Hey guys. This is my first post on this forum. I wanted to try out Linux, but I know next to nothing about it, but I'm willing to learn.

First off, I have a Compaq Presario 6000 pre-built. How well would this computer run Linux?

#2 These are the programs that I run daily. I would like to know if any of them don't work with Linux.

Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla Thunderbird
Soulseek
Limewire
AOL Instant Messenger

#3 I listen to music a lot on my computer. Can Linux play .mp3 and .wmp songs?

#4 Can Linux read generic Windows files such as .txt, .doc, .jpg, ect.?

#5 In the near future, I am going to buy an MP3 Player (not an Ipod). From what I've read, it uses USB and you basically drag-and-drop files into it (Windows considers it a portable hard drive). It says it needs Windows SP1 or higher but I would like to know what you guys think.

Here's the product. w ww.iriveramerica.com/prod/hd/h10_20gb_blue.aspx# (remove the space)

#6 Will my Hewlett Packard OfficeJet Pro 1170Cse printer work with Linux?

These are my main questions for right now. If I think of more I will ask them. Thanks in advance.

I would say, basically, "yes" to all your questions. I don't know what Soulseek is, though.

The best way to find out is to try a live CD of a potential distro.
A live CD doesn't damage your hard drive. It runs completely from the CD and RAM, so you can test-drive Linux to see how it works with your computer.

Also, you may want to take this quiz:

http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/index.php

1. I'm not familiar with that particular system, but unless you have a computer with no RAM and obscure hardware no one has heard of, you should be fine.

2. If I'm not mistaken, firefox and thunderbird were made for Linux in the first place, so they're definitely fine. Limewire will work. AIM is a Windows program, but gaim (http://gaim.sf.net) works great for talking to people on AIM, MSN, ICQ, Yahoo!, etc. Haven't heard of Soulseek.

3. No problem with .mp3 files (take a look at beep-media-player). Wma's will play, but not if they use DRM (Digital Rights Management, the thing that controls what you can do with them when you download them from some software like Napster).

4. It might take a little while to get used to how Linux treats files. Basically, most things can be opened in a text editor, and extensions are irrelevant (you can name things however you want). Most text files in Linux don't have an extension (e.g. the README file in most source packages). Jpgs are fine with gimp or some other image viewing software. Docs are fine with OpenOffice.org.

5. I don't know about that specific model, but most devices like that can be made to work one way or another.

6. Take a look at www.linuxprinting.org

Thanks for the replies. Yeah Soulseek is a P2P program similar to the old Napster.

Could you go into a little more detail about Live CDs? I think I've read about them before. Don't you download Linux then burn it to a cd? Could you link me to a site that has directions?

And I took that quiz and got four "Perfect Matches":

Mandriva Linux
PCLinuxOS
Linspire
Xandros

Which would you guys reccomend?

Run a live-cd like Knoppix and find out if all your hardware is supported. There are several others but knoppix is the best IMHO.

I recently bought the iRiver player you are talking about. Although previous iRiver players had excellent support for linux, the H10's are designed to work with Windows and Windows Media Player. However, there is a open source project which specifically exists to make H10's work with Linux. Go to http://easyh10.sourceforge.net to find out more.

You can easily open text and picture files. Specifically for .doc format you can either use AbiWord, OpenOffice.org or KWord (comes with Koffice...and part of KDE Desktop Environment). OpenOffice.org by far does the best job of opening and saving in MS Word format.

Looks like your printer works perfectly under linux.

Tux,

Edit: Go to knoppix site and download the iso. Once you've downloaded, use nero or any other burning utility and burn it as an iso image (or cd image) and **not** as a data cd.

I'm downloading the ISO via BitTorrent. It's 11:00 PM where I live, so I'll work more with it tomorrow when it's finished downloading. Thanks again for all the help so far.

