Does anyone have any positive comments or input in regards to running other operating systems other than Microsoft?

I have used Fedora 14 for a while, and looking at maybe changing to a Debian based system like PCLinuxOS. Anyone used it?

I am not a computer geek, and cant do all the internal tweaking without a guide to follow. I am a Panel Beater, so I don't want to complicate my computer world. I am not an online gamer.

I do however believe in being in touch with my system LOL. I like using a free system that basically eliminates viruses, trojans, popups, adware, etc.

I don't know much either Pete...

probably less than You...lol

but I was having troubles when I bought this computer a couple of years ago and My Son suggested Mozilla Firefox...
so, I've been using it since...

with no problems..

He used to use Linux but He knows everything.. lol
He now has apple computers..

cheers

LEE

Currently using Ubuntu Studio 11.04 (a tweaked version of ubuntu for multimedia so to speak) on my laptop I take to uni
Um... currently backing my data to get ready for 11.10 which will use xfce desktop with awn dock
xfce desktop is slightly more light weight and I'm already running the dock on mine and I like it.

one thing I must say about it is that Flash plug-in for mozilla can consume quite a bit of resource due to adobe not fixing it or whatever.

with that said I'd probably recomend Ubuntu 11.10 which will release sometimes mid this month.
otherwise the Long Term Service version 10.04 should suffice.
In my small experience, Ubuntu has a lot of google result in whatever dilemma you may find yourself in.

i have using freespire and it works as good or better that windows just install and and go everything works wireless and dvd
i was using ubuntu 10 it was the same but ilike freespire good luck

I work in IT and still find Linux, unix, etc still difficult to use!

At work I use a Mac mainly now. So much faster and secure. Plus no anti virus slowing things down.

It's not free but a lot of people are installing it on non apple pc's. Search in google for hackintosh. You can buy a legit version of Mac osx for $39! BUT it may not work on some pc's. (like mine LOL)

I have had a little experiment with Ubuntu and found it easy to operate and loads quick, only thing for me was not being able to run microsoft office but that maybe was due to my inexperience. one thing with ubuntu is you can load it beside your existing operating system and if you dont like it it does not ruin your existing set up. just delete it and try something else

Let me just say...
Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu Ubuntu
ahem... with that said
as I've mentioned before ubuntu has vast google results for most problems
@Ampdub61 Ubuntu comes with alternative to MS Office : LibreOffice a spin off of OpenOffice which is pretty much MS Office 2003 in contrast but with more things
It is able to open .doc, .docx, ppt, pptx etc. files and save them so you can always changing stuff between them the only thing is the MS Font support.

when you install it along side your Windows OS you can access files in your Windows partition and such but not the other way around because windoze doesn't know EXT file systems.

I will look into Ubuntu systems a bit more. I know you can run live systems to trial before loading to your system, so that may be a good way to go. There are personal tweaks that we all prefer in different ways. I just love the fact there are no costs, and no viruses.

I have been using General Public Licence- OpenOffice for years now, so paying for MS Office is not something I would consider.

Peter,

The latest Ubuntu and Fedora both require decent video cards for the full effect. I have stuck with 10.10 on my home Linux VM as I can't run / don't like the heavy weight GPU requirements for the newer editions. However, if you have a fast GPU, I'd recommend Ubuntu. This forum runs on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS for example. Before that we used CentOS 5.0, which is basically Fedora 8 or 9 with server bits and bobs.

The other form of Linux you might want to try is http://www.linuxmint.com/  - apparently it's one of the easier distros to get going. It's based upon Debian like Ubuntu.

thanks,
Andrew

Helbus,
ubuntu is an elegant, light distribution of the linux OS which works efficiently even on lightly configured computers.

For me, with the vast majority of my clients on Windows, detailed compatibility is the one issue which keeps me running Windows on my main work desktop and laptop. For example, Open Office cannot cope with with complex MS Office Word documents with e.g. indices and tables of contents. For that reason alone, I've got the full licensed versions of the latest MS Office.

However, since you're already using Open Office, that's not an issue for you.

Leaving aside that detailed compatibility issue, I would be running ubuntu still, and it's not complex; any small Linux/ubuntu handbook will get you going.

hth

Yesterday was the official release day of Ubuntu 11.10
I'm downloading U Studio 11.10 ...