Mandriva/Windows dual boot help

[VaeVictus X]

Hi all. I'm reformatting my desktop's drive as I type this in order to reinstall Windows Media Center Edition (from OEM Recovery discs). As soon as Windows is reinstalled, I will be booting from the Mandriva 2008 One cd and repartitioning the drive with qtparted so I can install Mandriva directly on the drive. At least that's the plan. I have never tried Linux before, but consider myself very computer literate (though I haven't really done any command line stuff since the CLI in the Amiga 500 maybe 10 years ago). I need to be able to dual boot into either Mandriva or Windows for a variety of reasons, bit mostly because I'm a gamer. I have tried booted into Mandriva from the One cd to make sure it works with my hardware and it seems to fun fine.

If anyone has any advice or links that may be helpful to a Linux-Newbie such as myself, I would appreciate it. Also, I know I will be using my Windows partition more than Linux for gaming, but I'm interested in trying out the games that are available on Linux. So any Linux gaming links would help out also. Thank you.

Regards,
David R. Lambert

[bigtomrodney]

Well things are better than ever for Linux users. With regards to the command line it's not really needed as such anymore as much as it is easier to post a solution online using three or four commands than to type half a page describing the graphical steps.

With that said although almost anything can be done in the GUI I find myself running on the command line a lot for convenience. Often times things aren't hard but different, so with a little experience it's all a matter of preference.

There are a lot of games for Linux but not so many commercial ones. Most if not all ID games are available in a native Linux version. I've been running Enemy Territory:Quake Wars recently and it runs brilliantly.

What are your aims for switching to Linux? Is it professional need, curiosity, security? Just wondering what recommendations to make based on your expectations.

[VaeVictus X]

Thanks for the quick reply. I actually decided to try installing openSUSE 10.3 (which is installing as I type this) so perhaps I was a bit hasty in deciding to post in the Mandriva forum.

As for my interest in Linux, I'm just always interested in technology and I've been meaning to try Linux for years, but so much of my time is spent gaming that I've kind of avoided it. I would have more to say, but back to the installation.

Regards,
David R. Lambert

[bigtomrodney]

SUSE should give you a nice soft landing! Please don't be afraid to ask anything else along the way, no one is born knowing Linux