[i hate ram]

I'm new to Linux... and i dont know anything about it. Are there any (free) Linux distributions that look a lot like Windows XP? (If it looks like Mac OS X that would be good too) Also, If i already have Windows ME installed on my computer, can I still install it? I have two hard drives... but i'm using both for windows ME. If I can put Linux on the second hard drive (slave drive) then 1) will I have to repartition (and how do i do that?) 2) when the computer starts up, which OS will it boot with? will I be able to choose whichever one I want? thanks!



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"How do I throw away the 'Recycle Bin?'" <---someone actually asked me that...

ba bah bad bah bah! I'm lovin it!

[Squashman]

1) Yes you will have to repartitioin and you can do it during the install.

2)Yes you can chose which OS to startup with but Linux will be the default after you install. You can specify which OS to startup with at the Bootloader prompt or you can change you bootloader config file to tell it which OS should be the default to be loaded with no user intervention.

If you want it to look like windows or Mac then use windows or Mac. OS X is based on a BSD Kernel so some things will be similar to Linux (ie. you will have a shell)

[i hate ram]

do you know of any Linux distributions that math that criteria? i tried searching for one, but i dont know whjere to start or what to look for.

[Whiteskin]

Well.... first off linux will NOT ever act like either... perhaps it may come close to OSX, but not windows (Partially because most linux lovers are also windows loathers)

As for a graphical interface that is similar i would reccomend KDE. It can be quite intesive on the CPU and ram, but probably is closest to what you want.

If you want a good starter distro there are three that i'd reccomend. FOr the absolute beginner either Mandrake or RedHat (get it while its here). I'f you are a little more advanced then i'd reccomend Debian.

Almost all major distros will give you an option during install to install a DE (desktop environment KDE, Gnome, etc. )

[i hate ram]

Are any of them free? If theyre not, then thats ok, but im running tight on cash

[aineo]

If you download the ISO's they are all free.

[i hate ram]

ive tried downloading ISO's, and I knw how to download them and install them, but it looks like there are a lot of files I must install. are there any linux programs that I can download easily? 2 or 3 downloads are ok, but I think i might make a mistake when downloaidng and trying to install several. any suggestions?

[Squashman]

RedHat 9 is just 3 iso's to download, the same goes for Mandrake.

What exactly do you want.

[i hate ram]

which one is better? ive heard some good things about each... like i said i am new to this OS, so dont really know... any guidance or advice will be graciously accpeted

thanks!

[Squashman]

With the recent news about Redhat moving there free version to the Fedora project, I would start out with Mandrake. You may get better support that way. But I like RedHat.

http://www.linuxiso.org

[Whiteskin]

It really doese also depend on personal prejudices (and hardware)

Eg. I liked freebsd alot, mainly because of its port system, where you build aps from source. So when i got a new computer the first thing that came to mind was FreeBSD. Turns out Fbsd hates my video card, so then i thought i'd try Gentoo... But the install process was wayyyyyyy too involved for me. I finaly decided to try debian, and am now quite happy.