Linux Mint is a great version of Linux for both the newcommer and expert. You can safely say goodbye to Windows and hello to ease of use whilst also benefiting from more power and less hardrive use.

Assuming you don't need the full power of Windows XP you can run it from within Linux in a virtual machine. This is a great boon and means you can jump fully into Linux and have access to Windows as if it were a program without the hassel of a dual boot. I wrote a tutorial on setting up XP on a virtualbox inside Linux Mint.

Most people are scared away from linux due to having to use the comand line or terminal. I will be keeping track of useful bits of code here.

Actually in Linux Mint there is rarely a time you need the terminal as "Mint Install" and other such tools keep most things in a freindly easy to use graphical interface - however many people say it is useful to know the technical side too.

Sudo

In Linux you run as a User not as Root (Administrator) - this is great for security meaning, at present, you don't even need a virus scanner on Linux. To get temporary Root privalages you can use "Sudo".

apt-get

Most installations are handled via Mints Package Manager, an easy to use interface. If you need to install via the Terminal, or just wish to try then you need to use apt-get.

so to make that work with Root (Administrator) privialages you type "sudo apt-get nameofsoftware"

Downloading Via Terminal

This can be very useful for when restrictions apply or as show later you have a bad connection to the web.

wget Http://www.website.com/and/the/file/you-want-to-download.mov

A seemingly Unstopable Way to Download

this next addition to wget has lots of "keys" which cause the download to never fail and it it does (say due to connection) it will resume and you wont lose anything.

wget --continue --random-wait -t inf --retry-connrefused http://the address....

Mario World on Linux

well it is obvious. Soon after getting a good computer setup, you need something to do.

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/GAMES-ENTERTAINMENT/Arcade/Super-Mario-Clone-FX-12363.shtml