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General discussion

Thinking about trying

Aug 6, 2005 8:45AM PDT

I've heard about Linux on many ocassions, and i noticed that 2 of my main apps, Firefox and GIMP, are both Linux compatible. Biggest problem though: The rest of the family still wants to use Windows XP. Any advice on which distrabution to use. Also, need to dual-boot (never done before). 256 MB RAM, Intel 64 MB vid card, DVD-ROM drive / CD-R/RW drive, 15.9 GB free space (want to use much, much less though), cable internet.

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Most of us dual-boot
Aug 7, 2005 7:31AM PDT

There is probably another way, but I always create 2 partitions, one for Windows, the other for Linux. You have to install Windows 1st. When that is set up, install
your choice of Linux on the other partition. You can also
do this on another HDD. I like the operating systems on one drive and the larger drive as storage and back-up.
All my downloads, etc. go to that. When Linux installs, it will choose itself as default in the boot loader.. You can change that later(given your family dynamic). If you need specific help, please post back. Good luck. chuck

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Careful with resizing
Aug 8, 2005 4:09AM PDT

You'll have to be careful when you resize the NTFS (Windows XP file system) to make room for Linux. Back your stuff up first, cuz it's not the most sure thing in the world, but it probably will work fine. If you have family and no experience with Linux, I dunno that you should do this, as things can easily go wrong if you don't know what you're doing, and I doubt your family would be happy if they did Happy.

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Try SuSE
Aug 11, 2005 8:24AM PDT

SuSE, in my opinion, is the best place to start with Linux if you are a beginner. It is easy to set-up, but can be fun to tinker around with. To get it, go to OpenSuSE.org and follow the links to download it. It has a built in NTFS resizer so don't worry about reformating.
With any luck, you might have your first working Linux distro.

-Simon

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best of both worlds
Aug 11, 2005 11:46AM PDT

Hi "boomer25",
My experience with family members and community volunteers is the same as yours. You can have the best of both worlds by dual-booting as suggested by other posts. I have no experience with SuSE (Novell), but my own MEPIS 3.3.1 (their Firefox version is indistinguishable from the Win counterpart) enables me to read/copy anything on my WinMe drive without re-booting, to write documents in any text editor, or OpenOffice, transfer them back to my Win "My documents", or by USB "thumb drive". It is a bit more complicated it you are using WinXP (different file system) but I won't bore you with the details.
Cheers
"septus"