I've always wanted to try Linux, but being a gamer I'm a little hesitant. Steam and 99% of the other 3rd party games it offers are not linux compatible, especially having to find drivers for everything. Printers, webcams, and lots of the other devices need special drivers to work on Linux if I'm correct?

It's to bad we can't find a way for everybody to ditch Windows and switch to open source OS and software, then we would get some major support from companies.

And it's great on a pre-installed Ubuntu PC. For those of you who want to test out Linux, you may want to "test out" different Linux Distros (Distributions); one, to see if they work well with your setup, and two, because other Distros may fit your needs better.

You can go to sites like http://www.distrowatch.com and download "Live CD" iso's, burn them to CD, and test drive the software (just by booting up with the new CD in the drive). This way, you can get the full experience without having to install the software. Some Distros handle video better than others, some have better multimedia support, and some work better on older equipment.

My favorite Distro (because it works so well on my system, and is friendly to people used to Windows) is PCLinuxOS (http://www.pclinuxos.com). I've had very good success with other ones as well (Memphis, Linux Mint are
based on Ubuntu, and have great communities...Puppy Linux is a marvel on older machines, and so forth). Remember to check out the developer's websites and the communities that have developed with them, that's a huge factor in how well your Linux experience goes!

I'm running OpenSuse 10.2 on my backup PC,and I think it's wonderful.
Fast,stable,and has detected every piece of hardware I've added.
(Which hasn't been much..yet,as I'm trying to keep my Linux rig as stable as possible.)

Also, Suse is IMO,one of the most user-freindly Linux distros out there.

i'd like to take a minute to agree with everything that was stated in this article. first of all, it was very well written, and second: it was very well read.

those of you who are n00b5 should take this article seriously, as ubuntu probably is your best choice.

the only reason i have decided to chime in is to agree. ubuntu is a great choice for beginners. very simple in it's use, and the dark side of the force can always use some more followers.

step 1) start with ubuntu.
step 2) learn the basics.
step 3) move to gentoo.
step 4) learn the specifics.
step 5) move to freebsd.

- heden

Agreed, my path to Linux was trying Wubi to just see how Feisty worked. Wubi is great,it allows a Ubuntu install and you can uninstall from the windows uninstall program applet. Anyway loved Ubuntu and now have it on the wives computer and dual booting on my gaming computer. Funny though all my gaming time seems to have changed into Learning Linux time lol.

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Thank you for this great article - i passed it along to my dad. And you probably guessed it he is going to be Ubuntuized! Thanks would love to reprint some blurbs from this article!

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AskTheAdmin ohh and BTW today is SysAdmin's Day check out this Here:

Buy a new PC or a Mac and you'll need to spend "a couple of hours" installing "all your expensive software" before you can do "anything?"

This brings back so many fond memories of Windows fanboys pulling inaccurate stuff out of the thinnest of thin air with which to critique Macs (my favorite, 10 years ago or so was "Macs simply CANNOT run Microsoft Word.")

It's lovely that Ubuntu exists. It's lovely that Linux on the whole exists. But if you have to resort to inaccurate, "I just pulled this from my butt"-isms to promote it, maybe you're not exactly helping the cause.

If you'd spent any time at all near a new consumer Mac in the last decade or so, you'd know that they come with a whole pile of software preinstalled. If you'd touched a new Mac since 2004 or so, you'd know that iLife and iWork come preinstalled on EVERY new Mac, pro or consumer. Talk UP the good stuff about Ubuntu, I'm right there with you. Spread FUD, not so much.

I've been using Linux for almost three years. I'm no geek, I'm no hacker: So, it has been hard.

I've been through a few distro's and Ubuntu is beautiful. When I first installed it, it was what I 'do' know about Linux that got me into trouble, not what I didn't (passwd: I finally had to use shred to completely erase my hard drive so I could start again.)

Since then - sweet!

I am actually using Xubuntu (on my P4) and it is like getting a new computer! My friends are complaining about how slow their Celerons are running; but, they are worried about jumping into Vista, because of the price and the inevitable 'updates'(they don't even know what the the terms 'bugs' and 'bug fixes' are).

Why do I use Linux?

'Cause, I just want a f**kin' computer; a g*damm machine; that will do what I tell it to do: without a sh*tload of advertising; or, worrying that my personal information is going to be RAIDED!)

I'll give the geeks that made it: money, respect, even love (maybe) - But, I need FREEDOM! As in choice, not beer.

I'm a user; a Linux user.

Ubuntu works.

I have a Sapphire brand ATI x700PRO 128MB PCIe card on my nVidia NB/AMD CPU/MSI MB system and when I tried to install ubuntu it would always give me the same error about a *something* "x" failure in regards to the video card. i would never get any other error other than the xfailure and it always blamed the video card. a few of my linux tech buds informed me that i should have an nVidia GPU if i want linux to work correctly because ati isn't supported worth crap. what's the real deal on this?

Fanboys are annoying! I like to get the most performance per dollar possible and that's all there is to it. Why pay $600-800 for something now if it'll be $400 or less in 6-8 months? Doesn't make since, just be patient.

I recently had a computer in my office fail. While it was undergoing repair, my partner demanded a computer to use while his was out. I found an old Gateway (PIII 450 mHz) loaded with Win98. However, when I fired up this old warrior, the hard drive did not join the party. Uh-oh. I pulled an extra hard drive from another unused computer (guess what MY closet looks like) and put it in the Gateway. That left me short just one little thing- an operating system. Considered buying a version of Windows for just long enough to laugh out loud at the cost. Then I thought about the articles I had read about Linux. Hmmmmmm.

I did some research and ended up on the Ubuntu site. After downloading the most recent LTS version, I burned it to a CD. Then I was introduced to the ISO concept (after the CD wouldn't load no matter what I did). OK, more reading, download and install ISO recorder and burn ISO on CD. Set computer to boot from CD (yes, I almost missed that). Insert disk and close CD.............

It LOADED! After about 20 minutes of quite verbose and sometimes hilarious comments about failures during the loading process (none of which stopped the process, by the way), I was deposited at a quite reasonable screen. Everthing worked, albeit a bit slowly- this was running off the Live CD. I played with the computer for a couple of hours to make sure it worked. It did, except I could never get a Microsoft USB wireless G adapter to work (an apparently quite common problem). Open Office did exactly what it was supposed to do.

Excellent. Turn everything off, and take the computer to the office.

At the office. Power up and everything still works great (notice that I still haven't stopped running the Live CD). I notice, at that point, the install option. Hadn't I just done that? Apparently not. Chose the option, and off we went. Once installed, the computer was MUCH faster. Indeed almost as fast as some much more up-to-date machines in my office. Then the fun started. I plugged in the Ethernet cable for the office LAN. I waited for some screen to pop-up and tell me I was connected. Well, it didn't, and by the way I wasn't. More reading (get used to this) and configuring. This was really not that hard, and if I had ever done anything with networks before it would have taken about ten minutes instead of one and one half hours. Did it ultimately work? It absolutely did! Did I learn a whole hell of a lot about my office network? I sure did :).

Overall impressions of the experience:
I liked Ubuntu. It was easy. My partner, a noted Windowsphile, just started using the machine and didn't complain.

There were two issues I couldn't beat- I could never get the two printers to do anything more than basic functionality. The printers did excellent work from Open Office Text and spreadsheet. They would, however, never print pictures very well at all.