[ghf_123]

hi

you'll have to forgive my ignorance here, but i really am not too savvy when it comes to operating systems, ive always thought of it as a need to know basis, if you follow me, anyways my heart is in programming!! However when you go down the computer science road i suppose one has to embrace all faceats of it...no?

OK, enough of all that!!, the point i'm really tryin to make is 'i've been thinking of migrating to a Linux platform' but have so many questions, it would be unfair to ask just one person for advice, i'd probably talk the ears off him/her!!

Do people write viruses for linux? How secure is it for a home user? Which flavour do i use? (i want to hang MS Office on it, Visual Studio, etc...), Is it gonna be cheaper?, What are the pros and cons?

These are but a few of the questions i am asking myself.

I'm a humble student and money is tight! Between me you and the gatepost, i've never paid for software before in my life. But with Microsoft these days, its a struggle keeping up with all the spyware, registry fixes, patches, updates...is it my paranoia or does the whole world seem to be against Microsoft??

Am i just being naive here, or does there exist a nice low maintenance, reliable, reasonably cheap home computer for the end user??


any points of advice, discussion appreciated!!

[max302]

If you want user-friendly stuff, I think fedora is the way to go. I'm really sorry though but MSOffice just isn't available for Linux, you'll have to use Open-Office or something like that (which is still great). As for visual studio, forget about it.

As for the security aspect, I'm not enough of a big linux user to tell you anything, but I'm pretty sure that the security is a lot better, because you know, windows is really easy to beat security-wise.

[unreal_origin]

If you would like all that prefernce of MS Office and all that fancy stuff, well i think that the best for you would be to look into dual Boot. It makes it much easier for stuff like gaming, since most of that developed for Windows. But your every day to day life would be in Linux, getting to know it better and learning new things, as to what i can really do.

The two biggest distos, that are currently out, would have to be Ubuntu, followed by Fedora. (Though I myself prefer Fedora Core 5)

If you are interested in dual boot. Let me know and i can give you a few good links that would help you.

[ghf_123]

unreal_origin, on 14 Jul, 2006 - 05:57 AM, said:

If you would like all that prefernce of MS Office and all that fancy stuff, well i think that the best for you would be to look into dual Boot. It makes it much easier for stuff like gaming, since most of that developed for Windows. But your every day to day life would be in Linux, getting to know it better and learning new things, as to what i can really do.

The two biggest distos, that are currently out, would have to be Ubuntu, followed by Fedora. (Though I myself prefer Fedora Core 5)

If you are interested in dual boot. Let me know and i can give you a few good links that would help you.

thanks "unreal_origin"..."max 302"

if i choose the "dual boot" option, does that enable me to solely use the Linux OS for browsing the net? meaning that my windows partition would be seperated, eliminating viruses, trogans, worms etc?? ... if so....what security would i need on the Linux side??

i have around 60 gig free on the C:\ drive, so i dont think space is an issue.

[Nova Dragoon]

Dual boot would serpate you in that way, when installing there is usually an option to configure IPtables the linux firewall.

Also there is http://www.clamav.net/ if you are very very paraniod about viruses. There are a very few for linux, but not as wide spread like windows.

[unreal_origin]

ghf_123, on 14 Jul, 2006 - 06:23 AM, said:

thanks "unreal_origin"..."max 302"

if i choose the "dual boot" option, does that enable me to solely use the Linux OS for browsing the net? meaning that my windows partition would be seperated, eliminating viruses, trogans, worms etc?? ... if so....what security would i need on the Linux side??

i have around 60 gig free on the C:\ drive, so i dont think space is an issue.

Yes if you would like but you can also have it so that you can access the net through both of them

More or less the install procedure Get a linux distro install cd's, weither through the mail or download them. Also a Windows install disc.

Next format computer, then start installation of windows, Unpartion everything, create a partition for window, and leave the rest as unpartition space. (Maybe 30gb for Win, and 30gb unpartions for Lin, or whatever you want)

Once Win installtion is done, and you have updates all your drivers and that fun stuff. Start the Linux installtion

use the rest of the unpartioned space for Linux

You will have to install grub, or something like it, that is so that when you start up your computer you can select whether you wish to boot up in win or lin.

Note you have to install Windows before Linux

Sry if there are any mistakes i am being rush so i do not have time to review what i have written. Hope that this help

[ghf_123]

unreal_origin, on 14 Jul, 2006 - 08:04 AM, said:

ghf_123, on 14 Jul, 2006 - 06:23 AM, said:

thanks "unreal_origin"..."max 302"

if i choose the "dual boot" option, does that enable me to solely use the Linux OS for browsing the net? meaning that my windows partition would be seperated, eliminating viruses, trogans, worms etc?? ... if so....what security would i need on the Linux side??

i have around 60 gig free on the C:\ drive, so i dont think space is an issue.

Yes if you would like but you can also have it so that you can access the net through both of them

More or less the install procedure Get a linux distro install cd's, weither through the mail or download them. Also a Windows install disc.

Next format computer, then start installation of windows, Unpartion everything, create a partition for window, and leave the rest as unpartition space. (Maybe 30gb for Win, and 30gb unpartions for Lin, or whatever you want)

Once Win installtion is done, and you have updates all your drivers and that fun stuff. Start the Linux installtion

use the rest of the unpartioned space for Linux

You will have to install grub, or something like it, that is so that when you start up your computer you can select whether you wish to boot up in win or lin.

Note you have to install Windows before Linux

Sry if there are any mistakes i am being rush so i do not have time to review what i have written. Hope that this help

thats great!! its always good to talk to like minded individuals....ta


oh, and thanks for the help!!