[donnyb]

Someone suggested I should look at this version of Linux, but I have never used any Linux before. I do a lot of website development as a hobby and have Dreamweaver CS3, plus several other pieces of software, including Apache and MySQL, video editing, etc. Will these run on Ubuntu? What other issues will I run into?

It may be a deal breaker if I can't use my current software.

[tomdkat]

DreamWeaver CS3 can run via wine or CrossOver. Apache and MySQL run natively on Linux and when considering websites on the Internet, there are more web servers running Apache and MySQL on Linux than on Windows.

I don't know what video editing software you use but there is video editing software that is available natively for Linux.

I would suggest getting an Ubuntu liveCD and boot it on your system and give it a test drive.

Peace...

[donnyb]

Can I do this on an NTFS drive?

[tomdkat]

Linux can read NTFS filesystems just fine and can do some reliable writing to them but I'm not sure how reliable. Any Linux distribution will want to install into a Linux native filesystem, like ext2 or ext3 or jfs, but you can install Linux distros designed to coexist alongside Windows installations in the same partition.

Peace...

[monckywrench]

Never experiment with Linux on your main machine you need to do work.
I strongly recommend a second machine to learn on. It's easier that way and
if the install gets hose, no problem.