On Thu, 8 Jan 2004 16:37:36 +0100 (CET), starwars
<nobody@tatooine.homelinux.net> wrote:

>I am thinking of giving Linux a try, and have a few questions, which I hope
>the experts here will answer.
>
>I'm looking for a version of linux that is easy to install. If it could be
>as easy as windows 98 to install, that would be ideal, but I'm willing to
>do a little work if I have to.

Depending on the Linux "distribution" you get, installation can be anywhere from
trivially easy to fiendishly hard. I've heard that the Knoppix installation is
pretty friendly (Knoppix Linux /can/ run directly from the CDROM, meaning that
you can evaluate it before you install it). Personally, I run Slackware Linux
and have never found the installation all that difficult.

>Standard office apps are available for linux, if I have it right, and so
>are email clients and browsers, but I'm wondering how difficult it will be
>getting linux to recognize my network card. Will there be any problem with
>the CD reader and the CD burner?

No trouble at all. The operating system is fully capable of handling all but the
most esoteric of network cards (you don't happen to have a S390 VNIC, do you?
<grin>); any standard network card will be detectible, configurable, and usable
under Linux. The same goes for CDROM and CDRW drives.

>Once the network card is working, can linux 'talk' to the other computers
>on our home lan? They are running windows, and are connected using a
>Linksys router.

Linux can 'talk' to your other computers using standard TCP/IP tools. If you are
looking for "file and print sharing", then the Samba application for Linux
provides that functionality. Samba is a standard part of most mainstream
distributions, and (in distros like Knoppix or Mandrake, etc.) is easy to
configure.

>Any idea of the best way to acquire the OS - download or on CD?

Download if you got the time and capacity.

- or -

See if there's someone in your neighbourhood (or church, or place of work, or
health club, or .. you get the picture) that already uses Linux, and see if they
will lend you the install media. Chances are that not only will they lend it to
you, they'll /give/ it to you, along with advice and assistance.

- or -

Buy a CD from a distributor: either go to the website of your distro of choice,
and use their 'store', or go to a place like cheapbytes.com and buy it for
peanuts.

- or -

Go to your local big-box bookstore, and see what they have in the way of
software or books. A fair number of "Linux" books come with an install CD, and
bookstores that carry software sometimes carry Linux distros. That's how I got
into Slackware; the local big-box bookstore only carried Slackware for the
longest time, and I purchased my first CD set from them before they started
carrying other distributions.


>Thanks for any recommendations.
>
>

--
Lew Pitcher
IT Consultant, Enterprise Technology Solutions
Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group

(Opinions expressed are my own, not my employers')