Which version of Linux?

[tell-me-more]

First of all, I must say a big thank you to VHG and Ethel, without whom I would not even have got to the stage of asking this question.

So, THANK YOU!

Full question to follow...

[badlad.biz]

Rather than trying to download and burn a cd why not go to your newsagent and buy a copy of Linux Mag. It will contain a DVD with at least one or more Linux distrubution.
http://www.linux-magazine.com/
I beleive that this month it contains Mandriva 2009 one, which runs directly from your dvd disk drive and its supposedly one of the easiest to install.

[fo3nix]

Well it's always a good idea, so I'd do it anyway.

But the idea behind the live CDs is that you can just try them out from the CD. When you're done, click the restart button on screen, and it'll ask you to take out the CD and press the enter key. It'll then boot back into Windows as though you haven't even tried Linux.

So in theory, it won't touch the internal hard drive, so no need to back things up just for this purpose.

But if you do decide to install, it will use the internal drive, so do make a backup before starting.

Good luck!

[fo3nix]

badlad: that's all very well, but Mandriva isn't as popular as it used to be (and you want to use the most popular as a beginner, since you get the most support), and it's designed for more powerful machines.

The difference between Ubuntu and Xubuntu is GNOME to XFCE.

These are 'desktop environments' --- basically, the programs that display windows and icons and stuff on screen, and some programs to change settings, things like that. GNOME is good, but XFCE is specifically designed to be similar, but more lightweight, making it better for lower powered machines.

[tell-me-more]

Thanks Fo3nix. Do you use Ubuntu at all?

[tell-me-more]

The main obstruction at the moment is backing up jpegs and mpegs.

I've got 3Gb of mpegs that I ought to back up anyway. I'm looking for a cheap as chips, quick, simple way to back them up.

I have several memory cards with a capacity of about 4Gb, a digital camera and usb cable, and USB ports on both PCs. I don't have a card reader on either PC.

[tell-me-more]

Best plan so far is to copy 4Gb of mpegs onto a memory card via USB with the card in the cam, then copy them onto the other box via USB again.

Repeating this for all the files I need to back up is gonna take a while isn't it?

Could I download Xubuntu onto the new box, write it to a CD, then run Xubuntu from that CD on the old box without the need to back up everything?

[fo3nix]

Yes, I use a Mac and a netbook with Ubuntu. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask (either here or with new questions).

Backup: buy some blank DVDs and copy your stuff across to them. They're more reliable than USB flash drives, and store about 4GB each.

Xubuntu copying to CD on new box: yes you could do this, and it should be fine. It's just always good to make a backup anyway; it shouldn't be necessary though.

[tell-me-more]

Thanks Fo3nix.

My dilemma, if that's the right word, is caused by not having a DVD player on the old box. That has a CD writer but nothing in the way of DVDs.

I guess my best option for backing up the files on there would be to save them all to CDRs. :(

[fo3nix]

Yea, CDRs.

Each will store about 700MB; they're also dirt cheap and far more reliable than flash drives.

[tell-me-more]

I tried downloading Xubuntu onto a CD (at long last) but I got a message saying I don't have permission to download the file, and I have to contact the administrator :(

I used the link I posted above.