The document discusses the benefits of switching from Windows to Linux. It outlines that Linux is free, open source software that is more secure and stable than Windows. It has fewer crashes and viruses. The document describes popular Linux distributions, how to install Linux, desktop interfaces like KDE and GNOME, software options for productivity, multimedia, and gaming. It promotes Linux as a powerful alternative to Windows that offers freedom from vendor lock-in and legal issues.

1. Using Pirated copy of Operating System??? Busy to remove Viruses??? Problem with Unknown Application???

2. It's time! Kiss the Blue Screen of Death. Say "Goodbye" to Windows crashes, viruses, hassles, & ohh! yah costs! Moving to Linux

3. Welcome to Linux Linux is a clone of UNIX. It was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 What is Linux Linux is a kernel, the brains or control center of a collection of software packages, usually referred to as a Linux distribution.

4. The GNU GPL Linux is distributed under the GNU General Public License. in essence, the GPL says that anyone may copy, distribute, and even sell the program, so long as changes to the source are reintroduced back to the community and the terms of the license remain unaltered. Free means that you are free to take Linux, modify it, and create your own version. Free means that you are not at the mercy of a single vendor who forces you into a kind of corporate servitude by making sure that it is extremely costly to convert to another environment. If you are unhappy with your Linux vendor or the support you are getting, you can move to the next vendor without forfeiting your investment in Linux. In other words, "free as in speech", or simply "freedom".

5. What do you gain? No operating system will ever be perfect, but Linux is getting pretty close. With Linux, you'll gain : Better Security Increased Stability Power from your OS Money (saved!) Freedom from legal hassles

6. What do you lose? Hardware and peripheral support Some hardware is designed to run exclusively with Windows (eg: Winmodems). Linux developers continue to work on drivers Shrink-wrapped software. Hot new games or popular packages may not be available at your local software store. Still, thousands of packages exist for Linux a click away. A step into the unknown. Learning curve . Even moving from 95 to XP will take some retraining.

7. What about support? Corporate support through large vendors like Red Hat, SuSE, Mandrake, HCL, IBM, HP, and others. Worldwide community support : IRC chats, Linux User Groups, mailing lists Linux Documentation Project http://www.tldp.org HOWTOs, man pages, books etc. Linux technical support " among the best "

8. Getting Linux encourage you to use free and open source software, improve it and pass it on. Is Linux really FREE? TANSTAAFL (Robert A. Heinlein) A free download will still cost you connection time on the Internet, disk space, time to burn the CDs, and so on. "Free as in speech" "Free as in beer" Distributed under the GPL

9. Online Sources : www.linuxmint.com/download.html www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download.html www.mandriva.com/en/download.html www.novell.com/linux/download_linux.html www.linux.org/dist/download_info.html www.redhat.com/apps/download/ www.linux.com/download_linux/ Getting Linux

10. Installations Modern Linux distributions are even easier to install than Windows. Most will repartition your drive automatically or resize it to allow for a Linux/Windows dual-boot system. Answer a few questions, click Next a few times and you are running Linux

11. Disk Partitioning Setup : Automatically partition. Manually partition (with Disk Druid). By selecting Automatically partitions, you will not have to use partitioning tools to assign mount points, create partitions, or allocate space for your installation. Installations

12. By selecting Manually partition what you have to do: 1.Create “BOOT” partition minimum of 100 MB. 2.Create “SWAP” partition of minimum Double Size of your physical RAM. 3.Create “USER” as per need. 4.Create “ROOT” partition as per your Hard disk space. THAT’s ALL!!!! Installations

13. Latest and easiest technique to install Linux: Just download and install “Wubi” from http://wubi-installer.org/ in your Windows And the rest thing will be done automatically. “ Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that can bring you to the Linux world with a single click…..” Installations

14. Knoppix CDROM "Moving to Linux: Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye!" comes with a customized version of Klaus Knopper's excellent Knoppix distribution. Run Linux from the CD without installing it. But running from the CD is substantially slower than running from an installed Linux. “ Feel free to copy and redistribute the CD”

15. Using Linux Original Linux Kernel uses Command Line Interface CLI ( Command Line Interface ) Universal Interface ( Administrative tool ) Hard to learn GUI ( Graphical User Interface ) Looks different on each version of linux All are great customizable desktop’s with good looking desktop Easy to adopt and control by users Easy controls and applicable tools Easy use of Multimedia contents Great opensource GUI applications available.

