Re: Considering switching to Linux -- need advice

From: ray (ray_at_zianet.com)
Date: 11/04/05 

Date: Thu, 03 Nov 2005 20:00:48 -0700

I'll be happy to put in my two cents worth:

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 13:57:57 -0800, Rex Eastbourne wrote:

> I'm currently running Windows XP on an IBM T42 laptop. I've been
> gradually realizing that I don't really need anything that Windows has
> to offer, and that running Linux/Unix would make a lot of my work
> easier. (I'm a college student who does a lot of programming.)
>
> So far I've read several different things on the internet. I'd like to
> know if you could add to this list, or which of these is the best
> choice for me.
>
> (1) Get rid of Windows completely and install a Linux distro (Ubuntu
> and Debian are the ones I hear the most about).

You have to realize there is no going back. If you're happy - go for it.

>
> (2) Double-boot my laptop (it only has a 20G hard drive, although I
> could get a bigger hard drive)

This is probably the safer route. I'd recommend a larger hard drive
anyway. One of the beauties of Linux is that you're not restricted. There
is no reason in the world not to install half a dozen distributions and
try them all out. I generally allot about 10 gb per distro plus one swap
partition of about 1gb.

>
> (3) Download VMware or Xen, or some other virtual machine software. I
> am very confused about what a "virtual machine" this means, and whether
> it is what I am looking for.

Not recommended. As I understand, this allows you to run two different OSs
at the same time, by setting up a virtual machine on top of one OS to run
another.

>
> What would be the easiest or best thing for me to do with my laptop?
> Any other ideas than what's on this list?

I have some URLs for you to check out: www.distrowatch.com www.yolinux.com
www.tldp.org and you might check some online tutorials at www.iosn.net.

Happy hunting.

>
> Thanks,
>
> Rex

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