{}EDIT{} Thank you for voting in the poll. Hopefully this post will be of use to future linux newbies. I have obtained the knowledge that I was seeking, but feel free to make this post grow. Thanks for actually being a helpful community out there!{}EDIT{}

I have live boot CDs/DVDs for each of these. I have run them on my computer and they worked fine, but my dad doesn't want me to run anything on his computer that might leave a trace behind. If I use a live boot CD/DVD, will it leave data on his Hard-drive or RAM? Is it possible to mess something up on his computer with a live boot CD? I'm very, very new to linux. I haven't gotten into it too much yet, but if someone could help me, then my dad and I could start learning. Any facts would be highly appreciated.

slax shouldnt leave anything behind unless you write something to the drive. im not sure about slackwares. live distros like dsl knoppix and slax shouldnt leave anything behind

No live CD leaves any trace whatsoever, unless you explicitly tell it to. As for RAM ... I'm quite positive everything in there disappears when you reboot.

Now we can both try out Linux without having to install... I've got running Linux, Linux for dummies and Unix for dummies from the library. I hope these will help me learn Linux, but I still feel like the books don't have everything. I still can't find out how to configure my wireless, which will probably be my next thread. Hopefully this time I would lose interest before I get really into Linux!

Slax will write a config file to the disk only if you ask it to, and only if it is a filesystem it supports. which would rule out NTFS, which is what NT4, 2000 and XP use. (oh, and Fista too...)

I don't really understand what you mean... I downloaded the SLAX CD's and they all work on my XP system fine, which has NTFS. I am also an übernoob , which means I don't know how to configure anything, but I can insert an iso disk into a disk-drive and restart the PC .

NTFS is the M$ filesystem. Linux uses a few different ones, and can read fine from NTFS, but writing to NTFS drives/partitions is not fully supported yet.

it just means that if you haven't done anything to explicitly change the formatting on your windows hard drive, then a live linux CD will likely not be able to write to your hard drive.

the live CDs you're using were likely burned from a windows box, so its no surprise they'll boot on your computer. the CD drive has its own 'filesystem' of sorts.

btw- I haven't tried the 'for dummies' series, but the O'Rielly book 'Running Linux' is my favorite. Also good is Linux in a Nutshell.

also- welcome to slackware.

I find the best way to learn is not by book ... it is by trial and error and also from being here at this forum (and sometimes even helping others )

I can't imagine a book having up-to-date info (unless it's online and well maintained) ... much less have enough info to solve most issues you come across. Really, I hate reading manuals and books and all that, so much of what I know comes from trial and error (experience), and understanding or attempting to understand what might be going on / wrong.

Most of learning is trial and error, the rest is tidbits taken from the internet.

This isnn't a black/white issue unless you know a bit about what you are doing. In general a Live CD will boot from CD and run completely in RAM. This is what you want!

However, if your distro supports the file system that is on the hard drive (probably NTFS) you could mount it and save data there. I would guess that this would require a concious act on part of the user (you).

(this part is conjecture) So I'm guessing your dad has a work-supplied PC and is worried that this live CD might somehow mess it up. He should be concerned because his work policies may restrict this kind of activity and I doubt yuo want to put his job at risk ( after all it pays for the food and internet bandwidth) . So maybe you need to do a bit more research (read the docs for the live CDs) and show him where is says what it says about the underlying hard disk.

Oh no, he doesn't have a work-supplied pc, he's just...[insert nice word for paranoid]. But thanks for the suggestion! Also, I don't wanna open a whole new can of worms here, but how do you change the code on stuff? You know...

Well, an overview of what happens when you boot a live CD is:

1) The Linux kernel is loaded from CD/DVD into RAM, and proceeds to be booted.
2) What else is loaded into RAM ?
a) If you have 'toram' option (Knoppix and the like), it will load the entire CD into RAM (which results in much faster operation ... but uses lots of RAM)
b) If no 'toram' then programs, modules, and other applications are loaded from CD/DVD into RAM as needed. This is slower because your computer must 'seek' the CD/DVD and find the program to be loaded into RAM. (Accelerated Knoppix has a neat workaround for this)
3) After boot has completed, the system is running fully from RAM and pulling data off the CD/DVD as necessary (unless 'toram' is enabled, then all is run from RAM and CD/DVD is not needed). You can also mount your hard-drive and read/write from/to it, but you don't have to, in which case it is not touched.

Oh, and one more thing, make sure to tell your dad that Bill Gate$ owns his computer and spies on him every day. (to a decent extent, this is true)

The Linux community usually accuses MS of spreading FUD - let's not be guilty of it ourselves.

Ok, fine, that's only if you have a root kit on your computer ... like mine did ... before I nuked it with Linux. (Google: $ony root kit)

I'm not sure I see your point. Sony installed a root kit on your computer and you're accusing MS, no Gates, of owning your computer.

They made a deal ... don't you see ?