Okay, I'm in dire need of some assistance. I have been using Windows for a long time, but I've become very fed up with Microsoft and it's products. I'm looking to install Linux (Red Hat v. 7.3?), but I'm somewhat un-educated about the differences of Linux and Windows. My main problem is programs (I already searched the forums, but didn't find an answer). I use a lot of programs that are mainly used on Windows (ZoneAlarm, Norton Antivirus, Winamp, and other small programs for managing memory etc..), but do these regular programs work fine on Linux? This is my only question and I apologize if it's a dumb one - and also please tell me if there's other important things I need to know about making this switch. Thanks.

Welcome to Linuxville!

And thank God one more soul has seen the light.

Redhat 7.3 is a good start. Mandrake is very user friendly.

With a properly configured Linux box, you don't need ZA, NAV, anti-trojan, anti-spy, disk-cleanup, etc. Linux has iptables that's better than many software firewalls. Or you could just remove all open ports. I can walk you thru the process.

Winamp? How about a Winamp-skin-compatible CD player? XMMS does it all. There's Xine, a very professional DVD player.

Memory management is built into Linux. As a matter of fact, it's better than Win 9x/ME's and it can rival W2k/XP's.

The point is to find an alternative that works for you.

There's StarOffice, complete replacement of MS Office.

There's AIM, Yahoo Messenger, etc.

As for games, I would rather have fun in the recliner or with friends on PS2 (30-million userbase and counting) & GameCube. Why bother with install, configure, troubleshoot, and maybe paying extra for tech support?

Let me know when you make up your mind with with distro to go for.

hi, yeah, mostly like jetblackz said, several of the programs you mentioned you just don't need, because of the better structure with which Linux is built with. You don't have to worry about viruses, because Linux is based on multi user interface, and every user has restricted privileges unless you are the user Root, which is not recommended you use, unless you need to configure something like your printer or some other hardware. So, because of this, viruses just don't affect the system since all the delicate part of the file system is protectec and restricted by this multi user interface. That takes care of Norton, and for firewall, Red hat already comes with a firewall you can configure...and it's a very good one. For music, like jetblackz said you have Xmms which plays does every that Winamp does, and perhaps some more. For dvd back playing, jetblacks mentioned Xine...but you most definately should take a look at Mplayer, it's better than Xine,
For memory keeping....if what you want is something to monitor memory, i.e., see how much is beign used etc...you can download the program Gkrellm, which you can configure pretty much everything, from monitoring your CPU activity to ejecting your CD drive. Openoffice was already mention, it's free and it does replace the 600+ dollar Ms Office. And well, that about should cover it,
Unless you got some more specific questions, , bring them on.

Those are good answers to your questions, the last question you had was "anything else I should know for the switch", yes.

You will want to memorize www.linuxquestions.org for one. Also check out www.linuxnewbie.org for alot of tutorials for newbies and such. And when I finally decided to go full blast with linux, I went through a great tutorial over at www.linux.org It runs you through many commands that, at the time see way to advanced, but as you move on in Linux will become second nature.

And more importantly than all the knowledge you may/will gain, do not get discouraged. There are many experts on here, and all around the web that are very good at fixing problems and helping you to recover your system.
Don't forget everything you know about winbloze, but try to separate it from the knowledge you gain from linux.

Most of the programs that you used and are used to on winbloze have a similar program available on Linux. There are instant messengers, Video Players, all kinds of mulitmedia options, Games, Word processors, entire office suites, and much more... But remember, they are similar not the same program. Alot of the programs you had on Windows are not compatible with Linux, just as if you were to try to play a tape in a CD player. You will learn (if you haven't already) about "windows emulators" called wine and WineX and others, these do a pretty good job at trying to let you use your windows apps on linux, but you might be better off looking for an alternative instead.

And also very important, enjoy what you do. Linux can be very fun to learn, and has a very good support community. Have fun in learning how to use the greatest OS available.

http://www.dsl.org/cookbook/ is a good place to read up i think...

and MasterC, the *nix timeline is ............. long and complicated!!!

I just happen to be digging through some VERY old posts, and Jeremy actually had this one. It's amazingly complicated! Whoever built the diagram had a lot of "extra" time.

