[gilld2]

Hey everyone, I am a college student who is investigating the posibility of switching or using Linux.


I am considering a Linux platform for my current Laptop..a 3 yr old Dell..and/or possibly looking at buying a desktop and hooking it up with Linux.

I have a few questions I hope can be answered...

1. What Linux would you recomend for for heavy media usage...eg: lots of music and movie playing, editing, etc.

2. Can you have Vista and Linux on the same machine?

3. What would say would be the biggest difficulty/problem I might have being a new Linux user who used primarily Windows for most of his life.



Thanks a lot and I hope to be a new Linux user as soon as I decide what platfrom to use.

gilld2

[ozar]

Welcome to the forums!

Maybe take a look at Sabayon.

Yes

Understanding that linux is NOT windows.

Check this thread for more info on getting started with linux.

Hope you have fun with it.

[smolloy]

1. Sabayon's good. But almost any of the major distributions will keep you happy. Download a few liveCDs and play around with things. Linux Mint is supposed to have pretty good multimedia support.
2. Yes. It's easy. For most distributions, the installer will look after that. Google for dual-booting and disc partitioning.
3. You need to remember that being fluent with Windows doesn't necessarily make you a computer/OS expert. Changing operating system can come as a bit of a culture shock. Just take your time, and try to understand things. Being part of a community, along with a willingness to ask questions and make mistakes, will really help with this!

Have fun, and welcome to the forums!

[georanson]

welcome to the forum

i use slackware for media and it benn great for me but it took some time to install and im running it side by side with vista

when i switched from mac/windows to linux my biggest change was learning how to install new programs and understanding the file system considering how i could tell you where any file in any system file in a windows or mac computer is by heart it was a big adjustment to have to look for stuff. I tried to learn it all at once i drowned in a sea of information. So take it slow like smolloy said

take a look at this article it might be helpful http://www.linuxforums.org/installat..._windows).html

[gilld2]

Hey thanks for the welcome and the advice


I read some of the links and have been researching a few distros...I am going to play around with a few...I will take it slow...however I am not expecting to be a huge modifier...well see.

I will tell you guys what I end up using and try to get a screen shot or something for you.


Thanks again,

gilld2