Linux

[Nuclear Raunch]

I have a computer that I want to install Linux on, it'll have a 2.3 gig AMD Phenom X3 processor, 1 gig of ram (for now) and an 80 gig harddrive. It will be my fiance's web surfer/word processor and I'll use it to get familiar with Linux.

Any suggestions on which distro I should get?

More importantly, how do I go about installing it? Most of the stuff I see on it are in regards to installing it on top of Windows but for me that won't work. I'll be installing a new mobo and it has OEM Windows, so basically if Windows is still on my comp it will go haywire thinking it's been pirated since it won't recognize the mobo.

[Freenhult]

I use Ubuntu. Its nice for getting into Linux and stuff. Windy is gonna suggest Fedora, which is pretty nifty looking. But I know you can just install either Fedora/Ubuntu just like you would Windows and its fine. Wubi lets you install on top of windows, but you don't want that at all.

Just burn a DVD with whatever distro you want.

http://www.ubuntu.com/GetUbuntu/download

http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

These are all live-CD capable. So if you have extra DVDs or CDs to use, I'd burn both and check out the Live-CD before you install.

Just my two-cents.

[Nuclear Raunch]

So if I burn a live CD, reformat my hard drive, throw the CD in, set my BIOS to boot from CD and install it after boot up will that work?

[Freenhult]

No need to reformat first. The Live CD will run the OS. So you can preview before you format.

[Nuclear Raunch]

I am reformatting first because it's a used hard drive with nothing I want and a whole bunch of crap I don't want.

[Freenhult]

Alright. That works too.

[The Beatles]

It's just a bit of pain. Whichever Linux installer you use will give you a GUI to reformat the drive anyway.

[Kraken]

Nuke: yeah, Linux.....wait....

YOUR ENGAGED?!?!????
WHO THE HELL WOULD WANT TO MARRY YOU!?!????????????????????????

[windhound]

Cheers for suggesting Fedora Freen

But I think Ubuntu is better for beginners anyhow. Definitely better driver recognition... or, more precisely, they dont care as much about which drivers they include as long as they work. Fedora is more picky and, consequently, generally harder to setup. Fedora also has some fun quirks and extra features, like SELinux and crashing when I switch inputs on my usb KVM.

Also, as its going to be used for word processing, I'd install Open Office on it as opposed to whatever your distro ships. Open Office is kinda big, ~300mb I think, so most distros arnt including it on the livecd install. But it is the best office suite linux has to offer, imho. It will be in your distro's repos, just open Add/Remove Software and search for "openoffice." Sometimes you have to install it piecemeal, just grab the Writer, Impress, Calc, and Draw packages and it'll install everything else you need for you.

Presumably, since I'm 7 days late, you've already chosen and installed a distro... and banged your head against it. But the install really is painless now. Walk through the setup options then the actual install time should be less than 5 min on a fastish system. I got 3 min flat on a 4 year old HP desktop and Fedora.

btw, congrats on the engagement.

[Nuclear Raunch]

Nuke: yeah, Linux.....wait....

YOUR ENGAGED?!?!????
WHO THE HELL WOULD WANT TO MARRY YOU!?!????????????????????????

You for one. And considering you're on my FB and you can see my status and a pic of us why the surprise?

Windy: Not too late as I need a new PSU and it doesn't come in until today.

Side note, $100 for a 550 watt power supply and a 500 gig hard drive, damn I love Frys.

[Freenhult]

Just curious, what did you end up doing Nuke?

[Nuclear Raunch]

I ended up buying a hard drive that didn't work

[Freenhult]

Oh bugger. :x