There's also Vinux, which gives you speech when you boot it up without your having to do anything special. I believe the link to it is <http://www.vinux.org.uk> Al -----Original Message----- From: speakup-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:speakup-bounces at braille.uwo.ca] On Behalf Of Frost Sent: Wednesday, December 01, 2010 9:40 PM To: speakup at braille.uwo.ca Subject: Re: question On Wed, Dec 01, 2010 at 04:36:44PM -0600, Adri?n Mena wrote: > Hi my name is Adrian, I am writing from Costa Rica. > My question is that I use Windows but I am very interested in changing > to Linux. However, I do not know how and where to start. Well, Linux is a very powerful operating system, which unlike Windows, which controls everything for you, you can control everything of what Linux does. That control takes knowledge and experience. I would recommend downloading what is called a "Live! CD," which is a special CD designed to run in computer memory, leaving your hard disks alone. You simply start up the computer with the disk in the drive, type a few special commands, and the CD will load into memory and begin talking. Many distributions or "distros" have accessible Live! CDs which you can download and burn. Arch, Debian, GRML, and Ubuntu are currently the most popular, listed in alphabetical order. Try them all or try just one. Linux is essentially Linux, but each distro provides their own initial configurations and software management. Configurations and software management is where a distro will either shine or not. Debian and Ubuntu, for instance, use the dpkg package management system, and it's a powerful one. With dpkg, you can easily update and upgrade your entire computer software library and make it current and as bug-free as it can be with two simple commands. You can write the two commands in a script and call them with one simple command. In Linux, it's all up to you.. Imagine Windows as a McDonald's drive-thru. You go up to the window, order what's available from the menu, and get what you order. Linux is more like a fully equipped kitchen with a recipe book, and all the cookware you need to make anything you desire, plus many pre-packaged meals that have already been prepared, such as Linux's version of Open Office and the Firefox web browser. The GUI has already been prepared and populated with the most popular software, and you may need to do nothing more than install the operating system. There are many installation HOWTOs available on the net which you can read. Just Google something like, "Debian installation guide" or "how to install Ubuntu." Here on the list, Mike has even created an audio mp3 howto on installing GRML, though his English accent is as thick as peanutbutter. <ducks> (Just teasing.) Anyway, instructions for starting up the Linux installation program is usually found right on the disk in the doc or documentation directory, sometimes along with the installation manual itself. Commonly, tools like the lynx web browser and the irssi IRC program will be available to access the internet if you get into trouble during the installation, and you can access either the distro's website, or go to irc.freenode.net and chat with the experts. As you gain experience in linux, you may find yourself reinstalling, reconfiguring and repartitioning everything many times over, until you're sure you have everything set up just the way you like, or you may just say "to hell with all this" and just hit "Enter" at every prompt and let the gurus who wrote the installation program, set you up with a basic setup and leave it at that. If you get into the command line and away from the GUI, Slackware's "Slackbook" is a good manual to read, to familiarize yourself with the most useful of the command line programs. Myself, I use the command line. Mutt for mail, irssi for IRC, edbrowse and links2 for the web, and mpg123 for playing my mp3's. I use my PDA for reading my 3000-plus ebook library, as I have yet to find a command line program that will read a text file to me without user feedback for every page/screen. Anyway, download and burn one of the many available CD images and give linux a look-over, or jump on one of the IRC chat sites like irc.freenode.net and talk with the experts. Myself, I chose Debian, because I believe it has the most powerful software management capabilities, and the #Debian chat channels are the most quietest ones out there, with fewer people asking "How do I do such-and-such." In my experiences, most of it has already been done in Debian, so there's no real need to ask. <winks> HTH, Michael _______________________________________________ Speakup mailing list Speakup at braille.uwo.ca http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup
