newbie linux questions....

[liquidice6]

well, im a newbie and i know that this was asked probibly  a million times but i need some linux VS xp answers...I need answers not flames...thnx


Ok, I have XP and well, i wouldnt be here if i love it... but im thinking of getting linux mandrake power suite edition 9.2 and i need to know if its worth getting,

I need it to run a bunch of programs (file sharing games,ECT.) but i heard that i need a windows emulator in order to play games and windows apps, is this true?
I need to support a wide variety of apps and games!!!
and also can everyone please tell me more about linux (specs, ease of use, ECT.)

I also want to know if mandrake and linux as a whole is easy to use...

to those that can help THANX

P.S. Its 3 am so if I have some errors, bear with me, thanx again

[Paladin9]

I do not think I am the right person to tell you how to use linux since I am not as good with it as many other people here, but I can recomend what to do.  If you still want to use windows programs, then you should put both windows and mandrake on your system as a dual boot.  I used to do this for a long time.  Also, many people seem to like mandrake, but I have always had a bad experience with it.  Try mandrake, and if it does not work for you then you may want to  try red hat.  Both are easy to install and use.  I use slackware but it is a little more adavanced to use.

[ March 20, 2004: Message edited by: MindFlyer-Paladin9 ]

[Enmity]

Just before you get your hopes too high, windows games have minimal support  on linux and you'll have a lot of headaches getting them to work.

IMO Mandrake is not bad but I strongly suggest you wait for 10.0 to come out, it's better than 9.2
Mandrake is sufficient for daily internet browsing and some multimeda, office work, games are somewhat lacking though.

Wine emulates quite a lot of windows apps but you wont have too much luck with games. Wine is free for download.
www.winehq.com

Crossover works 90% of the time with office apps but is quite expensive.
www.codeweavers.com

WineX is a special version of WINE that supports many games, including warcraft 3, diablo2, half-life, counterstrike, gta:vc etc.
Again, $$ needed.
www.transgaming.com


I wouldn't suggest you jump so fast into the linux bandwagon, because (IMO) you should have some knowledge of it before you actually use it. Experience tells me:
a) Get a no-brainer linux distro (xandros, lindows,Lycoris); or
b) Read some books and/or Get advice, then get an easy-but-requires-brains distro such as Mandrake, RedHat, SUSE to dual boot; or
c) Get a live-CD to get your hands dirty without dire consequences. Examples are:
Knoppix, MEPIS
d) ***DON'T DO THIS UNTIL YOU'RE TRULY COMPETENT***
Use Gentoo, slackware, debian vanilla

I took path B and found it to be a little bit frustrating but turned out good nevertheless.
Path c is a newer candidate but I HIGHLY recommend you try it, at any point of your linux career.

Before you embark on your new journey, here's a few tippers:
1) Google.com is your friend
2) Find good sites and forums for advice
- www.justlinux.com
- www.linuxbeginner.com
- www.linuxquestions.org
- erudition.calyptos.com
3) Ask, but do not expect too many answers
4) Learn something about Linux
- Google!
- Books (oreilly books are good)
- forums
5) good links:
www.distrowatch.com
www.osnews.com
www.desktopos.com


[ March 20, 2004: Message edited by: Enmity ]

[ March 20, 2004: Message edited by: Enmity ]

EDIT: Removed warez links.

[ March 20, 2004: Message edited by: Tux ]

[Enmity]

BEfore you go spilling your thoughts out on forums, you should know these things:

1) Linux is not the "final solution to security";
2) Linux is secure out of the box;
3) Linux distros are not necessarily free;
4) Try to be humble and learn. There is far more to it than you think. Learning Linux and general UNIX is an art.

[ March 20, 2004: Message edited by: Enmity ]

[Xeen]

Why did you post this here? This belongs in the Linux section.

[liquidice6]

Oh yeah, one more thing, I have cable internet and a just recently bought asylum 256 graphic card, i need to know if linux will support both, and also i want to know if i run windows and linux on the same machine, wound there be memory problems since i have both programs running, and i know that i can choose what os to run in the boot screen but still, i need to make sure...
also, when i install mandrake, will i have the option of a duel boot pc, or will i have to figure out how to get windows and linux working myself? and if i delete all of my win xp partition, if i want to go back to xp, i would have to buy the XP CD right??
Thank you very much, i appreciate it alot for your answers to my questions

[Refalm]

quote:liquidice6: Oh yeah, one more thing, I have cable internet and a just recently bought asylum 256 graphic card, i need to know if linux will support both, and also i want to know if i run windows and linux on the same machine, wound there be memory problems since i have both programs running, and i know that i can choose what os to run in the boot screen but still, i need to make sure...
also, when i install mandrake, will i have the option of a duel boot pc, or will i have to figure out how to get windows and linux working myself? and if i delete all of my win xp partition, if i want to go back to xp, i would have to buy the XP CD right??
Thank you very much, i appreciate it alot for your answers to my questions

You have a GeForce video card, which has an official Linux driver you can download from nVidia.com.

The easiest way to set up an internet connection in Linux is via cable, so you shouldn't have any problems there.

Mandrake makes you dual boot to Linux or Windows, without changing anything to Windows XP. So just install it, and be amazed by Mandrake  

[liquidice6]

Thanx people, this has been a real help to me and you know whats ironic? Im posting from my GF's computer because mine wont even log on without crashing...

Is there anything else i should know??

well thank you all TRULY and i cant wait for my linux...