This page should have all the info you need about downloading and burning CDs:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...iewcat&catid=8

Considering the quiz gave me perfect matches after I'd already tried twelve distros and settled on two, I'd say go with Mandriva and PCLinuxOS. I'm not sure those two have live CDs, though (I'm not sure Xandros does, either). Do you have broadband (not dial-up) internet and a CD burner? If so, I'd download Knoppix (a general live CD) and try it out, play around with it. Then, if you think Linux is worth some more explanation, then you can download Mandriva and PCLinuxOS and see what you think about those.

> First off, I have a Compaq Presario 6000 pre-built. How well
> would this computer run Linux?
> #6 Will my Hewlett Packard OfficeJet Pro 1170Cse printer work
> with Linux?

Every distribution has their own hardware compatibility list (HCL).
Whichever distribution, you want, check out their list. A good
list can be found at

http://www.websamba.com/Linux_Docs_Links
-> hardwares
-> Hardware Compatibility

Sheng-Chieh

PCLinuxOS has a great LiveCd. And if you decide you like it you can install it very simply from the LiveCd.

Home, It is nice distro and a great one to start out with. The one drawback is that it is still Beta. The forum at PCLinuxOnline is a very helpful forum.

I stand corrected! Yeah, then, go ahead and try the PCLinuxOS live CD. That's probably a good place to start.

As a side note, PCLinuxOS is officially in a beta release, but I haven't found anything wrong with it, except that it's Mandrake-based (I prefer Debian-based myself)--though that's not really something "wrong"; it's just not for me.

http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/compaq.html

Is this a X6000 then see
"Suse Linux 9.3 on Compaq Presario X6000 Laptop "
http://jroller.com/page/kenlars99/20...e_linux_9_3_on

No 6000 there, but why not add it if you make it work?
http://tuxmobil.org/compaq.html

A happy camper with ubuntu on a 6000
http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-6191.html
Note that knoppix is indeed very good for HD detection
but you can also get a live demo of ubuntu to test you system

Did not mean to spoon-feed you google searches, but because
at the beginning there so many linux sites I still decided to post these above

Happy linux!

'hope I'm not repeating here, but nicotine is the linux version of soulseek. I use nicotine all the time to trade files with my soulseek buddies.

the distro chooser is a nice little thing. It keeps telling me i'm not experienced enough to use slackware (my favorite distro) and that i should stick with Mandriva or Kubuntu. Its a great place to start though and probably more acurate for the more normal people out there. I use my computer as a desktop/server... so i'm kinda weird.

This is from the front page of the quiz:

Please remember that this is not a scientific test, but a fairly "rough" test, to help aid newcomers in finding a distribution to use. We know there could have been more questions, tailored to more experienced users, but we have picked the ones we found most appropriate for newcomers.

We are planning on expanding this test to more experienced users as well.

The test currently includes these distributions: Fedora Core, Mandriva, SuSE, Debian, MEPIS, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Linspire, Xandros, Desktop/LX, PCLinuxOS, Yellowdog Linux, Gentoo and Slackware.

Please tell us if you want more distributions included!

That's why Slackware's not in there yet.

i guess i was just mad b/c everything says slackware is only good for servers and experts when it was the first thing i used. in truth, i had a linux expert (who gave me slack) help me through it all. also, i was a whiz at windows i could do most everything but registry (wnother reason i dont like GNOME... registries). that was the main reason i switched actually. windows was boring me and didn't look the way i wanted it to. if u have a friend help u through it great. especially if u can call them and have them come over. this forum helped tons too. the things i learned will carry over into the other distros i may try also. all i can say to a noob-to-linux is go for the more stable of those user-friendly ones. Debian is stable. therefore ubuntu/kubuntu is stable, etc. i use Knoppix (debian based) for saving my partition table quite frequently (i like to mess with important things like kernels for fun). only knoppix picks the old table corrupted. all i do is rewrite it and then fix the problem and reboot. i've heard slax is stable being slackware based, but knoppix is more popular.

those distros are live cds btw. keep one around for recovery.

hey aysiu, try including x86_64 stuff on the distro chooser. i know its kinda nice for people to fully use their 64 bit chips when they have 'em. plx add slamd64 and note its unofficial-slackness.