I wanna ri
i have a Linux computer in another room (with no internet connection) and i want to update it without losing my current data. is there a way i can do this while updating or do i need to back up my info with a flash drive?
Answer
I use a 64-bit Debian based Mepis 8.0.15 distro and always backup my data to another drive for the reinstall. I do reinstall the same operating system keeping my home partition, but I still have a backup for safety reasons when I perform this procedure.
But i have always wiped the drive and check them before putting them back into service with a new version of any Linux operating system. Just a habit I have carried over from my support days... Safe not sorry, "I could have done this, or that"!!!!
I also use a smaller drive, for the root and swap, keeping a majority of my data on a different larger drive. I no longer run a raid, but did that for a long time after switching to Linux, old habits are difficult to break. But I have never had much of a hardware hiccup in Linux, far different than my experiences with Microsoft operating systems... i have an uptime approaching a year on a smaller system I had to shut down my other systems for memory upgrades...
Just copy your files or DD your partition to another drive while you are sleeping and get the backup done... Or purchase another drive and install on fresh equipment, prices seem to be decent at the moment... 2TB Sata drives under $100... 500GB for $40
JR
I use a 64-bit Debian based Mepis 8.0.15 distro and always backup my data to another drive for the reinstall. I do reinstall the same operating system keeping my home partition, but I still have a backup for safety reasons when I perform this procedure.
But i have always wiped the drive and check them before putting them back into service with a new version of any Linux operating system. Just a habit I have carried over from my support days... Safe not sorry, "I could have done this, or that"!!!!
I also use a smaller drive, for the root and swap, keeping a majority of my data on a different larger drive. I no longer run a raid, but did that for a long time after switching to Linux, old habits are difficult to break. But I have never had much of a hardware hiccup in Linux, far different than my experiences with Microsoft operating systems... i have an uptime approaching a year on a smaller system I had to shut down my other systems for memory upgrades...
Just copy your files or DD your partition to another drive while you are sleeping and get the backup done... Or purchase another drive and install on fresh equipment, prices seem to be decent at the moment... 2TB Sata drives under $100... 500GB for $40
JR
How to switch from windows to linux?
Sarah
Ok. I've given it a lot of thought... and... i want to make the switch. i tried linux out on a friend's laptop, and i fell in love. Anyways, i am no expert when it comes to computers, but i get around. so, can someone give me the following (i know it may sound like im asking a lot, but bear with me) :
1. A link where i can download linux for FREE
2. a download link to a word processer that runs with linux (similar to microsoft office) also FREE, preferably
3. possibly a few additional download links to applications that are useful with linux
4.a brief step by step on how to get everything setup and running/ any adtl. info i need to know
please and thank you if you do ill give you a cupcake
Answer
Hi Sarah.
1) First, ignore pccxm: s/he has absolutely no idea what s/he's talking about. Linux is completely free: there are so many hundreds of completely free Linux downloads out there that it's actually very hard to find one that's *not* free. There are a few (e.g. Red Hat Enterprise Linux); but you certainly don't need to pay for them (unless you're a company entering into a support contract with Red Hat), because Linux is "copylefted": the source code legally *has* to be shared! So even Red Hat has to do this, and this means that there are free copies of Red Hat (like Centos and Scientific Linux) that are basically identical to Red Hat's commercial product except for the branding (logos and so on).
Salem is right that there are lots of Linux distributions out there, and you will *eventually* find one that's suited to your personal tastes; but for now, just go with Jerry and KC's advice to download Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a very popular, very polished beginner-friendly distribution that not only tends to "just work" (it's likely to work with most of your hardware as soon as you install it), it also has *tons* of online support for it, because it's such a popular distribution. You may be so happy with it that you never want to try another distribution; but even if you do, Ubuntu is a good choice to start with. As Salem says, Mint is another great beginner distro. Debian, not quite so much: it's a superb distribution (I prefer it to Ubuntu), but it's a bit less "polished" for beginners, in the sense that it tends to require a bit more configuring, and is likely to cause a few frustrations and headaches for a first-time Linux user. Just download Ubuntu: it provides an excellent first experience of Linux.
2) LibreOffice is the most Microsoft Office compatible office suite on Linux, and it's also available for Windows, so you can even download it right now and play with it on Windows first. The LibreOffice equivalent of Word is called "Writer". Once you've installed Linux, you won't need to hunt around for LibreOffice online: Linux distributions nearly always have their own "package managers" that take care of software installation for you. They're basically just huge menus of thousands of free applications that you can just click on to install them. LibreOffice is available on the menu...in fact, it's already installed with most popular distributions these days (Ubuntu, for example, will already include LibreOffice with its default install).
