Linux.com

Welcome to the Linux community. I also switched over to Linux after my XP OS died too many times.

Installing Linux won't hurt your computer, even if you mess something up. You're always free to try installing another Linux distribution, or switch back to Windows if you like.

However, do you know what caused your computer to die? Windows does sometimes just seem to fall apart. However, if the computer has a serious hardware problem (fried CPU, bad RAM, for example), it probably won't work with Linux either. Just be aware of that.

There are two Linux distributions that I would recommend to newbies. One is Mandriva. The other is Ubuntu. These distributions tend to work pretty well 'out of the box', and take care of a lot of the technical details for you.

To install one of these distributions, go to the homepage of the distro (http://www.mandriva.com/ or http://www.ubuntu.com/). There you need to download the ISO image for your computer type (probably 32bit i386 PC), and burn that image onto a CD. (See http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/Docs/Installing_Mandriva_Linux/Writing_CD_and_DVD_images for help with that.)

Then, stick the CD into your computer, start it, and the Linux installation program will take over (assuming your computer's BIOS is set to allow boot from CD). The installer will ask you a few simple questions, but will do most of the hard work for you.

BTW, if you don't want to burn the ISO, you could tell your best friend what distro you want and she'd probably be willing to get a CD for you.

Both the Mandriva and Ubuntu home pages have links that take you to documentation and to mailing lists where you can get help with any problems you run into. Also, feel free to posts any further questions here at this forum!

PerlCoder (http://www.indicium.us)

Um, what happens if my computer BIOS aren't set to boot from cd? Because I'm having issues, and I think that might be my problem.

well Jessyca- the problem u stated earlier is generally known as "error of death" or "error of blue screen in win 9x,xp " "error of red screen in vista." It occurs due to bad functionality of certain software or some error in RAM/ROM. Thats y it is not able to boot from the hard disk... becuase as u know whenever u start your computer the os firstly load into the RAM from the hard disk.
you can get rid of this problem by just repairing your Windows with a windows xp cd(if you have installed it otherwise do it with Vista cd/dvd.
I hope you will once again able to see your laptop working with its old friend (win os.)

And if u want to try Linux, that is really a good decision, it ll let you to get rid of "computer hang", "error of death", "security problem", & several other problem that we generally face in Windows. Well Linux (a copy of Unix) provide you full control on all computer processes from OS to Desktop Environment.

There are three two major categories of Linux-
One is Debian distributions which include Ubuntu, Kbuntu, Xubuntu.. etc.
Second is RedHat Linux which includes all other like linux mint, fedora core, fedora linux, devil linux, opensuse, etc.
& last(optional) category is Slackware... which is sometime included refer to RH's category.

If we do talk about the best one... then all os or distro or distributions are similar in functionality but the difference is in its Installation, Features, Packages etc.
For instance debian distro contain all libraries, software which are needed for a convenient computing & other one need to download it from Intenet.

Last but not the least that linux need some proper understanding of some concept which are not familiar to a general user.

all the best Jessyca!!

Live and let live others!!

Ok, Update, and help still needed. I downloaded, burned, and finally got to work (after much fanangaling) a live version Ubuntu. Yeah! I can now access all of my files, ect. Double Yeah! Now my question goes to final installation, programs, versions, and things of that nature.

1. How do I figure out if a program, such as a game, that ran on Window, will still work on Linux?
2. Is there any way to transfer a program straight from the original program files, to Linux?
3. How about just files? Or will I have to copy everything to a usb drive first?
4. If I choose to install, rather then running Ubuntu as a Live cd, will I loose my files? Or can it run duel with my busted XP OS?
5. If I decide that I'm not fond of Ubuntu, and want to switch to, say... Mandriva, how hard is the switch? will I loose any files/programs in the switch?

I think that's all the questions I have for now. Thanks for your help so far, and thanks for any future help!

Ok, I have all my files saved to USB drives now, and I think I'm ready to install. I don't understand the whole partitions thing though. I tried googling it, and from what I understand it's like taking your hard drive and saying, "10GB set aside for this, 30GB for that" and that can't save on this, and this can't save on that, if that made any sense. But I don't know how to create a partition, and I'm not sure that it will do it automatically. Now that all my files are off I'm a little less worried, but at the same time, I think my XP OS is still fixable, and I'd really hate to overwrite it, especially since I save the computer with my fiance, and he's a little hesitant about learning a new OS...