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LINUX is another Operating System, like Windows, but the essential difference is that it is FREE
This is my Linux Netbook:
HISTORY : For many years big computers have run with an operating system called Unix. Around 15 years ago a young Finn called Linus Torvalds decided to use his programming skills to adapt Unix to a new version which would be Open Source. It would be free of charge and the code would also be open to anyone with the skills to adapt it and add their own variations. As a result there are many versions of the original Linux. However, about six have gravitated to the top in popularity and it is recommended that you stick to one of these. Their names are Ubuntu, Fedora, Open Suse and DSL (Damn Small Linux). The Acer One Netbook comes with another version called Linpus.
Apart from cost there are a number of other advantages which Linux has over Windows. All of the versions take up much less room on a computer hard disk (and can even be run from a CD or USB key) and are a great deal less demanding of processing power. This means that they run satisfactorily on slower, older machines with small hard disks. Another advantage is that they are not so prone to getting viruses.
But is Linux anything like as powerful and 'friendly' (easy to use) as Windows ? My first impression, when I obtained a netbook, was that it was a great deal simpler to set up. Many programs had already been installed or were a part of the Operating System. Within half an hour I was able to connect to the internet (wirelessly or by cable), send emails, do Google searches, import photographs, play music and videos, and, because it came with Open Office installed, I could write Word compatible documents, run an Excel compatible spreadsheet or create a Powerpoint compatible file.
The Ubuntu disk that came from Computer Active would even take care of Partitioning your Windows hard disk so you could run both programs on a PC. It will also enable you to transfer things like pictures between the two and look at Windows files on the same machine. And there is a program called Wine from www.winehq.org that would even let you 'run many Windows programs'.
So, what were the problems ? My main difficulty was that, as Linpus is not as well known as Ubuntu or Fedora, there were fewer programs that seemed to want to download and install. I was able to get Picasa but that was about it, though it might have been a peculiarity of the Acer One netbook. I have not had a response from Acer on this problem. I would therefore recommend new users should go for Ubuntu**.
Nevertheless, for most people, the Linpus suite that was installed and ready to go, would be more than adequate and especially useful when packaged up in a small, light computer with reasonable battery life, and one which is capable of accessing wireless networks, where available, in restaurants, trains and 'planes or in private homes where the security password is accessible.
**Ubuntu is a Bantu word for a humanist philosophy. A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.
You can download a copy of the Ubuntu installer (690Mb) from HERE and you will see instruction on that page as to how to create a disk. See HERE They suggest getting cheap write once CDs for this purpose.
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