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Get Linux

Sun, 05/31/2009 - 17:59 | by Anonymous Coward
If you have any blank CD-R's around, you can burn a copy free.

You couldn't have picked a better time to get started! Linux is easier than ever. Thanks in part to funding, but more importantly thousands of dedicated developers around the world.

Linux easy w/ Wubi-Installer

Windows Users: Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that can bring you to the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe way. Check out Wubi-Installer.

UNetbootin: Linux for thumbdrives

Windows Users: Allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for a variety of Linux distributions from Windows or Linux, without requiring you to burn a CD. Check out UNetbootin.

Alternative: Ship-it (Free Ubuntu CD!)

Ship-it will mail you a linux CD free. Create a ship it account or login to your ship it account.

Some popular distributions

  • Ubuntu -- Website - Screenshots - Debian-based Linux distribution, specializes in desktop as well as server. Takes packages upstream from Debian unstable. Release every 6 months.
  • Archlinux -- Website - Screenshots - Minimalist Linux platform, up to date packages, uses 'pacman' package manager with full support for depencies.
  • Fedora -- Website - Screenshots - Popular desktop distro. Community driven, redhat pulls packages from fedora to use in its enterprise release
  • CentOS -- Website - Screenshots - Popular server distro. Full binary (package) compatbility with RHEL (Redhat Enterprise Linux)
  • Debian -- Website - Screenshots - Popular, stable distribution. Uses apt package management system. Known for it's *long* wait times on releases. Makes for a very secure selection for servers.
  • Knoppix -- Website - Screenshots - Portable version of Linux
  • OpenSuSE -- Website - Screenshots - Community-driven version of SuSE
  • Slackware -- Website - Screenshots - Volkerding's age old, stable linux release. As of 2009, rumor is 64-bit release available next release..
  • Gentoo -- Website - Screenshots -- Uses a port (BSD-like) package management system. Is historically known for letting users compile their distribution from scratch with the help of CFLAGs and automation scripts.