should i put linux on my 2nd harddrive? i got xp pro on main 500gb one. what are the pros and cons to linux? what version should i get? i want to make programs and possibly hack. Thanks btw the 2nd hardrive would be a 250gb
Yes But read all instructions first !!!!! Depends on lots of things PRO= Secure, realible, free ! CONS= can be mind boggling if you never used it before (or the early dos enviroment!) Ubuntu What are the specs of your pc? you realy need to post these kind of things with your post. You do know how to programe do you?
specs. E6300,planning on over clocking. DS3 Gigabyte mobo 7900gs 500gb hdd 1gb patriot ram and iam just learning on how to programming.
You can but expect to receive some GRUB errors when you reboot If you want to put it on the 2nd hard drive, you'll need to alter your /boot/grub/menu.lst (the GRUB configuration file). It is actually very easy to do, but can be daunting for the newbie. Instead of having Code: (hd0,0) you'll need Code: (hd1,0) Alternatively, you could just use your BIOS boot settings to switch drives (albeit a hassle). Personally, I'd recommend resizing your 500GB and give 10GB to linux (1GB swap partition, 9GB install partition). 9GB should give you loads of room for the initial install plus any additional apps you decide to install subsequently. You can still use your 250GB drive for linux data if you want to. All it will need is a new file system (ext3) put on it and it will be ready for mounting. We can show you how to set up your /etc/fstab (filesystem table) so that it's mounted automatically at boot. everything is configurable everything is configurable Everyone spends about 12 months distro hopping until they settle down with one they like. I started with SuSE 9.3, then tried Mandriva, Linspire, Fedora Core 4, EPIOS, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux, Freespire, PCLinuxOS, Sabayon Linux and (finally) Arch Linux. There are loads to choose from. Sceenshots can be seen at OSDIR.com. Not all are newbie friendly, however, so for a first time distro I'd recommend either PCLinuxOS (.rpm based) or Ubuntu (.deb based). You can, of course, install as many distros as your hard drive will allow you to and they can all be booted using GRUB (the GRand Unified Bootloader). GRUB is not linux, but GRUB rocks. It pisses all over NTLDR. GRUB can also boot Windoze - even if you make your Windoze drive the second hard drive! Try doing that with NTLDR (you can't - NTLDR can only handle Windoze if it's on the first sector of the first drive)
I posted ubuntu because it was easy to install but because i had been distro hopping (mandrake 10.0, fc2, fc3, mandrive 2006, mandriva 2007, ubuntu, kubuntu) but now on on a rather dirty Xubuntu i need to completly wipe the drive and reinstall.
Don't be affraid to take the plunge into Linux. Linux isn't more scary then Windows at the start. Ok, I admit, the learning curve is a bit steeper, but that is mainly due to the fact that you are used to Windows, and expect everything to work from the box. You asked quite a few questions, I'll try to answer them with my views. You can, but it will needlessly complicate things. I would recommend, certainly from starters, to just use partitions on one drive, and load the data on an other. This is a question that noone can answer for you. You need to see and feel it yourself. A huge pro is of course that it's free and fully open (thus customizable). Ah huge con for many is that it doesn't support DirectX (forced, due to the Closed Source Nature of all MS products). This implies that Games are mostly out of the question (except using Wine or Cedega "emulators", which is a bit a hit and miss thing) This is a nice question. And to be strict, I use Linux version 2.6.18-r4... But that wasn't your question I guess. You should read up a bit, and then you'll see that there are different versions of Linux (the kernel), and different distributions (user interfaces). So, I figure your question was, what distro to get. Well, the only good answer to that question is: the one you like. But for staters, I'd recommend trying Ubuntu or SuSe Linux Desktop Edition. They are both very userfriendly, and preset a lot of things that a newbie user doesn't care about. But, later on, you'll probably want something more advanced. But by that time, your knowledge of Linux will be a lot more, and you'll descide it on your own. A good reference for distro's is distrowatch, they list the majority of the distributions. There are multiple packages that provide frameworks for program development. Hacking is something skill and knowledge based. Altough Linux provides more powerfull and secure tools, but a tool is useless unless you know how to use it. Don't expect that to happen anytime soon
pros: -It can be fast -it is secure -it can look great -it is totally configurable -100k free and open source software -many alternative software -terminal can make operation faster (no GUI config, just 1 line of text) -you can built your interface for YOU, and not using default interface, kde offer manu configuratioon cons: -When something dont work, it is sometime very hard to get it to work -theire is a lack of software on some kind of task like flash (f4l linux is buggy, qflash is incomplete, UIRA is in early devlopment, FAT have only 1 option. Nobody made a complete software) What distribution: Ubuntu then install kubuntu-desktop package to see both main interface, then take your decision.
