i have a PC, with windows and it has a 80 gig HD. I have it partitioned 3 ways, 20 gigs for backup data, 4 gigs for windows 98 and the rest for xp. I only use the windows to game, and i was thinking of turning that 4 gig partition into linux so i can learn it! I recently made the switch to mac with my iBook so i figured why not. So i had a few questions...
1. What distro are out there that support 64 bit cpus, and which one would you recommend for a noob?
2. Would 4 gigs be enought?
3. Would i need to make any file system changes to make this work with windows xp properly? or side by side properly?
4. is is really worth the effort with only what i am really willing to give to linux?
5. and would windows decide to be windows and try to mess it up by screwing around the boot partitions?
thanx
Full Version: thinking about making the move
1. What distros are out there that support 64 bit cpus, and which one would you recommend for a noob?
- I don't know if Mandrake offers x86-64 binaries but it is the best distribution for novice users, in my opinion. Besides Mandrake, Fedora and SuSE are also good distributions for beginners - Fedora is better than SuSE, in my humble opinion.
2. Would 4 gigs be enough?
- Yes it will be okay, but remember that you'll presumably want to make more than one partition (e.g. one swap partition).
3. Would i need to make any file system changes to make this work with windows xp properly? or side by side properly?
- If you want to have read/write possibilities in Windows XP for the GNU\Linux partitions you should choose FAT32. FAT is a labile and slow filesystem, but Linux's implementation of NTFS is still not that good. But there are also some Win32 tools which make it possible to access EXT3 (A filesystem often used for GNU\Linux) in Windows.
4. Is it really worth the effort with only what i am really willing to give to linux?
- I can't answer that question, because it depends on your personal needs. I do not know how you're using your computer(s), but if you're technically interested you can learn a lot by exploring GNU\Linux.
5. And would windows decide to be windows and try to mess it up by screwing around the boot partitions?
- Only if you install Windows after you installed GNU\Linux or make some "Fix MBR" thingies...
- I don't know if Mandrake offers x86-64 binaries but it is the best distribution for novice users, in my opinion. Besides Mandrake, Fedora and SuSE are also good distributions for beginners - Fedora is better than SuSE, in my humble opinion.
2. Would 4 gigs be enough?
- Yes it will be okay, but remember that you'll presumably want to make more than one partition (e.g. one swap partition).
3. Would i need to make any file system changes to make this work with windows xp properly? or side by side properly?
- If you want to have read/write possibilities in Windows XP for the GNU\Linux partitions you should choose FAT32. FAT is a labile and slow filesystem, but Linux's implementation of NTFS is still not that good. But there are also some Win32 tools which make it possible to access EXT3 (A filesystem often used for GNU\Linux) in Windows.
4. Is it really worth the effort with only what i am really willing to give to linux?
- I can't answer that question, because it depends on your personal needs. I do not know how you're using your computer(s), but if you're technically interested you can learn a lot by exploring GNU\Linux.
5. And would windows decide to be windows and try to mess it up by screwing around the boot partitions?
- Only if you install Windows after you installed GNU\Linux or make some "Fix MBR" thingies...
nice reply anir 
thanx anir!
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