[rshd301]

Please help, I'm more and more coming to the conclusion, like many others, that a move to Linux from MS is a worthy one. Trouble is, I'm completely lost in the terminology used. I've made tentative enquiries into setting up a dual boot system with Linux but am confused by whether I should be going for Red Hat or SUSE etc etc. Also, I'm led to believe that my NTFS hard drive won't support boot manager and therefore I won't get the option of OS at start up.

My system is as follows :- 800mhz Duron; 20gb NTFS HD; MS windows XP home; 256 ram.

How much will Linux assist in the setup procedures?
How much language skills will I need?
How much programs are there out there to use?

I need help !!!

[pvc9]

Selecting a distro would depend on how good you're at using Linux. I guess this is the first time that you're trying out Linux. I feel that Mandrake and SuSe Linux are very good for newbies. Also I felt the installation of Mandrake pretty easy. I guess its the same with SuSe too...

The most important one is allocating the space on the HDD to the OS i.e., disk partitioning. This is the phase where most of the users can cause a HDD crash or total data corruption. From my personal experience...(I did it once too and dont want to say what happened exactly... LOL).

The easiest way would be to free a partition and then delete it using the fdisk from DOS. Moreover if you want to install the minimum req then say 2.5-3 GB of space would be more than enough. After deleting that partition start the installation and at the time where the installer would ask you about the disk space use the option Auto Allocate(could be a different title too). So auto allocation of space would be the task to do if you are a newbie. About all this I would suggest you to go through the Installation Manual for best results..

How much will Linux assist in the setup procedures?

Depends on the distro. Mandrake and SuSe will be easier.

How much language skills will I need?

Do you need any skills to use Windows? Not at all, same with Linux too. Just that you need to know how it works and what are the programs that are associated with it.

How much programs are there out there to use?

A lot of them and if you are doing a complete installation then you'll have a lot of programs to know(and if you want to learn too)

[rshd301]

Very helpful. Thankyou.

[pvc9]

You're very welcome...

[pvc9]

This link might help for the NTFS and Linux issue -

http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~loewis/ntfs/

I've never tried installing Linux on an NTFS so really dont know much about it...

[stnwerks]

Try Knoppix it will give you an instant linux expierience.
Then check out Xandros or Lycoris Desktop LX there both great for begginers who want simple stable OS. Mandrake is not a real stable package in my exp. Lycoris has IRIS to install rpm packages, works great for those of us that are not linux guru's. Be patient and and learn a little at a time! Soon you'll be able to do most everything in linux that you do in win doors.
Have fun and expect to learn!
Steve