Live Linux

Related Resources • Live Linux Downloads

There are a number of ways to try Linux without uninstalling your current operating system, but this article focuses on the easiest, quickest and safest means. It is done using a live file system. A live file system is an operating system that boots and runs from a CD-ROM.

Did that sink in yet? It means that you can try out, and even use another operating system on your computer without doing any installations and without changing your computer at all. All you do is put a CD-ROM in the drive and reboot. If you are ready to jump right in you can find the download links on the Live Linux Downloads page.

Now, there are a few requirements. Your computer must be able to boot from a CD. Most fairly recent computers can, but you may need to go into the BIOS setup to activate booting from CD. If you don't know how to do this, ask a computer guru friend for help.

The downloads are pretty large, so if you don't have a broadband Internet connection, you will either want to start he download before you go to bed or get a friend with a fast connection to do the download for you. You will also need a CD writer, or again, have a friend download the CD image and create the CD for you.

Once you have confirmed that your computer will boot from CD, and you have one of the Live CD Linux disks in hand, you are ready to insert the CD and reboot your computer. If all goes well, in a few minutes you will be looking at a Linux desktop and you can start checking it out.

It is possible that things won't go that smoothly. If there is a problem booting the live CD, or if you get prompts for input you don't understand, you may want to consult your computer guru friends. You can also take the CD out, boot back to your normal operating system and check the distribution's Web site for solutions.

If you can't get one live CD distribution to work, you can try one of the others. Because of the space constraints of putting a working operating system on CD, they often don't support all types of hardware.

Once you do get one of the live CD Linux distributions up and running, you will probably be intrigued enough to want to do a hard drive install. In a future article, I'll tell you how you can even do that and still keep your current operating system running. Enjoy.

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