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From: Stefan Patric on 12 Nov 2009 23:50
On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:29:48 -0500, RodMcKay wrote:

> On Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:13:29 -0500, RodMcKay <NoJunkMail(a)No.com> wrote:
>
>>I've been fed up with Windows ever since I switched from a Win98SE box
>>to WinXP a couple of years ago. But I haven't made the switch for
>>[snip]
>
> Thanks for everyone's input. I am just so darned tired of Windoze that
> I've been ready to give it up forever. The trouble is how I must keep
> up with Windows and apps for work and the fact that there are some
> windows apps that I absolutely need to be able to keep using. But I've
> narrowed the list of the latter right down and with regards to work,
> well, I think I'll try to figure out how to struggle to keep up with
> everything even though I might not ever use Windoze again at home.
>
> Now what remains, I guess, is to take the plunge again. I was started
> down this path when a colleague gifted me with a Linux CD a couple of

I suggest doing a little reading before installing. The best reference
for the Linux beginner I've found is RUNNING LINUX by O'Reilly
Publishers. It's pricey. Around $50 US, but worth it. Explains Linux
in detail with lots of examples. I think the latest edition is five. I
have the 3rd Edition which is 10 years old, and still use it.

> levels. I was also concerned about the FAT32 / NTFS issues. These are
> [snip]

Linux can read and write a multitude of filesystems including FAT32 and
NTFS, but for the Linux system itself use one of the many native Linux
filesystems. Any are better than anything Microsoft has ever come up
with. For general user stuff, ext3 is the default. Although, the new
and improved ext4 is available, too, but I've yet to try it.

> So my next concern will be starting and then figuring out how to switch
> all my files and systems over. Whatever I can't switch over I'll have
> to find alternatives for. But this thread has made me decide to try it,
> to begin afresh with Linux. For those special apps that might not exist
> in Linux because of their obscurity/uniqueness, I'll try them in Wine
> till I figure out a Linux equivalent.

Also, take a look at Crossover (http://www.codeweavers.com/) by the same
people who developed WINE. You have to pay for it, but if you need to
run some Windows apps on a regular basis without running Windows, it's
worth it. Or . . .

You could run a virtual machine like VirtualBox (http://
www.virtualbox.org/) under Linux, and run Windows simultaneously with
Linux. This is what I do.

Also, for your first distro, take a look at PCLinuxOS 2009 (http://
www.pclinuxos.com/). Designed for the Windows user. Very low learning
curve. And it pretty much comes pre-configured with all the stuff you'll
need for general computing. No tweaks required.


Stef
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