[Nottingham] Newbie intro

[danny]

Hi, i was new to linux several months ago....perhaps 5 now? cant remember and 
being 15 and not that experienced at anything other than windows (id played 
around with a shell before a tiny bit) i found it a little hard to move to 
linux, maybe i can give you some advice :)

before i say anything, noone flame me for suggesting nooby things, if you 
disagree then mail me and say so :)

> The Linux is SUSE 8.2.  If I can get it to talk to my Windows
> network and the networked printer and Internet connection...

SUSE isnt the best choice for a linux newbie in my opinion. Its a solid distro 
once youve got soem experience in linux but if you dont you will probably 
find it hard to maintain and setup.

i recomend mandrake for absolute newbies to linux, its what i started with 
(and still use on one computer) because its very easy to install, configure 
and maintain. It detects hardware, network and internet connections 
automaticly so no fuss there. There are many GUI apps that help you maintain 
the system with ease (Even though it can soemtimes be easier to use the 
console....command prompt...whatever you understand it as).

Also, another distro i came across jsut today seems pretty good for newbies. 
Its called ARK linux (not the zip program). Its officially still in alpha but 
its stable enough.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1455654,00.asp  <--- read :)

Ill be suggesting this distro to newbies at school without a doubt.

> Give me a fair few months and it might just
> replace Windows in the house entirely.

after a month (At the most) of running both windows and linux i got rid of 
windows. Been able to do all my homework on my computer using OpenOffice or 
Abiword most windows apps (including games) run okay on it (through 
winex3....a windows emulator). Havnt looked back since. If using msn 
messenger is a problem for your kids there are linux clients 
available...check out amsn.souceforge.net.

hope i helped a little
-- 
- Danny