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Windows has dominated the personal computer operating system market for the last 14 years. And with every new version of Windows Microsoft releases, it seems there's a higher price tag to go with it —just look at the retail prices for Windows Vista and you'll see what I mean. New versions of Windows often means an expensive hardware upgrade just to run the operating system, especially a memory upgrade.
But if you thought your options ended with back-grading to XP, think again. There's another operating system that's growing in popularity around the world and it's not Apple's Mac OS X.
It's called Linux and while it has had the reputation in the past of being the geek's alternative, Linux is quickly becoming a viable alternative to Windows for everyday users.
It is already appearing in PCs and notebooks from Dell as well as the little Eee PC from ASUS, but best of all, Linux is absolutely free. Yes my friends, it's fast, reliable and free.
There's an investment in time required, but the actual operating system is free and there's heaps of free support available via the Internet with Linux support forums offering world-class support and information springing up like weeds.
Welcome to Xubuntu Linux
There are dozens of different versions of Linux available and that's because Linux is a bit like a Lego set set — you can pick and choose the bits you want and leave out those you don't.
But if you've never tried Linux before, there are one or two versions, or distributions (that's short for distribution), that are perfect for beginners — they mimic things that Windows does and in many cases, can actually do them better.
The one we're going to look at is called Xubuntu. It's a spin-off of Ubuntu, the most popular Linux distribution to date, but I think Xubuntu is ideal for beginners, because it's almost the 'Windows 98' of the Linux world — it has a neat, user-friendly interface, but can happily run on older computers. So, if you have an older computer lying around, now's the time to flash it up and give it a coat of paint.
Try before you install
Unlike Windows, many of the Linux distributions, including Xubuntu, allow you to use them on an almost try before you install basis, meaning you can actually use the operating system direct from the installation CD without having to install anything on your computer's hard drive.
This special type of installation CD is known as a live CD, because the operating system is ready to go live on the CD — all you need to do is setup your PC to boot from the CD drive, load in the live CD, boot up and Xubuntu will start up.
It can take 2-3 minutes to finish booting. Not much longer than Windows Vista !
Your Windows hard drive remains intact. All you have to do to get back into Windows is to remove the CD, reboot and Windows will load as usual.
Some people always carry a Linux live CD with them so that if their Windows system breaks, they can at least boot into Linux and recover important files. In many cases they will be able to continue editing these files using applications like Open Office which comes bundled free with many Linux Live CD distributions.
However, Xubuntu is ideal if you have an old computer lying around and you'd like to learn and play around with Linux. It just needs a PC with a lO Gig hard drive and 256M of memory. If it has a 400MHz or faster processor, you're good to go.
Download your new operating system
The first thing you need to do is download the operating system, which you can do directly from the Xubuntu Web site. Just go to Google and do a search on Xubuntu 8.04 download. Alternatively search on Xubuntu Live CD.
This software is a completely free operating system that you download as what's called an ISO image, which just means the data of a CD stored as a single file. It's about 590M of download, but that's smaller than most similar versions. Your best bet is to set this up to download overnight if you're on dialup or low-speed broadband.
Once you have your ISO you will need to burn it to a bootable CD. Programs like Nero or Burn4free can help you there.
Setting up your PC
The last thing you need to do before giving Linux a go is to make sure your PC or notebook is ready to boot up from your CD-ROM drive. For the vast majority of PCs this will be the default setting, so the best bet is to try and boot the Xubuntu disk.
If the disk doesn't boot automatically when you restart, you'll need to check either the notebook or desktop motherboard manual to locate how to make the CD drive the first priority boot device. This involves getting into the CMOS or BIOS setup of the computer. If you're not sure about doing this, rope in a knowledgeable mate who can help you. At worst, your local computer shop should be able to set it up for you in about three minutes.
Linux is one of the best value downloads on the Internet. It can make an old PC useful again, help recover a Windows PC and comes with a bunch of powerful applications. You will find that for most Windows applications, there is a free Linux equivalent.
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