Thinking of switching from XP to Linux...should I?

[fritzi93]

Thanks, RLT69. I wasn't aware of that, you saved me some time and aggravation.

[mike1061]

tekkieman
&
rkgibbons

Those were very nice explamations. I think I understand more what you meant now.
I have too say, that I'm watching this thread for in the middle needs. I am intrested more in an alternative. I am neither a computer programer, hacker, or a causual user. I am whole hartedly against the MS outlook on things. I don't like monoplies, I don't like them accessing my computer for anything. I would like to try/use something else, for the same reason I used AMD processors instead of Intel's for the computers I built.
That said, can a person who does not know anything about code, or editing the registry, use Linux? Are there forums, or tutorials that will get people like me going? Who are not going to contribute software fix's and things?
I am quite willing to put up with a small learning curve, I would probably like it. I have learned quite a bit about Windows XP. It was a large learning curve, but it was spread out over many years. I also want to learn more about the things I don't know yet.

I know there is a tutorial link posted eariler in this thread. I plan on checking it out several more times. I fell asleep watching it the first time.
Thanks Mike

[RLT69]

That said, can a person who does not know anything about code, or editing the registry, use Linux? Are there forums, or tutorials that will get people like me going? Who are not going to contribute software fix's and things?

Hell yeah

Don't let alot of people scare you away from Linux. You can learn to use linux without being a programmer. The key is patience. It will take time. Somethings might throw you and others will make sense. The key is research and preparation.

Check out Ubuntu's site: http://www.ubuntu.com/ and browse around. Check out the community and wiki pages. The wiki pages will provide you the information you need to start using Linux. Most Linux distros have wikis. Google is also a good place to start. Most of what you need to know you can find by doing a search on the internet.

I got Oracle 10g 64 bit version up and running on my Suse 9.2 64 system after doing a couple searches. Oracle documentation is notorious for leaving information out - had a couple gotchas during my first attempt, after a quick search, found out I was missing a library that was not mentioned in the documentation.

Oracle is the standard barrier for installation IMHO. If you can install Oracle on your system you can install anything! By that I mean there's alot of technical information out there that can help you out of a sticky situation. Just be patient.

It also helps to have multiple systems

When I'm troubleshooting a computer it's nice to be able to hop on another to check a setting or lookup information.

Good luck.

[tekkieman]

tekkieman
&
rkgibbons


That said, can a person who does not know anything about code, or editing the registry, use Linux? Are there forums, or tutorials that will get people like me going? Who are not going to contribute software fix's and things?

As RLT69 already said: Absolutely. It might be easier for people with less Windows experience (or Mac) who have fewer preconceptions, but if you are willing to unlearn as well as learn, it doesn't matter what background you come from. Obviously, the hardest initial part would be the install. Knowing a little about how your drives are configured is really useful. However, even there you have alternatives (LiveCDs, virtual machines, second machines, or extra drives). With a second (or third, etc.) drive dedicated to linux alone, the installation is as easy (or easier) than installing Windows. Once the install is done, all you need to do is use it!

RLT69 already mentioned the Ubuntu forums. There is a very large user base there, and they are friendly and helpful. Almost every linux distro has their own forum. My main distro is Mepis, so their forums are Mepis.org and Mepislovers.org. For general linux forums, my favorite is LinuxQuestions.org. They have almost 300,000 registered members, and usually a few thousand logged in at any given time. And of course, I would not forget to mention the linux specific forum here at Videohelp (but you already knew that).

There is no requirement to contribute anything. However, that does not mean you shouldn't. The distro developers and maintainers appreciate all the help they can get. This could be anything: contributing code, logging bugs, translating help files, helping others in the forums, and I know of very few who have ever refused donations. But if you don't ever do any of these things, that's fine too, they don't come and take your linux away.

I am quite willing to put up with a small learning curve, I would probably like it. I have learned quite a bit about Windows XP. It was a large learning curve, but it was spread out over many years. I also want to learn more about the things I don't know yet.

No sense in blowing sunshine...anywhere. You could probably expect the learning curve to be bigger than "small". As you said, the learning curve for XP was large (even if spread over many years), and if you moved to XP from another version of Windows and thought it was large, then the curve for linux will be larger. That's just common sense. But if you put the same effort into it that you put into Windows, I would expect that you will learn every bit as much.

