I really like Kubuntu with KDE, gives me all the features I am used to with Windowblinds. Rollup, themeing, Docking bar, Virtual Desktops, Open Office. I didn't mind Konquorer as a browser, and sudo apt-get install firefox was about as simple as it gets as install goes. The only trouble was mounting some additional hard drives. That was solved in two shakes though. Mounting them was actually pretty simple. apt-get is a really neat command.Kynaptic is a nice utility to install packages also. I have moved two of my machines to Kubuntu now.

Use BSD.

Hmm I prefer XFCE. It's much simplier and faster. KDE slows down my old laptop so much it's basically unusable.

Linux is immune? I remember hearing that about Macs until a friend posted this: Link Has Linux just not been targetted?

That's a pretty common misconception. Linux is not immune to a virus. There is, however much better system protection inherent in Linux. Firstly, a virus would have to actually be executed. Secondly, if a user does execute a virus, it can only do damage to that user's files, not the system as this would require root access unlike Windows where a virus can run rampant and destroy system files at will.

It's unrealistic to claim that "LInux just hasn't been targeted" as a large percentage of servers out there run on Linux. The truth is, the virus writer/user who has ill intent just gets more "bang for the buck" writing Windows virus.

Despite the FUD from Microsoft, Linux is inherently more secure than Windows. Also, though it may take Microsoft many months to fix known security holes, in Linux this often happens in a matter of hours as there are so many different people with access to the source code and constantly testing and developing Linux. I have personally seen cases where a security hole was discovered in the Linux kernel, emails went out over mailing lists, and a patch was available for world-wide download within 2 hours of the original email.

I hate RPM distros

I would never go with a non-RPM distro, thus why I ended up using Fedora after trying different distros. To install something, all I have to do is go to the best RPM site (http://rpm.pbone.net/) in Firefox, click on the download and boom-- it instantly installs itself, and solves the dependencies, if needed. Tarballs are the most evil thing ever invented.......

just gets more "bang for the buck" writing Windows virus

Exactly.

I would never go with a non-RPM distro

LMAO Thanks for proving my point! While you wouldn't use anything but an RPM distro, I would personally never use one at all. It's that pesky personal choice thing.

Tarballs are the most evil thing ever invented.

Kinda how I feel aout RPMs. Especially when they're expecting dependent libraries in a certain place and they're actually installed in another place thanks to some developers who just like to change things around for no good reason. They didn't invent the term "dependency hell" for nothing

It really is about choice. I have friends who won't use anything but Debian or Debian based distros. I think Debian is ok, apt works pretty well. But I like fast and Debian distros just seem to run a lot slower because of the too generic compiling they use.

FC is faster than Debian, but still a tad slow for me (not to mention those nasty RPMs ). I've used many different distros and have found that Slack, Arch, and Gentoo (if it moves, compile it ) to be the fastest.

But like I said, it's all personal taste. I won't knock anyone choice of distros. If it works for you, use it.

I like Fedora. Berry is nice and fast, but has a text-mode only installer.

So I use Fedora on the Hard Drive and Berry as a Live CD.

Could somebody talk about KDE vs Gnome?

Sure.

First, KDE has a nice UI.
GNOME's look and feel still gives me nightmares.

GNOME uses the GTK+ engine to draw all of its UI elements which is much slower. It also comes with a few applications.

KDE comes with all of the apps you will ever need.

Right now I'm typing this in KDE Konqueror, which is the KDE web browser/file manager. It's also highlighting everythong I type incorrectly in red.

Konq is very fast. It seems to work well with WC. You can also use Firefox.

GNOME GTK+ apps work fine in KDE, and vice versa.

KDE includes KMail for email, and Kontact which KMail integrates into, and the news reader, RSS, calendar, etc. integrates into. It works great for Gmail, and a replacement for Outlook.

The KOffice suite (be sure to select thing when installing!!!) is basically Microsoft Office. It doesn't offer MS Office compatability to my knowledge. For that you'd want OpenOffice.org.

KDE offers a centralized Control Center, wile GNOME has separate control applets (it does in Fedora at least).

Things in KDE are easier to get access to. It's a nice optimized UI.

KDE has Kopete for an IM client, it works great with MSN, and is compatible with all the rest.

And KSirc is an IRC client.




So KDE has much more softy then GNOME.

KDE also has a great help system.

Any thing else?

Oooo... you may be sorry you asked! My situation is that I got a 200 GB disc for my birthday. Also still have my 30 GB, so I may not have the world's newest setup, but there's a little room ot play around. I was planning to try Linux to see what it's like when I stumbled across your thread. I'm good with XP but a complete noob to Linux.

So here are some noob questions.
I was just reading some of the basics on the Fedora site. How do KDE & Gnome relate to what I'd get from Fedora? Does the Fedora Core have a KDE or Gnome GUI, or something else? Or if, for ex. I wanted to try KDE, should I get Linux from the Kubuntu site?

The discussion of RPM distros was a bit intimidating. In looking at Fedora, it seems like getting Linux there would ensure getting all the necessary pieces of their install. Do you have to know what you need in advance at a RPM distro? If something’s missing, can you find out by running sha1sum?

I have more, but will post this much while I continue writing

yum (console updater/installer, solves dependencies) and up2date (graphical updater, solves dependencies) both work great for me.

Fedora comes with a choice of GNOME, KDE or XFCE. You have to select to do a custom install to install those. I would recommend installing both GNOME and KDE.

RPMs are like setup EXEs. Very easy. And you can go to http://rpm.pbone.net/ if you need something not avaliable on yum.

To use yum:

Open a terminal in root (Super User) mode. Type:

-For first use:

yum check-update

-to install:

yum install (e.g. gimp)

-to update:

yum update

Very simple program...

And up2date alerts you when updates are available in your system tray.

The Fedora site says Linux partitions need to be formatted in VFAT. Never heard of VFAT—is it the same as FAT32? (I hope.)

Don’t have a CD burner but I’m assuming there’s a way I can make a boot-floppy & install to the Linux partition from images saved to a different partition.

From the Fedora site I got the impression that it’s best to get the files via BitTorrent. Never used it before, but I installed it earlier tonight. Do you recommend going that route?

When installing Fedora you can use the Disk Druid utility to add a / partition and a /swap partition to your 30 gig. Very easy utility.

what/where is yum? Looks like it's a program but ...