Posted on 12/09/2007 5:50:51 AM PST by Halfmanhalfamazing
Sometimes, several unrelated changes come to a head at the same time, with a result no one could have predicted. The PC market is at such a tipping point right now and the result will be millions of Linux-powered PCs in users' hands.
The first change was the continued maturation of desktop Linux. Today, no one can argue with a straight face that people can't get their work done on Linux-powered PCs. Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, MEPIS, OpenSUSE, Xandros, Linspire Mint, the list goes on and on of desktop Linuxes that PC owner can use without knowing a thing about Linux's technical side. People can argue that Vista or Mac OS X is better, but when Michael Dell runs Ubuntu Linux on one of his own home systems, it can't be said that Linux isn't a real choice for anyone's desktop.
(Excerpt) Read more at desktoplinux.com ...
Windows only knows windows file formats, such as FAT and NTFS. When I want to move files around on my dual boot system, I have to be in the Linux boot. Linux has excellent support for FAT format file systems, and improving support for NTFS.
I have always kept one partition in FAT format, for moving files back and forth between the Windows world and the Linux world; though with the latest improvements allowing write access, not just read-only access, from Linux to NTFS partitions, one could directly access the main Windows partition (the C: drive) when in the Linux boot.
I still use a separate partition product, preferring 7tools Partition Manager the last few years. My previous recommended partition, Partition Magic has gone down hill, in my view, the last few years. Partition Magic was originally made by the PowerQuest corporation but is now owned by Symantec.
For example on the SUSE 10.3 that I am typing on right now, off the "YaST2 Control Center"(the yellow handled wrench on the green circle) menu, it is at System->Partitioner.
That partitioner also shows up in the installer, when people are adding Linux to an existing Windows only system, to help them through the steps in making room on their disk for the Linux partition.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I inherited a couple old PCs a while back, and I have a couple old monitors sitting in the garage. I’ve been thinking of loading Linux and giving them away to families who can’t afford a computer.
I run WinXP on my Ubuntu Linux machines through a free application called VirtualBox. It’s a virtual machine similar, but easier and free, than VMWare. In fact, I have several “VirtualMachines” running on one machine.
You can download VirtualBox here: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads , or, you can download it from the repositories.
I like to get the latest version from their website as a .deb pkg, and let my archive manager install it as I download it. Clean and quick!
I don’t even bother with Wine anymore.
Good luck!
For example, Quicken version 6, released in late 2003 I believe, is now rated Silver -- mostly works. That's the most recent version of Quicken that WINE or Crossover supports. No version of Quicken is supported at the Gold level. Silver is the "runs well enough to be usable ... but has bugs" level. Gold is the "installs and runs as you would expect it to in Windows" level.
Only a handful of apps are rated Gold on the Codeweaver site, and those that are have release dates five or ten years ago.
Mark Shuttleworth is to be commended for his vision and generosity.
The last time I evaluated these, a year ago, I needed VMWare because it had more elaborate support for setting up clustered environments -- I was emulating ten or twenty PC's simultaneously, connected in a hierarchy of multiple LANs, developing a next generation cluster product before the hardware was available, and VMWare was the only tool that could handle it. This is not a need that most people have.
But the next time my Windows box that I have dedicated to running Quicken pisses me off, I will either abandon Quicken, or move that Windows environment to a VirtualBox running on one of my big Linux servers.
Regarding sharing files between Linux and Windows, you can use SAMBA, which makes the Linux box look like a Windows workgroup server, or even a member server in a domain.
You’re right about VMWare, it’s one of those things that likes as much memory as you can throw at it. If you only have 512MB of RAM, it’s probably not going to work very well, if at all. I thing that VMWare workstation is tuned to work with less RAM on the host, but it’s NOT free. And I guess I’m spoiled: I use it at home on a system that’s got 3.5GB of usable RAM, and at work with a system that’s got 2GB (I’ve got 2 licenses, one of my own, one that my company owns).
Novell CNA, huh? I really miss working with Novell on a regular basis. I worked with it since v2.0a, and got my CNE in 1989! Earlier this year I let nearly all my Novell certifications lapse. I think that technically I’m still a Master CNE in NetWare, Messaging, and Network Management, but I worked for 4 1/2 years as a Novell instructor, and it was something of a shock to realize that my Certified Novell Instructor cert was gone. At one time I was authorized to teach 22 Novell courses. While (IMHO) Novell has got some of the best network software available (in a number of ways, they’re YEARS ahead of Microsoft), they’ve lost so much market share that I simply couldn’t get a job in Kansas City. So I now work in a nearly 100% Microsoft Windows environment (1 Novell server doing file and print services, 245 Windows servers, including 120 Terminal Services servers). The only thing that we use Linux for is network management and security.
Mark
I do use GIMP for routine image manipulation on my Linux boxes but I don't think it's as user-friendly as Photoshop. It's much better than it used to be but its GUI still isn't as good; and I think it manages to be more complicated than Photoshop without being as flexible.
All this may be because I'm a lot more familiar with Photoshop, of course.
bttt
Yep. That's what I used to set up the small partition on my hard drive as a Linux partition. But like you said, it's not very intuitive. I'm going to look at Acronis. I use their True Image software for backup and their partition app looks interesting.
Now that you mention it, it was Crossover I’d seen been the papa version of Wine; not VMWare. I’ll look into that after the holidays.
Well, thanks a lot. I’ll download it and see how it goes. But I doubt I’ll get it done until after the holidays.
I downloaded VirtualBox. But the documentation indicates I’ll likely have to install more RAM. That means it’ll have to wait until later. Thanks for the information though. I have what I need when I get more RAM (my 512Mb just won’t do it).
I never really did much with my CNA certificate. I’d been downsized from a printing firm in ‘93 and had developed my own business in PC service. I’d gotten the CNA certificate because I felt the need for network support growing in my small community. But health problems got in the way and I had to back off big time. Now, I’m fully retired and my only PC connected outside work is helping friends and acquaintances with their PC issues.
I’m looking at Ubuntu because it’s a lot faster than my XP installation. But being retired I don’t have a lot of cash to throw at it right now what with the holidays, some car repair and an operation coming up. So it’s something that will have to wait for awhile. But, I’ll get to it and will let you know how it turns out. Someone else recommended VirtualBox over VMWare so I’ve also downloaded that. But it too requires additional RAM.
Again thanks for your help, and to everyone else for your help. It’s greatly apreciated.
>>Today, no one can argue with a straight face that people can’t get their work done on Linux-powered PCs. Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, MEPIS, OpenSUSE, Xandros, Linspire Mint, the list goes on and on of desktop Linuxes that PC owner can use without knowing a thing about Linux’s technical side. People can argue that Vista or Mac OS X is better, but when Michael Dell runs Ubuntu Linux on one of his own home systems, it can’t be said that Linux isn’t a real choice for anyone’s desktop.<<
That call all be true without it being true that Linux is taking over the low end.
Hardware support might be an issue if you compare Linux against XP, but there is no way that Linux comes in behind hardware support for Vista.
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