Hi I'm a Newbie,

I'm a Windows 7 x64 user and I am talking myself into installing Fedora with the KDE Spin. I don't like the look of Windows 8 and I cannot afford to purchase software updates. I have old software that should be upgraded. The KDE workspace seems to be the most Windows like to me. I'm not sure if I will install 16 or wait until 17 comes out. I have a 2 TB hard drive with 4 GB of memory. I plan to purchase another 2 TB hard drive for Linux. I don't want to install Linux on the same hard drive as Windows and losing everything when I do something dumb. I don't trust myself.

With all that said I cannot seem to find a particular type of software. On Windows I print checks on blank card stock with the check creation program VersaCheck Gold 2007 (http://www.versacheck.com/web/creation.asp). I don't have checks to write out by hand. I print the complete check. I would like to find check creation software for Linux. Does anyone know of a program similar to VersaCheck? There are a few nice financial software programs that I'm looking at. If I can't find a native Linux program I will install Wine and install my Windows software. I prefer not to do that though. If I'm going to do it, I want to do it the right way. I want to use Linux software.

Thanks,

Norman

I would suggest doing a google searcg. There are plenty of money management software applications out there. I would also spend some time on distro watch to choose your distro. What you seem to be concerned with is the desktop environment which can basically be run on any distro. If you want a vast software library set up in easy to access repositories the best I have found are on Debian and Arch which both can run the KDE you desire. However the set up of them is much more intricate than others.


http://linuxmint.com/

Since this is your first distro I would recomend LInux Mint. It comes in a pre configured version with KDE and a very easy to understand software library. I also find that you are forced to learn if you go all in and install just Linux on your system rather than a dual boot. If you have the spare bucks for a hard drive you could just not spend it and nuke the Windows install with Linux and if you don't like it you could purchase a new license with the $ you had set aside for the drive and you are no worse for the wear.

Just my 2 cents.

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If you really want to protect your Windows installation, remove the Windows hard drive when setting up Linux. I accidentally wiped Windows installations more than once when first getting started with Linux (which was about 12 years ago). Linux installers have come a long way since then, wiping out Windows when installing Linux is much less likely now.

As for Linux distros, I happen to like Fedora. The one disadvantage of Fedora for a new user is that installing non-free software, takes a bit more effort that it does with distros like Linux Mint and Ubuntu.

I haven't used any check writing software, but will KMyMoney do what you need?

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One option would be to install virtual machine software on Windows such as VirtualBox and install a Linux in a virtual machine. This would meet your requirement of safeguarding Windows while not requiring a second HDD. It would also allow you to switch to Linux without having to reboot.

A netsearch quickly identified GNU Cash as a FOSS solution with cheque printing capability as well as several paid solutions.

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I will check out distro watch and look at Debian, Arch and Mint. I was looking at Fedora because I dabbled with it four or five years ago on Virtual Box. The other thing I like about Fedora is they have a virtual environment built into the operating system. I don't know if it is any good or not.

If I'm having a hard time with Linux I could install Windows in a virtual environment so I can use both Windows and Linux at the same time while learning. I would rather not do that but I do like the option. I would just reinstall my version of Windows 7 and use my license code. I'm not sure if that is okay or not. I do want to preserve what I have in case I crash the system. That is part of the learning process. Once I master Linux then I plan on ditching windows.


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Unplugging the hard drive is a good idea. I did not think of that. I will add Ubuntu to my list of distros to look at. I am looking at KMyMoney. I have to email them or post in their forum because they don't explain how checks are printed.

I'm also looking at MoneyDance, but I think they print checks on printed checks.

I don't mind using a financial software and a separate check creating software.


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I did think of installing something like VirtualBox. I could also install Microsoft's virtual machine. That might be the way to go. I should think about that more. After learning Linux I could just reinstall it to my hard drive. I was thinking of using Fedora's built in virtual environment to reinstall Windows if I have a hard time with Linux. That is why I was thinking about the second hard drive.

I did try the Windows version of GnuCash. I was not to crazy about it. That could be an option for the check printing part that I'm looking for. I can take a second look at it.


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Thank you for your responses, I will consider all the options that you suggested.

I snagged a hard drive from a computer that is not and will not be used it the future. I will look at all the distros suggested. I will unplug my Windows hard drive before installation. When I plug it back in I should get the duel boot menu? I hope it will work out that way.

No. During the installation of the Grub bootloader, it will look for other operating systems and it should detect them and create an entry in the boot menu. If your windows drive is not plugged in, it will obviously not be able to detect it. What you would need to do after the installation, if you are using a distribution like Ubuntu, Mint or Fedora with Grub2, is to run update-grub after the install. If you use Ubuntu or its derivatives, you would need to do sudo update-grub. If it is a distribution which doesn't have sudo by default, you would log in to a terminal as root user and run the command.

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You made my evening, I was reading and found that Fedora with KDE only has the Live Images. I was disappointed that I would have to leave my computer on during the install. I feel better knowing that I have to leave it on. I haven't gotten to the Grub2 part yet. I'm going to print out a lot of this stuff before I start installing anything. Thanks for the information, I'm going to look at that now.


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NRL,
You will only be able to 'dual boot' if you plug the Windoze hard drive back in but you can boot both systems from the same drive if you manipulate the partitions. Separate drives is easier and safer.

Fred.

One drive will have Windows 7 x64 and the other will have Fedora 16 x86_64 with the KDE Spin. I will be booting one or the other when I start the computer.

Would it be wise to follow the complete Installation Guide instead of the Quick Start Guide?

The Installation Quick Start Guide seems fairly strait forward. Part 18 Boot Loader Configuration has the Grub2 setup info.

This setup should include the KDE setup. I better check that out before I start.