ok, its time for me to reformat my laptop! and im going to dual boot as i would care to gain some expiernce using linux, but however what distro im not sure, so im hoping that you would be able to point me in the right direction of which one to use. i was considering Ubuntu. Thanks!
Make sure you install windows first. Then, it's really up to you which distro you use. Ubuntu is good for beginners, and easy to install. I also like Debian.
If you want to learn something I wouldn't recommend Ubuntu. All things are automated and will 'just work'. A great learner Distro is Gentoo. It offers an enormous amount of knowledge and tutorials. It's handbook guides you through 99% of the install. If you also do the effort to understand what is happening, you have climbed the learning curve quite a bit after you finished the install. Just install Windows first
cool, i'll make sure i install windows first! shall i partion the drive when i install windows or do it after with a partion manager?
ok sounds good! i plan on doing this tomorrow afternoon/evening so i shall let you know how i get on!
If you want to really learn linux then go for Arch, yes it doesn't have any installed default apps or even a desktop the if you read the beginners guide you can have a full system with everything you could possibly need within an hour. Plus it will be at least twice the speed of Ubuntu but more importantly you will understand how linux works. If you don't care about learning linux and just wants something shiny then Ubuntu is as good as it gets.
im liking the idea of Arch. Just had a quick read over the beginners guide, looks like its got everything in it what im wanting to learn! so i think this will be my choice of distro!!
You won't be dissapointed, all the flexibilty of Gentoo but with faster system setup and the superb pacman system.
Actually, after installing Arch on my Eee after switching my desktops from Arch to Gentoo I found the installer a bit slow and clunky. I can get Gentoo installed in a similar amount of time. And also, pacman really sucks when compared to paludis. Pacman is a lot better than similar package managers like apt or yum, but it is still lacks some major features like package masking, and slotting.
Or the (still) default Gentoo one, Portage I'm an avid Apt and Portage user, but in terms of intelligence Apt == Fly, Portage == Hybrid Elephant-Dolphin
well i still haven't done it!! my Thursday night plan fell through mainly due to beer being offered by a mate so i got drunk instead, and been working every night since then so hopefully it will happen through out the week!
