question

[Albert Sten-Clanton]

There's also Vinux, which gives you speech when you boot it up without your
having to do anything special.  I believe the link to it is

<http://www.vinux.org.uk>

Al 

-----Original Message-----
From: speakup-bounces at braille.uwo.ca [mailto:speakup-bounces at braille.uwo.ca]
On Behalf Of Frost
Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 9:40 PM
To: speakup at braille.uwo.ca
Subject: Re: question

On Wed, Dec 01, 2010 at 04:36:44PM -0600, Adrián Mena wrote:
> Hi my name is Adrian, I am writing from Costa Rica.
> My question is that I use Windows but I am very interested in changing 
> to Linux. However, I do not know how and where to start.

	Well, Linux is a very powerful operating system, which unlike
Windows, which controls everything for you, you can control everything of
what Linux does.  That control takes knowledge and experience.  I would
recommend downloading what is called a "Live! CD," which is a special CD
designed to run in computer memory, leaving your hard disks alone.  You
simply start up the computer with the disk in the drive, type a few special
commands, and the CD will load into memory and begin talking.  Many
distributions or "distros" have accessible Live! CDs which you can download
and burn.  Arch, Debian, GRML, and Ubuntu are currently the most popular,
listed in alphabetical order.  Try them all or try just one.  Linux is
essentially Linux, but each distro provides their own initial configurations
and software management.  
Configurations and software management is where a distro will either shine
or not.  Debian and Ubuntu, for instance, use the dpkg package management
system, and it's a powerful one.  With dpkg, you can easily update and
upgrade your entire computer software library and make it current and as
bug-free as it can be with two simple commands.  You can write the two
commands in a script and call them with one simple command.  In Linux, it's
all up to you..

	Imagine Windows as a McDonald's drive-thru.  You go up to the
window, order what's available from the menu, and get what you order.  
Linux is more like a fully equipped kitchen with a recipe book, and all the
cookware you need to make anything you desire, plus many pre-packaged meals
that have already been prepared, such as Linux's version of Open Office and
the Firefox web browser.

	The GUI has already been prepared and populated with the most
popular software, and you may need to do nothing more than install the
operating system.  There are many installation HOWTOs available on the net
which you can read.  Just Google something like, "Debian installation guide"
or "how to install Ubuntu."  Here on the list, Mike has even created an
audio mp3 howto on installing GRML, though his English accent is as thick as
peanutbutter. <ducks> (Just teasing.) Anyway, instructions for starting up
the Linux installation program is usually found right on the disk in the doc
or documentation directory, sometimes along with the installation manual
itself.  Commonly, tools like the lynx web browser and the irssi IRC program
will be available to access the internet if you get into trouble during the
installation, and you can access either the distro's website, or go to
irc.freenode.net and chat with the experts.

	As you gain experience in linux, you may find yourself reinstalling,
reconfiguring and repartitioning everything many times over, until you're
sure you have everything set up just the way you like, or you may just say
"to hell with all this" and just hit "Enter" 
at every prompt and let the gurus who wrote the installation program, set
you up with a basic setup and leave it at that.  If you get into the command
line and away from the GUI, Slackware's "Slackbook" is a good manual to
read, to familiarize yourself with the most useful of the command line
programs.  Myself, I use the command line.  Mutt for mail, irssi for IRC,
edbrowse and links2 for the web, and mpg123 for playing my mp3's.  I use my
PDA for reading my 3000-plus ebook library, as I have yet to find a command
line program that will read a text file to me without user feedback for
every page/screen.

	Anyway, download and burn one of the many available CD images and
give linux a look-over, or jump on one of the IRC chat sites like
irc.freenode.net and talk with the experts.  Myself, I chose Debian, because
I believe it has the most powerful software management capabilities, and the
#Debian chat channels are the most quietest ones out there, with fewer
people asking "How do I do such-and-such."  In my experiences, most of it
has already been done in Debian, so there's no real need to ask. <winks>
HTH,

				Michael

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