I know there is a tutorial link posted eariler in this thread. I plan on checking it out several more times. I fell asleep watching it the first time.
Thanks Mike

I haven't watched it myself yet. Is it really that boring?

[mike1061]

I haven't watched it myself yet. Is it really that boring?

I wouldn't say that necessaraly. I wouldn't call it intresting, it's more like
how tired am I. I fall asleep almost every night at the computer. There is so much to do, and so much to learn.
Thanks Mike

[rkgibbons]

It's not overly difficult to figure out Linux -- but like the previous comments stated -- you'll need to UNLEARN some of your Windows XP knowledge.

That's why I feel it's important to really try LINUX for an extended period of time (say two weeks straight) without really going back to Windows XP much.

This way, you'll learn a ton -- without feeling like "hey, I can do that quicker in Windows XP...I better go use it".

Sure, you can do that quicker in Windows XP at the moment, but after two weeks, you'll be able to do most things just as quickly in Linux.

I don't think you'll ever truly appreciate Linux until you dive in and get to know it. Fiddling with it for an hour or two a week just won't cut it.

I'm still betting that most people, even after two weeks, will abandon Linux. It's certainly not everyone's cup of tea.

But it might be yours. So definitely try it.

[rkgibbons]

...and I guess that's the moral of this whole thread.

Nobody else can decide whether or not you should switch to Linux.

You just need to try it and find out for yourself.

[gll99]

Well I had nothing to lose on my older AMD Athlon 1.1 MHZ which already has Windows on it so I did a full install of SimplyMepis and let it update the mbr. I had already created my own partitions with Partition Magic and I new they were on hda1 (my first hard drive) and the partition id's so that helped make sure I didn't mess up anything by installing in the wrong partitions.

This install was simple and painless. The Grub dual boot works as advertised and has an option to choose the windows boot loader if I don' want Linux. Both boots work with no problems.

This pc is made up from leftover parts, it's been sitting in the basement so it had a serial mouse and no internet access. After installing the OS I changed the keyboard and mouse with Logitech wireless and both XP and Mepis accepted them right away without my using the install disc.
I then added an etherlink card and xp installed it right away. I linked it to my network and immediately had internet connectivity. I wasn't sure how to add it in Linux after the fact because it seemed not to work so I rebooted from the Mepis Livecd just to see if the live distro would let me connect to the internet. It did with no problems so I rebooted back to Linux on my hdd and started fishing around. Under "Settings System Configuration" I quickly found "Internet & Network" and then "Mepis Network Assistant" (it prompts for you to use the root password here) and then I just check-marked a few intuitive boxes within a few seconds... That's it. Internet via Firefox works like a charm.

I know I haven't done too much so far but with these GUI's and preloaded stuff, for me it seems no more difficult than using Windows, things are just in different places than I'm used to. I like the way you can work as a user but when you want to make a system change you need the root password but it makes it easy to type it and then make the change without logging in and out. It's very safe that way.

I think with just a bit of help the average user could use Mepis GUI to accomplish all the usual simple tasks that people perform in windows.

First thing to resolve:
Everything works in XP but with Mepis, the only problem I need to overcome is that on this system I have a CDRW drive and a separate older DVD-rom drive. The boot disk is the cdrw and it is recognized for reading. I haven't tested it for writing yet. The DVD-ROM isn't recognized at all. It's like it isn't there because when I link to any hardware device cd or otherwise the device doesn't show up in the list of available drives so I can't mount it. I'll research this but any suggestions?

btw) With this system I'm using a 19" Benq crt monitor with an older Ati video card and have no resolution issues like I did with ATI Radeon 9250 and my lcd on the P4.

I think I'll just keep playing with this older AMD system until I get comfortable. I plan to upgrade my main computer sometime later this year and if I do I might just reinstall Linux with XP at that time.

[GMaq]

gll99,
Thanks for sharing the info, it'll save some time and confusion for the rest of us.

