Re: Why Debian
On Sun, Nov 10, 2013 at 08:17:06AM -0700, thomas aylward wrote:
> how does a novice begin with debian? Tom
>
How does a novice begin with Linux -
1. Install a virtualisation package on a machine running Windows
and install Ubuntu/Debian or whatever as a virtual machine.
[My preferred]
2. Search freecycle or similar for an old PC / beg a machine from
someone who's just upgraded. Grab a CD / DVD / USB stick - and
go. You know the machine is likely to have been working when
given up.
What's the worst you can do in that situation - wipe a hard disk
- which is protecting yourself from the viruses and privacy
implications left by the previous owner :)
3. Buy a cheap PC/laptop with no operating system installed - and
go for it.
Debian always had an image of being hard to install but with
Debian 5 onwards that's no longer been the case.
Lots of people have moved to Debian from other distributions -
have had some Linux experience elsewhere and choose to come
to Debian for whatever reason.
The real "problem" is that the number of people who install
any operating system from scratch at any time is very small:
- probably less than 1% - people have been known to throuw
away Windows machines because of software failures which would
have been solved y a reinstall. The number of people who
install Linux is smaller than that - though the number who
"use" Linux is vast and growing - used Google to searh anything /
Amazon to buy anything?
apt-get install debian-handbook - the Debian Handbook is a
thoroughly useful document.
All the best,
AndyC
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