16. The command line Common environment available in all distributions. Works about 95% the same in all distributions.

17. CL Interface is not new ! Windows The DOS Prompt Linux The BASH Shell

18. Desktop Options KDE (K Desktop Environment) mature, friendly, integrated, and slick east to use first choice for new desktop users GNOME (GNU Network Object Model Environment) also very nice with GNOME 2 releases

19. GNOME Desktop A Linux graphical user interface

20. KDE Desktop A Linux graphical user interface

21. Today many business environments are commonly using Linux servers to provide their Networking Services. Network Services are all available And most are inbuilt Shared network locations for file sharing Network Printing Mail Web Proxy DNS DHCP FTP Firewall NETWORKING

22. Desktop applications Linux also has many applications available and ma ny of them are inbuilt applications. Word processing (OpenOffice, Koffice) Programming (C, C++, Perl, Python, Java, PHP) Graphics (GIMP) Web browsers (Mozilla, Konquerer) Email (Evolution, Mozilla, KMail) Audio (amarok) Games (MAME) See http://sourceforge.net for lots of opensource software All available as opensource applications.

23. Desktop Customization KDE is 3D customizable icons, fonts, colors, backgrounds, window decorations, themes, sounds, etc desktop can be themed to suit any personal tastes or to adhere within a corporate look and feel.

24. Working with Hardware When purchasing hardware in a store, always ask whether it runs with Linux -- even if you already know. It lets retailers know that there is indeed a Linux market out there. Use the "kinfocenter" command to check out your system's hardware. lspci and lsusb can be used at the command line to identify PCI and USB hardware.

25. Internet Access Linux supports pretty much every form of network access: Dial-up through Kppp or wvdial. Cable modem connections through dhcp. ADSL Modern distributions provide wizards for getting you connected, like Mandrake's Drakconf tool or SuSE's YaST2.

26. Instant Messaging & Electronic Mail Linux Instant Messaging clients support many protocols and networks : Gtalk, Yahoo!, MSN, Jabber, ICQ, AOL,etc. Linux provides different packages for E-mail like Kmail, Evolution, Sylpheed, Mozilla, and more

27. Updates by Distribution Red Hat Linux up2date Mandrake urpmi / Mandrake Update (or through drakconf) SuSE Online Update through YaST2 Debian apt-get

28. Openoffice Many companies are now using linux on their desktops as their Office productivity suite : Openoffice supplies the following inbuilt applications Writer = word processing Calc = spreadsheets Impress = slide show’s Base = database

29. Image Manipulation The GIMP is an amazingly powerful image manipulation package (similar to Adobe PhotoShop)

30. Multimedia Modern Linux distributions offer an impressive selection of programs to satisfy your cravings for the multimedia experience. These include : Mixers Audio players CD players, rippers, and burning tools Video conferencing Video and DVD players

31. Playing Music For CD's, look at KsCD. For MP3 and OGG files, XMMS and NoAtun. XMMS and NoAtun are slick, skinnable, and feature many visual and audio plugins.

32. Watching Movies Many options including Dragon Player, Mplayer, xine, and Ogle. Watch video clips, DVDs, etc. Mplayerplugin and Kmplayer lets you integrate mplayer into your browser.

33. Playing Games There are tons of games available for Linux. Several will be installed as part of your KDE setup. And again with GNOME.

34. Windows Flavours

35. Linux ends the monopoly…

36. Linux Flavours

37. I hope you've enjoyed this little tour of Linux and the Linux Desktop. With all the power, stability, security, fun, and flexibility at your command . . . Linux: The future computing! The Future By GROUP-8 Debojit Roy – H66 Sritanu Das Mahapatra – H57 Abhisek Sahu – H3 Krishnakant Pandey – H25 Biswajit Ghosh – H12 © 2009 AIMS PGPM-H08