Very basic question to help me choose

[clayf]

Hello. Hope some one can just get me pushed in the right direction.
I am really just tired of Windows. Some one mentioned Linux and at first I just shrugged it off and figured I would go back to Win 95 which seemed to be more stable than the current Win Me I use.
Anyway, my question. I would like to change over to Linux. Now I really dont want to divote any extended periods of time working with Linux with any code etc. I do have a lot of information and programs (mainly to include Photoshop and web building programs that I need).
So my question is. Can I sucessfully make the switch without divoting all that much time to make everything work correctly with my other programs or should I just try to work on my Microsoft operating system?
Thanks for anyones thoughts and I will gladly answer any questions. I just am not 100% sure of what linux will entail to get running.
Thanks
Clay

[pbharris]

hello,
i would give it a shot, there are several excellent distributions out there which making installing a snap, you do need to know a little bit more up front and hardware support is all not there YET (i would say about 90 % of windows hardare support). gimp is an excellent photo editing program too.

[clayf]

thank you for the very quick response.
I have started to do a little more reading up.
So, if linux is compatible with 90% of Microsoft programs, chances are that it will work with most that I have? I just do not want to be forced to buy more programs if I switch to Linux.
I have been reading up on the links this site provides http://www.linux.org/info/advocacy.html
Are there any other sites that contains good beginner information concerning linux and the pro's and con's.
Thanks for the help.
Clay

[newmad]

hi clay -

pbharris was saying that 90% of *hardware* was perhaps compatible, not Windows software. Just so you know...

This is, IMHO, *the best* newbie site for Linux. You'll find that most any question has already been answered if you do a search on it, and if you get one that hasn't been answered, somebody here will know one for you.

Learning/switching to Linux is no piece of cake, don't be fooled into thinking that it is. I've been teasing around with it for the better part of a year, and have finally settled on a distibution that I am comfortable with, and have my hardware up to par for what I want my Lin-box to be able to do. That said, I am still learning (some people would call it "having problems" :) ), and it will probably be another couple of months before I will be MS-free. I really look forward to that time; Linux gives you a freedom of choice and configurability (sp?) that MS just can't compare to.

I hope that you give it a try. Good luck!

Edit: Though it has been a year or so, I have had periods here and there of a couple months where I just didn't have the opportunity to work on what I was learning anbout Linux. A lot of that time was spent trying to just keep my Win system stable and running, or recovering from its' crashes..

[ 15 February 2001: Message edited by: newmad ]

[bdl]

clayf> I think you'll find alot of good advice and help here in this forum, so along with that and a good unix/linux book and some free time, you should have no trouble at all. I'd recommend trying a dual-boot setup with Mandrake first off and get the hang of things, then you can decide if you really want to make the complete switch. I recommend Mandrake over all others for the beginner, especially someone that just wants things to work and have a good selection of software to choose from right after the first reboot. Dont forget you can d/l most all popular distros for nothing (well, if you dont count your isp / digital connection cost) and you can check out LinuxCentral.com (http://www.linuxcentral.com) for inexpensive cd's. Luck!

[Derango]

Instead of switching totaly to linux, you should consider a dual boot situation, where you can start learning linux with the saftey net of windows, somthing you know how to do. Also, this would allow you to still use those programs you need in windows while you find alternitives for them in linux.

btw, there's a great image editing program (almost rivaling photoshop called the gimp, it comes with most distros)

[X_console]

Some of your Windows software may work. You'll need to download and install WINE ( www.winehq.com (http://www.winehq.com) ) which is your Windows emulator. Not all Windows programs will work, but check out what they have to say.

You will still need to work with Linux a little bit before you can just leave it alone to sit by itself. You'll need to configure it to your taste, make sure it's secure, and so on. Under Mandrake, and if you're using KDE or GNOME, this is relatively easy and shouldn't take too long. Setting up a firewall is a breeze too with all the GUI firewall software available today.

[Craig McPherson]

Debian is the only decent OS in use today. Does that help narrow it down?
http://debian.org/

[sym]

As has been said before, don't fool yourself into thinking that switching to Linux will be no trouble what so ever, there will be a significant learning curve.

I bought the Linux for Dummies book, and it came with Red Hat 7. That installed easily, automatically setup the dual boot with my Windows partition, and automatically detected my USB key board. That might be the easiest route to start.

If you are just tired of the lack of stability in windows, but don't really want to go through the learning curve of Linux (or the software loss), I would recommend Windows 2000. Win2K is the only OS from MS that I consider remotely stable or reliable. Under NT4, with service pack 6, I use to have to reboot at least once per day. With Win2K, I can run weeks at a time (I am a developer too, so I'm doing all kinds of screwy things with my PC too ;)).

Also, keep in mind that if you do switch to Linux, you may want to look around for alternative programs rather than work on running your existing software in WINE. There are a lot of GREAT programs that run on Linux (keep in mind that anything written in pure Java will run on it no problem).

[Hatecrime69]

I'm a real newbie too, i olny had mandrake for about half a year (when maximum linux first came out) and a dual boot is something i greatly encourage for someeone who is just starting on linux. I still have no net access in linux (@home) and i dual boot with win98 and mandrake 7.1 (i also have BeOS but it's the free version that runs like winlinux)