Bored 'techhie' wishing to switch to Linux

[Awesome]

I like to mod stuff. Let me say that first. However, I don't like to spend all my time modding something to get it to work.

Ok, let me list my system specs. This machine was built for gaming. Windows XP Media Center, 3.0ghz Intel Pentium 4 EM64T with HT, 2 gb of Dual-Channel DDR2 OCZ PC4200 ram, C: (windows, programs) drive is a 160 gb Seagate SATA II HD, D: (games) drive is a 250 gb Western Digital SATA II HD, Mobo is EVGA nForce 4 based, nVidia XFX 7600 GT XXX graphics card.

I think that's everything. Now, I have some concerns.
I did the Distro Quiz, and it told me to install Mandriva, Kubuntu, or Ubuntu. I want something that is completely free, isn't too hard to deal with, will run GAMES and PHOTOSHOP CS2. I want to be able to choose between Windows and Linux during start-up, without re-installing Windows. I would also much prefer it if I didn't have to wipe a hard drive to install Linux. If I did have to, I'd prefer it to be my D: drive, as I can easily back up my games onto my C: drive then move them back.

Taking all this into consideration, which is my best option, and am I going to get what I'm hoping for? I did read the FAQs and none of them were concise enough.

Thanks in advance,
Awesome

[Thrillhouse]

I want something that is completely free, isn't too hard to deal with, will run GAMES and PHOTOSHOP CS2.

Photoshop won't run natively on Linux. You would need to install Wine to make it work but even then, lots of people have had troubles getting it to work correctly. The GIMP is a popular Linux alternative. Many Windows games also won't run natively on Linux. Not much else would be a problem though, from what you've said. I think Ubuntu or SuSE would be suited nicely for you.

However, you do say that you don't want to spend a whole lot of time getting something to work. This may be a problem. You're bound to encounter some problem that you will have to spend hours sorting out but this is when you learn the most about Linux. Many people on here enjoy the challenge of having to do that kind of work.

[Awesome]

Thanks for your reply. I have heard of Wine, but I wasn't quite sure if it was necessary. I may try out Gimp. It isn't mandatory that I have an image editing program, but it would be nice, as then I wouldn't have to use XP as much.

Ubuntu? Right, thanks! SuSE isn't free though from what I've gathered. I'll download Ubuntu and start installing. Thank God for cable internet. Even if I don't like Ubuntu, I can still try Mandriva. :d

Awesome

[Thrillhouse]

SuSE isn't free though from what I've gathered.

SuSE's free. You may be thinking of SLED, which is Novell's version of SuSE. That will cost you $50. OpenSuSE, I guess, is what I should have said. This is a completely free version of SuSE and no less capable than Novell's.

[Awesome]

Okay, thanks.

[sophosrex]

All these distros are free also fedora. You can partition your existing drive to run Linux and windows but not both at the same time. The partitions are not called c,d,e,f in Linux but same principle. Partition magic is good tool to do this. As far as gaming is concerned Linux has always a bit sketchy. If you are interested in "mainstream games" on Linux check out www.transgaming.com it allows you for a fee to use their software to allow you to play windows games on a Linux platform some games can be run directly. I don't know if adobe has a Unix version for photo shop but they do for framemaker but they are MORE expensive than windows versions.

I am a Linux fan and have been trying to completely wean myself off windows, but I have not found a kernel that can give you everything. Some examples, browser plug ins like quicktime are not supported and real player can be hit and miss. Java plugins are a pain to install and also once installed can also be hit or miss. But things have imrproved exponentially since my redhat 6.1 days. For the time being dual boot I think is the best answer for these issues. Also i have found crossover, www.codeweavers.com to work well to emulate programs like IE on Linux which you will need from time to time because firefox is not always supported on some web sites, online banking some porn sites etc.

Cheers

[bigtomrodney]

I would imagine this is a lack of clarity in the quiz regarding 'free' and 'Free'. It's a bit confusing if you haven't seen it before, basically 'free' refers to the price, whereas 'Free' refers to it being Open Source rather than proprietary closed source software. As mentioned Fedora and openSUSE are Free as well as free, but there are paid equivalents for enterprise use - Fedora has Red Hat and openSUSE has SLED/SLES.

[gettyUp]

I would search the Wine application db to see if there has been success and instructions for getting them running on your distro or choice.

http://appdb.winehq.org/

[Awesome]

Right, thanks for those tips, but that's getting a little ahead of myself.

I partitioned my D: drive using the windows install CD, but left the partitions unformatted. The Ubuntu installer/partitioner says it can't detect any "devices" (hard drives). So... I deleted the partitions and left the drive blank. Same problem. So, I just partitioned 200gb of the drive so I can move my games back to it, then left the other 40gb unpartitioned.

I have no blank CDs at the mo (ran out), so I won't be able to try a third-party partitioner like G-Parted for a little while.

What to do? I'm stuck at a blank wall. :s

Awesome

[Awesome]

Ok, Mandriva finished downloading, so I went and burned it to a DVD (wasn't out of those) and, well... to put it short, I'm making this post in Linux.

Thanks for your help, I'll be needing more in the future!

Awesome