I am interested in using Linux as the only OS on one of my computers. I will need to buy it, as my internet is too slow to download it. But I am confused by Linux. It seems like I would buy Ubuntu, because it seems to be the main Linux, so can anyone provide me with a link to a site that is selling Ubuntu for $5 or less?

Check http://www.osdisc.com.

I know that Fedora offers a Free Media program where they can mail you a free disk. Never did that, but I don't know if *buntu does the same.

You don't buy Linux, you get it for free. Ubuntu Linux is about a 600MB download for the desktop version, if I recall correctly, so if you're buying it, all you're paying for is the disk and the shipping. What sort of internet do you have that you can't download 600MB, even over a few days? Ubuntu is far from being the "main" Linux distribution, but it is one of the easiest for newbies / non-Linux-gurus to install and use.

The standard Ubuntu ISOs are really far from a 600MB download nowadays; in fact, they no longer fit in a CD (they are around 800 MB IIRC). Anyway, if you can't download the image for a Linux distro, then you're going to have a bad time installing updates - for example, on Ubuntu, the last time I installed it prompted me to download over 300 MB of updates right after installation.

Ubuntu used to give out free discs through the ShipIt program, but they seem to have stopped doing that. You could download one of the smaller ISOs, like the Minimal CD where you can choose which packages you want to download during installation.

Mint is a close derivative of Ubuntu, but you might be happier with its user interface (Cinnamon) than with that (Unity) of the newest Ubuntu versions.
It depends whether you prefer a computer that behaves like, well, what you're most probably used to, or an interface a bit more innovative (and quite a bit more buggy).

Don't buy it, that's silly. PM me you address and I'll send you a DVD.

O.K.
@Kerm: My internet is 3G mobile broadband - when it works. If it isn't working at the time, then it switches to 1X!!! Which it tends to do if it downloads large files. 1X is extremely slow, but data usage is the concern here. It costs me $10 a GB, so at about 700 MB, it would be cheaper to buy it on eBay, plus there would be less risk of the file being corrupted.
And I am very much a Linux-newbie.

@Merth: That would be very good of you! PM is sent.

Hmm, I would love Linux ^_^ never used it though

So download a LiveCD and give it a try! What's stopping you? And what features of the operating system attract you?

Uuuhhh...what's a live cd? What's stopping me is idk if I can keep windows as well, and I'm not sure what's attracted me, I've heard about it for years...I figured I need to try it. What's the ups and downs? I hear it's very versatile

A live cd is a bootable cd that doesn't store anything on your hard drive, and instead runs everything off of the CD and ram. A very convenient solution to trying linux out without actually doing a full plunge and installing it.

You can keep any other OS installation. Most likely, you'll go with ubuntu which comes with the GRUB installer. What'll happen is, that you'll want to partition your disk (splitting it, essentially) into one partition for the linux system, and the other partition for the windows system. Note, that you should always backup important data. After that, the installation will install GRUB which is a bootloader. This will allow you to boot into linux. When booting, there will be an option to boot into the windows boot loader instead.

This way, you can have both windows and linux at the same time.

Pros: I like how customizable it is. If I don't like something, I can go fix it.

Cons: It's not always as perfectly stable as I want. The kernel itself is pretty stable, but all of the other software packages that you keep adding onto it begin to make it less stable. Granted, that can happen with any computer. The deal is, though, if something goes wrong, and you can't figure out how to fix it, then you're usually left with google-ing around to find an answer. (Which isn't a bad thing, really)

Ok, so this live cd...I download the files? Do I burn them to a cd to load it or what? Because that made it sound like I have to order a disk

You download an iso image and burn it to a spare disk. You don't really have to order a disk, you can just go buy some blank ones at the store, and burn it.

Sweet! Will do, and in a few days I'll let all know how it went! Umm would using Linux theoretically help me with programming?

I'm not sure. I doubt that it will help you necessarily. I mean, you can learn a lot from it, and learn a lot about how computers work, but I'm not sure about it exactly making you a better programming. That's up to you, I'd say. If you choose to use it to be a better programmer, then I'd say the answer is yes.

It's certainly less overhead to get started with C programming, in my opinion, but the downside is that it's only really faster if you are already familiar with Linux. If you have to learn Linux while also trying to learn C, then the simplicity of running "apt-get install build-essential", typing up some source in vim, and then running "gcc -o mybin mysource.c" is going to soar a bit over your head.

yup I'm lost..c for now...still I'm going to try Linux at some point

First of all, thank you very much for the CD, Merth! I have received and installed it now. Thanks so much!

Second... now what? Mainly, how do I connect to the internet in Ubuntu if I have a USB Wi-Fi adapter??? And then:
How do I download programs I want?
How do I get it to play mp3s and midis?
Can I download different themes for it?

Thanks!

To begin with, plug it in: it ought to be detected as a network interface
Which make and model is it ?


Most *nix flavors, and especially Linux distros, have the concept of "packages": a single place, called package manager, enables you to download dozens of thousands of modular packages (often, multiple packages are necessary for a single program, but dependencies are handled by the packaging system) and their upgrades. It's very convenient.
As a comparison point: on Windows or MacOS X, you have to hunt for each individual package on the author's web site / on SourceForge / on Github / whereever, and programs bundle their own update checking code in each program. In most Linux distros, package maintainers do that for you.


There are dozens of players, but I'm not very familiar with the Gnome / Unity side of things. Banshee, perhaps ?
For now, you're unlikely to be happy with my own choice of music player: I do no longer use feature-packed GUI music players such as Amarok, I use simple players that execute in a terminal, such as moc ("mocp").


Sure, in fact you probably already have a number of them
It will probably be some form of appearance settings, in the menus and probably by right-clicking on the background of the desktop (like on Windows).