@Tekkieman
I've got my "Linux Box" ready to give it a go as well, It's a P4 Dell with a XP Home Install on it, I don't have Partition Magic and don't want to pony up the $69.00 for it. Can I use "GParted" to set up a partition and swap for MEPIS without causing harm to the existing XP install? I've had mixed results with Dual Boots before but the prevailing wisdom and common sense would seem to lead me in that direction for now anyway. Since the machine was preloaded I don't have the XP CD to run the repair console if I mess up the MBR. I checked out several Linux forums and though there was a lot of install advice and tuts I couldn't find much about setting Linux up on a drive with XP already on it. The virtual machine route isn't going to work for me due to the (lack of) hardware issues. Thanks in advance.

[tekkieman]

GMaq -

My advice would be to download the ISO for the gParted LiveCD and burn it. It is a "mini" linux distro with the one basic function of running gParted. I used this on a new HP laptop last year to set up my dual boot. Some prep work before you begin:

You are about to mess with your partitions. Save anything you need saved. This isn't a "linux" thing, it's a general computer wisdom thing. You don't have the CD, but do you have a rescue CD, or a restore partition? If the existing partition is small enough, I would image it. Just in case.

If the entire drive is formated as NTFS, you will need to shrink the partition. Windows XP could have stuff at both ends of the partition, so to clean it up, you should turn off the system restore and the virtual memory, and delete any files from either. Then defrag, at least twice. Do not turn system restore or swap back on yet.

If you are shrinking an NTFS partition, boot off the gParted CD, select your partition and change the size. gParted it pretty intuitive to use, so you should be able to figure it out. The only trick is that you have to find "apply" in the menu, or you didn't really do what you thought you just did.

I realize not everyone has spare parts just lying around, but I want to say again, if you have a spare drive around, it is much easier to just install a spare drive and use the whole thing for linux. If not, the instructions above should give you the space you need. Just pay attention in gParted to the partition names created. Write them down so you remember which is Windows, restore, swap, etc.

Since you mention you'll be using Mepis, the installer on the desktop from the LiveCD will take care of the rest. Once the dual boot is finished, the next time you boot Windows, remember to reset your virtual memory and system restore settings.

Finally, restoring the MBR doesn't need to be done from the XP CD, it can be done from a 95 or 98 boot floppy, but then I believe the command is fdisk /mbr. As I recall, there is a site that has been mentioned on this forum that has downloadable boot floppy images.


@gll99 - prior to 5 AM, my brain just isn't working well enough to offer any advice on your DVD issue. As a matter of fact, my system runs dual DVD drives, and I've never bothered to see if the second one was ever there. I will try to give the issue some thought later today.

I did just want to comment on your plans to upgrade your computer later this year. If you think there's any chance you may be using linux in the future, keep it in mind when you shop. As you have seen throughout the thread, and with your own AIW card, not all manufacturers are "linux-friendly". One of them is ATI. They do provide linux native (binary only) drivers, but they tend to lack polish. Nvidia provides pretty decent (binary only) drivers, and Intel provides open source drivers (although there are no "Intel graphic cards" to my knowledge). Also, many distros are still working around issues with motherboards using the jmicron controller. You may have seen that in the grub screen of the Mepis LiveCD. Again, this is not "linux-specific", as you usually needed to load the drivers from floppy or usb before installing Windows XP. This could go on and on, or you could just take a look at the linux HCL. You check hardware compatibility lists for Windows, don't you? Maybe some day we'll see packages with a little penguin that says "Designed for Linux", but don't hold your breath...

[DrDWithaPHD]

Ok i really never say much, I just sit back and read the post, but this one has my attention

I like using XP but it has to many problems and updates are everyday almost.

I disagree with some people that you must be a computer geek to install a Linux distro.
I've installed about every distro possible, trying to find the one that suite me the most, never had any problems installing, and i consider myself as a beginner in linux, I know nothing about command lines, just learning the apt-get command, and to say i,ve even installed apps on linux that I had no idea of what i was doing or what the prg was for I just wanted to see how far i could push linux before it crashed and guess what I crashed before Linux.Then I tried the same with window XP, guess what it didn't take long for it to crashed.

So for my 2 cent if you want to try linux, their is a world of help out their, and you don't have to be a geek to install it.

