Linux

[gamer2]

Im thinking of changing to it.

i have some questions first

When it installs, does it destroy the Data allread on it and install linux on a freshesque drive?

do i need a CD to install

Can i install my IPOD software to it

can windows programs run on it, like Macromedia Flash

thats about it

[bicostp]

Q: When it installs, does it destroy the Data allread on it and install linux on a freshesque drive?

A: usually. However if you're really careful you can set up a new partition using empty space on an old partition and dual-boot. SuSE's YaST installer makes this easy.

Q: do i need a CD to install

A: As far as I know, yes. But you don't have to buy anything unless you want to use Red Hat. Most distros are free to download, you just have to burn the .ISO

Q: Can i install my IPOD software to it

A: There's iPod connectivity software for it, yes. However you won't have iTunes.

Q: can windows programs run on it, like Macromedia Flash

A: Not natively, no. You will need to use a virtual PC program to run a Windows subsystem on it, or you can install WiNE, which emulates many Windows routines such as screen drawing and windowing. It works OK for most programs, but there isn't 100% compatibility.

If you still want to use Windows apps, dual booting is your best option for performance and compatibility. Make sure you install EXT2IFS on your Windows system, though, so you can read EXT2 file systems from Windows.

[gamer2]

Where can i get Linux

[vb_master]

Where can i get Linux

Here, or find the distro's site, and download from there.

[gamer2]

I found, and is Red Hat Linux any good?

[Sparkfist]

I personally get my linux distros from iso.linuxquestions.org

And per your earlier questions.
Macromedia has some support, from my experiance. Things like video.google.com and other macromedia videos usually work, but things like animation or ads on websites don't. Wine is your best bet to running Windows software under linux, otherwise keep a Windows partition that way you have 100% compatiblity.
iPod software, there is a piece of software that is iTunes compatibile. I don't know where it is or what it's called but a search on digg.com or google should yield the results.

[bicostp]

Where can i get Linux

On the interweb of course!

www.linux.org is basically a huge portal full of distros ranging from the extremely basic to the gigantic, and an extensive library of programs and libraries.

www.linuxquestions.org is a good site for finding answers to your questions.

www.linuxiso.org has tons of distributions ready for download.

If you're a complete Linux newbie, download and burn a Knoppix live CD. It's a great way to try out programs like OpenOffice and KDE. (it's a 700 meg download, but the burned CD data is compressed to have about 2 gigs of stuff on it. The LiveDVD is even bigger with somethng like 8 gigs of information in a smallish download.) If you're on a slow-ish connection, let it download while you're at school or overnight or something like that.

You can also try out Damn Small Linux (DSL Linux) if you want to see what we mean by a more "basic, bare-bones" distro. It uses Fluxbox, a minimal window manager, and most configuring is done in very very basic dialog boxes or text mode control panels. However it runs great on old hardware (down to a 33 mhz 486 I think), and you can run the entire live disc from RAM with as little as 128 megs of memory. (use the "dsl toram" cheatcode). Also there isn't any Windows-like file manager, you need to use text-mode Midnight Commander or its nearly identical GUI counterpart.

And to answer your question you posted as I was rambling, Red Hat is ok... but I prefer SuSE

[gamer2]

can someone make me the discs for the BEST linux for a newbie?

[mycoplasma]

it's kind of hard to tell what you meant, so you might want to re-word that.

If you meant you want someone to burn a disc for you, the nice guys at the Ubuntu distribution will mail it to you for free. the url is https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

If you meant you want someone to make you a distribution that is easy for a newbie to use, the answer is probably no, but i wouldn't know because i am also a linux newb. However, i have heard that linspire (formerly known as Lindows) is pretty easy for someone used to windows (i haven't tried it before, so im not sure if it's as easy as they say or not). Unfortunately, Linspire isn't free, but last time i checked it was only about 20$ at newegg.

If you've never used linux before, you should probably get a live-cd distro (such as slax or knoppix). these can load off of your cd drive without using your hard-drive at all. If you decide that you like linux, you'll still need to install a real distro, but live-cd distros can be useful if you're not sure if you want linux or not.

[CoZ]

For the easiest version of linux to use I would use: Linux GUI X


I think that is the name of it...