Alternative to XP

[notahopeinhell]

I am wondering whether to a different OS other than XP but know very little about how to go about it or what to use. 

I have a spare HDD which I could use (for say Ubuntu) but would be grateful for some advice.  Excuse my lack of knowledge but can I download it over the net and then transfer it to my spare spare HDD?

And what is generally considered a good alternative to XP?

I know this is fairly basic stuff but I am learning as I go along.

Any help gratefully received.
 

[outlaws42]

You can download what is called a  Live-CD for Ubuntu or any other distro for that matter.  I would download ubuntus Live-CD and boot from that to try it out before you install anything.  It will run slower from the CD than it will from the hard drive but other than that it should run basically the same. If you like it than you can install it to that spare hard drive.

Another option that Ubuntu puts on there Live-CD is the Wubi installer.  You can install Ubuntu like any other  windows app  through windows  to try it out.

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

You asked if you download Ubuntu. Yes.
Here: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

You will have to burn it to a CD, and then boot from it.

[notahopeinhell]

You can download what is called a  Live-CD for Ubuntu or any other distro for that matter.  I would download ubuntus Live-CD and boot from that to try it out before you install anything.  It will run slower from the CD than it will from the hard drive but other than that it should run basically the same. If you like it than you can install it to that spare hard drive.

Another option that Ubuntu puts on there Live-CD is the Wubi installer.  You can install Ubuntu like any other  windows app  through windows  to try it out.

Hi, mate

Thanks for your help.

If I understand you correctly I can download Ubuntu over the net, save it to my desktop then copy it onto a CD? This presumably won't affect my existing XP set-up and I could just put the CD in and boot up from that to try it out? However, if I can't get the hang of it I can just carry on using my existing XP set-up as now?

I've heard that you have to change the BIOS settings which I am very wary of doing as I have inadequate  knowledge of that sort of thing is that true, please?

[outlaws42]

You download the image file.  Then you will have to burn the .ISO  image to a CD with a CD burning software that will burn image files.  If yours won't  this one will http://cdburnerxp.se/download.php . 

Many computers now a days boot from the CD first  then the HD.  I would just stick the CD in then  reboot your computer  and see if it boots to the CD.  If not, some computer manufactures have alternate boot options if you hit a function key at boot.   Dell i believe is F12 and Gateway I think is F8.

[brambling21]

You can also write a Ubuntu ISO to a USB stick and boot from that much like a CD, that includes the option to install the distro should you decide to.

Other alternatives to Windows would include something like Puppy Linux, its about a 95mb download depending on which version you wish to download.

Ubuntu, Xubuntu and Puppy are my recommendations.

Check out my Xubuntu screenshot to see what Xubuntu Linux looks like.