[mustang fanatic]

Just thinking about using Linux as an operating system. I have heard that it is better than windows and you cant get viruses? Any opinions/recommendations?

[ItaliStang]

you can try linux OS's on live CD's

basically, you burn the CD, (or order for free by mail), boot your computer with it in the drive, and you can use the entire OS without messing up anything on your Hard drive or your windows OS

I have an ubuntu CD at home, that I've used, it's pretty good... if you like the Live CD, then there's an option to install the OS to your hard drive, it will have you partition the drive, and install it
You can also set them up to dual boot on your computer, you boot up and you have an option on whether you want to run windows, or linux...

[mustang fanatic]

Originally Posted by ItaliStang you can try linux OS's on live CD's basically, you burn the CD, (or order for free by mail), boot your computer with it in the drive, and you can use the entire OS without messing up anything on your Hard drive or your windows OS I have an ubuntu CD at home, that I've used, it's pretty good... if you like the Live CD, then there's an option to install the OS to your hard drive, it will have you partition the drive, and install it You can also set them up to dual boot on your computer, you boot up and you have an option on whether you want to run windows, or linux...

So if you partition the hard drive and have both operating systems if you work in windows and save something can you access it in Linux? Or is it only in Windows now? I have heard of unbuntu but what is the difference between that and Linux?

[ItaliStang]

yes, you should be able to get to your files in windows while running ubuntu (not the other way around though)... I've messed with it a bit, but had some trouble getting to the files since I was running the OS off the CD and not installed... haven't played with it in a while... but I did get it to open files I saved in windows at least once, so it is possible

if you have an external hard drive by chance, that is an easy way to store files for both OS's to read, but I'm sure ubuntu can open files saved in windows, with certain codecs of course

ubuntu is just a distribution of linux, since linux is open source, anyone can have the code, and different groups come out with different versions of linux.

[ChrisJ]

Linux is fun...

Put it on a partition and play with it...

[mdvaldosta]

MM uses Centos

[Notcho]

ItaliStang is right, try Knoppix, it is the Live Linux on CD. Just google 'linux iso' and you should find several sites with all the distros.

You can download pretty much all distros of Linux for free online, since Linux has a general public license. You can also buy them at an electronics store, but since its free software you aren't buying the software, just the documentation, discs etc.

Since there's so many different flavors of linux, just pick one and try it out. I have used Knoppix, Mandrake 9, Red Hat 7.3 and Red Hat 9.

I used Red Hat for a Counter-Strike server; it worked great. I just had the server in a room with a power cord and a LAN cord. I controlled the server with a program called Putty. I could completely manage it wherever there was an internet connection.

[ChrisJ]

I use Knoppix as a tool like ERD Commander...

It can get you into computers that are password protected very easily...

[mustang fanatic]

Cool I am jsut going to download it and play with it.

[ItaliStang]

yeah, I've used an older version of knoppix too, that's one that I really liked, came with all the open source programs preinstalled

And to answer part of your question from the first post, no, you won't get any viruses with linux, I think there has been one virus in the history of linux, and that has been taken care of I believe...

[Notcho]

Originally Posted by ChrisJ I use Knoppix as a tool like ERD Commander... It can get you into computers that are password protected very easily...

We would always do that in highschool. The damn teacher thought he was god and restricted our windows accounts to notepad only. Knoppix fixed his ass.

Then he would disable the cdrom during boot and password the bios, so we would wait untill he left the room, open the case and set the jumper to clear the password... Damn those pizza-box dells were easy to open. No tools needed.

[GreenFaleen]

NC State uses it, once you learn the commands it is really easy not the most user friendly, it isnt as laid out as windows but I like it

[mustang fanatic]

Originally Posted by ItaliStang yeah, I've used an older version of knoppix too, that's one that I really liked, came with all the open source programs preinstalled And to answer part of your question from the first post, no, you won't get any viruses with linux, I think there has been one virus in the history of linux, and that has been taken care of I believe...

How do you not get viruses. I dont get it. So if I download a bunch of porn I wont get viruses like with windows?

[ChrisJ]

Not many viruses are written to attach linux/unix

Most are shot towards windows based systems...

Gotta love resetting the board...HAHAHAHAHA

[atlacatl213]

i recommend using mepis

MEPIS | Now Shipping Version 7.0

because it usually has lots of drivers in it and its the easiest flavor of linux that i come across for the absolute noob. i have it running on this laptop im using and my other desktop computer. also its a live cd and you dont have to install it on your computer right away, just if you know how to boot from CD and burn ISO files then you wont have a problem using it.

[mustang fanatic]

Nice virus free porn!!! Its worth having linux just for that!!!

[atlacatl213]

Originally Posted by mustang fanatic How do you not get viruses. I dont get it. So if I download a bunch of porn I wont get viruses like with windows?

you wont get viruses because of the different filesystem that linux use. windows is install in an ntfs structure and linux under ext3 or something like that. for a better comparison its like comparing fruits to vegetables.

[jim.munoz]

you could also try running the linux distro of your choice in a virtual machine. thats what i did you can mess around with linux and still have access to XP or vista in a single session.

[atlacatl213]

ohhh also heres a list of different flavors of linux in their live CD forms though not all of them may have the install to hard drive feature.

The LiveCD List

[mustang fanatic]

Originally Posted by atlacatl213 ohhh also heres a list of different flavors of linux in their live CD forms though not all of them may have the install to hard drive feature. The LiveCD List

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