Also someone said that windows is a point and click, just look back in time, dos was a command line OS ( cd, rename, move, del), then we had windows 1.3 when it first came out as a GUI interface. We all had to learn the point and click, so my point is why can't we just sit down and learn a new OS like we did with windows.

Just my to cents......

[rkgibbons]

Not sure why your Windows XP crashed. I've been using Windows XP on half a dozen computers for the last half decade and I can't remember any system crashes (apart from the day I had a memory-stick come lose in one of my motherboards). Windows XP is a very stable platform.

Whatever the case, yes, people COULD learn a new operating system. But unless they're given a very good reason for learning it, why would they bother?

For most people, Linux does not offer anything over and above Windows. In fact, for most people, it offers less. It DOES offer an alternative to Windows though...which is exactly what some people are looking for.

As for needing to be a geek to install Linux: no, certainly not. But when using Linux, you're far more likely to eventually run up against issues that will require geek-like knowledge to resolve.

That the downside of Linux (for some folks) and the appeal (for others).

[GMaq]

@Tekkieman,
Thanks for the info, I understand the instructions and have the GParted ISO ready, This is a bare XP install on a 20 GIG drive on a spare parts "consolidation" machine so if I blow it nothing lost, but I will follow your instructions to the letter. I want to make sure that I've got this right, 1. I want to change the size (shrink) the existing XP Partition first, 2. Create a new partition for MEPIS, and create one last "swap" partition, will 1 Gig be enough swap? the machine has 512 RAM on it currently. I've only done partition work on new drives with boot floppies or Windows CD's prior to this, so I don't want to end up with unused space on the drive. As before THANK YOU!!!!

[lordsmurf]

The only time I recall Windows XP crashing on me is when I use ATI MMC and quickly switch between the various PAL s-video settings. But that's actually a BIOS error on my card, which gives bad commands to the drivers, which then locks to BSOD to prevent damage to the computer.

Also had trouble with an outdated copy of Nero Infotool and a Pioneer 109. That made the system reboot. Once Nero Infotool was updated, and the 109 got new firmware, all was fine.

So "Windows crashing" is usually a statement about your hardware or software, not the OS.

[gll99]

I've had xp crash on purpose telling me a device I recently installed might cause damage so it stopped. In a couple of cases it was an ATI video driver I was trying and another time an new audio driver that caused the conflict. So XP was right in a sense. I can't prove that the drivers really caused problems but I replaced them anyway. This is not XP's fault but I've also had a garbage process grab 100% of my cpu making it look like the system was locked but killing the explorer in the Task Manager and then restarting it using the "File(New task) run Explorer" command takes care of that.

On to my Linux problem from earlier:

As to my Linux DVD issue. Please don't spend any time on this. The drive is accessible now even if things don't quite work the way I would have thought. I'll post something about it later once I go over my steps, in case it helps someone else.

[RLT69]

The boot disk is the cdrw and it is recognized for reading. I haven't tested it for writing yet. The DVD-ROM isn't recognized at all. It's like it isn't there because when I link to any hardware device cd or otherwise the device doesn't show up in the list of available drives so I can't mount it. I'll research this but any suggestions?

Depending on how handy you are you could try unplugging the cdrw and plug the dvdrom into that cable and see if linux recognizes it. Typically if your optical drivers are connected and turned on (external devices), Linux will see them.

You could also try issuing the command automount and see what happens. You might have to feed it some parameters. At a command prompt issue "man automount" and it should tell you what parameters you need.

rkgibbons and lordsmurf, respectfully blow it out your ass :P

First rkgibbons - Why bother? How about because it's there. Something new to learn. Expanding your horizons. Maybe you'll find you don't NEED Windows. You won't know unless you try.

I thought technology was suppose to EMPOWER people not make them SLAVES. "Don't try Linux because it's too hard and scary and you'll have to read and reading is bad, it causes cancer...blah blah blah"

Come on with that attitude noone would have climbed mount everest, we'd never have gone to the moon, we'd never have computers, cell phones or the internet.

