Help with distro

rejenzu

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Hi everybody,

i'm new to Linux and i'm trying to find out what distro to use.

I've been reading a lot of treads here, and the questions just have increased, but i saw someone saying to be specifc when it comes to find the "perfect" distro, so here it goes:

I'm using a Dell notebook, 16GB Ram, 2GB Video, i'm at college doing computational science, and i've had never programming until i get here, and i'm really enjoying it, and i really want to learn to use linux and the uses of it, so i basically going to program on the distro, use IDEs, etc.

Can you guys please help me?

PS.: I'm sorry for any errors or if the text is a little bit confuse, english is not my mother language.
 


I suggest you install Virtualbox on your OS and try linux on it (Ubuntu, OpenSuSE, Fedora, Mint...). After you know what you want, install on hard disc
 
Hey there rejenzu - welcome to the forum!

I'll echo what @MacgyverPT suggested by trying out Linux (various distributions) on something like Virtualbox or on a live USB drive prior to jumping right in on your laptop.

Have you worked with virtual machines in the past at all? This will allow you to run your laptop how you do currently, but also have a Linux distribution running on it as well. You'd start up windows, then fire up the virtualbox application when you wanted to go into Linux.

Rob
 
I saw someone saying to be specifc when it comes to find the "perfect" distro
Hi @rejenzu, and welcome! Let me say first, there is no perfect distro! That is why there are over 300 active distros available. The challenge for a new user is to find the one that is best for you, for your likes and dislikes about how a computer should work and interact with you. So I will also echo @Rob and @MacgyverPT.... install VirtualBox in Windows, and then try out several different distros inside of VirtualBox. Your Dell has plenty of RAM and capability to do this.

Or, as @Rob said, you can put Linux on a USB flash drive and run it from that in "live mode".... so then you don't have to install anything at all in Windows. If you have a DVD drive, you can also put Linux on a DVD instead of USB, but USB runs a little faster usually.

If your laptop is fairly new (Windows 8 or newer).... then some Linux distros will have trouble booting on DVD or USB because of a couple of settings in the BIOS/UEFI firmware of the computer. But some distros will work fine... I think all of those that @MacgyverPT mentioned will boot up and work. But if you try some other distro and it doesn't work, just let us know and we'll tell you how to change those BIOS/UEFI settings.

Good luck, and welcome to Linux!

Cheers
 
and the questions just have increased

... and they will continue to increase :D

(あなたは)にほんじんですか。

(Wizard appears in a puff of smoke, trips over his Kanji dictionary, uses hiragana instead)

I would only add to @MacgyverPT 's Post above, and agreeing with all above, that between using Virtualbox and installing, you can use the "Live USB/DVD" as an opportunity to test that your sound, wifi, and printers work (are detected).

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
BTW I use 40 Linux at a time, so am likely to have onboard what you might try ;)
 

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