MFillpot is correct - just a heads up, the nvidia-settings program is setup very similar to the windows application. It will be self-explanatory at that point. Now, if for some reason that doesn't work - you can try reinstalling the drivers, and if that still doesn't work, post a screenshot of the settings windows and we'll see if we can figure out what is going on.

Welcome the community, youll find that most of us are eager to help and even more eager to continue learning. Enjoy your stay!

Arch Linux with AwesomeWM personally, but I also like KDE when skinned the way I like.

http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Guide-Commands-Editors-Programming/dp/0131367366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320165711&sr=8-1

That book has received some good feedback about learning an introduction to Linux. Anything by the O'Reilly publishing company for Linux is also pretty good. There is a pocket guide and another one called Linux in a Nutshell. Both would be good reads. I've read Linux Pocketguide and it's good for reference. Teaches you a lot of things you wouldn't think you could do from simple commands.

I just wanted to add that generally when using a desktop distro, people don't need something extremely "stable". They simply need something that generally won't crash out of nowhere. You'll see programs crash and maybe the odd bug, but won't have your computer randomly restarted. I would say that Ubuntu, Debian, or Mint are all very user friendly and "stable enough". If you want something very stable, you would want to venture into Redhat or Slackware, but will deal with older software.

I would just like to add that I'm a current college student running Linux as my primary OS. I haven't had any real issues. If I need to remote desktop into a school computer, rdesktop works just fine, I can save .doc from Libre Office, and I haven't had any real issues I can think of. So power to you man.

Netbattler11 wrote:

I am running Ubuntu 11.04. I have about 100 gigs left on my hard drive. Can i simply shrink my existing partition and use that as a blank space to create a new partition in? Also, once i have the new partition created and the data copied, can i then have ubuntu look for and save personal data in the new partition? Essentially i want the location of /home to be on the new partition. Thanks for the advice.

The best way to change the partitions is to use an Ubuntu install disk. Boot up into the Live environment and run 'GParted'. You'll want to shrink your current partition, but I wouldn't shrink it all the way to the current used size. If you have 100GB over, your best bet is to make the new one about 60-70GB. Then you can just transfer your data over to that. Basically, yes it's easy to do and won't take long.

Here are instructions to move your /home partition over to the new partition: http://embraceubuntu.com/2006/01/29/move-home-to-its-own-partition/

O'Reilly also makes a simple Linux reference manual with most basic commands, what they do, and some examples that's great when you can't think of what would accomplish what you need best.

marc wrote:

[b]tsmith8906 wrote:[/b]
[quote]Im here looking for some recommendations for some good programming books that deal with C++. I am a begginer at this kind of stuff yet given that fact I do have general understanding.

Also im looking for books that deal with how to write an operating system. Any that you might know of off hand.

Thanks in advance.

Thinking in C++ is the one I'm reading right now and seems quite good :)[/quote]

Yes search for that on Amazon, that's a good book.

RTL8180 drivers for ubuntu it is, GoinEasy9 will have to reply with the guide he found for installation.