Thinking about switching to Linux

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J0. So, for the past year or so I've been content with running Windows on my laptop, despite the obvious evil that is Microsoft. I was being drawn in to the rumors that Linux was way too advanced to handle, and I've never really liked Macs. However, a buddy of mine said he ended up creating a Linux partition on his hard drive, and that it worked out great for him. He can do everything that a Windows machine can with Linux, yet it takes him 30 seconds to fully boot as compared to the 2 minutes it takes me.

So I've decided I'm going to give Linux a try. Right now I'm re-formatting my external hard drive. Once I'm done with that, I'm going to back up my files from my laptop onto the drive, then try to find an .iso download of one of the Linux distributions somewhere. I can burn that to disc and then modify my hard drive as I see fit.

My questions are below:

1. Should I try and create Windows and Linux partitions for my hard drive? I'm considering so because I am reluctant to give up Windows completely in case some of my files won't work on Linux. If so, can someone recommend the best way to partition my drive?

2. Which distribution of Linux would you recommend for me? As far as overall computer literacy, I would consider myself moderately skilled. Also, I would be using my laptop for web browsing, document editing (Word, Excel, Powerpoint), media editing and playback (music, movies, and the like), and minor to moderate development, mostly with C++ (Right now I use Visual Studio.)

3. What Linux programs would you recommend for the following: web browsing, document editing, media playback, and C++ program development?

4. Is there anything else I should be aware of?

Right now I am using an online tutorial. I am also going to buy an eBook on Linux to use with my eReader.

At first, Debian was harder to manage what with dselect and the partition software it uses but now it's just as easy I think to manage as Red Hat though I prefer apt-get on the command line to install whatever package I need. So there's a programme I want I just apt-get install program-name. So my own bias is with Debian. The stable one tends to be older because it's the most stable...

As for Excel, Word, there's OpenOffice that can save files that can be opened with the Microsoft products. There are also such things as AbiWord...

I would recommend the partitions and make sure that the Linux is installed last, GRUB, which is the boot loader, will include an entry for the Windows partition.

For files used on both systems best that the filesystem be FAT instead of NTFS as the latter is proprietary. Ways have been found to write to NTFS but I'm not sure how good that is right now.

C and C++ are built in on the command line of Linux. So you can compile your source material there.

I like Ubuntu, especially or a first Linux install. It has a slick GUI that will open in windows and handle the drive partitions, bootloader setup ect.

Also most linux distributions come as live cds, so that you can boot the OS directly from the disk and get a feel for any distributions you are considering.

For C++ development i would suggest mono-develop

I would also look at wine, it is a windows emulation layer that lets you run windows programs natively in linux. Openoffice is good for allot but eventually you need something in word or excel

I've been using Mandriva for years now, it'll handle the disk partitioning and setup dual boot for you by itself. Theres really very little need to backup your files other than normal. It really just takes a willingness to learn something different and some time in google when theres something your not sure about how to do.

One thing to keep in mind when looking for help is that there isn't that much difference between the distros once installed. So just because you see a tutorial for Ubuntu on how to do something doesn't mean it won't work on another distro.

Theres been studies showing that linux is actually easier for new computer users to learn than windows, the only thing hard is that your more familiar with the windows way of doing stuff.

I would give vim a try for writing C++ code. It has kind of a steep learning curve, but once you learn it you'll probably use it for everything (you can even do typsetting with vim + LaTeX, MS Word and OpenOffice are both bloated pieces of s**t in my opinion).

Yeah, I'm thinking of going with Ubuntu. However, do you think I should use the Windows Installer for Ubuntu or burn a CD? I want to have Windows available should I need something from it, but I'll probably be using Ubuntu more.

back up your computer, then install windows. After that, start with mint linux as a dual boot. Once its all happy and stable, copy your data back from the external.

Set up partitions for /root, home and a swap. Do another one in fat32 so that both windows and linux can share files.

Mint will get you going the fastest with the least trouble. If you excel at that, later you might try another linux(but really they are all the same once installed).

Approach it as an adventure. Especially having that install of windows means you wont be so frustrated if things dont work out well.

Ok, just thought I'd clarify that I already have Windows 7 installed on my current computer, and that I'm looking to dual-partition.

The linux partitioner in any of the debian distros (debian, ubuntu, mint, others) should be able to set up dual boot for you. just make sure it doesnt use the whole drive for the install.

I tried to install Linux Mint on my laptop to dual boot with Windows 7 but the only option it offered was to use the whole hard drive and wipe windows, is there a solution to this.

Right now I have Ubuntu on the hard disk drive, its an old edition as the newer ones don't support my graphics card somehow [think thats what the problem was] and it wont connect to Wifi, mobile broadband etc so cant do updates or access internet.

Any ideas?

I tried to install Linux Mint after a recommendation from a friend because it has a lot of packages ready installed eg WINE and is easy to use. I have used Knoppix live, red hat, Ubuntu, debian [didn't support graphics] hence ran in command line, Sabayon [used lots of system resources therefore was slow].

Currently, going to install Ubuntu netbook edition on my netbook and work out how to get Mint running on my laptop.

The installer should have offered guided and manual mode as well.

My favorite distribution is Gentoo. I also like Slackware and Debian. However, I am also a hard core geek. For first time users, I would recommend Mandriva. Just to give you a tip, you can also install Linux in what is called a virtual machine. That is, you can have Linux run inside of Windows as if it were a regular program. This is called virtualization. Take a look at http://www.virtualbox.org if you would like to try Linux in this manner. This is how one of my students run Linux, and it is also how I have it set up on one of the workstation at my client's office. I also recommend that when you decide to go the route of dual booting or a full blown Linux installation that you try the live cd of several distributions in order to test for hardware compatibility. When you find a distribution that works, do a lsusb and write down all the information so that you know how Linux sees the devices on your laptop. In addition, do a lspci to get the same information for those devices as well. This way, if there are any installation problems, you will have some information you can use to search for the proper solution.

J0! So, I got the .iso for Ubuntu 10.10, and I'm running it off of my CD drive for now. But let me just say that I like what I see! It was a little slow booting up, but I assumed that was because I was booting directly from the CD. Everything else though has been great!

I'm not quite ready to install it, though. I want to make sure all my hardware at least is compatible, so I'm gonna run some tests. When I'm done I'm going to partition my HD so that I can at least have Windows in case of software conflicts.

Thanks for the help everyone!

~Roxas

You are right, CD booting definitely slows things down for several reasons.

The booting to a live cd can be incredibly slow, Its really just for testing or repair. I would let the CD installer handle the partitioning, dual boot is one of the main options, it should handle it pretty well.

Install a separate /home partition when it asks, It's a great feature. If you ever have to rebuild the entire OS it will keep all you config files, it even kept my Firefox tabs and a half finished WP post last time I had a major failure.

The Ubuntu support for NTFS partitions seems pretty good, so you should be able to mount your windows partition and write to it. You can't access the windows drive unless you shut down windows completely. There is a terminal command to force this, but it is not always a good idea. Any Linux files won't be accessible in windows, it works it you use FAT32, but then you cannot store any file over 4gb.

On the hardware side, the only real driver you have to deal with are third party ones for graphics cards, but it should be done automatically. If you get into installing new drivers or compile them from source, it will likely be at least a couple hours of frustration for partial compatibility.

good luck with it

Yes, its mondo slow off CD. Keep us informed, experts await questions.