Alternative Operating Systems

NellyLock

if you want to try another o/s without doing any damage to xp so to speak have a try at some of the "bootable" linux live cds

there are many knoppix,mepis + many more...all you gave to do with these is download the file from the web (do a google search) burn it to cd and then reboot with the cd in the drive and you can try linux!

neil

m.saver_3

Thank you for all your replies. There is plenty for me to chew on. I may come back with one or two specific questions (don't run for cover!!!) if you don't mind. I was so ecstatic when I got some replies I'd have failed a drugs test if they could have got me off the ceiling.

Thanks again. (small things please small minds........./\/\/\/)

andy88_2

If you look in the newsagents for Linux magazines, you can find evaluation discs most months. Mandrake and SuSe seem to be the best rated in reviews. I'm at the same maybe stage as you; probably SuSe professional version for about £60.

m.saver_3

andy88 wrote:

If you look in the newsagents for Linux magazines, you can find evaluation discs most months. Mandrake and SuSe seem to be the best rated in reviews. I'm at the same maybe stage as you; probably SuSe professional version for about £60.

Andy I think you are someway in front of me, albeit on the same road. If you go for it before me, your experiences might be worth sharing. Should it be vice versa I'm happy to share.
Also appreciated your posts on the other thread earlier today. Cheers.

andy88_2

m.saver wrote:

Andy I think you are someway in front of me, albeit on the same road. If you go for it before me, your experiences might be worth sharing. Should it be vice versa I'm happy to share.
Also appreciated your posts on the other thread earlier today. Cheers.

I've got a SuSe 9.2 LiveEval CD, which I've loaded about 5 times; doesn't make me a pundit! I've got a 3 month old mag with a comparative review of several distros buried somewhere, so I was speaking from memory about the top 2; their favourite was Mandrake because they like tinkering; for newbies SuSe comes with comprehensive documentation, and is more stable. I hesitate to say too much because most of the people on this thread know much more than we do. The other thread; you can see how tangential I was; I think it's ok now.

m.saver_3

webhamster wrote:

Linspire , aka lindows 4.5 free download , then install open office and your laffing.

Had a look at this webhamster and it appears very user friendly, in fact not too distant from the windows system.

My questions for you are these: They've just brought out 5.0, is this say the equivalent of XP from 2000? Or a refinement of XP? Also the sites I found were selling Linspire not giving free downloads.

Hardware compatability: I've bought 3 dell printers during their giveing away period only to find they don't work with any OS before XP. What is the chance of these working with Linspire/Lindows whatever version?

Is Open Office a choice or a compulsory alternative to get something that gives the same as Microsoft Office? At the moment I use Excel extensively and would need it or it's equivalent.

Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Thanks in advance.

M.Saver aka The Invis.... ..n

Phonix

windows/*nix dual boot until the popular distro's of *nix start to consider gaming, video editing and graphical design.

The gaming performance is not down to the distros, it's the quality of drivers available from the hardware manufacturers and the refusal of game designers to port games to linux because of lack of popularity of the OS doesn't make this commercially viable.

There are companies that design alot of games for linux but they are few and far between.

Hardware compatability: I've bought 3 dell printers during their giveing away period only to find they don't work with any OS before XP. What is the chance of these working with Linspire/Lindows whatever version?

Check here for hardware compatibility

My questions for you are these: They've just brought out 5.0, is this say the equivalent of XP from 2000? Or a refinement of XP?

Linspire is based on KDE which is a desktop environment that runs on the Linux Kernel. In 5.0, Linspire have updated the OS with all the latest offerings of the opensource community, like a new version of KDE, new mozilla, a new kernel, a new reiser filesystem and have improved their click and run software.

Also the sites I found were selling Linspire not giving free downloads.

Linspire operate a subscription model called "click and run" which enables users to easily install and maintain software with a few clicks. It's important to remember that most of the software you install is compeltely free and if you like you can get it for free from elsewhere on the web. However linspire do not charge for this software they charge you for the convienience of oneclick installs, because installation on other linux distributions is a little more difficult. It's true linspire charge for the OS, but this is still reasonbly cheap at $49, and much cheaper than XP.

Linspire also has quite an active community which may interest you.

And here's a nice little page listing all the projects Linspire support. Even though I don't use the distro I'm quite impressed by the amount of money they pump back into the F/OSS community.

oh whoops. I didn't realise how old the original post was. Sorry

-TangleFoot-

Just saw the title of this thread and thought that someone might find the following useful:

• List of LiveCDs
• Free alternative Operating Systems

The first lists practically all known LiveCD projects available, and provide a handy way of trying out various alternatives to Windows. The second lists a number of free operating systems, along with a short comment on each.