once i have linux is there anyway to get back to windows?? and if so please help me out..

please specialize your question/problem!

get back to win?
a) ->format HDD->install windoze!?!
b) -> edit bootloader ;-)

i have so many problems. I was told when i got this that i wouldnt be alone and linux questions always have people happy to help. I dont understand computers very well so i cant understnad half the thing people say. If people could explain it to me it would be nice...

I want to be able to download music. i want to be able to install thing on my computer such as picture project 1.5 for my camera.

there's a lot i want and i dont know how to do without windows..
and honestly if i cant get the help i need i would ratehr have windows. I love linux... but If i dont know how to work it it's no longer a good program for me.

for total noobs windoze might be a little more easier, but at the end you must work and fight with every OS to learn to pros & contras!
for only desktop use, the most OS "are equal" (dont stone me to death :-)), if
1. hardware is supported
2. apps are available
3. all functions :-)

If you have any data saved on Linux (documents, pictures, etc) that you want to keep, back this up first. Then, put your Windows CD in your CD-ROM drive and reboot your machine. You should enter Windows setup, where you'll be able to reformat the hard disk and reinstall Windows.

even with debian?
with any kinda of program?

Join the club friend, join the club!

You probably have a similar problem to me, too much familarity with windows. I've had to force myself to learn, and after 3 years or so, my linux knowledge could still be written on the back of a very small postage stamp.

If your system has enough space on the hard disc, then I'd suggest that you change the system to a "dual boot". Which means that you have both, linux and windows. If you already have windows on the machine, then you can usually install a linux distro in some spare space on the hard drive.

I believe that you could still do that the other way round as well, but I've never tried that.

Historically, it's always been the case that you have the windows installed first, though I understand that now, with XP thats not necessary.

If you have both systems installed, then you have the luxury of taking your time in learning linux.

From personal experience, I would suggest whichever windows you have, plus one of the mainstream commercial distros (mandriva, SuSE or something like that) as they often have some proprietary apps that are available for both OS's e.g. realplayer, etc.

It's up to you though. I just happen to believe that it's often better to have a broader base to your computer knowledge.

If you have a windows disc, then you might just want to try and boot the disc and see what it offers you, if I remember correctly, retail versions of windows will format the hard drive etc. Otherwise it'd normally mean formatting the hard drive first, making a windows boot disc and then doing the installation.

regards

John

Hey Mitch, so well do I know what you are speaking of. The written materials I've found are partly understandable, but mixed with foreign stuff that isn't explained. I've been disallusioned, too.

So what I did was take a break from it, a long one, over a month. If you have 2 PCs or a dual boot system (Windows and Linux both on the same PC, for example) then you can do this. Or, you could have Windows on your PC to use some of the time, and then get Knoppix to practice and learn Linux. Knoppix is on a CD (or download from the internet for free). When you run it, it temporarily installs Linux on your PC, you can use it, try it out, learn from it little by little when you have the time and motivation. That way, you can gradually learn Linux, not have to give up on it, and eventually you will be

I just found a tutorial yesterday that makes more sense to me than any of them, so far. Found it here on this forum. It's at: http://tille.xalasys.com/training/tldp/index.html Maybe you will find it more friendly and informative. Hope so.

It might still be hard to understand some of the link, but let me just say what I've learned about Linux. If you start at the very beginning and read it/practice it very slowly you wll learn it better than if you just look things up for the particular task you want to accomplish (like trying to play a DVD, for example) It takes A LOT more time that way because the stuff you want to do may be too complicated until you learn the basics. I finally gave up on Linux because I wasn't willing to take the time to learn the basics. Thing is, I was learning Windows for years at jobs and other places. I did not learn it in a few hours a week for a few weeks, it was much longer and everybody around knew it too, so I learned from them all the time.

Linux is different. And better. It's worth the struggle. I hope you don't give up. I'm not, and I wanted to a thousand times.

Just my

I think Niaga is right. Every end has always a beginning. These are the facts. I myself began on Debian Woody around August 2004 with 2.2.20-ide-pci kernel. I began to dive in many issues, as I am a multimedia man: sound was not natively supported by that kernel; so you had to implement it via modconf. I was a complete newbie at that time; maybe more than what you pinkfae222 are now.

But then some kind of strange fascination began to shine don't know where, or how or why. I began to feel more and more appealed to that. I wanted to learn, I visited linuxquestions for the first time and checked the huge ammount of knowledge was circulating here among members, seniors, gurus and even newbies-labelled that they really weren't. Astonishing, really.

So according to Niaga I would suggest you to give linux a try; whatever distribution you want. I am sure many people here -even myself, up until my tiny knowledge may be useful for you- could help in setting up a dual boot system, as in fact I have on one of my workstations. The other one runs pure Debian Testing solely.

As bigjohn says: join the club!!!

Regards,

JuanJavier.

What helped me a lot was a really good book (I've bought most of the books on the market, actually, and only a few haven't bothered me with their overly technical or overly simplistic tone...). My favorite beginner book has been "Beginning SuSE Linux." The author has a really good sense of humor and explains things in plain English and doesn't spend half of the book bashing Windows, which has alienated me from a number of other books. There's a lot of SuSE-specific information, but most of the information works well for other KDE-based distros as well. I can't recommend the book enough

How would i fix my boot loader to boot up Windows after an installation of Linux is currpoted and it grub no longer works?

Thanks

sounds like your MBR (master boot record) is hosed........
you need to fix it...do a forum search for...
and you should find plenty of help..........