I want one I can dual boot. At least until I decide whether to keep it or not.
Tried Knoppix off a CD and was underwhelmed. It wouldn't save any of my preferences.
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I've got boxed versions of XP, Linspire and SUSE, and have been experimenting with various install options. SUSE sort of takes over the install process - once you're underway it identifies the Windows partition on your machine already, then asks for permission to shrink the Windows partition and set itself up on a new partition.
After install, the machine then boots with a SUSE screen, to a dual-boot prompt page, which defaults after 8 seconds to SUSE.
I had to set up two partitions ahead of time, in order to dual-boot to Linspire. It's set default to take over the hard drive - but you can select an option to install in a partition of your choice.
Of course, either of these results in a fully installed Linux on your machine, so it's not really optimal for (just) trying it out.
Linspire does allow you to run directly from the CD without installing. In fact, I was able to run my pc without any hard drive installed at all, just off the CD using Linspire, but that is very slow.
SUSE seems well thought out. During installation you need to choose between the KDE desktop (which is what Linspire uses), or GNOME.
KDE acts the most like Windows, and it's got the capability to hide all the desktop icons, which I like - haven't been able to figure how to do that with GNOME.
Linspire installs the OS to operate as the Administrator - a benefit or a bug, depending on your viewpoint. Windows does this too. It's possible to set up a non-root user, then arrange the boot options to boot directly to the non-admin user logon, which is I believe far more secure.
(same is possible with SUSE, but SUSE doesn't default to the admin user, which is probably a good thing)
YMMV.
thanks for the info.
I was looking at a copy of Mandrake that fits on a CD but it's an ISO and the last times (plural) I tried to run an ISO my comp wouldn't.
If you want to run Linux at a respectable speed, then really you need to run it from either the hard drive or a USB flash drive...running a "live" CD is just too slow. Running Linspire installed on a hard drive is worlds faster than running Linspire from a CD...same with Ubuntu and its derivatives.