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i have never used linux based operating systems.

so any one can tell me which os i should install in my pc as am new to linux

Good question!! I'd like to know that as well!

the short easy answer would be Ubuntu, it's probably the best linux distribution to start on and you'll probably have no reason to change to any other distro, but don't try to get away from Windows too quickly as it is a good environment for work and play.

It's user-friendly atleast. I plan on getting my own comp soon, and I'd like it to have a winXP/Unix dual OS. Windows because it's what I'm used to, and a Unix to learn hacking with.

What are the minimum specs I should look for if I do go that route?

Codex as always you have the right answer

but because I love linux I think you don't need windows a lot

I'm leaving free since about a year but I don't need windows that much because I don't play and don't use DVDs to watch movies although if you want you can make linux do those stuff too but it needs some work

anyway for using Linux (as Codex said I think Ubuntu is the best to start with and maybe you will consider Back Track in a very advanced stage although it's based on Debian now) you need to install it and play with it and you have google and ubuntu forums but reading books is always a great way to learn

good luck

You can get Ubuntu's minimum system requirements here, it's not much as 1GB of RAM is easy to come by and fairly cheap - you could get 2 or 4GB if you wanted if you want to have lots of things running at once such as browser tabs and other applications. As for hard drive space they recommend 15GB of space for a 5GB root and 10GB home directory (for your stuff) but they miss out the swap space which would probably be 2GB on top, the rest of your hard drive you can use for a windows C:\ & D:\, if your anything like me you'll want about 100GB+ on C (maybe the rest of a hard drive) and a separate hard drive for D (like 1TB) so you can store all sorts of stuff, but if you want to keep cost down at first you could probably fit all of this on a 160GB hard drive but if your getting a prefabricated computer you'd probably get twice that even on a laptop. You can't go too wrong with the processor, 1GHz+ for Ubuntu and windows XP can get on with 300MHz (0.3GHz) but it depends on what operating system you go for. It's worth getting a slightly better CPU so it doesn't have a hard time coping with what you do, over here you can get all of this and more for £300-400.

You don't necessarily have to get a new computer for linux, you could buy or get an old thrown away one that isn't too old and install linux on it to play with maybe upgrading some hardware if you have to and know what your doing, this is the cheapest and cheeriest option as a lot of people have old computers to get rid of and you only want to play with linux it's a great choice.

my laptop is:

512 MB ram
64 MB ram (video card)
1.85 processor
30 GB hard drive

and it runs (ubuntu 9.10 Gnome) like a charm

and I love it

so playing with linux isn't that expensive

good luck!

Ok. I'll have my uncle check the specs you mentioned when he moves nearby next week. That's as close as I can come for the moment to getting my own fully-functional computer.

I'll let you know when/if I have any questions!

+1 for ubuntu

Once you start using linux long enough, you'll slowly but surely migrate over to Gentoo (probably by way of ArchLinux or similar) but really there's no hurry. Ubuntu's a fantastic distro.

xD cool. I'll keep that in mind.

Sorry for being away so long, hectic around here in the past few months, what with my uncle and his family moving in. >.^

But yeah. Luckily, he has the latest Ubuntu on disk and all I need is a laptop for it. I'm hoping to get one for christmas or after newyears during all the sales. (and people selling x-mas gifts on ebay for cheap xP)

Gentoo was one of my considerations when I was looking at which distro to start on. Went with Ubuntu, which has been treating me well. Learning lots with it. I hopped back and forth between windows and ubuntu for about a year and then finally went full into ubuntu when my windows got some malware. Been a couple months now without windows and I can't say I'm missing it.