Check out ntfs-3g; i'm using it and it works very well (not a single problem yet), it has read/write support.

For running Windows software, take a look at CrossoverOffice from Codeweavers.com. Not free but not expensive. I have run QuickBooks wuth it for years. I stopped being able to run TurboTax several years ago but my change from Fedora to Kubuntu 6.10 (or maybe just going from cx5 to cx6 did it) seems to have changed that. So far I have TT for 2005 running but not TT 2006.

Sonicbhoc I am worse than a newbie to Linux, I don't know anything about it. The reason I want to try a Linux system is the amount of times I have had my windows system trashed by viruses etc. I am not a complete newbie using PCs as I used to do a lot of stuff in DOS, that was before windows came out.
JimBass I have a some Office Excel files with extensive macro and VBA controls I have written in them. Would these macros and Visual Basic commands run if I transfered the files to a Linux system.

I don't know. I haven't run any form of windows since 2001. My guess would be that the macro should be easy to import, but the visual basic probably not so easy.

That however is a complete shot in the dark coming from me. You should search http://google.com/linux and check specifically about importing macros and what can be done about basic.

Peace,
JimBass

I suggest you keep a Win installation, either on a separate machine or a separate disc partition, until you find out if you can co all your Wis stuff. Excel translates to OpenOffice spreadsheet easily but I'm not sure about the macros. Word transfers easily to << Writer. I have found that it's easier to get QuickBooks and TurboTax (under Crossover) under Kubuntu than under Fedora 5 and 6. Some Win apps need DCOM98 installed first (Crossover will do thil if you ask it to).

Ubuntu (or Kubuntu) is supposed to be the easiest to install. I found it easier than Fedora. But stay away from Gentoo at this stage. It was too complicated for me to install. BTW, the difference Ubuntu and Kbuntu is the desktop (the first thing you see when boot is finished). I tried Ubuntu because someone gane me a DVD. I liked it but the Gname desktop was driving me crazy. Xbuntu uses the same code except for using the KDE desktop, which I have been using for years and like much better.

Minor nitpic, but Xubuntu uses XFCE, and Kubuntu uses KDE.

Peace,
JimBass

I am a major Linux promoter (borderline zealot??) but I can't get behind this statement. If you came from being fairly proficient at MS Office (as I did), then OOo is a bit of a learning curve.
Starting from scratch, I dont think I would find one significantly different to learn than the other. Certainly OOo does some things more consistently than MSOffice, but it also lacks a few features.

One way to test your Office Excel files with the macro's & VBA control might be to download OpenOffice of Windows & test them in the Calc package. I'm guessing that the Linux & Windows version of OpenOffice will both run the same, it'd give you an idea of any problems before you install any variant of Linux.

I us OpenOffice at home on my Linux machines and I've changed over to using the Windows version at work in preference to MS Office. There are some differences, but everything I've wanted to run has all worked, although I've not tried Macro's etc.

Have a look at http://www.openoffice.org/

Hope that helps.

[Edit] I've just tried a MS Word document which uses Macro's to generate other files, that didn't work automatically in OpenOffice, but whether that's because I'd need to manually run the macro I don't know. I'd need to spend some time looking at it, which unfortunately, I haven't got at the moment, and not having written the macro myself I may not be able to see why it's not working.

Sorry Pixellany, I wasn't speaking about the ease of use, simply that getting open office installed was easy, whereas using codeweaver, wine, cedega or whatever to run microsoft office on linux was the tough part. As I never used advanced features in MS office or open office, I can't comment on that. Sorry for not being clear in my statement previously.

Peace,
JimBass

Now we are in VIOLENT agreement. Using native Linux apps is almost always easier than emulators, VMs, etc.

Without regard to the OS, I think OOo would be far easier to learn from scratch than Office (OOo is simply more logically laid out). But an experienced Word user can have a real uphill battle with OOo (I sure did....)

Thank you all for responding to my questions. I have another one. There are 2 variants of windows XP, Home and Professional. Why are there so many variants of Linux????

The short and easy answer is that all windows is made by microsoft, whereas the linux kernel is more or less community property, and there are many companies building distros around that kernel.

For a more indepth and much better explaination, please check out this article about the differences between windows and linux - http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

Peace,
JimBass

This is easy. Simply boot up from an Linux install CD and tell the installer that it can use the 2nd disk. BEST is to manually partition and just use PART of the 2nd disk---say ~ 10GB. Leave the rest unpartitioned for future things.

Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mepis etc. all are my top choices---more generally any distro that uses the synaptic package manager.

And ignore anything hear that looks like harrassment--we are all nice people....

I would definitely go with Kubuntu, but thats just me. I hate Mandriva with every fiber of my soul.. You'll come to appreciate Synaptic when using Kubuntu. I personally prefer either Ubuntu/Xubuntu because I like the desktop interface better than Kubuntu, but KDE isn't to bad.

Also, I recommend sticking with Linux native apps, unless you absolutely need wine or some other emulaor. I use codewavers for 1 program, and it doesn't look like a Linux client for it is coming out anytime soon, but codeweavers works very well with it.

MS Office---- Open Office, AbiWord, StarOffice- All but Star Office is free.
MS Paint----- The Gimp, and a few others are free
Windows Media Player---- MPlayer, Totem, XMMS, Xine, the list goes on, all free
Nero------- K3b or GnomeBaker, both free
DVD Ripper- dvd::rip or Acid Rip, both free
AIM, MSN, ICQ, etc--- Gaim, Kopete, and a few others.. All free
Internet explorer--- Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Konqueror, and a few others, all free
Outlook--- Evolution, Free
Outlook Express---- Thunderbird, Kmail, and a few others, All free(are you getting the idea yet?).


Anything else you use that you need?

IGF

JimBass thanks for the link it was very interesting. Pixellany I have a 10GB drive I am going to swap for my secondary drive to put Linux on. IndyGunFreak some very useful alternatives there.
Will any of the Linux OS support 64bit processing, because I am thinking of building a new system sometime, but I just don't feel like buying Bill Gates spyware called Vista!!
It wouldn't surprise me if the final version of Vista has compulsary fingerprint and iris scanning built into it!
The more I read about these Linux systems the more I like the idea, and NO I do not expect it to be an exact replacement of windows, and NO I am not blowing Bill Gates trumpet for him.
I have given Kubunto a try out running direct from the CD, but the spelling of the applications would drive me nuts. Everything starts with a 'K'. So I will try some of the others that you have all suggested. And a final question is, how do you get hold of drivers new and old. I did read they are built into the kernal somewhere, but does that mean re-installing the OS every time there is a driver upgrade?