New to Linux

[Animatrix]

I know that Linux has a steep learning curve, I just need to know where to go, or whom to ask, about getting over that curve. Thanks for your help in advance.

[klosters64a]

The curve has gotten less steep over the last few years. Modern Linux's are MUCH easier to install than they used to be. www.linuxnewbie.org is a must-have URL. You'll be safe if you get a widely used Linux and a copy of "Linux for Complete Idiots."

Mandrake is often recommended for newbies. For some reason, Mandrake since 5.3 just hasn't liked me. People tend to find a distribution they like, then stick with it through new releases. I suggest trying a few different "distro's." Broadens the mind. As ISO's can be DL'd(if you have a fast Web connection), a hundred flavors of Linux await your attention!

Linux is weird. If you try to enjoy this weirdness, you'll have a lot of fun with it!

[kevin_bouchard]

do you know if lunix has the same file allocation tasble as windows(fat32)?

[Thelemac]

It can use it...but it's native format is ext2.

[kevin_bouchard]

is there any preformance loss by using fat32 instead of ext2.
My plan is to get another harddrive(2 20gig,72000rpm) and have one drive dedicated for all my OS(win95,win98se,winxp and win20000 and the second drive for programs. Does this sound like a good ideal???

thanks:D

[Thelemac]

You *can* install Mandrake on it...something called linux4win or something like that...but it takes a rather larger performance hit. It's designed for the far superior ext2...it can *read* fat32 just fine though, so if you wanna keep some files that'd you'd want to access with both OSes, you could do that.