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I have virtually no knowledge of Linux (a tiny bit about Unix) so... I have some questions that will probably seem quasi-retarded.
1) Can I install Linux on a HD with Win XP already installed?
2) Should I install it on my other drive (which is just used for storage)?
3) Will it want me to reformat the drive that I install it on (drive is formated NTFS)?
4) What is the benefit of using Linux over Windows?
5) Once installed, how do I boot to Linux?
6) Does Linux play nice with the Mac OS?
7) At this point, I dont really have a specific need for Linux, I just want to muck around in it and check it out. Is it worth all the hassle?
8) Are there specific hardware requirements (-eg. No SOYO motherboards, etc)?
9) Providing all goes well....is there an easy installation guide out there for Linux distributions?
Sorry, I was not out to write a book here, I just have many, many questions about Linux.
1) Can I install Linux on a HD with Win XP already installed?
yes, regarding that there is a spare room in your hard drive.
2) Should I install it on my other drive (which is just used for storage)?
it would be more comfortable in my opinion, but you don't have to.
3) Will it want me to reformat the drive that I install it on (drive is formated NTFS)?
writing on ntfs is really experimental on linux, installing linux on it is impossible.
4) What is the benefit of using Linux over Windows?
there are as many as people, but in my opininon a) it is cheap or free, b) properly installed system need virtually no maintenance (no cleaning registry, no antivirus scanning, no defragmenting, no scanning for spyware) and c) it gets more out of your computer, if properly installed.
5) Once installed, how do I boot to Linux?
with bootloader, do your homework
6) Does Linux play nice with the Mac OS?
what do you mean by "playing nice"? but yes, they can share drives and files.
7) At this point, I dont really have a specific need for Linux, I just want to muck around in it and check it out. Is it worth all the hassle?
so, you are doing it just for curiosity. is curiosity ever worth all the hassle?
8) Are there specific hardware requirements (-eg. No SOYO motherboards, etc)?
generally speaking, no. but check it out with knoppix, the no-hassle-way to test linux. i really recommend it.
9) Providing all goes well....is there an easy installation guide out there for Linux distributions?
every distro is installed differently. installing slackware or gentoo takes all day (if everything goes well), installing lindows takes about four mouseclicks and 20 minutes...
1.)Yes, you can, just make sure windows is installed first. if you try to dual boot with linux first, windows will overwrite the boot sector. Methods of dual booting vary in difficulty depending on linux distro, but its never very hard.
2.)You could, same difference though, except that if the windows drive fails, linux wont be affected.
3.)no, just the partition you will be installing linux on. i recommend ext3
4.)Stability, Cost, Support (if you buy it, the support is top notch, unlike that other OS), you actually own the software (check your eula, MS can pull your software any time they want), security (open source breeds good security, check the halloween documents to see microsoft say the exact same thing), high powered programs that actually cost nothing and are compatable (mostly) with equivalent programs for MS and MAC, really, the list goes on and on, you'll find the reasons out yourself, though.
5.)It depends, usually, it is in your boot record and will just boot. if you have a dual boot, it will appear on a list that you can select.
6.)yes, very nicely, actually
7.)It does take some work to learn, i had to work with it for awhile before i attained any competence, but its really become much easier. It is definitely worth the hassle. If you stick with it long enough, i doubt you'd ever go back.
8.)No more than with any other OS. some hardware acts quirky, but nowadays, its really not a problem at all. Virtually anything out there with work in linux, many times, it will actually work better in linux than in windows
9.)All over the place, in books that come with linux distros you can buy, on the internet, often built into the installation process. Most distros are easy enough to install now a retarded monkey could do it, others arent so easy, but you'll pick it up. Linux has a bit of a learning curve to it, but when you get up some of the steep slopes, it gets easier.
1) You can install linux on a HD with XP if you have the room for it. You need to install linux on a separate partition. Best if you have a partition which you can delete, but there are also partitioning programs which can shrink partitions.
2) No need to, but is possible: You could move the contents of that second disk temporarily somewhere else and repartition that disk for linux.
3) No, you will even have to replace it by linux-partions.
4) Benefits: lots of. Linux is more stable than windows. Virusses for linux hardly exist (and linux is less vulnerable to virusses than windows, because of the way it is designed). Linux is more secure than windows. Linux is a true multi-user system, designed from the ground to be a multi-user-system, while windows only tries to be that. Linux is much and much cheaper (you can often download it for free). Linux-distributions often ship a lot of software, so when you have linux you immediately have a complete desktop-system. You can do a lot more advanced things with linux, if you like . Source code for linux and many of its programs is available. Linux is not as commercial as windows. Between linux-distributions you also have the choice between very userfriendly distributions or advanced do-it-yourself distro's for the freak. And... errr, well, that's already quite a lot, isn't it?
Cons of linux is that the world is used to windows. Nearly everything is designed for windows, especially games and a lot of software. Windows-programs usually don't work under linux.
5) Linux comes with a bootloader (usually grub or lilo) which you can use to boot windows too. So when you boot your computer you will get a list of operating systems, so you can choose. If you don't like that you can also boot linux with a floppy.
6) No idea. No experience with mac OS, sorry.
7) Linux is a wonderfull OS to muck around and check out. It's the main reason I'm using linux. Linux is not as hiding as windows.
8) Linux runs on a lot of hardware. Unless you have very exotic hardware or very very new hardware linux should do fine. Many distro's come with a list of supported hardware. Check their site.
9) Hard to say. Installation-manuals are distro-specific. But some distro's like Red Hat's Fedora, Mandrake and SuSE are pretty easy to install. Red Hat was my first running distro because the installation was so easy. Later I switched to Debian: Debian is a bit harder to install and especially harder to configure. Starting with an easy distro is a good idea I think.
Doesn't matter, I like answering this kind of questions .
Thanks all, I appreciate the answers and the patience (especially if these questions are answered daily).
Being one who is debating the installation, it helps to know that there are Linux users who are willing and able to give support and answer stupid, repetitive questions.
I just installed the Xandros 2.0 distro alongside Win XP Home. It was sooo easy and sweet. The Manual is great, it recognised all my hardware, connected to Internet and I can boot into either.
No problems? Alas, I still have not managed to install a driver to make my Canon i560 colour printer work well. But I will!
If u just want to muck around in it and dont want the hassle of reformatting and installing then u could try one of the live cds like knoppix , u just insert the cd then restart then ur in linux
as its installed on the cd so it wont write anything on ur hard disk
Can u please tell me...is there any way that i can install my canon i560 printer on my new computer if i lost the installation cd???...i am sorry if there is an obvious answer to this
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