3) Again, you will have *thousands* of useful packages at your fingertips (categorised as "graphics" software, "video" software, "educational" software and so on) so it's just a case of picking them from the menu to install them. The most commonly used software will already be installed by default: the standard install of a beginner-friendly distro like Ubuntu will already include CD burning software, image editing software, music playing software and so on and so on. Google for alternatives (search for "best music player on Linux", for example) if you want to know which other apps would be good to try (and again, you just grab them for free by clicking "install" in the package manager...it's so much better than Windows).
4) All of the popular Linux distributions are well documented, and most of them have large wikis and user forums and so on to search for answers to any questions you may have (and the wikis have step-by-step instructions for most common tasks). Do be aware, though, that you're preparing to install a whole new operating system on your computer: it *will* involve a bit of a learning curve, and there will be a period of time during which you're frustrated by not yet having worked out how to do something that you used to be able to do in Windows. You say you "can get around" with computers, so you probably won't have any major problems; but as you'll know if you've ever borrowed someone's Mac computer when you're used to Windows, the simplest little things (like right-button clicks or whatever) can be stumbling blocks when we come to depend on them and find they don't work on another system. You *will* have a few frustrations like that, on any new system: just know that you'll get through that stage, and enjoy learning an operating system that is really *much* better than Windows, in a whole host of ways. You won't regret the switch. :)
Hi Sarah.
1) First, ignore pccxm: s/he has absolutely no idea what s/he's talking about. Linux is completely free: there are so many hundreds of completely free Linux downloads out there that it's actually very hard to find one that's *not* free. There are a few (e.g. Red Hat Enterprise Linux); but you certainly don't need to pay for them (unless you're a company entering into a support contract with Red Hat), because Linux is "copylefted": the source code legally *has* to be shared! So even Red Hat has to do this, and this means that there are free copies of Red Hat (like Centos and Scientific Linux) that are basically identical to Red Hat's commercial product except for the branding (logos and so on).
Salem is right that there are lots of Linux distributions out there, and you will *eventually* find one that's suited to your personal tastes; but for now, just go with Jerry and KC's advice to download Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a very popular, very polished beginner-friendly distribution that not only tends to "just work" (it's likely to work with most of your hardware as soon as you install it), it also has *tons* of online support for it, because it's such a popular distribution. You may be so happy with it that you never want to try another distribution; but even if you do, Ubuntu is a good choice to start with. As Salem says, Mint is another great beginner distro. Debian, not quite so much: it's a superb distribution (I prefer it to Ubuntu), but it's a bit less "polished" for beginners, in the sense that it tends to require a bit more configuring, and is likely to cause a few frustrations and headaches for a first-time Linux user. Just download Ubuntu: it provides an excellent first experience of Linux.
2) LibreOffice is the most Microsoft Office compatible office suite on Linux, and it's also available for Windows, so you can even download it right now and play with it on Windows first. The LibreOffice equivalent of Word is called "Writer". Once you've installed Linux, you won't need to hunt around for LibreOffice online: Linux distributions nearly always have their own "package managers" that take care of software installation for you. They're basically just huge menus of thousands of free applications that you can just click on to install them. LibreOffice is available on the menu...in fact, it's already installed with most popular distributions these days (Ubuntu, for example, will already include LibreOffice with its default install).
3) Again, you will have *thousands* of useful packages at your fingertips (categorised as "graphics" software, "video" software, "educational" software and so on) so it's just a case of picking them from the menu to install them. The most commonly used software will already be installed by default: the standard install of a beginner-friendly distro like Ubuntu will already include CD burning software, image editing software, music playing software and so on and so on. Google for alternatives (search for "best music player on Linux", for example) if you want to know which other apps would be good to try (and again, you just grab them for free by clicking "install" in the package manager...it's so much better than Windows).
4) All of the popular Linux distributions are well documented, and most of them have large wikis and user forums and so on to search for answers to any questions you may have (and the wikis have step-by-step instructions for most common tasks). Do be aware, though, that you're preparing to install a whole new operating system on your computer: it *will* involve a bit of a learning curve, and there will be a period of time during which you're frustrated by not yet having worked out how to do something that you used to be able to do in Windows. You say you "can get around" with computers, so you probably won't have any major problems; but as you'll know if you've ever borrowed someone's Mac computer when you're used to Windows, the simplest little things (like right-button clicks or whatever) can be stumbling blocks when we come to depend on them and find they don't work on another system. You *will* have a few frustrations like that, on any new system: just know that you'll get through that stage, and enjoy learning an operating system that is really *much* better than Windows, in a whole host of ways. You won't regret the switch. :)
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
Comments :
Post a Comment