Second lordsmurf, the OS is not responsible for the system crashing? Seriously? I have not worked on one Windows system yet (Wiin 95-98/SE-ME-2000-XP; Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq) where I did not have to reboot the computer once during the day. The system starts to bog down. It needs a reboot. That's the OS. Memory management and garbage collection are part of the OS. A software application crashing should NEVER take down the OS - though that is not what has happened in my situations. J.C. I can totally foobar an Oracle installation on my Linux system and it will still run fine. I can have several apps crash in succession and never have to reboot. Don't get me wrong, I agree if you have a faulty driver or really poorly written software, it's the fault of the manufacturer for the instability not the OS. However, barring really really bad software the OS should be robust enough to gracefully handle a software crash. From my experience, Windows has not been up to the task. Perhaps Vista has changed this.

[tekkieman]

@Tekkieman,
I want to make sure that I've got this right, 1. I want to change the size (shrink) the existing XP Partition first, 2. Create a new partition for MEPIS, and create one last "swap" partition, will 1 Gig be enough swap? the machine has 512 RAM on it currently.

That's pretty much it. However, the pre-steps must be done! The backup is entirely up to you. The swap file, system restore and defrag are a must. The reason is that Windows does occasionally put file blocks toward the end of the partition, and gparted will have difficulty shrinking the partition when there are file blocks there.

When I did my laptop, it took three or four defrags before I was happy with the result, but then gparted did exactly what it was supposed to. I kept a 60G partition for Windows, and 40G for Linux. I didn't bother with a FAT partition on that drive as I usually have a 200G external sitting on it with a couple of 30G FAT partitions for moving files around. Since linux can also read the NTFS partitions, I only really need the FAT partitions when I send something back to Windows. Now with the ntfs-3g, I'll be able to write back to NTFS as well.


EDIT - Sorry, forgot to answer your swap question. Yes, 1G for swap is quite sufficient. If you look at your memory usage, you'll see that the OS grabs most of it*, but as long as swap isn't being used extensively, you're golden.



*Don't worry when you see how much memory is in use, it is being cached. Linux will show you how much is really being used, and how much is cache. You'll usually never see swap actually get used. Linux memory allocation is excellent. This is something along the lines of what Vista is trying to do now with USB keys for cache.

[gll99]

The following issue in italics is completely resolved I'm leaving it to explain some of my previous posts.
The Mepis DVD-Rom problem I wrote about although not perfectly resolved is not really an issue now. When I try to link to devices it does show DVD-rom as an option but when I actually choose a device it only has one cdrom device and not 2 like it should. The funny thing is that now when I link to the device I get the DVD-rom. The applications that read the files have no trouble finding the data. For example if a put an Audio CD in the DVD-rom or the cdrom the CD Player (KsCD) has no trouble finding and playing the disc. If I run the CD & DVD burner app (K3b) it sees both drives and knows the device description. It can access both with no problems although I have yet to write with the cd burner. I'm not going to worry about this the solution will jump at me one day when I'm not even trying. All the software I've tried has no problems reading the devices so why worry.
News Flash Ignore the above text!! I'm running 2 computers right now so as I was writing, the amd just rebooted so I tried to link to both drives just to see and lo and behold there are now 2 cdrom devices that I can select and they work.

Now on to resolved DVD playback just to help someone else who faces this....

As far as I know this is normal with most if not all distros:
I could play unencrypted discs with Mplayer or Xine but not commercial css encrypted Dvds

I found this link https://help.ubuntu.com/6.10/ubuntu/desktopguide/C/dvdplayback.html to activate the playback feature. The libdvdread3 was already installed so I only had to run the terminal line command

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh

The only thing I changed in the command is the path to the install-css.sh file because mine was in a different directory.
That's it. Commercial Dvds play fine now.

ubuntu:
I reloaded the livecd of Ubuntu 6.10 on this amd to check it and it loaded ok but I didn't play with it other than test the disc which had not loaded on my P4. So the problem is not with the distro or the download but probably with the Ati Radeon video card drivers. From what I read and tekkieman confirmed that's a common problem with those cards.