Wow, I can't thank you guys enough- you've been a ton of help. Okay, so there is programs like music-players and word-processors that work with Linux, but there is still a couple of programs that I can't live without. The first is MSN Messenger (I know ). I'm aware of the other messengers available, but I have over 50 contacts (most of which are friends) on it that I talk to all the time and they don't use AIM, ICQ, or Yahoo Messenger. I guess there's maybe nothing I can do about though- or is there?

Can you guys tell me if there is similar programs to replace these that I use?:
1. Photoshop, Paint-Shop Pro
2. HTML editors
3. FTP programs for uploading
4. Kazaa or Morpheus (probably not I'm guessing)
Also, what is the best replacement for Internet Explorer that will work for Linux (Mozilla, Opera?)

My last question for now is: does anyone have screenshots of Red Hat Linux 7.3 that I can look at? I only saw some at Red Hat's site, but I want to see more of what it looks like. Thanks a bunch .

1. Photoshop - the GIMP can be concidered an alternative http://www.gimp.org
2. HTML editors - tons of them search http://freshmeat.net for HTML editors
3. The same as number 2 - search http://freshmeat.net
4. There is kazaa client for linux, and there's alternatives as well http://www.zeropaid.com
As for MSN - freshmeat is your best bet to find an IM clinet compatable with MSN - unfortunately I don't use it but GAIM claims to ge compatable with MSN. IE - there are tons of web browsers for linux - most poular are Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, Galeon, Skipstone - again go over to http://freshmeat.net to get the listing. Another place on the net dedicated to open source software is http://sourceforge.net - this is a large repository of the software projects and not only this, check it out.
Screen shots - there is a thread in linux-general by MasterC dedicated just to this topic, and I remember there was a thread here before with more then 100 replies just with screenshot of the guys' desktops.
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...threadid=26643

Good replies!

"4. Kazaa or Morpheus" - I don't use any of these as there's no such need cuz Linux software are mostly free downloadables.

http://www.limewire.com/index.jsp/download

http://download.com.com/3150-2032-0-1-4.html?

Gaim works with MSN, Yahoo, AIM, etc. I signed up with MSN and I'm chatting with a buddy.

http://gaim.sourceforge.net/faq.php#q8

As for RH 7.3 look, click the link above. Mine is RH 7.2 + KDE 3 (from 7.3) & theme.

Cool, so now I just need to decide which Linux to go with and I was thinking Mandrake. It seems to be easy to use and the PowerPack Edition 8.2 has a ton of apps as well. Is Mandrake a good way for me to go, or do you guys think there is a better one to go with?

we generally recommend either red hat or mandrake for newbies - i haven't seen the new install programs they have on the latest releases, but i've heard very good things about them.

generally, i'd recommend getting the one that's cheaper. beyond the plastic wrapper and the cardboard box, all linux distros are essentially the same. it's not worth paying extra for something you can download for free anyway.
if a program works on mandy 8.1, it will work on redhat 7.3 or suse 7.whatever. the core innards are the same. the only things really worth paying for are the installation programs, which is why we usually recommend redhat or mandrake - theirs tend to be the easiest for a starter to pick up on.

once you've gotten everything working, it's just a matter of finding out which programs you want. gaim is a great IM prog - and it works with just about every IM network out there - it makes you wonder why MS and AOL and Yahoo can't seem to manage to do something so simple as that. it's really one of the great examples of what linux can accomplish - interoperability across a myriad of different networks and protocols.

So, would Mandrake be something I can enjoy for years to come, or after I get better with Linux would I want to use something else?

http://www.edmunds-enterprises.com/linux/cart.php

You seem to worry about making a wrong choice. In Linux, you won't make one if you stick with it. However, I'm no Mandrake guru, so I won't be of much help. Most here and at another board are using RedHat. If you decided to go with Mandy, head to

http://www.mandrakeuser.org/index.php

Mandrake In my opinion is great and I dont see why you would not enjoy it years to come :-)

It comes with just about everything mentioned, Gaim, of course Gimp wich is just the best!!, as well as netscape and a few others like opera, mozzila, Galeon to name a few :-)..

Redhat I've also used (RedHat 7.1) and it's very good, Although I preffer Mandrake 8.2 I'd reccomend either..

Hope ya find what your looking for :-)