1. Re: Linux Replies(was WinXPActivation)
On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 13:25:59 +0000, Al Getz <Xaxo at aol.com> wrote:
>I'm a little confused now though, since=20
>it sounds like there are quite a few versions?
Dozens. They all have different release cycles (probably depending on
funding) and play leap frog in the league tables a bit.
>
>From what you guys are saying, it sounds like
>Mandrake is the most stable?
Um possibly the wrong word. One thing I do know is Mandrake
(currently) has the best disk partitioning software for the install,
which makes it by far the easiest to setup for a newbie.
>
>Mozilla is a free browser? Will it run with Windows
>so i can get a chance to see how it works before
>switching to Linux?
Pass
You will probably cause yourself less grief installing mandrake than
annoying IE by putting a second browser on your system, which it don't
tend to like much.
>
>What's the difference with (i think it's called)
>'Red Hat' ?
Some distros: RedHat, Debian, Caldera etc are aimed a bit more at the
server market, so they have less emphasis on the desktop/gui side and
sometimes can be a bit harder to set up. However the emphasis is on
the word bit. Stick with Mandrake.
The boxed versions are a little more expensive, since they arrive with
a printed manual etc, but they are the same as the cheapo disks.
>
>(Of course i'd use Euphoria when possible,=20
>so i'd have to make sure the Linux version
>worked well with Euphorias interpreter for Linux).
It would surprise me if it didn't
>
>Is there an open source Linux where you can
>modify the Linux system itself? I thought i heard
>something about that somewhere?
>If so, what do you use to compile with?
>The only C C++ compiler i have right now
>is MS's for Windows?
They are all open source, all except the single disk versions come
with the complete source, and all come with many compilers ready
installed. Most packages can be compiled (cmiiw) by keying=20
./configure
make
make install
I strongly suspect that MS will only target windows, whereas many
linux packages can be cross compiled just by starting with say
./configure -target win32
Not that I'm an expert you understand, only done it a few times.
>
>Is it possible to run two versions of Linux
>on the same machine?
>Is it possible to boot to, which with the addition
>of Linux (1 or 2 versions) would end up
>being, three to four operating systems
>on the same system? (three hard drives)
Absolutely. M$ tends to want to be the first thing on the master
drive, but linux will boot from almost anywhere.
When you boot your PC, there will be a nice menu (well, with Mandrake
anyway) which allows you to select which OS to start.
>
>Very important would be:
>I would have to be able to use CD recording (R disk minimum)
>and possibly DVD recording drives. =20
Not sure what the state of drag and drop disks are these days.
Burning disks in one hit is probably better supported than windows.
The easiest way to find out is to install it, if it fails it costs you
less than the price of going to see a movie.
Pete
