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Linux

Are you tired of spending money on your computer for software? Are you tired of viruses and spyware? Are you tired of buying expensive hardware to get Vista to run properly? If you answered yes to any of these maybe you need to take a look at what Linux has become. It's not what you think it is. Freedom is not just around the corner, it's here. Learn More

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Getting Started

Let's not get the cart in front of the horse. The first thing we need to do is figure out what you are going to run your Linux system on. If you just want a Linux system I can definitely fill that need for a lot less than you would pay for a new Windows system. Go here to see what I have to offer. If you want to give this a try on your own read on.

Linux shines on old hardware, but, remember you are comparing apples to oranges if you run Linux on an old system and compare it to Vista or XP on a new system. Linux will probably beat Vista even running on the old hardware though. Linux is at it's best on newer hardware with sufficient RAM. To get to know this system by all means don't drop a lot of money on it until you are sure this is for you, but don't give up on it because it did not get a fair shot because of clunky hardware with little RAM. That being said, what is sufficient hardware? Let's take a look at a small list:

  • PII 256MB RAM - Will run, but not very good
  • PIII 512MB RAM - Better, but not great
  • PIII 1GB RAM - This would not be bad at all
  • P4 512MB RAM - This would run good
  • P4 1GB RAM - Now we are talking

The most RAM it will support is 3.5GB. If you are going to build a system for this please remember that. Anything over 4GB is a waste, for now. If they release a 64-bit version then it will all be used.

OK, do you have a system that will run this? If not, but you want to build one, or buy one, for little money go here.

If you want to dual boot, or run two operating systems on the same computer, that can easily be done, but for now let's just talk about putting it on a system by itself. Here is out task list:

  • Download the software
  • Put the software on a CD
  • Set the system to boot from the CD
  • Boot to Linux from the CD
  • Install Linux

    • You will have a functioning Linux system, but can't really do too much with it at this point. From here you will move on and get it connected to the Internet. Once you are connected to the Internet let the fun begin!

    Note: The Show me... links will open in a new window. Click the Close window in the upper right corner to return to this page. Show me

    Download the software

    To get the software go pclinuxos.com and move your cursor over the GET PCLINUXOS link in the toolbar at the top of the screen. A drop down list will appear. Choose Download . Don't download it quite yet, but feel free to Try it

    Note: If the links stop working after you click the Try it link please press the F5 key on your keyboard to refresh the page.

    After you click on Download you will see a list under Products. These are mirrors. You will see this word a lot in the Linux world. Mirror simply means a place where the file(s) are hosted or stored for people to get. You will see mirrors from all over the world. Choose a mirror that is in your area, like USA if that is where you live. Click on the mirror and the download will begin. What are the [+] symbols by the links? If you click on the + you will see [More]. Click on that and it will take you to more products. Look around and you will see what I mean. Once you are there you will see .iso and .md5sum. You need the files labeld .iso. We will cover the .md5sum shortly when putting the software on a CD. For now, just click on the main link on the download page and you will get the file you need to complete this task. Save it to your computer and remember where you saved it. Try it

    Put the software on a CD

    You now have an .iso file also know as an ISO image. This is the entire CD combined into one file to make it easy to download. Now we need to break that file apart and put it on a CD so the computer can read it. The main thing here is that you have a CD ROM drive that is capable of creating a CD. If you do, you probably have CD burning software on your computer. If not, click here and get the latest PCLinuxOS CD for about $6.00. I am assuming you have a CD burner. If you know how to burn an ISO image go ahead and do it now. Since there are so many different applications out there it is impossible for me to tell you how to burn an ISO image. What I can do is tell you how I do it and it's free. If you know how go to the next section. If not, here is how I do it.

    Go to Alex Feinman's site and download the ISO RECORDER version that matches the operating system you have. After you have done this install it. It is very easy. Just except the default questions and it will only take a few seconds.

    No use Windows Explorer to find the PCLinuxOS ISO file you downloaded. Make sure you have a blank CD in the drive. Right click on the file and you will have a menu option labeled Copy image to CD. Choose that and except the defaults. That's it, your done. Now you can continue.

    Set the system to boot from the CD

    The next thing we need to do is boot of of you new PCLinuxOS CD ROM. With the CD in the drive reboot your computer. If it is set for the CD as the first boot device you will be loading PCLinuxOS and can go on to the next step. Before you do this you may want to read the rest of this article, or print it, so you know what to do next. If it does not boot we need to set your computer to boot from the CD ROM drive. To do this reboot your computer. Right after the reboot the first screen you see will be the route into the BIOS. It goes quick so be quick. Look for Press Del to enter setup. The Del could be F1 or F2. It will be on the screen but only for a couple of seconds. If you miss it press Ctrl+Alt+Del to reboot the system before Windows starts to load. You may have to turn it off and back on to see the screen again. You will have to play with it to get into the BIOS. Once you are there, look for a menu item labeled Boot. Go to this menu and make sure the first boot device is set to CD ROM. The screen will tell you how to move the devices up and down. It will either be an Arrow keys or the Page Up / Page Down keys. Once you have it set to the CD ROM boot and the PCLinuxOS operating system should begin to load.

    Boot to Linux from the CD

    Once you successfully set the computer to boot from the CD ROM and it loads the PCLinuxOS operating system you will get your first chance to see where we are heading. You can play around here for a little bit. Go into the menus and check out some of the applications. Just be aware that it will be much slower now than it will be after the installation because it is running the entire operating system out of memory. It will be much faster after it is installed. You may not have an Internet connection at this point, but don't worry about it as we will fix that during the installation.