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I see a few people speaking about linux. Can those that use it describe it, who good is it, problems with compatibility etc? (software and hardware).

What I said previously in this post hardly made sense, so I'll cut to the chase, there aren't as many viruses for Linux as there are for Windows, and Linux comes with it's own built-in anti-virus.

DDT43 Wrote:I see a few people speaking about linux. Can those that use it describe it, who good is it, problems with compatibility etc? (software and hardware).

That's a kind of difficult question to answer, as there are literally hundreds of different Linux distributions out there. I've had Ubuntu installed on two laptops (an IBM Thinkpad and Acer Aspire) and it has come with full hardware support straight off the bat.

I'd suggest the best thing to do would be try it! You don't even have to install anything. If you go to the Pen Drive Linux site you can download lots of different versions of Linux and install them to a USB stick. You then boot your machine from the USB stick and it just runs. No need to get rid of Windows until you're sure you like it

I'd suggest Ubuntu as probably the simplest version to start with, but without having to faff about installing anything it's a very easy way to have a play and find out if you like it.

Hope this is of some help.

Stevie Wrote:I'd suggest Ubuntu as probably the simplest version to start with.

I'll second this. Ubuntu is the easiest version to use for newbies.

If you're asking what Linux is by all means try it but be prepared to change the way you work. I use Smoothwall distro for a firewall unit but Linux doesn't have the application support I need to use as a desktop replacement operating system and that doesn't look like changing any time soon.

If you are prepared to put in the time it can be a viable solution. Unless you're looking at running a Linux distro just to see what it is like however I suggest you approach the problem from the other way. Look at what you're wanting to do, see what applications are available that fulfil the requirements and only then decide on an operating system

If you download an Ubuntu .iso file and burn it to cd, you can boot your computer up with it and try it out in live mode to see what it does without changing anything on your pc.
If you email them, they send out free cds by post, but I dont know how long it takes.
Try http://www.ubuntu.com for more info.

If you do decide to install it, its very easy, you just click on the install icon in live mode. It will shrink your windows partition down to make space for linux and install it. You will then have a dual boot computer where you are given the choice of whether to boot linux or windows each time you switch on the computer.

Ubuntu is the best one to use for newbies. It has the biggest user base and there is a lot of help available on the internet.

There is a vast amount of free software available for all sorts of purposes. I do all my video and screenshot edits in linux on this computer.
Firefox and OpenOffice work just the same as in windows.
Dont expect to be able to play modern pc games in linux though.
Some older games can be played by using the wine "windows emulator" program as can a lot of old windows programs.

DDT43 Wrote:Now, it says I can download 32 bit and 64 bit. My computer runs 32 bit windows vistas, but it has a 64 bit bus. Would using the 64 bit version on a system with a 32 bit windows installed, screw things up?

Its not a problem at all, the 2 systems are kept separate from each other. You should probably choose the 32 bit version. More of the extra software is compatible with that version. I had trouble with the adobe flash player in the 64 bit version. It was ok with 32 bit.

TheWatcher Wrote:There is a vast amount of free software available for all sorts of purposes. I do all my video and screenshot edits in linux on this computer.
Firefox and OpenOffice work just the same as in windows.
Dont expect to be able to play modern pc games in linux though.
Some older games can be played by using the wine "windows emulator" program as can a lot of old windows programs.

Yup, plenty of free/cheap software, not so well catered for with professional applications though. Besides I like applications to work out the box, not have to worry about updating kernels and then realizing I need another application, from somewhere totally different, to get things working the way I want. Freedom of choice is a good thing, but in terms of Linux distros and application choices it can be counter productive. That is both Linux's strong and weak point. Whilst their sector of the market stays so fragmented it'll never make the mainstream desktop.

Most customers want things to just work, they don't want to know how, or that if you spend 50% of your time playing with it it might be a little bit faster or more secure. Look at cars as an example. The most sold ones are far from the best available, but they work! They're easy to drive and when they break down they are cheap enough to fix with plenty of people knowing how to fix them quickly

DDT43, it doesn't matter at this stage if you go 32 or 64-bit unless you have specific apps/drivers that only compile in one or the other. At this stage you're just testing out the waters so to speak. Neither choice will effect your current windows build differently from the other. I would however suggest if you're looking seriously then 64-bit is the way to go and should give you better performance with applications optimized for it as well as a larger than 4Gb memory address space if you have that much Will save you all the hassle of switching to 64-bit further down the line as well and finding the apps you use don't work or need recompiling

Oh BTW, been about a year since I looked at Linux seriously, but I'd disagree about Ubuntu being the best choice for newbies. Linuxmint, which is based on Ubuntu (which is in turn based on Debian - see what I mean about fragmented) seemed like an easier install back then on a wider amount of hardware, but then a week can be a long time in Linux, let alone a year