PCLinuxOS:
I also tried the livecd of PCLinuxOS and it can find the cd and dvd-rom easily. When I create a link it sees 2 cd-rom devices right away. Even though the change won't last with the live distro I also installed the DVD CSS remover. The app to load and install from the package manager is called Libdvdcss2. There are no commands to run after the install it will let you play commercial dvds right away. This distribution has a very window like feel to it. It's not a clone by any means but if you are emotionally tied to the windows look this may be a very good place to start

Edit:
Disclaimer
If you live in any country under the rule of organisms like the MPAA or RIAA please take note!
I just read that installing the libraries that break css encryption may be a criminal offence in your country. Use only where it is legal or at your own risk. This looks like the same warning one would get if using DVDFab Decrypter or any other program that breaks css encryption keys.
You have been advised

[lordsmurf]

I have not worked on one Windows system yet (Wiin 95-98/SE-ME-2000-XP; Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq) where I did not have to reboot the computer once during the day.

Okay.

So you're too stupid to use Windows.
And I'm too stupid to use Linux.

Seems pretty clear to me.

[tekkieman]

@gll99 -

I didn't realize you would be moving forward so fast, or I would have filled you in on playing commercial DVDs. It is true that most distros will fail to play many proprietary formats "out of the box". Obviously, this is due to license restrictions on distribution of the required codecs. This also holds true for things like MS true type fonts, PDF, and others. Some distros include some, some distros include none. Mepis will install support for flash, wmv, PDF, and a few others. Fedora includes none of them

In Mepis and Ubuntu, there is an application you can install called Automatix http://www.getautomatix.com/ which will give you a list of all the "special" things you may want installed. (they are currently having problems with their host and were down this morning)

Commercial DVD playback (libdvdcss2 + codecs)
MS core fonts
Acrobat Reader
VLC
Flash for Firefox
k9copy (like DVDShrink)
Opera
etc.

There are a few lines to copy and paste in the command line to configure your system with the security key (ensures a valid download), but the selection and install of the apps is via a full GUI

This distribution has a very window like feel to it. It's not a clone by any means but if you are emotionally tied to the windows look this may be a very good place to start

If you think PCLOS has a "Windows feel" to it, you should take a look here.

[RLT69]

So you're too stupid to use Windows.
And I'm too stupid to use Linux.

Seems pretty clear to me.

Seems about right

It being the 21st century - why are we still using computers? Where are our Dick Tracy computer wrist watches

[GMaq]

@RLT69
Dick Tracy Wristwatches!!! I want my flying car!! Instead we get cell phones that take your picture! It just ain't right!!!

@Tekkieman,
Thanks a lot, going to load it up this weekend, I'll let you know how it goes. Your time is GREATLY appreciated.

@gll99,
Man you're on fire! Thanks for sharing the tips, especially the DVD playback. Do you know if the Commercial DVD playback is an issue in VLC? It's about all I use in Windows so I figured I'd use it in Linux as well.

[tekkieman]

Do you know if the Commercial DVD playback is an issue in VLC? It's about all I use in Windows so I figured I'd use it in Linux as well.

This article covers DVD playback in linux for Xine, VLC, mplayer, and ogle.

The article specifically states that VLC handles commercial DVD playback, but does it through a block read rather than decrypting the keys.

I usually use mplayer with dvdcss myself, but like browsers and such, it's a personal choice.

[GMaq]

Hello from the MEPIS Desktop!

So far no problems! G-Parted was very straightforward, Did the steps as per Tekkieman in Windows beforehand and both OS's launch with no issues. All major hardware detected and functioning properly. So far so good, lots more to learn of course, 2 questions though:

1. What about AntiVirus & Spyware apps? Some sites say not needed, some say definitely mandatory. Advice??

2. I have a NTFS Drive full of Music and Video data, If I add it to this Dual Boot System will both OS's be able to read and write to this drive as is or will it need to be partitioned and divided up for each OS?

[gll99]

This is fun!!!

Using my hdd Mepis version, I'm just practicing changing, moving and adding menu items, adding new directories and moving my data around. Playing with menu items, directories and files helps to understand how things are structured a bit better. I like to store all my audio editors, DVD rippers, video players etc... each under their own menu item within the multimedia menu structure. It just makes it easier to find things when your inventory of tools grows. It makes me feel more comfortable and adds that personal touch.

