I have an Ubuntu 6.06b2 Live CD.

It won't work on my laptop, but I think it works on my desktop.

What is a good type of Linux to work with for beginners? All I have is Ubuntu at the moment but I'm willing to grab my hands on anything.

Also, how exactly do Live CD's work if they don't save anything onto your computer? If there a way to make them become permanent?

Also - any good websites for references/manuals?

TANSK.

brb trying dis out - if I don't log in for a week i fucked something up.

Wurzelbrumpft

Germany471 Posts

November 17 2008 19:40 GMT

was with teamliquid consisting of girl and computer threads

cgrinker

United States3824 Posts

November 17 2008 19:44 GMT

If you want a stable operating system for non linux geeks (no offense to anyone) stick with Unbuntu

micronesia

United States24698 Posts

November 17 2008 19:48 GMT

On November 18 2008 04:40 Wurzelbrumpft wrote:
was with teamliquid consisting of girl and computer threads

I think computer threads stands to reason...

btw I'm noticing your recent blogs are all 100% content related and dry lol... can't blame you.

CTStalker

Canada9720 Posts

November 17 2008 19:52 GMT

the live cd runs off the cd, so you cant write to it. but your hard disk should automount (im assuming it's formatted as an NTFS partition) and you can write to that. live cds are used as litmus tests, as in your case, for people who want to try linux, and as recovery tools.

ubuntu is your best bet for a beginner's look at linux. if you get really into it you may one day graduate to debian

SCC-Faust

United States3736 Posts

November 17 2008 19:58 GMT

OMG this is 100% homosexual.

My desktop computer has problem reading disks (my father was asking me why I fucked up the computer so bad that it won't read his music CDs so I slapped a bitch.) I put the Ubuntu Live CD in, restarted the computer. And nothing came up. And I wish I knew why it didn't work on my laptop.

By the way, the laptop is vista incase anyone was wondering. Any solutions for Mr. Labby?
This is kind of queer because I was looking forward to feeling elite for once in my life.

Heyoka

Katowice25012 Posts

November 17 2008 20:11 GMT

Is it checking the cd drive on boot or loading straight from hard disk? You might need to tell it to load from the CD when its booting

MER

Bulgaria125 Posts

November 17 2008 20:23 GMT

On November 18 2008 05:11 heyoka wrote:
Is it checking the cd drive on boot or loading straight from hard disk? You might need to tell it to load from the CD when its booting

this^^. If youre still not able to run it, try searching in ubuntuforums.org, maybe someone has had the same problem.

ToT)SiLeNcE(

Germany590 Posts

November 17 2008 20:35 GMT

You should grab the latest version of Ubuntu first of all.
Get 8.10 Intrepid Ibex from www.ubuntu.com

Then just boot your laptop from that cd and it should work. 8.10 supports much more hardware than 6.06 does (obviously). This may help a big deal

distant_voice

Germany2521 Posts

November 17 2008 21:11 GMT

#10

intrepid ibex is awesome. other distros that are good for beginners are mint and opensuse from what I hear. mint ist 99% ubuntu though.

TheYango

United States47024 Posts

November 17 2008 21:17 GMT

#11

On November 18 2008 06:11 distant_voice wrote:
intrepid ibex is awesome. other distros that are good for beginners are mint and opensuse from what I hear. mint ist 99% ubuntu though.

Ubuntu is a very accessible distro for a first-time user, and can still be very usable for a high-level user (I know someone who develops software at a National Laboratory and his entire group is standardized on Ubuntu). I've heard that Mint has poorer support than Ubuntu (since the project is a spinoff, and I believe smaller). I've only used OpenSuse briefly, but that would definitely be my first choice if I needed to do something Red Hat-related.

BTW, I use Ubuntu.

barth

Ireland1272 Posts

November 17 2008 21:31 GMT

#12

OpenSUSE is also quite easy.

guga31bb

United States23 Posts

November 17 2008 22:07 GMT

#13

On November 18 2008 05:35 ToT)SiLeNcE( wrote:
You should grab the latest version of Ubuntu first of all.
Get 8.10 Intrepid Ibex from www.ubuntu.com

Actually Intrepid has been pretty buggy for a lot of people so far. For someone who's just beginning, I'd recommend Ubuntu Hardy Heron - it's much more stable and is a long-term release, so it will be supported for a couple years. This is especially true for people with laptops as wireless networking in Intrepid has been pretty bad.

haduken

Australia8267 Posts

November 17 2008 22:12 GMT

#14

What make is your laptop? you may find that there are special support groups for thinkpads etc.
Of my head, the centrinos are supported well and grab 8.04 hardy if you want to get into it.

I have intrepid atm and it's awesome but not something recommended for absolute beginners.

GHOSTCLAW

United States17042 Posts

November 17 2008 22:22 GMT

#15

Ubuntu is a pretty good starting disto in general. Some things won't work out of the box, but all distros have that problem.

The main reason why I would recommend ubuntu is because there are many people who use it, so if you have a problem, you can probably google for a solution and find it (which you can't do for lots of other smaller distros)

JeeJee

Canada5652 Posts

November 17 2008 22:24 GMT

#16

yeah, i would advise against getting the "latest & greatest" ubuntu release as there are probably unknown issues. usually the 2nd last release (i think heron? im on gutsy still..) is a good choice

also look up all your hardware on ubuntu lists, make sure nothing is blacklisted.. just before you go bashing your head in because something doesn't work

Navane

Netherlands2748 Posts

November 17 2008 23:04 GMT

#17

yep. stick with the latest ubuntu.

JeeJee

Canada5652 Posts

November 17 2008 23:24 GMT

#18

On November 18 2008 08:04 Navane wrote:
yep. stick with the latest ubuntu.

care to elaborate why that's a good idea?

riptide

5673 Posts

November 17 2008 23:59 GMT

#19

I'm using Puppy because it's one of the only livecd distros that ship with my the wireless drivers I need (bcm43xx). My hard disk stopped working, so now I'm running completely off a livecd. I can save the config to a USB drive if I want, but I don't really care. Everything I need is on the web.

http://www.puppylinux.org/

The .iso is just 94mb btw. Of course, it's a little less user friendly than Ubuntu, since most of the apps they ship are minimal implementations of the stuff you need. Instead of OpenOffice.org, for example, they ship Abiword, which is a stripped down, smaller word processor. Still, if you like using live CDs, it's certainly worth a shot.

Also, go for Ubuntu 8.10, it's bound to have support for more devices than 8.06. Linux is a great experience, and can save your skin many a time if you know how to use it right. Take me, for example - before Linux, I'd have been toast without a hard disk. Now I'm just browsing TL like normal. Thanks FOSS!

SCC-Faust

United States3736 Posts

November 20 2008 11:26 GMT

#20

I just got the latest Ubuntu I think and it works with my laptop.

Problem though is my internet won't work.
I read the website and I followed the instructions word per word.

Added a wireless connection, put in my SSID: "linksys" - apparently.
Which according to the guide was the only information I needed.

My router is SSID-roaming enabled according to the 192.168.1.1 page.
But it still won't give me my internets. WTF. HALP.