I am very interested in trying out Linux. I have researched a little bit and found that a LiveCD would be a good idea. What do you guys think? If I use a LiveCD what would be a good distro? Also, how would I go about using a LiveCD? Thanks in advance.

Knoppix would be good to start. But keep in mind that distros are different, so you might want to test different ones.

Just download the image of the live cd, burn it, then boot from it. It will not install but boot directly from the cd. Note that this result in slow startup times , but its just for testing, right ;-)

Quote: I have researched a little bit and found that a LiveCD would be a good idea.

Indeed, it is. If you eventually adopt Linux as your main OS it is always a good idea to have a LiveCD on hand to rescue data, modify core files, or help perform a dozen other tasks that involve saving your Linux system, should it fail.

Quote: If I use a LiveCD what would be a good distro?

Most distros now come with a LiveCD to test out their specific features, but I'd recommend either Knoppix or PCLinuxOS, as both are known for their excellent hardware support and detection.

Quote: Also, how would I go about using a LiveCD?

It's simple - after burning the ISO image to a disk, stick it into your CD-ROM drive and reboot. You need to ensure that your BIOS can a) boot from a CD and b) is configured to boot from the CD before the harddrive. After boot you'll typically end up with a small terminal prompt that allows you to choose which kernel you'd like to use, and which options you'd like to pass to the kernel.

A LiveCD is an excellent way of trying out Linux. It's not a totally accurate experience - speed of CD drive etc., but close. Particularily if you're using x86 (LiveCD's for Macs etc are rarer) it's a convenient and hassle free way of trying Linux.

I'd recommend Knoppix, in my experience, it just works. Using a LiveCD is very easy, on any reasonably recent machine, put the CD in the drive, reboot your computer.

That is assuming it's set in the BIOS, to boot from CD, before hard disk (most are). I think the minimum for Knoppix is 128MB of RAM, but more is better. I don't think most LiveCDs include drivers for nVidia or other recent 3D cards due to licensing, although they are available, so don't expect accelerated 3D graphics.

Thanks for explaining it. I got SLAX running last night(I downloaded it instead of Knoppix cause it is a lot smaller.)

I was going to recommend Slax but I guess it's too late, I do prefer Slax to Knoppix, I think it runs faster on my system (384MB, 1.8GHz).

It's also a good introduction to the world of Slackware :)

I have to recommend ubuntu. It has a great package manager and it's very easy to use if you're coming from windows but don't get me wrong it's also great for advance users. It comes with gnome and doesn't install 3 different browsers, 5 different e-mail systems, and 5 different text editors like other distros.

I tried Ubuntu, but when I boot it up it works fine until it says starting Ubuntu, then I get this box that says Out of Frequency Range, and it just stays there. Anyone know how to fix it?

Quote: I get this box that says Out of Frequency Range

That box is your monitor(not the Linux) saying to you that the refresh rate (horizontal and/or vertical) that has been set is higher than it supports (behind that the Linux probably started up and is working ok but you cannot see it)

Dunno how to fix it cause I've never tried any Linux but if you could reduce the screen resolution before that point you could work your way out

Quote: Original post by rsulli55
I am very interested in trying out Linux. I have researched a little bit and found that a LiveCD would be a good idea. What do you guys think? If I use a LiveCD what would be a good distro? Also, how would I go about using a LiveCD?

Thanks in advance.

I personally like Knoppix. To use it make sure your BIOS is set so that it can boot from a CD or DVD drive (usually it tries to boot from the first one on the IDE chain). Then just insert the CD and reboot. Knoppix should come up. I am still amazed at the number of applications they were able to sqweeze on a CD.

Edit:
The slowest machine I've every attempted to run Knoppix on was Pentium 3 450MHz with 128MB Ram, which was able to run it just fine.

[Edited by - prh99 on July 26, 2005 3:38:28 PM]