All Things Microsoft > Microsoft Software
Ok I'm convinced, what next?
saddlemagic:
I am typically not one to half-step. You know that saying, "Out of the frying pan, into the fire." Most often I skip the pan completely and just dive straight for the fire.
My angst revolves around, will I still be able to access the Internet through my current ISP? Will the data on my D: and E: drives be usable through Linux? Will my data get trashed? And, how long till I have my computer functional again?
As far as programs go I'm sure I'll find all the low cost/no cost apps that I can shake a stick at.
I have located a number of on-line dealers selling open scource CD's. Is there any flavor of Linux I should look for or avoid? Best I can figure the distribution CD's will cost as much as $20 with shipping and I'm up it the air as to which flavor would make less of a mess.
This upgrade will really stick me between two worlds. For my business I have a 100 mHz Pentium machine running Windows 3.1. I use maybe a dozen programs on it that run in DOS or Windows. I spent many hours building some custom forms and documents on that machine and they would take forever to tweek back into shape if I imported them to new programs. I know because I tried. So I just kept it like it was and I'm most happy with it. On that computer I can be word processing within thirty seconds of hitting the power switch. On this Win95 box I'm waiting on Windows for almost a minute and a half before I can even open a program.
I like my old DOS/Win3.1 machine, it does it's job well and never needs upgraded.
rtgwbmsr:
quote:My angst revolves around, will I still be able to access the Internet through my current ISP?
--- End quote ---
Yes, most Linux installers (Definately Mandrake & Red Hat) auto-detect your internet connection. If it needs anything, you will be asked for it during the install process.
quote:
Will the data on my D: and E: drives be usable through Linux?
--- End quote ---
Yes, in every way, shape and form.
quote:
Will my data get trashed?
--- End quote ---
No, not unless you reformat. Read every dialog box If it says "all data on hda1 will be erased" DO NOT click OK if you want to keep your data (Assuming Windows is already installed, hda1 will be your Windows partition). If you want really specific info, ask one of the Bobs. I'm not gteat when it comes to drives.
quote:
And, how long till I have my computer functional again?
--- End quote ---
The installation process takes about 20 mins.
Oh yeah. Stay away from Red Hat. It's great, but not for people who are new to Linux. You need to know terminal command to effectively use that OS.
-Dustin
[ July 16, 2002: Message edited by: Dustin ]
choasmaster:
better yet, go and buy a 50 dollar book, like the redhat 7.0 bible. its great. or move next to a solarise admin, that really helped my journay to unix./*i really like bsd*/
choasmaster:
what i mean about the solarise admin, is find people who now what they doing, like a few people on this board, most notable voidmain. its easyeir that way
choasmaster:
o and for wordprocessing, on the linux or win9x system, i would recommend OpenOffice.org's solultion
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