This is intended to be a good starting point to help people decide if they want to install Linux on their machines. Some of the questions that will be answered are:
Introduction
A good starting point: http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/INFO-SHEET.html.
Linux, per se, is only the kernel of the operating system, the part that controls hardware, manages files, separates processes, and so forth. There are several combinations of Linux with sets of utilities and applications to form a complete operating system. Each of these combinations is called a distribution of Linux. The word Linux, though it in its strictest form refers specifically to the kernel, is also widely and correctly used to refer to an entire operating system built around the Linux kernel. Linux was made mainly for IBM/Intel PCs but runs on other PCs also. So the Linux kernal version and the package version are unrelated. The package version only has to do with the version of Linux that company is releasing.
There are 3 ways to install Linux.
Distributions ("flavors" of Linux) Many distributions are listed at http://www.linux.org/dist/english.html.
| Name | Minimum size | Cost | Installs under | Min CPU/ memory |
| Armed Linux - http://www.armed.net/. Runs under Windows. | 186 MB download | Windows | ||
| Beehive Linux - tighter and smaller than regular linux. | Min size | cost | installs under | min cpu/mem |
| Best Linux - http://www.bestlinux.net/. Available in English, Swedish, Finnish, Russian and Estonian. Best Linux is perfectly suited for use in the home, as a workstation or an internet server. The Best Linux operating system is easy to install with no complicated options. Graphical installation goes smoothly, either on a new computer or beside another operating system. Selecting which operating system to start is simple thanks to an advanced graphical boot menu. Best Linux starts straight into a graphical Windows-like KDE-desktop which includes almost all of the software that might you use daily. The multilingual desktop consists of multiple workspaces to help you group your tasks. | $37.79 USD | |||
| Caldera - http://www.calderasystems.com/ | Partition | |||
| Corel Linux - http://linux.corel.com/. Aimed at beginners and home users. Cnet review. Based on Debian. Graphical installer. Comes with Wordperfect 8.0 for Linux. | 200 MB | Free dl/$15 with manual | Full or partition | |
| Debian - http://www.debian.org/ | 64MB | Free dl | installs under | 386/12MB |
| Demo Linux - http://demolinux.org/. Designed to be run from a CD to show people how Linux works. | Min size | cost | installs under | min cpu/mem |
| Dragon Linux - http://www.dragonlinux.net/. Runs under windows | Only 44.3MB! | cost | Runs under windows | min cpu/mem |
| Easy Linux - www.easylinux.com | $24.00 US | |||
| LinuxWare by http://www.trans-am.com/index1.htm - installs under Windows. Runs under windows? | Windows | I386/ 8MB | ||
| Mandrake - http://www.linux-mandrake.com/ - Claims easier to install. Compatible with Red Hat distributions. | 1GB | Free download | ||
| Phat Linux - http://www.phatlinux.com/. Runs under a Windows partition. | 242 MB | $19.95/ Free download | WIN Partition | I386/ 8MB (16MB for Xwindows) |
| Redhat - http://www.redhat.com/ | 540MB | Free download/ $30 US | I386/64MB | |
| Slackware Linux by Walnut Creek - http://www.slackware.com/. | (100MB + for basic package.) | Free download or $39.95 | I386/16MB | |
| SuSE - http://www.suse.com/. Comes with 800+ utilities and a 400 page reference manual. | Eur.45,49 for personal, Eur.65.95 Pro/ Free download | I386/32MB for ctr installer, 64MB for graphical installer | ||
| TurboLinux Workstation- Turbolinux.com. | Min size | Free download | installs under | min cpu/mem |
| Win Linux 2000 - http://www.winlinux.net/. Runs under Windows 9x. | $30 US | installs under | cpu/mem |
Installs as notes: "Partition" means you can boot to Linux or your primary OS. "Windows" means you boot to windows then run Linux as a program. "Full" means only Linux can be installed on that PC.
PCI, ISA, EISA, and VLB busses. Generic AT drives (EIDE, IDE, 16 bit HD controllers with MFM or RLL, or ESDI) are supported, as are SCSI hard disks and CD-ROMs, with a supported SCSI adaptor. Generic XT controllers (8 bit controllers with MFM or RLL) are also supported. Supported SCSI adaptors: Advansys, Adaptec 1542, 1522, 1740, 27xx, and 29xx (with some exceptions) series, Buslogic MultiMaster and Flashpoint, NCR53c8xx-based controllers, DPT controllers, Qlogic ISP and FAS controllers, Seagate ST-01 and ST-02, Future Domain TMC-88x series (or any board based on the TMC950 chip) and TMC1660/1680, Ultrastor 14F, 24F and 34F, Western Digital wd7000, and others. SCSI, QIC-02, and some QIC-80 tapes are also supported. Besides IDE and SCSU cdroms, several proprietary CD-ROM devices are also supported, including Matsushita/Panasonic, Mitsumi, Sony, Soundblaster, Toshiba, ATAPI (EIDE), SCSI, and others.
VGA, EGA, CGA, or Hercules (and compatibles) work in text mode. For graphics and X, there is support for (at least) normal VGA, some super-VGA cards (most of the cards based on Tseng, Paradise, and some Trident chipsets), S3, 8514/A, ATI, Matrox, and Hercules.
SoundBlaster, ProAudio Spectrum 16, Gravis Ultrasound, most other sound cards, most (all?) flavours of bus mice (Microsoft, Logitech, PS/2), etc.
Once you have Linux installed, you don't have to use that ugly command prompt. There are several freeware desktop interfaces you can use: KDE, Gnome, X, shells, Enlightenment, Motif, XFree86, Wine. You will notice below that the types of UIs are divided into: flavors of X windows, Gnome, and KDE.
A package manager helps you install Linux, like a Windows setup program. It makes all the necessary changes to files and copies files to where they should go. It also tells you which version of major libraries are on your system (important to know if you are having problems) and it can reverse (uninstall) updates made to a system.
http://www.maximumlinux.com/ seems to prefer the Redhad packaging although the Debian package is also good.
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