I have a laptop running Vista. I bought Linux Redhat 7 at Goodwill. Should I install it?

Question

I also have a tower and was going to install Linux there. But I'm not so hot with my laptops performance and I'm sort of open to new stuff so I want to know if installing Linux might do me well. My laptop is primarily used for writing and internet research.

Please no answers like, "Yeah, Vista sucks!" looking for cogent help here.

Answer 1

Nah, not worth the trouble.  You'll have to figure out how to do everything you do on Windows on your new OS Linux. You only write stuff and surf.   Do you feel like learning how to set up your printer using Linux? Do you feel like learning how to set up your Internet connection on Linux? Believe me, you don't. And what if the re-install doesn't go so well?  Goodwill will not support you :)

Answer 2

vista sucks but no go download ubuntu for free its new best version of linux. http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Answer 3

Well, vista does suck. Your computer falls apart within months after isntalling it. There are so many flaws in the security compared to xp.

But then you have to weigh it all out. What do you use your computer for the most?

Linux is better than windows all depending what you're using the computer for. Linux is not as user friendly, and with my experience if you don't have a great connection it will slow down. But the programming on linux, I feel, is better than that of windows.

ALthough I don't know about redhat 7.. Think about how old it is. Newer computers can't handle certain OS's if they are too old. But it's worth a try. The worst that can happen (if you install and override properly) is that you will just not like it and switch back.

edit- sorry I seemed to skip over what you used your comp for the most. It shouldn't be a problem if you mainly use it for research and writing. Doesn't take much for the ocmputer to run that. Basic stuff. as far as not knowing what you're doing because you've never used linux before, they have plenty of books and plenty of forums on the internet to look into it.

Answer 4

I'm glad you're looking into using Linux.  I use it on one of my computers, and it's great fun. ;-)

Red Hat 7 is rather dated in comparison to modern Linux distributions; it came out even before Windows XP (which hit the streets in 2001), if that tells you anything.  So you won't have much luck running RH 7 on your new laptop.  Depending on how old your tower is, you might stand a chance of running RH on it.

Before you even get started with Linux on your laptop, though, I suggest you dig around on a Linux-for-laptops website like TuxMobil (http://tuxmobil.org ).  See if your laptop model is listed, and see what people are saying about running Linux on it.  Linux will definitely be unsupported by your manufacturer, so you're going to be in "on your own" territory.  The Internet is rich with forums and mailing lists where you can seek assistance, though, so you're not really losing anything.

That said, I recommend the Ubuntu distribution (http://www.ubuntu.com ) mostly because I'm the most familiar with it, and you can even order a CD for free (they'll even pay shipping & handling) from the maintainer.  (Said CD will take about six to ten weeks to reach you, assuming you're in the United States.)  You can also download a CD image to your laptop, provided you have a program for burning one to CD.  (Alex Feinman's ISO Recorder happens to run on Vista.  I think it's a shell extension, but I can't remember.)

The latest release of Ubuntu was five months ago, so you should have a relatively easy time of installing it on your laptop.  Ubuntu boasts the Firefox web browser by default, but there are others (Konqueror and Opera spring to mind) available if Firefox isn't your speed.  And the OpenOffice software that is also installed by default opens Microsoft Office and Corel WordPerfect documents, and does a good job converting them.

The world of Linux is big, sometimes confusing, and easy to get lost in.  Luckily there's a website that has reviews, articles, and a listing of the most popular distributions -- it's called DistroWatch (http://www.distrowatch.com ), and I recommend it to you.

At any rate, I hope your adventures with Linux pan out, and I hope you enjoy the journey.