Linux...

J

jpeso2525

New Member
I was looking around and I've seen a lot of talk about Linux. Right now on my desktop I am using Windows XP Media Center Edition on partition 1, Vista RC1 on Partition 2, and I am thinking about a partition 3 on Linux. Just to test it out, what version should I get, and also, will everyday programs work on it?
 
I reccomend openSuSE linux or PCLinuxOS for new users. If you are worried about installing, go with openSuSE (opensuse.org). It pretty much tells you what to do :)
 
You may also want to look at ubuntu or Fedora core.
As to regular programs, some are cross-platform capable, such as firefox, thunderbird, openofice etc. While others have their Linux equivalants.
For a list of linux apps by category, see here or by windows app see here
 
Linux for the most part is a totally different animal from Windows. I can easily list some of the smaller and easier distros to get familiar with. Before proceeding with installing any Linux distro however you will want a partitioning tool that can later remove a Linux partition as well as create it.

The Gnome Partition Editor known as GParted Live for cd can also create NTFS and Fat32 partitions as well as the VFat used for Linux. Besides the different download links at the link here you will note the tutorials, screen shots, and other links in the left column at http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

There are several like Knoppix Live for cd that DO NOT require installation to the drive at all. You simply burn the iso image to a boot cd to load the distro without making one change to your system. These are self contained OSs that run from the bootable media rather then altering the present system. GParted is still a good one to have onhand as far as a "Free" partitioning tool and can remove RC1 later when you decide to remove the beta version.

Knoppix a favored for retrieving files off of Windows as well as Linux drives also has a few companion live distros like Zenwalk, Gentoo, ubuntu, Mephis, and a few others. I'm not sure at this if PCLinux has one to offer as well.
 
PC eye said:
Linux for the most part is a totally different animal from Windows. I can easily list some of the smaller and easier distros to get familiar with. Before proceeding with installing any Linux distro however you will want a partitioning tool that can later remove a Linux partition as well as create it.

The Gnome Partition Editor known as GParted Live for cd can also create NTFS and Fat32 partitions as well as the VFat used for Linux. Besides the different download links at the link here you will note the tutorials, screen shots, and other links in the left column at http://gparted.sourceforge.net/download.php

There are several like Knoppix Live for cd that DO NOT require installation to the drive at all. You simply burn the iso image to a boot cd to load the distro without making one change to your system. These are self contained OSs that run from the bootable media rather then altering the present system. GParted is still a good one to have onhand as far as a "Free" partitioning tool and can remove RC1 later when you decide to remove the beta version.

Knoppix a favored for retrieving files off of Windows as well as Linux drives also has a few companion live distros like Zenwalk, Gentoo, ubuntu, Mephis, and a few others. I'm not sure at this if PCLinux has one to offer as well.
Click to expand...

I bought Norton Partition Magix 8.0
 
jpeso2525 said:
I bought Norton Partition Magix 8.0
Click to expand...

I didn't have to pay anything for GParted except a few blank cd-rs. Will that create and remove VFat12 partitions? That's a different ball game then working on Fat16, Fat32, and NTFS types. Most softwares won't even recognise a Linux partition due to it being based on the old UNIX platform. GParted on the other hand is free and will readily work with a variety of partition types.
 
Yeah you're right. It doesn't support VFat12, I got a question, which one should I download from that site....like it has 2 versions. Can you bring me straight to that link
 
It depends on how you are partitioning and with what. For cd iso images you would simply click on the second item at the link posted earlier for GParted "LiveCD" and then see a ton of download mirrors on the next page at http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=115843&package_id=173828

The first item seen is for the various releases of GParted but in Linux type file format there. The third would be for using a usb flash drive as the boot device. If you a cd writer or even dvd burner you can use the easiest and best without a flash drive onhand would be to grab an iso mirror and save it to a folder. If you need a program that will burn a good bootable disk for cd-rs BurnOn worked great when tried here. http://www.burnworld.com/burnoncddvd/
 
You know they had to have made some much needed improvements there to include GParted. It never hists however to have the GParted live cd onhand even when working without Linux. The main problem with running any distro here is the five button programmable mouse used here. But I always manage to keep a few live cd distros around. BurnOn will take and burn the iso to disk easily. You simply choose the type of disk project when going to burn the disk image there.
 
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