My advice is to write these things down. I have a Linux notebook just to keep track of my computer specs. Of course there is a whole lot of other info in there too!

Time to have some real fun!! This is the part that is the most exciting and most aggravating part of switching to Linux all at the same time! It's great fun to shop for distros (versions of Linux) but also it can be a headache because there are sooo many versions out there. So what to do? One way to narrow down the field in order to get to the perfect distro for you and your computer is to take a distro chooser quiz. The one I first used was courtesy of Zegenie Studios. Click here to take a helpful chooser quiz A good idea is to get a "second opinion" as different quizzes support different distros. Another quiz can be found at Polishlinux.org. Try both for best results.

You can also take a more thorough approach if you prefer to know about all the various distros out there. One place to go for such information is Linux Online. The Linux Online List is helpful at narrowing down a huge list of distros...Under the dropdown list of category, I recommend Mainstream/General Public for newbies. Select your language (and yes, that will narrow the list down as some distros are not written for English speakers). Under platform, this gets a bit tricky..I have a Dell, which means Intel. However, you might have something else. This is where you need to consult your manuals, system information or google your computer's model name to find out what platform it runs on. Keep this information! You will likely need it again.

Like I said before, you might want to write it down when you do find out what kind of system you have. This won't be the only time you will need this information. Farther down the line you may want to distro shop again (and most likely you will) so you will need this information again when you want to download another distro.

Now that you have some options, it's time to check them out! As far as I'm concerned, THE authority on Linux distros is an online magazine called DistroWatch. Click here to go to their site armed with a list of about 10 distros from your research. Search them all out on DistroWatch. Click each distro link into a new tab in order to explore them one at a time. Each distro has a summary page with all the info you will need to research that distro to find out if it's for you or not.

Also on DistroWatch, be sure to check out the "Major Distributions" link at the top of the page..It is a list of the "big dogs" of the Linux World.

When on the homepages of distros you are interested in, try to keep the following in mind:

A list of requirements: This is what specifications you need to have on your computer in order to use that distro.

Until you are less of a newbie, an important part of your distro will be the GUI (Graphical User interface) and Desktop Environment (point and click options)..Mostly you will be dealing with KDE, Gnome or XFCE. You will have to choose on your own which you like more. (I prefer Gnome)

Check out the ‘packages’ listing the distro has..if they have one..if not, maybe they aren’t for the newb..Check and make sure that the things you will be using everyday are there…like the webbrowser you like, or a media player of some kind, email and an instant messenger…Try to find distros that work “out of the box” so to speak..these are the most newbie friendly. (If they advertise as newbie-friendly, they most likely are)

Support, support, support!!!! Being able to ask the developers questions is important..that’s right, in Linux you can email the maker of the application or distro and they actually answer back!! Another important part of support is a user forum..where other users of the distro ask questions and post answers to help each other. Another important aspect of this is…how nice is the forum (what did she just say??)..seriously though, if you are a newb and have a lot of questions, you don’t want some jerk telling you that you are too stupid for Linux; you want someone who will help you with real solutions that work! Don't worry, the jerks are a small minority fortunately.

A place to download the distro…is it a mirror? or a regular page? and believe it or not, I have come across the odd distro or two where I couldn’t figure out how to download it. (probably not worth it to a newb)