I'm about to make the jump to Linux but...

[Legendary_Bibo]

I have a few questions that I figured you vets can help me out with.

1. I have an HP Pavillion dv7 laptop, will it run Linux?
2. What's the easiest distro, as in easiest to use, and install programs; I only ask this because I'm still in school, and sometimes there's this citrix thing that my school makes us use, and it involves downloading this application thing in order to access certain programs like Maple 11. Or should I make my computer a dual boot?
3. I have about $100 worth of games from Steam, would I have to cut my losses?
4. Does Linux have freezing issues like Vista; this is literally my biggest concern. I hate vista because it crashes so damn much.
5. Does every program that works for vista or windows work with linux? I have a registered copy of Office 2007, and it'd be great if I could keep it.

[gnuuser]

you made the correct choice first by asking the forum
as for your laptop
you may have to change the bios setting for your hard drive ( if it is a sata drive it will have to be set to ide mode)
linux rarely freezes completely usually if a program freezes you can run the xkill command and force the program closed.
most versions of linux have office software built into them.
as a choice for a new user I would suggest pclinux os.
but you can run some windows programs in xandros linux.
xandros costs about $30 US.
pc linux os is free but you cant run windows software on it unless you can install crossover ( I havent done this because I dont run windows software)

using any linux distro you can find programs for your distro free of charge

check out linuxlinks.com for linux equivalents to windows software.

[oz]

1. I have an HP Pavillion dv7 laptop, will it run Linux?
2. What's the easiest distro, as in easiest to use, and install programs; I only ask this because I'm still in school, and sometimes there's this citrix thing that my school makes us use, and it involves downloading this application thing in order to access certain programs like Maple 11. Or should I make my computer a dual boot?
3. I have about $100 worth of games from Steam, would I have to cut my losses?
4. Does Linux have freezing issues like Vista; this is literally my biggest concern. I hate vista because it crashes so damn much.
5. Does every program that works for vista or windows work with linux? I have a registered copy of Office 2007, and it'd be great if I could keep it.

Welcome to the forums!

1) It should work, but the best way to know for sure is to test it and see what happens.
2) Each Linux user has to decide for him/herself which is the easiest distribution to use, but any of the top 5 distributions at DistroWatch.com should work pretty well for most new users.
3) Lots of Windows games will work with WINE, but not all of them.
4) If your hardware doesn't like Linux it's possible that you could have various problems included freezes, but generally there are no problems.
5) No, Windows apps won't work under Linux unless they'll work with WINE, as indicated above.

Hope it works out well for you.

[Legendary_Bibo]

Well I decided to go with Ubuntu, it seems to offer a good balance, and it was relatively easy to find. I'm downloading it right now. I didn't want to bother trying to make a dual boot, I can see too many inconveniences happening, and the main things I use my computer for nowadays is internet, writing essay, and writing C++ for my class. So I'll cut my losses on the games, and my dad still has his computer with MS Office in case if I miss it.

However do I need to reformat my hard drive? Or will ubuntu do that for me?

[oz]

However do I need to reformat my hard drive? Or will ubuntu do that for me?

Ubuntu will offer to do that for you, or you can do it yourself if you wish.

[Legendary_Bibo]

Thanks for all the help! See you on the other side!

[masinick]

Why not just install a couple of things: WINE if you really want or need to run Windows programs from Linux systems, Virtualbox, if you still have the Windows CD or DVD and the apps, you can install Windows onto Virtualbox and run Windows in a virtual instance from Linux - or you can go the other way, keep Windows, but run Linux in a virtual instance from Windows; both work. Virtualbox has some overhead, so you need a couple GB of memory, which most recent systems have. If WINE does not work for all Windows programs, Crossover, Cedega, and a few others have commercial additions to WINE that may help.

With a couple of approaches, you can use Linux as your main system, yet have access to Windows programs when you need them. On modern systems, I like Virtualization, and it is the latest craze, so if you are in a technical industry it may be worth getting some experience with virtualization, hypervisors (and the jargon that goes with them). Virtualbox, VMware, and Parallels are three examples of virtualization and they all have a so-called hypervisor. KVM is the new native technology that brings virtualization right to the Linux kernel. Prior to KVM, one of the most common hypervisors was the Xen hypervisor, and QEMU was a common kernel emulator that was used before the native hypervisor services were widespread. Even QEMU has morphed, if I understand it correctly. It has more emulation in the past, now many of its functions are directly implemented from the kernel using the KVM modules, so if I understand it accurately, much less of QEMU contains emulation than in the past, which means improved speed and performance.

Lots of choices, plenty to learn; consider creating a virtual operating system or several of them, either from your Ubuntu system or from your Windows system. Virtualbox can help you do it rather easily, whether you understand what it is or not. With Virtualbox you can easily run Windows and Linux side by side and switch between them on the fly.

[trutheality]

You're lucky your games are from Steam:

Steam under Linux - Valve Developer Community

[Digital_Resistance]

Just some points to consider:

1.) Wouldn't it be better to at least start getting a feel for Linux before ditching Windows?

Ubuntu, as well as all of the distros I go on to recommend can easily be run as live CDs. This allows you to try out an entire operating system without without making any changes to your current system.

Also,

most versions of linux have office software built into them.

Right and the most popular, OpenOffice, as well as AbiWord, are readily and easily available for Windows , including as PortableApps.

Therefore, getting familiar with programs such as these can be a good first step for anyone considering eventually migrating to Linux.

(Although, as noted, it need not be essential, due to the ability to run M$ Office under WINE.

Internet Explorer, on the other hand, to the best of my knowledge is completely incompatible with any version of Linux. So any Windows user considering Linux who has not yet become comfortable with a browser such as Firefox, Opera or Chromium would do well to start there. )

2.) If you haven't already installed Ubuntu or if you should encounter problems with it, I would suggest you try Mint.

While very similar (and even binary compatible), Mint comes with more drivers and codecs right "out-of-the-box" and is widely considered one of the best distros for first-timers.

3.)Two other distros especially recommended for 1st timers are SimplyMEPIS and PCLinuxOS.

In fact, it was due, in no small part, to seeing posts by none other than the same Masinick who just posted above, in which he recommended the aforementioned three (Mint, Mepis, PCLOS) as best first-time distros that they are among the ones I have been trying.

[Freston]

I only ask this because I'm still in school, and sometimes there's this citrix thing that my school makes us use, and it involves downloading this application thing in order to access certain programs like Maple 11.

i have good experience with Citrix running on Linux. It's not an application that you download (technically) but a browser plugin. With that plugin, you connect to the Citrix server, logon and run your applications.

Because it's webbased, it makes no difference for the application whether you run Linux or Windows (or anything else for that matter). I use it a lot to connect to work from my Linux machines. It'll work