Feature: Linux free, easy & secure

Drawbacks
So with all these benefits, surely there must be some major drawbacks?

Not many: the pace of development can be astounding, since people all over the world will contribute to Linux and its applications. Six months in the Linux world can see new features that would not be seen in several years with Windows.

However, things are not always perfect. Some exotic hardware may lack drivers for Linux although, except for a few cases, this is rare.

Another drawback is that Linux may lack certain specific applications you need. This is especially true for large-scale commercial applications such as Adobe Photoshop, where there are no real equivalents for Linux.

Fortunately, there are ways around this, and Linux can happily co-exist with Windows (or even OSX) on the same hard drive.

Here, we look at how to get hold of Linux and install it, and address some of the common pitfalls people experience. With some free space on your hard drive, or by using a spare PC, you can get Linux up and running without risking a thing.

It’s easy to give Linux a try, and here you will see how.

Getting started
Notwithstanding the ever-growing list of great reasons to switch to Linux, installing a new and unfamiliar operating system can seem daunting for many people.

It can be confusing to know where to start and what to do. The first question to ask is whether you can run Linux. One of Linux’s unique advantages is the wide range of hardware on which it runs, but like all evolving operating systems, hardware requirements can begin to increase over time.

Another question is, 'Why do you want to run Linux?' This can greatly affect the kind of machine and the amount of disk space you will need.

There is no doubt Linux is a hugely versatile operating system. It is not limited to a small niche, nor does it need to come in entirely different versions for different tasks.

You can run a full desktop environment, or maybe a busy dedicated web server, a small database back end or a fileserver for your work or home network.

Hardware requirements
Most modern Linux distributions are aimed at being able to deliver all these options. The desktop environment tends to need the biggest chunk of resources, and to run the latest versions there is a general minimal hardware requirement.

Any PC with a Pentium II or AMD K6 or above should be powerful enough to get by with, though a CPU of 1GHz or more is a better bet.

For lower end machines such as these, it is essential to have at least 128MB of Ram, and the more the better. There are some options for less powerful machines, as you will see later.

For machines that are not required to run a graphical desktop environment, the resource requirement is significantly lower: it is even possible to run Linux on an Intel 386 CPU with 32MB of memory for less intensive tasks, such as network routing or running a firewall.

As with processor and memory requirements, the disk space needed also varies. Linux can be installed alone on a single drive. It can run across several hard drives in a Raid configuration, or it can share a drive with other operating systems, including all versions of Windows.

As a rule, for a modern version of Linux, together with a large set of applications, two or three gigabytes is enough for the operating system. Space for personal files needs to go on top. With large-capacity hard drives being the norm, disk space is rarely a problem any more.