Hi,

Totally new here and to the world of Linux, so please bear with me.

Been wanting to try Linux for a while. Played around with a Knoppix disc a little, but that's it. Recently bought a new Acer Aspire 5610 with duel core Centrino chip and Windows Home Premium. What a mistake. Over the years I've learned to deal with Microsoft nonsense, but Vista is what it took to make me give up!

Someone told me that any PC that is equipped with Vista can never run anything but Vista. Is that true? I do audio production work and use several PC-based programs. Are there emulation programs for Linux that can run PC programs? Should I just swallow hard and learn an expensive lesson?

Any help is much appreciated.

PR

You can definitely replace Vista with Linux. You could also dual-boot the two systems.

If you are interested in dual-booting, I would look at something like this: http://apcmag.com/5046/how_to_dual_b...nstalled_first

It may be M$'s dream that any PC that runs Vista can't run any other operating system. However at the moment it is nearly the opposite -- Any PC with an operating system running perfectly could have problem running Vista.

In your case the best bet is to use Vista's own resizer program to reduce Vista to about 20Gb and install whatever OS you wish in the remaining hard disk space.

You don't need to convert Vista. Any work you do inside Vista can be accessed by Linux.

You can have the cake and eat it with Linux.

It is the best way to find out how Vista performs against a free system, say a current Ubuntu which I installed on a Core 2 Duo E6700 and it fires up every hardware without mentioning the word "driver". Try it on Vista.

I installed Vista in a box as one of the 145 systems to boot from.

I don't know who told you that a computer that runs Vista can never run anything else, but that's a load of c**p. If you put in any linux install disc, it'll install linux. Yes there is a program called WINE, that'll emulate windows software. But there are plenty of opensource opposites of windows applications.

If you want to start of "easy" as a linux starter, you might wanna try Ubuntu/Kubuntu.
Ubuntu using Gnome, Kubuntu using KDE, KDE having more graphical features, Gnome beeing it works, not too much graphical features.

But there's also OpenSuse , Fedora Core, that are for "starting" people.

I'd advice you to take a look at:

distrowatch

And take any of the ones in the TOP 10. It also contains A LOT OF info about all the Distributions around.

yes it is do-able, i abandoned MS-Windows back around late 1999 or early 2000 when WinXP was still in beta stage and all that talk about product activation & calling home to the MS-Borg, i have since been using Linux exclusively since then, the road was a little bumpy at first but it has been smooth sailing since = there is always a little adjustment when learning something new no matter what it is = as a kid learning to ride a bicycle, learning to drive a car...

just don't give up is all i can say if you want success!

There is a new version of Ubuntu (Ubuntu Studio) that seems to be tailored towards audio and video. An older player in this area is Agnula/Demudi that is also tailored towards audio and video.

I agree with the suggestion to setup a dual boot.

1 members found this post helpful.

My site has some material that may help you in transitioning and getting started.
In particular: http://pixellany.com/lin_start.html

Too old, in fact, the project appears to have been abandoned some time ago. But there's also ArtistX, 64studio, Musix, ...

the statement about Vista and ONLY running Vista is semi true. MS has demanded that hardware OEMs start putting DRM on the hardware that prevents other OSs from running other then Windows.

there are several ATI chipsets that cause this right now. i have yet to see any Nvidia chipsets that are loaded with DRM to prevent other OSs from installing or working.

as for the audio editing, there are several great audio editors for linux that you might want to try.

as for dumping MS completely that may not be an option for you if you can not find a FOSS audio editor to replace what you are accustom to under windows. i have to dual boot for video editing as the few video editing tools for linux are just not capable of doing what i need and crash way to often.

i have chosen to stick with winXP Pro for video editing and Sabayon Linux for everything else.

Could you provide a link to show that this is the case? Are you talking about TPM? I'm not aware of any TPM implementation that would prohibit installing Linux -- most computers let you turn off TPM in BIOS.

What you say about ATI chipsets is 50% correct. Chipsets are getting "DRM" so that people without VISTA will never be able to watch HD movies in their full glory.

And my source is here: MY SOURCE

I think this is what you are talking about. TPM as the person above me describes, has indeed not yet been implemented, and probably won't be for quite some time.

I imagine it won't be long until Linux supports HDCP as well. Of course, that'll come right after we have software that can use the AACS key to read the HD-DVDs. Treat us like criminals and we become criminals....
</politics>

promorobot

Go for it. I tried linux out of curiosity [1], not some dissatisfaction with windows. Can't even imagine going back to full time windows use now. Linux is that good imo. I currently use Mepis the most but have tried several flavors and found good in all of them.

Dual booting is the most reliable way to run windows software, especially if it's graphics/resources intensive . It's also a pita unfortunately.

The only windows software I need is a a couple of CAD/CAM applications. These run just fine in VirtualBox (google it). VirtualBox opens XP in it's own window while running linux. Very effective for my uses. Not as hard to setup as you might think. Not sure how well it works with Vista but works a treat with XP.

WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator) is another possibility. Depending on the software WINE can range from piece of cake to 'pull your hair out' frustrating.


Ain't that the truth. If MS [2] had their way linux users would all be buying their hardware on the black market. Thank god for righteous hackers.


[1] There was one more reason. I needed an application that only runs in linux !! A bit of a reversal of the usual problem. Long story.....

[2] And apparently some people in the hardware and content business. Can't blame MS for everything, no matter how tempting that might be

I agree that setting up a dual boot system would be your best course of action just starting out. No sense tossing out what gets your work done until you learn the new system and ways of doing the same things in Linux.

Thank you for all the information, although some of it is a little over my head. That said, I may not want to be the person doing this on my computer. Does anyone know how to find a professional versed in such Linux installs in my area? (So. NH)

PR