Free monitor? And linux question.

[Redan]

I have a couple of questions.

First off; has anyone seen this web site {that gives out free flat screens}

It looks like it give you a free flat screen by doing a lot of leg work advertising for someone, but has anyone had any experience that indicates that this or the free iPod thing are for real? I would be curious to see if it actually is on the up and up.

Also, I have a question regarding linux. I have a friend that is wanting to start using Linux and I have to be his installer and whatnot because I know a lot more about computers than he does.

Problem is, I don't know hardly anything about Linux and was wondering what is the best distribution to use for a beginner? What is the easiest to install? The one that resembles windows the most?

Also, will Linux support all the intergrated stuff (video, sound, network are all intergrated) that are on the motherboard? The motherboard is an ASRock K7S41GX.

Thanks for anyones response on either of those two things!

-Ren

{Ngreth - Sorry no advertising for the other site, especially since there was referer information there...}

[Itek]

Caveat Emptor... or whatever. (buyer beware) Anything you get "for free" is probably worth what you pay for it. And doing advertising for other people.... shudder. Figure the monitor is worth 200 bucks. Then figure how many "big stack of 'coupon-style' flyers" you could buy with that. (read: a lot) Hopefully you know the ones I speak of. They come in the mail in a big blue envelope and 99% of them have zero interest but you have to shuffle them all to find the one or two that you might actually use.

There is a reason people choose telemarketing. It's got a better return than blind mailings. So if someone was going to give you 200 bucks worth of stuff they will probably want more return than 200 bucks worth of telemarketing. At 8 bucks an hour for the guy on the phone, rounded up to 15 bucks an hour for company, thats 13 hours on the phone give or take. Most places like you to get 1 to 2 "sales" an hour to keep your job. Think you can get 20 people to buy a flatscreen (do they mean flat SCREEN or flat PANEL ... huge difference) in your spare time?

I've often wondered just how much an hour begging at the off-ramp pays. My guess is one car in 20 gives a buck. So 4000 cars would give 200 bucks.

Now, as for Linux. If your friend has LESS experience with computers than you do....

DO NOT, I repeat for clarity, DO NOT give them a Linux install. Linux is NOT a user operating system. If you aren't a Unix sysadmin or sysadmin wannabe... you don't want, and can't handle, the headaches of a Linux system.

Ok, ignore my advice, it's your migraine.

I would suggest any "commercial" distribution of Linux. Red Hat is fairly well known and I've seen it in Staples. You get a bootable floppy/CD and it works with most major (read: buy it in Fry's Electronics) boards, processors, HDs, CDs, etc.

The documentation is straightforward and installation of a basic kernel is easy.

From here the nightmare begins.

1) What customization of the kernel do you want. (If you do not know what a kernel is, what a kernel does, what you want to do with the kernel STOP NOW and return the software unopened.)

2) What Xwindows manager software do you want to use?

3) None, repeat NONE of the Linux versions function remotely close to M$ Windows without Xwindows and a decent window manager. Then how closely they resemble M$ Windows is a matter of YOUR customization.

4) With the exception of "Star Office" there is virtually NO support for M$ compatible software for Linux. Back in the day there was a project called "wine" (for WINdows Emulator) which has pretty much died. (I believe that the major people on the project started getting calls about lawsuits.)

5) Star Office does NOT equal M$ Office. Anyone who tells you different is a) riding to school on the short bus, b) blowing sunshine up your skirt, c) a Linux TRUE BELIEVER, d) selling software with no regard for truth, e) more than one of the above. It's simply not 100% compatible. If you expect it to be you will find yourself to be mistaken at the most horribly wrong moment. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

6) If having read all that you still decide to install Linux I hope you grow to love it. It's wonderful. It's like buying a car. In a kit. With a full auto-shop included. Now you can build a custom car exactly to fit you and do everything you can dream for it to do. Just don't expect anyone else to be able, or want, to ride with you.

FREE software isn't free. You pay for it with the blood, sweat and tears you put into making it work.

Also, I heard a rumor that Linux software is being accused of patent violations (surprise) and that's a bad thing.

[Dunthor Warsmith]

Unless StarOffice comes with the Redhat distribution, you might want to give OpenOffice a try instead - its the (legal) free version that is essentially the same except for none of the warrenties&support, and lacking some of the enterprise tools.

FREE software isn't free. You pay for it with the blood, sweat and tears you put into making it work.

Definitely got that right. The usefulness of the products make it often still worth it though, imo.

[NerissaGoldenrose]

I think StarOffice does come with RedHat... I'd check but since my "toy" Linux machine (I fall into the "sysadmin wannabe" category... I had the extra box from upgrading my game machine, so I figured I'd play with Linux a while and try to learn it) was the one I could most live without when my work computer died last year, I had to cannibalize it for a WinXP box, or no more $$ to pay bills. I've still got the HD, but no case, MB, etc. to hook it up to.

Oh, and actually, the RedHat install isn't too bad if you don't customize the kernel at all. There is a windowing system that's pretty close to MS that you can chose when you install -- Gnome, I think? (it's been a while)

However, I really wouldn't suggest it for someone who doesn't know what they're doing and have REALLY SOLID reasons for wanting it on their machine. Contrary to what you might hear, it isn't really that much more stable than WinXP. Yes, there are loads more viruses that infect Windows machines, but a good firewall & virus scanner will take care of most of that, and due vigilance will cover the rest. Commercial software availability, however, is minimal to nonexistant, and there's a pretty steep learning curve for learning how to maintain the system.

[Malathos]

I'll add my voice to the "Don't give Linux to newbies" shout.
I AM a sysadmin and Linux has certainly had me scratching my head on more than one ocassion. It's not an OS I would give to someone who isn't capable of installing it and getting it running themselves - unless I had worked out an extremely lucrative support contract (lucrative for Me that is ). Otherwise you're just heading for a whole heap of trouble.