The latest version of Ubuntu, version 7.1 named "Gutsy Gibbon", has recently been released. If you've ever wondered what all the hype is about with Linux, now is as good a time as ever to try it out yourself. You can download a free copy at the Ubuntu website. Ubuntu has become one of the most popular distros used by the Linux community. It's gaining a reputation for being user friendly and full of useful software.
Upon downloading and burning an image of the Ubuntu CD, all you do is pop the CD in your drive and reboot. The CD is both an installation CD and a "live" CD, which means that when the CD boots, Linux will actually load up and run. So, you can test drive the operating system and see what it's all about before you commit to installing it. When you run a live CD, whether it be from Ubuntu, or Knoppix, or any of the other distributions, you're basically running Linux while leaving your current system and setup unharmed. The hard drive and any boot settings are left untouched. In fact, after Linux boots from a Live CD, the hard drives are marked as "Read-Only". You can change that if you really want to, but the idea is that you can load up Linux, mess around all you want with it, and when your done, nothing on your computer has changed. If you were running Windows XP before, all you have to do is take the CD out of the drive and reboot. Your system will be exactly the same as you left it.
Upon booting Ubuntu, you'll soon see that a ton of software comes prepackaged. You'll get web browsers, office software, mp3 and video players, image editors, games, system utilities, instant messaging, and a whole lot more. Typically, you can boot the CD and within minutes you'll be surfing on the Internet without any user intervention, other than clicking on the Mozilla Firefox icon which is in plain view upon boot up.
So what's the big deal with Linux? Well, for one thing, all the software I mentioned comes free. It's not shareware, nor is any of it going to expire in 30 days. It's just plain free. Ubuntu has a great package management system, which means you'll be able to browse thousands of free applications and with a couple of mouse clicks, have it installed onto your system. Of course, if you've never used Linux before, some of this process might be a bit confusing. But, it's really not that difficult. The main gripe with Linux in general is that a lot of hardware is either quirky or just not supported in Linux. Especially with laptops, you might run into some trouble. But that is the beauty of the live CD. With Ubuntu in particular, you can boot the CD, try it out and see if things are working well with your particular hardware. If you like it, there is a big icon labeled "Install", sitting on the desktop. Just click it and you'll be walked through the installation process. If not, no big loss, just remove the CD and that's it.
These days, with the unimpressive (to say the least) launch of Microsoft Windows Vista, and the gaining popularity of the Mac, more and more people are looking for alternatives to Microsoft's dominance. I've been using Linux regularly for about six years and I find it to be a worthy alternative. For me, it's more of a secondary machine, because I do rely heavily on Microsoft Office products, and other software that only works on Windows. But for an older machine to be used as a web browser, ftp server, and general file server, Linux works very well. The thought of running Vista with a recommended 2 gigabytes of ram seems a bit absurd to me considering I can run Linux pretty well with 1/8 of that (256 mb). Lastly, Linux just doesn't crash or need a reboot. With Windows XP, my computer doesn't really crash, but after a week or so, it does start to act strangely, and a reboot is needed. Linux users pride themselves on having systems that haven't been rebooted in months if not years. So, if you're curious about Linux, or just fed up with Microsoft, take a look at Ubuntu, or other Linux distributions, and see if it's right for you. Linux has slowly become more and more user friendly for the regular user, and not just something used by ultra technical guys anymore.
Some other popular distributions that you could try are:
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