I've also been practicing using the Synaptic package manager ie... reloading the package information and then choosing some new or updated sotware to try. So far I'm only getting GUI based multimedia type apps like Audacity a good audio editor / mixer. I also got avidemux, Thoggen DVD Ripper and acidrip (dvd ripper / converter). Thoggen outputs ogg files from DVDs, while acidrip creates avi or mpeg files. I tested them with a commercial disc selecting the main movie and just ran a partial conversion. I ran other tasks and played around on the system while they ran and it had no effect on the final conversion. Both worked flawlessly and video plays back in sync. If you've ever tried DVDx (I think up to v2.7 now) these tools are very similar and I believe even more naturally obvious in presenting the options..

Anyway there's tons of stuff available to try so I'll have to rethink the space on my small drive multi-partitions Linux setup. It looks like the default install location is on the root partition so I'm low on space there but have extra on the little used Home partition. I may just start over and go with 1 partition + a swap when I do a clean reinstall or maybe just restructure the partitions.
That's the beauty of learning on a temp system, you can change your mind as you learn where best to store and configure system and data.
Bear with us tekkieman I'm sure more problems and questions will arise as we get down to the nuts and bolts of this great new discovery (Well, for me it is)

[lordsmurf]

Well, I have VirtualBox and I started a download for Mepis. May be another week, but I'll test eventually.

[tekkieman]

Hello from the MEPIS Desktop!

This is fun!!!

<tekkie snickers.....darkside +2>

[RLT69]

2. I have a NTFS Drive full of Music and Video data, If I add it to this Dual Boot System will both OS's be able to read and write to this drive as is or will it need to be partitioned and divided up for each OS?

NTFS is kind of tricky. FAT32 is no problem. Any Linux distro can read from an NTFS partition. In fact if you are dual booting from the same drive your system should you have mounted your windows partition! The tricky bit comes when you want to WRITE to an NTFS partition from Linux. Years ago people said DON'T DO IT. I think that has changed. But I haven't tried it. The problem you could run into is corruption. So it's kind why I steer clear of it. But there I those that swear there's no problem with it.

Try this:

Discussion
http://www.mepis.org/node/12201


How to do it:

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=217009


Good Luck

[tekkieman]

1. What about AntiVirus & Spyware apps? Some sites say not needed, some say definitely mandatory. Advice??

That depends. How much do you like your Windows using friends? Seriously, there are no known "in the open" viruses for linux. However, passing files or emails from your system to Windows users could pass along uglies that you are currently immune to. The virus definitions in linux AV applications are Windows virus definitions (see how well we play with others?) Unless I haven't noticed that it was pulled out, you should find that AV software is included by default (clamav). For a GUI frontend, look in Synaptic for klamav.

Spyware does not currently affect linux users either. With the exception of rootkits. You really need to research this.

2. I have a NTFS Drive full of Music and Video data, If I add it to this Dual Boot System will both OS's be able to read and write to this drive as is or will it need to be partitioned and divided up for each OS?

Linux will be able to read the audio and video files from the NTFS partition just fine. Windows will not be able to read from the linux partition without help. There is something available to help Windows, or you could use any FAT formated partition. They can both use that, but then you have the filesize limitation.

EDIT - for spelling and that RLT types faster than I do...

@lordsmurf - If you are downloading the current Mepis 6.5 RC1 version, I ran into something this morning you should be aware of before it happens to you (this also goes for anyone updating an already installed Mepis) - There was a change in the network utilities. After an update this morning, my previously working internet connection quit working.

The fix is to go into the Mepis utilities, and under the eth0 settings, select the checkboxes for all the settings (connect at startup, connect at plug in, etc.), then select "restart eth0". Problem solved.

[tekkieman]

Any Linux distro can read from an NTFS partition. The tricky bit comes when you want to WRITE to an NTFS partition from Linux. Years ago people said DON'T DO IT. I think that has changed. But I haven't tried it. The problem you could run into is corruption. So it's kind why I steer clear of it. But there I those that swear there's no problem with it.

Right (write :P ) you are. However, the ntfs-3g lib has been released from beta, and is at 1.x now. I have not seen any discussions of corruption.

However, it is your data! Do what you think is best. For those with test systems, we might as well use it, so we can start telling the world it is safe to write to NTFS now.