I'm currenty running Win2000pro and want to switch to linux, I've been looking at some screenshots of Mandrake and like the way it looks.(I know thats not all there is to it but it helps!) Is there any one who can tell me the advantages of linux over the MS crap. Also what is the best way to create a linux partition on my already loaded HD so I can check it out before I go Full time linux.
Thanks

well first you can search these fourms about what others think the disadvantages and advantages are, cause i can remember see one specificly in which poeple where listing things in point form....so you can find all them answers on this fourm just by doing a search....
and you didn't really specify what your doing with your hd so i will lay out two possibilties in which i think is one of which you mean:
if you want to just go with linux only, you can just pop in the cd and boot your computer with it, and there is a screen in the installation in which it will do the partitioning for you where you dont' have to worry about that..as you can select out of 3 options
-) remove all partitions
-) remove linux only partitions
-) manually partition
where you would select the first option to remove everything on the drive and it will start fresh for you
....and the other thing is, if you were wanting to keep windows on there for a dual boot then you will have to get a piece of software that can resize your partitions for you can make space for the linux partition..

Yeah - plenty of discussion on this. And you can download Knoppix or any of several live CDs to just get an idea of it without having to make any changes to your hard drive or boot setup. But if you like Mandrake and want to dual boot with Win2K, Mandrake's got the resizing tools you need. It's not guaranteed, but it worked for me.

But again, as far as looks, what you're seeing in a screen shot is an IDE or wm - such as KDE, Gnome, or fluxbox or blackbox. Those can be installed on any distro and modified in extreme ways. The 'looks' of a distro doesn't mean all that much.

-- to clarify that: File arrangement, config arrangement, tool selection, hadrware support, package management - these things are more relevant. Like with Slack you're going to be using BSD-style init scripts and installing tgz packages with pkgtool or compiling from source. With Mandrake, you're going to have SysV init scripts and be installing .rpms with whatever tool it has - rpm, urpmi... something - and the emphasis is going to be on GUI tools rather than command line, though the CLI tools will be there. That sort of thing is more important when deciding on a distro.

hi, i commend u for considering linux over "ms crap "

alright, the best way to approach linux is probably not to go linux only unless u have had some experience with it, i definitely recommend going dual-boot and Do NoT use vmware virtual machines...

alright, to do dual boot (meaning u can choose when your pc starts whether u want to load windows or linux) you will probably either find yourself some partitioning software (partition magic works best) or use the built in mandrake hdd resizing windows option

before you install mandrake, do a full windows defragment and do a full complete thorough system scandisk to get rid of errors and to reduce possibility of not being able to resize your hdd

after that, if u want only to try mandrake, download the first cd from their site's ftp's, burn it to a cd, and pop it into your cd drive (assuming your pc can boot from a cd)

go through, and when u get to partitioning options, choose to resize your existing windows partitions, and everything should work fine

when prompted to enter your second and third discs, click cancel (you really don't need them to just try mandrake) and boot into mandrake

more info later, try this first

*btw, make sure you install a boot loader when you install mandrake, LILO is the best for mandrake, and mandrake should install it for you

come back if you have any more questions

Hi Snatale,
A month ago I came from Windows to Linux. My computer guy reformated my hard drive and put a bare bones XP OS in my " C " drive and I installed Suse Linux 10. Only 5% of my " C " drive and 4% of my " D " drive are now occupied.

I suggest yhat you read - Linux is Not Windows at :

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

I only wish I had read this article a month ago and save myself some frustration. Good Luck !!

I wouldn't recommend going to an all Linux box until your are completely sold on Linux and understand what you will be giving up by switching to Linux only. Making your system a dual boot is probably the best way to go. Live CDs are fine to see what the GUI is like for Linux distros, but until you have it actually installed on your system, you can't really appreciate the differences between Linux and Windows.

I will say Linux will frustrate you because it is different than Microsoft's Windows and approaches certain tasks totally different. Mandriva is a good distro to start learning with.

I definetly recommend tring Knoppix or Slax first. I have felt the pain of going through the first 10 days of being forced to use linux, it would be much more pleasant to try Live-cd first and then swith fulltime.

Hi again Snatale,

I bought Suse Linux 10 in a Best Buy store and so for now I am stuck with it.
SoliTear and BinJajer are both very correct in their advise to you. You can get free Linux distributions and have both Linux and Windows on your computer.

Like myself you will find that there is a lot to learn about Linux. The more I learn the better I like it.

A year or more ago I finally got fed up with all the virus protection necessary on Win98 so installed a second hard drive and installed Suse 9.0 easily as dual boot. Then slowly learnt about Linux but was not long before disconnected Win98 from the internet. Using Kmail was easy and now we have Firefox. A second hard drive costs but (useful if your first is small) no worries about messing up the windows partition then. Linux boots from a secondary HD unlike Windows.

I'd recommend that approach so you can try it all out and learn a little before abandoning Windows

Glad im not the only one who dove head first into linux.
after the first couple of hours i was dissapointed, started reading and now i cant go back. Its been three or four days that ive been a windows refugee..I really enjoy suse 10 thus far, i just ditched windows xp pro and
i dont think i could force myself to do it any other way than to just go all out, the second hard drive sounds like an idea i shouldve considered tho.
first thing that i noticed after switching was "my cd rom doesnt work?!?" oh ya have to mount it...i didnt realize all the commands that actually took place behind all that pretty interface and erroneous practices of certain OS(wont name any)
anyways have fun