Windows or Lunix?

Ive been wanting to run lunix for a long time but ive always been hesitant to drop windows. I was thinking about running Windows XP on one drive and some form of lunix on the other but my drives are mirrored. I guess i could partition them but i dont want to screw things up. I was thinking about trying lunix out on an old comp but i don't know what the system requirements would be for each implementation of lunix. The comp specs: pII 400Mhz, 9.48Gb hd, 320Mb ram. Could i run any of the following? Mandrake, SuSE, Redhat or MEPIS. Thanks.

Knoppix requires no hard drive to run (memory resident).

1) Download It
2) Burn It
3) Boot

You can also install it to the a harddrive.

System Requirements:

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# Intel-compatible CPU (i486 or later),
# 16 MB of RAM for text mode, at least 96 MB for graphics mode with KDE (at least 128 MB of RAM is recommended to use the various office products),
# bootable CD-ROM drive, or a boot floppy and standard CD-ROM (IDE/ATAPI or SCSI),
# standard SVGA-compatible graphics card,
# serial or PS/2 standard mouse or IMPS/2-compatible USB-mouse.

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PS: Its Linux

:thumb: Ill give it a try. Seems MEPIS also has the ability to boot into LiveCD mode. http://www.pclinuxonline.com/article.php?sid=7143

Lunix?
Knoppix?
Mepis?

Where am I?

linux = not all it's cracked up to be

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Originally Posted by dis1411

linux = not all it's cracked up to be

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This is very true. I dual boot windows and linux right now. At first I just wanted to see what people thought was so good about it, and I switched back to using windows not too long after.

Linux makes a grat server, but the desktop side of things are quite messy. They are slowly getting better though.

Stick to Windows, cause it's is by far better. Besides, could you ever turn your back to the Creator of Visual Basic? Linux is just free ****. Yes it's free, but it's still ****. IF you really can't pay for an operating system (poor guy), you can (but are not allowed to) download windows illegally.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by gamepower

Stick to Windows, cause it's is by far better. Besides, could you ever turn your back to the Creator of Visual Basic? Linux is just free ****. Yes it's free, but it's still ****. IF you really can't pay for an operating system (poor guy), you can (but are not allowed to) download windows illegally.

Cheers

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That free **** you are talking about powers the majority of the worlds, web, mail and file servers. Keep your comments to your self if you have nothing of value to add.

P.s: Downloading an illegal copy of Windows is not wise as it is often full of trojqans, viruses and spyware. Much wise to download a Free OS like Linux, which won't have viruses and trojans.

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Posted by gamepower

Besides, could you ever turn your back to the Creator of Visual Basic?

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Yes i could. Be doing it for years and will continue to do it.

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Posted by gamepower

If you really can't pay for an operating system (poor guy), you can (but are not allowed to) download windows illegally.

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Wanting to run Lunix is not a question of it being free. At least not for me.

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Originally Posted by visualAd

Linux makes a grat server, but the desktop side of things are quite messy. They are slowly getting better though.

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UNIX and ultimately LINUX are not meant to be desktop operating systems. I used VMS since 1980 (on DIGITAL VAX mini/mainframe computers) and think that was one of the best operating systems ever designed. The DCL (Digital Command Language syntax) was intuitive and powerful. I've never used UNIX enough to make a true comparison - but I imagine that the whole reason LINUX is alive today is it's roots in UNIX syntax.

I find WINDOWS DOS-like BAT file syntax to be primitive and difficult to push to the abilities that we could push VMS to.

With all that said, this question in a way makes no sense. My customers will continue to buy high-end GUI-like operating systems. I had better code my applications to maximize that experience for them.

As for server backend products - they seem to want to buy MS SERVER. I cannot change that. I'm stuck using DOS-like BAT file and silly SERVER AGENT tools to schedule my jobs.

[edit] and any suggestion to download free/illegal version of copywritten material should be frowned upon - you would deserve the virus you got and the bad karma you bring upon yourself.

Large-scale industry is not going to start using free operating systems anyway - that is not what the board members consider when making big decisions.

The biggest health insurance companies still use IBM mainframes and code written in COBOL - I know I've done contract work for them.

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Originally Posted by visualAd

That free **** you are talking about powers the majority of the worlds, web, mail and file servers. Keep your comments to your self if you have nothing of value to add.

P.s: Downloading an illegal copy of Windows is not wise as it is often full of trojqans, viruses and spyware. Much wise to download a Free OS like Linux, which won't have viruses and trojans.

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not really. offhand i recall that ebay used nt4 until within the last year they started upgrading to server 2003

it's still a pile of ****, but it's a free non-microsoft pile of ****. and that's what people care about. i've heard linux users that really think using a windows server = automatic spyware and worms. no it doesn't, unless you're aunt ester. ANY server has to be properly secured.

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Originally Posted by dis1411

not really. offhand i recall that ebay used nt4 until within the last year they started upgrading to server 2003

it's still a pile of ****, but it's a free non-microsoft pile of ****. and that's what people care about. i've heard linux users that really think using a windows server = automatic spyware and worms. no it doesn't, unless you're aunt ester. ANY server has to be properly secured.

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Hey, I'm not trashing Windows here and I refuse to. Both operating systems have thir strengths and weaknessess. To make a judgement that Linux is rubbish because its free, is just as stupid as making the judgement that Windows = Spyware & Trojans.

P.S: Linux isn't free, it can cost as much if not more to run Linux commercially.

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Originally Posted by dis1411

not really. offhand i recall that ebay used nt4 until within the last year they started upgrading to server 2003

it's still a pile of ****, but it's a free non-microsoft pile of ****. and that's what people care about. i've heard linux users that really think using a windows server = automatic spyware and worms. no it doesn't, unless you're aunt ester. ANY server has to be properly secured.

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Linux and UNIX Flavours DO power majority of the world's web/file servers. Around 67% of the world's web servers are served by Apache. Linux is much more stable and secure by default. I had experience with hosting both Windows and Linux servers - and Linux wins by far. Even if you cut off the hassle with security, I still consider Linux file systems superior to Windows file systems and the resource management is much better.

I have never had Linux crash so bad that it had to be reset. :afrog:

:)

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Originally Posted by made_of_asp

Linux is much more stable and secure by default.

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Is this because less people use it?

Linux is a superior OS to Windows in architecture. It makes it more secure. I doubt stability will be affected when more people will use it.

:wave:

To get back to the questions.

I use MEPIS currently. I like it. Nice KDE based LiveCD with a good easy to use isntaller in the LiveCD KDE environment.

All bitching and moaning aside, does anyone recall this is a developer website? Opening your mind up to Linux and remaining open to Windows just gives you more job opportunities. Don't be afraid of either.

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Originally Posted by Cander

All bitching and moaning aside, does anyone recall this is a developer website? Opening your mind up to Linux and remaining open to Windows just gives you more job opportunities. Don't be afraid of either.

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I couldn't agree more. I think it's important to be universal in what you can use. I dual boot, and this gives me the option of both OS's. Windows is what I use primarly, but Linux is always there in case I want to use it.

Note: I heard that the knoppix live cd version was great too.