[//Nathan]

Linux has made some important leaps and bounds. Windows has a few important advantages (namely application compatibility and multimedia support), but those are both pretty much out of their hands. Judging it as an Internet/Office/Server OS, it's pretty good. If all I wanted to do was surf the Web and type up an occasional memo, I wouldn't think to use Windows. For someone with those needs, Windows is too expensive -- several Linux distros will do the job better, and for free. When I move, I'm leaving my laptop, and though it's got a license for XP Home on it, and I have a Home+SP2 OEM CD I could legally put on it, I can't in good conscience install Windows on a computer that will be used for nothing but Email and the Web. Spyware and viruses are a problem that only exists on Windows, for the most part. Linux's obscurity is also part of its protection.

I could never run Linux as a single-boot system on my computer. I need my games. Though if I ever get a SECOND desktop computer, I'll cheap out on the specs and make it a Linux box. I see no reason to have two gaming computers, and if it's not a gaming computer, it should be running Linux. Even though it doesn't have the application compatibility, it has many applications which do the same thing as the Windows counterpart. Some games work for both -- namely Unreal Tournament 2004 has a Linux installer. Some programs, like VideoLAN and Firefox, are available for both, and (I think) the same on each platform, aside from differences in the GUI, of course. (And in Firefox, Tools>Options in Windows (just like IE) is Edit>Preferences in Linux (just like Netscape). I don't understand the discrepancy, but it's there.)

For anyone who hasn't used Linux, I recommend it, if you can install an OS. Partitioning really is the hardest part. Once you've done that properly, the rest is no harder than installing any program in Windows. Linux has a lot of features Windows does not, but it lacks some Windows features as well. The desktop and the panels are light-years ahead of Windows, but the file system is extremely confusing -- every drive must be "Mounted". The hard disk (actually, the filesystem) is mounted at startup, and when you put in a CD or connect an external hard disk, it must be mounted. (This is automatic in some, probably all, modern distros.) The hard drive's filesystem and filenames are not as intuitive as they are on Windows. But like Windows, you only need concern yourself with the Application menu and the programs therein. Unless you want to dig...

I have the x86_64 DVD edition of Fedora Core 4 if anyone wants it for just shipping ($5 USD would buy an envelope and cover shipping to anywhere in the US... don't bother if you're outside the US, you'll wind up paying too much) as I no longer have use for it. I have the i386 version as well.

[David S.]

Gentoo and Slackware. My dad owns alot of the linux OS' including Fedora, RedHat, Linspire, Mandrake, and Xandros. So far he likes Xandros the best because of its ability to run windows based programs. Personally I think I like Fedora and Linspire the most.

[//Nathan]

I love seeing an interesting topic, clicking on it, and realizing I made it some time ago...

My offer to sell FC4 is withdrawn. You can get it cheaper at a site, I lost the URL for it, but they basically sell Linux distros at just above cost for those of us who can't download them. Plus I haven't got that DVD anymore, since I've moved. I still have the x86_64 version of Ubuntu 5.04 archived, but 5.10 is out now, and 5.04 had a couple issues, so I'd recommend trying to get 5.10.

I want to try Xandros sometime...

I haven't run Linspire since 4.5, though I believe I have... yep, I have 5.059 archived. Aent has some significant complaints against it (the one I can remember, is it doesn't protect the Root account as others do - you're always Root... but that's just like Windows XP -- limited accounts are worthless) but for a casual user, preferrably behind a hardware firewall, should be OK.

I ought to try Linspire 5 for multimedia, but the main reason I'm taking an "LOA" from Linux for a while is the lack of multimedia support. Maybe in a year, when we have high-speed Internet again, I'll go trying Linux distros again, get my girlfriend into the game, but for now we can only really use Windows XP -- especially as she's hooked on Fable.

[NetHead]

Hey, I just downloaded suse yesterday, and now this thread is revived. How convenient!

Anyways, anyone have any tips on dual booting suse w/ Windows XP? I'll be Googl'ing later in the week, but I though I'd around for any pointers from anyone who's already done it.

[Wombat]

NetHead, on Oct 17 2005, 02:43 AM, said:

Hey, I just downloaded suse yesterday, and now this thread is revived. How convenient!

Anyways, anyone have any tips on dual booting suse w/ Windows XP? I'll be Googl'ing later in the week, but I though I'd around for any pointers from anyone who's already done it.

Umm... it does it automatically during Installation.

[NetHead]

Hey, have pity on a Linux noob. I used it for a few weeks, but this'll be the first time doing an install.

Thanks for the info, though.

[//Nathan]

For the Record, Fedora Core 3/4 and Ubuntu 5.04 all set up dual booting with Windows XP. IIRC, Linux will boot by default, but you can escape with any key during a 5-30 second window, at which point you can choose Linux or Windows... actually Windows will often be noted as "Unknown" or something like that, and you may get about 8 choices for Linux -- safe mode and a bunch of others.

And most of us are Linux noobs... the learning curve isn't the same as it is with Windows or MacOS X.

[_]

I recently changed both of my two computers. The first one was running Mandrake and Win98, now it's running Ubuntu. The other one was running Fedora and WinXP, now it's running Ubuntu and WinXP.

[ellfaz]

Im a sort-of linux n00b, so i got recommended these:

• Ubuntu
  
• Debian
  
• Fedora

[Phil Mossop]

Dark Reality, on Oct 17 2005, 04:06 AM, said:

For the Record, Fedora Core 3/4 and Ubuntu 5.04 all set up dual booting with Windows XP. IIRC, Linux will boot by default, but you can escape with any key during a 5-30 second window, at which point you can choose Linux or Windows... actually Windows will often be noted as "Unknown" or something like that, and you may get about 8 choices for Linux -- safe mode and a bunch of others.

And most of us are Linux noobs... the learning curve isn't the same as it is with Windows or MacOS X.

They only setup dual booting automatically if you load the distro's bootloader onto the MBR. Personally I prefer just to add an entry to the Window's boot loader.