I am truly a newbie here...I have never used Linux, but I WANT to., to learn something new and add a skill. I just read the following article http://www.techrepublic.com/article....&fromtm=e106-2 and I am interested in installing one of these Linux OS on my laptop. My system is Windows NT, and is partitioned into 2 drives, C and D. According to the article I can download and install either one of these without partitioning my drive(s).

Has anyone used these and can anyone give me advice BEFORE I go ahead and do this?

Thanks,

Rachel Stern

I am not familiar with winLinux. However i have used phatlinux and found it a good intro to linux! I have written a review of it for one of my sites. http://gore.host.sk/linux/ It isnt finished but gives background of what i thought of it. Another option open to you is to try ZipSlack or try Mandrakes install on win option. Most dont give you large storage as they create their filesystems in a file.

You may want to partition your harddrive a little bit more and then you can pick from a vast library of linux distros to install. Don't know how big your HD is on a laptop, but you only need around 2 GB for a FULL install of most distros (SuSe's 7 disc not included).

master from his post it looks like he wants to try linux out without partitioning. Winlinux and phatlinux allow for this by installing their filesystem as a file on a FAT partition

WinLinux installs to a Fat16 or 32 drive, not NTFS.
It has to be readable by Win9x to write to the folder C:\Linux or D:\Linux . It mentions on their site that it doesnt work with NT type OS's. The reason for this is Win9x stores some of the files needed by the installer in a different part of the registry. The installer might run but not find any hardware for your system. It looks at your current configuration and tries to match it from a set of lists in one of the folders it unpacks to your C:\Linux\winlinux directory. If it cannot find what it needs you would have to "force" most if not all your settings in the final phase of the install process. Make sure you can connect to the net at that point because it wont finish without registering for support.
IF it was able to boot I doubt that it could function as anything other than a console. Because the correct modules wouldnt be loaded to the kernel at boot. If you knew exactly all the hardware in your system you might be able to "force" all the settings at the final stage. I boot mine from a DOS boot floppy instead of Lilo ( winME ).

I cannot comment on Phat Linux I never installed it.

Without having a Win9x based OS, WinLinux would be a lot of trouble to install even though it would only use about 500 megs.

Thank you. Your post was the most helpful and most relevant. I think I am going to wait. I plan to buy a new computer in the near future and at that point I will get what I need/want.

Rachel Stern

I was not trying to talk you out of the install. But to inform you of what you are up against with WinLinux.

Hopefully someone here might comment more on PhatLinux.

Especially if it is installable from NT .

With 2 partitions on your drive you could manage the install of Debian, SlackWare, Gento, LFS or any other popular distro. It is better to use a Linux "native" filesystem - TRUE , but not mandatory. Open source also means alternatives. One of the alternatives is the file system of choice (excluding NTFS for now). Plus installing only the packages YOU want.
RunOnCD is extremely slow with a gui running but gives you a good look at a desktop. It requires a fat16/32 partition to write a 100meg loop file. Generally to C:\Linux\system.

There are also several distros of Linux that run from CD, if all you want is to test and learn, but yoiu will need at least "a little bit of FAT" on a hard drive to write files to -- FAT, get it?