I don't use it as a desktop, but I have in the past. Ubuntu is probably the way to go for a novice as it does a lot of handholding for non-techie people. It is much safer from viruses as it usually locked down by default, so you have to turn dangerous things on, not the windows way of everything open by default (although microsoft are getting better with this).</p> Try getting hold of or downloading a 'live cd' or windows installer. These let you keep windows, but just boot into linux to test it, without killing your windows installation. Once up and running most people will be fine, but if you have any problems it will probably be much harder for a novice. I tried a recent ubuntu live cd, which ran fine but wouldn't work with my wireless card. It took some buggering about to get this working, and I would expect a lot of people to struggle with this.</p> Depends what you mean by program compatability. Windows programs generally won't run under linux (there are ways around this (wine?), but these used to pretty flaky, not sure on recent version). However there are equivelant apps that can be used instead, openoffice, gimp etc. </p>
RE: Well can you find out from someone else? nt I don't know anyone that uses it. If you do, let me know who they are and I'll ask them for you.
It's my main desktop operating system The pro's are it's inherently secure, things are better organised (eg your installed applications are listed in the start menu by category (multimedia, office, games etc) rather than random;y in your Programs menu in Windows and it runs better on older hardware than Vista will. Oh and it's free of course.</p> The downsides are hardware and software compatibility. No-one makes hardware without Windows drivers but lots of hardware manufacturers don't write linux drivers (yet?). Most hardware is supported by third-party drivers - ie written by Linux enthusiasts to make their own hardware work! Windows software doesn't work, although Linux alternatives are usually easy to find. Linux distro's come with a package manager - this is a program that allows you to search the distributor's online repository of applications to find what you want. Applications installed this way update automatically with the equivalent of Windows Update, and are certified by your distributor as malware free. </p> Windows applications can be made to work with Wine - a Linux app which provides a compatibility layer with windows apps. Support for most things is les than 100% - ie some part of the application will not run correctly. In some cases this is the installer!! However, winehq.org has an app database so you can check compatibility of any programs you want to take along for the ride.</p> If you need any specific software that Wine won't run I may be able to recommend a Linux alternative.</p> As for test-driving it, live CD's are very slow as they run the entire OS of CD-rom which is miles slower than a hard drive. You can set up a dual boot where you choose Windows or Linux at startup but unless you have an unused partition on your hard drive, you'll have to repartioning your drive. My preferred alternative is VirtualBox - a free Windows software that runs a virtual PC. You can install Linux to this. Windows starts as normal, you select VirtualBox from your Programs menu and it boots Linux in a window of its own. Either way you'll need a Linux CD and I recommend Ubuntu as a good starter distribution.</p> http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04/ubuntu-8.04.2-desktop-i386.iso (700MB - quite a long download) </p> </p>
Oh and Some things, annoyingly, don't install by default. Linux is FOSS software. Google "open source philosophy" for details. All very admirable in principle but it means stuff like Flash or proprietary drivers (for hardware that has them) don't install by default. </p> The open source graphics drivers cover desktop use - just not 3D games - and Flash is easy to install from most repositories. If you try Ubuntu, Synaptic (found in the System > Administration menu) is your package manager.</p>
