Should Microsoft be worried about Linux?

awesomeful. Is this "linux" compatible with typical windows files?(ie *.txt, .doc, excel, etc)

Could you point me to one of these OS's that run from a CD?

ah, bloody hell, what one to pick :confused: i586, PPC? Besides "page can not be displayed"

Spooky man G, if you can spend a few bucks you can pick up any distro you want on eBay.

http://search.ebay.com/Linux_W0QQhtZ1QQsosortpropertyZ1

As far as Linux I like SuSE 9.0. Has great hardware support built in. The major problem with Linux is adding or removing software. If you can live with the original install and not want to add anything it's great. I've been messing with Linux for about 3 years and it has came a long way in that short span of time. Microsoft has noticed the advancements made by Linux and is working on a partnership with Award/Phoenix, BIOS manufacturers, to make all BIOS proprietary, working only with Micro$oft operating systems. We'll see on that one.

If your computer is new you might have a problem with hardware drivers. But most likely not.

Ive so much junk around, I could probably build a halfway decent computer from the parts... :p
But, I want a sample, like a grocery store, "Try before you buy" I dont want to spend money on something I may or may not like

Hi Spooky Man G,

Go to LinuxISO, select the distro SuSE, and download their live evaluation ISO and burn it to a CD. With the newly created CD, you'll be able to try out SuSE without it ever going onto your computer.

This is probably the best way to introduce yourself to Linux.

Not all Linux distro's are free, although most are. The free distros give you a lot of bang and probably more stuff than most will ever use, while the paid for versions get into distro specific applications, etc.

Hope this helps............

ok, im trying this...
suse linux - suse live-eval 9.0/

But, how do I burn it? Do i burn as image, or just extract it all to the cd and go?

Go to this site and all the questions about turning your ISO into a bootable CD will be answered. Remember to check your MD5 sum to insure you've downloaded your ISO without corruption..........

Hope this helps.........

sorry, im a little P*SSED off. I was most of the way downloading the 600 or so mb file and it disappeared

That's the reason for checking the MD5 against the ISO.........

Talk to you soon.......

I tried Knoppix bootable Linux CD, but I quickly gave that up. It gives a basic flavor, but to REALLY use Linux you have to mess with it. You have to try and do stuff like you do on your Windows machine: play songs, install apps, etc. To do that, you need an actuall install.

You can download the ISOs for Mandrake on Mandrake's page

What I did was to install on a second hard drive. I installed the drive in my case, but I did not connect it. When I want to run Linux, I physically unplug the IDE cable from the main HDD and plug it into the Linux HDD. Kind of a pain, yes, but this way I don't have to mess with dual booting nor am I risking my "main" machine. And this way you don't need to buy a new machine just for Linux.

Once you download the ISO file(s), most burning software has options to burn ISO images as bootable CDs.

hmm... It more or less froze up on the saving printers part. Oh well, its about 11pm here. Besides, John, I believe it was human error, not parity checking or whatever it is

I have the Trois harddrive selector switch installed. When I want to use Linux I shut down-change my switch and boot to my second harddrive which contain my Linux SuSE 9.0 install. Works great and doesn't jeopardize my Windows system.

Cool - where did you get that? I was looking for something like that!

Here's some info on the switch;

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTk3

here's one on eBay. This one is the Romtec II. A later version that the one I have;

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=39967

I can't find there web page any more? Wonder if their still in business?