linux questions!

J

joeswm8

New Member
i am thinking of doing a dual-boot xp home and Ubuntu today, and wondering some things:

is boot time instant?
are there programs to watch dvds?
are flash and java for online games compatible?
are MS office documents readable?
top three linux OSes? which ones the best and easiest to use?

thanks
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depends what you mean by boot time.

when you press the power button on your computer, you will be prompted by a menu as to whether you want to boot into Ubuntu or Windows. The default for this is 10 seconds without action and it goes to Ubuntu. Looks like the advanced boot options menu for windows (F8).

there are programs to do just about anything. there are many that play dvds, and they come preinstalled, with more available if you wish.

firefox is the browser, and after you install the plugins flash and java work just as they do in any OS.

MSOffice documents (.doc, .ppt, etc) can be read and modified just like MSO in OpenOffice, which comes preinstalled with Ubuntu.

I vote for Ubuntu myself as I'm on it right now, but there are too many to list. literally thousands of distrobutions. http://distrowatch.com/ is good if you would like to look at others.

*preinstalled items are ready to use after you install Ubuntu, unlike windows which just gives you bloatware*

Note: getting your video card is the hardest to configure, but it gives you a bit of experience with linux firsthand. google is your friend here. but there are always people to help. let me know if you need any.
 
Very Easy! All you need is some spare space on your HD or a spare drive. Pop a Linux CD in the CD drive, and the installer will walk you through the install; it should pick up your XP install automatically. After it reboots, you will be able to select which OS you want to boot into.
 
Yes way!
As long as you have unpartitioned space on a drive, or a partition that you can trash, you will be able to install Linux.

Just do not turn into this guy :eek:
 
There will be a step by step graphical installer just like this video
Watch that and it will show you exactly what to do. Just be sure that you work on your spare partition, not your XP one.;)
 
but i dont have a spare partition, just spare space. will it create a new one?

wait nvm. thanks! should i set the boot sequence for cd-drive first when i put the disk in?
 
ok i got the CD with ubuntu on it. i need help!! i created a windows partition at 20G, and a separate partition for everything else at 130G, this is what i currently have. i have no more space to make a new partition, and the 130G is in NTFS. what do i do? what happens when i stick the CD in?
 
with ubuntu you dont even have to make a partition for it. it moves all your windows stuff over to a compressed partition, and uses the freed space to make its own ext2 and ext3 partitions. that is, assuming you have enough space in your 130GB partition for Ubuntu to use the empty space for itself.

when you put the cd in, and click install on the desktop after it boots as a live cd, you can chose which partition or drive you want to install it on. it will take you through the process. if you read every page the most difficult task you'll have to undertake is chosing your keyboard layout and time zone. :P

installing nvidia drivers:
http://tuxicity.wordpress.com/2007/04/12/feisty-and-nvidia/
 
Last edited:
Q.is boot time instant? A.:confused:
Q.are there programs to watch dvds? A.Yes
Q.are flash and java for online games compatible? A.Yes
Q.are MS office documents readable? A.Yes
Q.top three linux OSes? which ones the best and easiest to use? A. It's a matter of opinion really. I'll just have to break it down into the following:

Simplest to use: Ubuntu
Most Solid and Stable: SuSE
Simple and Solid: Dreamlinux

There are plenty of distros I haven't tried. I have tried Ubuntu (Easy distro but not the best), Dreamlinux (My favorite so far), Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE), Xubuntu (Ubuntu with XFCE), SuSE (Nice, solid, fairly easy to use distro), Zenwalk (Nice and fast), Knoppix (Good and stable), Vector (nice and fast), Freespire (A bit to chunky for me :P runs pretty smooth though), and Ubuntu with Enlightenment (don't remember what it's called). There may be more that I don't remember.

As far as picking a version goes this can be very helpful. ;)



~Jordan
 
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