Linux

[g g g unit]

Im planning to move to a linux OS. and is it as simple just downloading it from this site http://www.ubuntu.com/ then installing it. Plus should i back all my work up??

thanks

 

[bigjohnson]

Offload your data to some other storage, make sure it's formatted in a way Linux will read easily. A USB attached drive is a cheap solution. If you're into games Linux isn't going to serve you well, or if you absolutely need to collaborate with peole who use MS Office.

Outside that it's a really nice system, I use it on my servers all the time.

 

[Booblepook]

I use it on my servers all the time.

Because Linux is hardly suitable as desktop.



To install Linux I'd buy a new hard drive, remove my old hard drive, and install Linux onto new hard drive..

 

[bigjohnson]

Because Linux is hardly suitable as desktop.



To install Linux I'd buy a new hard drive, remove my old hard drive, and install Linux onto new hard drive..

Not a bad plan. There are a lot of people hwho use linux as a workstation OS, it depends on what role your 'desktop' serves. I know several who even play Warcraft on it, but more advanced or less popular games are gonna be a real PITA.

If you need Office you can run it, but if you're gonna pay for Office you might as well save yourself some trouble and just run Windows.

 

[thehexman]

I used it for a long time as a backup OS in case my Windows locked up and I needed access to files on my hard drive -- which happened more than once.
Not to get too technical here, but you should look into partitioning off a part of your hard drive and installing a LILO onto the master boot sector (I think that's what it's called). I haven't done any computer stuff for a few years since I discovered my real life

Linux also has a great advantage for Internet users/servers: Many widely distributed viruses will not have any effect on the system.