Linux, YAy or Nay

[Legionnaire]

I have a Win ME computer. Ya, I know. It's already partitioned, with gobs of freespace, and I was thinkin bout putin linux on it. Should I do this, and what would be the advandages of dual booting it?

OH, and how do I resize this partition w/o reformating?

[minoukat]

Use PartitionMagic, or a similar program, that will do the job pretty well. There's also a program named FIPS, that will allow you to split your partition. For the Dual Booting part, install Linux, boot into it, and configure the boot loader. (have windows installed before, as it will modify the MBR (master boot record))

[flounder43]

Yay, if you want to do a lot of work, Nay, if you want to go with the status quo...

My experiences with Linux have been far from favorable, and varied from problems with USB support to finding no drivers for my video card....NONE.

For me, it just wasn't worth it. I couldn't even get my cable modem to work...

I AM fairly sophisticated, and was able to find out what the problems were, but only after a lot of time, and with few viable solutions...

[jbell]

I don't have it yet but I am the same as you - WinME and gobs of space...

I say YAY becuase the advantages that linux has over ME - like STABILITY!! It IS much harder to setup than Windows but look at it this way...

There are two types of software
#1 - the ones that are easy to learn
and
#2 - the ones that are easy to use

Linux is hard(ER) to learn but you only need to learn it once...

[klosters64a]

Modern Linux's are not difficult to install or set up. If you have a lot of disk space, choose an "install everything" option. This will reduce hassles that can crop up in the future.

It is indeed rock stable(at least SuSE is). If you only want to surf(crawl?) the Web, work on documents and read and send email, little learning of the ins and outs of the OS is needed.

With a copy of "Linux for Complete Idiots" on the table, you'll be up and running pretty darn quickly.

Have fun with learning a new way to use your PC. You'll learn a lot. Yes, it's a bit scary at first. Creating independence from MS is a good thing. You'll be glad you did! www.linuxnewbie.org can't be beat. Write down the URL.

[nerd4life]

i agree,

i have to use linux for school. ya, the first time i installed it, it was really scary. specially since i put it on my desktop first, then immediately dual booted my laptop with it. man, i learned a butt load about my computers, especially my laptop.

i recently got madrake 8.0(8.1 is out now). if you want to try and have hassle free installations, make sure you get the newest version of whatever linux your gonna use. was using redhat 7.0, with the 2.2.?? somthing kernel, and i never could get my g2 mx card to work on my desktop, and i had to follow step by step directions to get my sound card to work on my laptop. but, with madrake 8.0 ive had no problems, it saw everything on everything, no problems. all i did was sit there and pick my nose.

o ya, if u have a winmodem, which you probly do with win ME, go buy a new modem. it probly wont work.

have fun

and, btw, only reason i use windows now is to play diablo 2. not for long though, a new type of wine is coming out that is supposed to support d2 and tons of other games:) woohoo

[dreadlord79]

nerd4life is right about the new wine coming out. I've been trying to read everything that I can about it but hardly anything has been released about it! It is suposed to come out either late Dec. or Jan sometime for around $49.95. It will (suposedly) run any program Windows can run and the name of this new and wonderful OS is...wait for it...Lindows!!!! I guess Os stability has taken all of their resouces so that the creative parts of the brain are as completely sapped of energy as the rest!!!!:p
Praying for this so I can kiss Microsoft good bye!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

***begins to drool upom self as the day dreams of this kick in***

[XWRed1]

You're thinking of a distro.

The new Wine that you are talking about is actually a fork done by Transgaming (http://www.transgaming.com) where they are going in and adding DirectX support, which is good for games.

CodeWeavers (http://www.codeweavers.com) takes this wine and packages it up nicely for their own purposes, and it all eventually gets merged back into the main Wine tree.

Its not going to run all Windows programs, but they want you to think that. It will definately be good. I'm sure Lindows will have lots of good Wine-friendly things done to it, to make it easier to install and use Windows programs, etc.

[dreadlord79]

Thanks for the correction. I truly wish that there was something that would get ride of Windows so I probably got my wires crossed when talking with one of the "techs" (a fellow OC'er and cas moder). Sorry about my confusion:rolleyes:

[nihili]

I'm with Flounder on this one. I've tried numerous varieties of Linux and never been able to get one into a stable useable format.

I say if you're curious and want to learn Linux, go for it. But if you're looking for a Windows replacement for casual home use, Linux isn't there yet.

nihili

[dreadlord79]

Like I might have mentioned above, I would like to use Windows only for playing games. Linux would be used for everything else. considering I have never even seen a screen shot of Linux (but have UNIX, seems that the GUI on both is pretty much the same from the descriptions that I have heard) this might be a little ambishis. I like the fact the Linux is so customizable! Yeah it will be hard, but "nothing in life is free, and damn few things are cheap!"
Thanks all for your help:)

[XWRed1]

Well, you can play games in Linux too. I play all of my games in Linux, and I only need Wine for Halflife.

Companies like Loki Games (http://www.lokigames.com) port games to Linux.

Q3, UT, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein have also been ported by their respective companies.