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Save Money by Installing Ubuntu Linux
Linux is without a doubt the operating system of the future. First and foremost, the cost of Linux is free and this can save money for many people and businesses. It is also an extremely secure operating system which is virtually immune to spyware, viruses, trojans and malware. The Linux operating system also is very reliable, works on old and new computers alike, and has a huge support network all over the internet. To understand what Linux is, you must first know that it is basically an open source (free to copy) kernel. The kernel is basically the engine of Linux. There are many groups and businesses alike that build the operating system around this kernel. Some of the well known groups and companies are Ubuntu, Red Hat, Debian, Gentoo, and Slackware. There are many more "flavors" of Linux than these however. The easiest way to transition somebody from Windows computers is probably by having them install Ubuntu Linux. This type of Linux has an immense support network and is very user friendly. All you have to do is simply download the latest version of Ubuntu Linux for free, burn it to a CD-ROM disk, and boot off the CD. The install process is very straight forward from there. Here are some pointers on having a smoother install. 1. To burn the Ubuntu Linux to a file, you must select "Burn ISO" on your CD-ROM software. If you need software capable of burning an ISO file, download imgburn. What this basically does is extract everything from the ISO file and creates a CD. 2. To boot off your CD-ROM drive (rather than your hard drive with Windows installed), you will need to go into your BIOS. Most computers when you first start them say something to the nature of "Hit DEL to enter setup" (or in many cases F2). Whatever you computer asks for enter the setup. The setup menu is most properly called the BIOS. From here you want to arrow key around the menus until you find the section that says "Select boot device" or "Boot device priority". You want to make sure that your CD-ROM drive with your Ubuntu CD that you burned is the 1st boot drive. 3. You will begin to see your computer booting off the drive. From here you can either test Ubuntu Linux just to see how it looks without changing anything on your computer, or you may just go ahead and install it. You will want to make sure that you backup anything from you Windows operating system before you install Ubuntu Linux because it will wipe out & format your drive. There are advanced methods where you can dual boot your drive from a menu, but I'm trying to keep these steps simple. 4. Go through the menu system. When you are partitioning your drive the easiest thing you can do is to select "Use entire disk". Don't worry all the steps are very simple to understand. 5. Once you have the Ubuntu Linux operating system installed you will want to be sure that you can get on the internet. Most people use DHCP services with their network so it will be all ready to go. Be sure that you go into the system administration menu and look at the hardware drivers to see if it detects a better driver for your video card and also check the administration menu for updates. If you have any problems remember to do searches on the internet for solutions. Most problems are very simple fixes in Linux. More than likely you'll have a very clean install and wonder why you didn't do this sooner. It's nice to save money and not need a virus scanner, not have viruses or spyware, and to ditch Windows isn't it?
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