Need help before I even start....

[Carroll Grigsby]

TurboGrub wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> In about three weeks I am returning to my home in
> Florida where I have waiting for me a new cd that
> someone burned for me that contains the new preview
> release of Ubuntu 5.10. I've been reading alot about
> it and Linux in general but I have absolutly ZERO
> experience with anything Linux. I don't even know one
> command. So here is my concern:
> 
> I am going to install this Operating System on a hard
> drive I just purchased that has no Operating System on
> it. It is used and I can't tell you much about it
> other than it is 30 gb because I know little about
> partitioning and all of that. Hopefully that is what
> the install cd will do. Windows generally walks you
> through the install proccess and that's what I am used
> to. My last operating system, windows98, got infested
> with viruses and spyware until it was eaten alive
> depsite attempts to purge the system with whatever
> anti virus software I could get after the fact. I had
> no disk to re-install it so a friend gave me a copy of
> XP which started getting infected the day I installed
> it... these viruses must have known where to go back
> to somehow. Also, my hard drive was a little too small
> for XP and It was slow as hell and did all kinds of
> funky things. I have other friends that HATE xp also
> so I'm not too excited about trying it again. Enter
> Linux.
> 
> Everything I have heard and Read about Linux stuff is
> pretty cool, but the one thing I seem to see is
> problems with the install here and there. Now, if you
> have experience with Linux, and I do not, then I guess
> you can pretty well figure it out as you go and
> finally get the thing up and running. So here are are
> my biggest fears:
> 
> When I try to install this thing it's going to ask me
> stuff and I won't have the answers in "Linux
> Language"! On top of that, I won't be able to get
> online for help UNTIL I have it installed. What I am
> asking you kind folks out there for is ANY and I mean
> ANY advise on any problems I may encounter during the
> intallation, anything that would throw a total
> greenhorn off. I'm ready to jump in but I don't want
> to drown.
> 
> I thank you in advance and look forward to any advice
> or comments.
> 
> Martin Sargent 

Martin:
You've already gotten some good advice, particularly the bit about 
Breezy still being very much in the bug-killing stage. One thing that 
you could do until you get back home is to verify that your hardware 
will work with Ubuntu. Just because something works in Windows does 
_not_ mean that it will work in Linux. Judging by what I read here and 
on other lists, the major sources of trouble seem to be (in no special 
order) video cards, internal modems, printers and wireless cards.

Here are some useful links:
Printers: www.linuxprinting.org (huge site, takes some digging)
Modems: www.linmodems.org
General: www.linuxquestions.org
And, of course: www.ubuntuforums.org

Another trick is to go to the support section of manufacturers' sites 
and search for linux. Be aware, though, that some manufacturers will 
disavow any support for Linux but their stuff works just fine. (I ran 
into this with a Kodak camera.)

-- cmg