What do you think about Linux ?..

I dont think Linux is capable of reading NTFS nor writing to a disk formatted with NTFS...
It can read FAT, ext3 and reiser...
(And some others but I dont think you heard of them)

It can indeed format the disk with a new filesystem

 

Stick to Windows.

BTW, if you have bought WXP Home, it will not be supported past next year (I believe). WXP Pro will continue to be supported, get updates, etc.

For surfing I still prefer my Ubuntu even above OSX and Windows.

 

NTFS driver in Linux kernel 2.6

Status

This NTFS driver was written by Anton Altaparmakov from scratch, supporting all versions of NTFS. It is included in the current development kernels since 2.5.11 and also has a backported version for the latest 2.4 stable kernel. What are the advantages of the new driver compared to the old one?

• Stable: no known problems in the implemented functionality, it's also multi-processor and reentrant safe.
• Supports all NTFS cluster sizes from 512 bytes up to 64 kB. The old driver is limited to maximum 4 kB cluster size.
• Full (read-only) support for sparse and compressed files also on Windows XP/2003/2000.
• Supports mmap() thus Wine users can start applications from an NTFS partition.
• Still read-only, but with safe file overwrite support on all Windows versions without changes to the file size (uncompressed, unencrypted, nonsparse files only).
• One can setup a loopback device on an NTFS file. TopologiLinux and others use this feature to run Linux from a Windows NTFS partition with full read-write support.
• Much better performance.
• Support for exporting mounted NTFS volumes via NFS.
• Support for async io (aio).
• Support for fsync(2), fdatasync(2), and msync(2).
• Support for readv(2) and writev(2).
• Support for access time updates (including mtime and ctime).

from linux-ntfs.org

 

Well, just to throw my 2 cents worth (if it is worth that) in again, I tried Ubuntu on the same PIII test box and found it very similar to Fedora Core - except it is a 1 CD install. It seems to set itself up (maybe less choice/config than an XP pro install), VERY easily - with Firefox, Open Office, the Gimp and a range of minor apps for sound/multimedia. A good basic workstation set of tools. Ubuntu set up the graphics on this test box better than Fedora (which gave me only 800x600 res) - up to 1240 pixels across.

I'm writing this on the Ubuntu box now - for setup at home, I'm wondering how tricky it would be to install a modem or ADSL router - here on the school/work network it is DHCP and a proxy server to enter in Firefox and I'm online at 2Mbs!

 

If you were setting up a fresh install of Windows XP Pro, you'd have the choice to format the disk Fat32 or NTFS just after the partitioning stage (booting from your XP Pro CD)

If you boot from the Ubuntu or Kubuntu (Ubuntu with the KDE desktop built-in) CD, it will handle the partitioning and formatting for you, regardless of the brand of HDD, what it was preformatted/partitioned as, or even the brand of PC (Gateway, Dell, whatever).

Hope it goes well!

 

My install screwed me up at the password prompt and I couldn't login.
I was only curious if Kubuntu/ubuntu could use the device I have.
(It can.)
I'll try again later. (Learn by doing.)

 

Learn by doing is the best way and you can ask every time here at the forum or there.

 

I like Linux, it's all I use. I have Ubuntu64 on my computer.

 

It's the setup prompts that throw me. I usualy hit enter to accept, when
it requires input. I'm used to DOS prompts. (MS, Commodore, etc...)

 

It's pretty simple. If you have a router and it's plugged in and working when you turn the computer on, it should just recognize the connection. At least with and ethernet one.. Never done it with a usb router. As far as dial up, I've only done that with redhat 9, but again fairly simple, I just wasn't sure exactly which device my modem was, but trial and error quickly solved that.

 

Been using linux and unix-based OS since the age of 13 or 14, I forget. Started with Redhat 5.2 and worked through many distros and other flavors of unix from solaris to hp. Anything based off of unix is based off of a superior OS. I use Slackware linux, has been my distro of choice since I tried 7.0.

 

my brother gave me a free rebuilt computer, on the condition that i run it with linux. i have kubuntu installed. i'm really new to this and probably could use some help.

 

Well, what do you need help with?