Mac and Linux?
 

I was wondering if it was possible to include some coverages on other OS like Linux and Mac? I know it's difficult but... I'm quite curious about other OS. Even though Microsoft holds about 90% of the world's market share in OS, it's also has the biggest problem in security as there's too many viruses infecting Microsoft PCs.

This is planned for the near-future, but we need to find appropriate Editors.

Well, that's just too bad. It would be very useful (to me) if you could do it sooner. I'm currently considering a Linux alternative to my Windows XP due to the fact that too much of my resources are used by my existing security softwares. Anyone know any good sites that reviews different Linux distros?

My advice would be to start here -
http://distrowatch.com/

Personally I would plan on setting up a dual boot system to begin with - Google will find all the answers to your questions!

I found it a considerable journey getting there but also a very satisfying one (especially when you finally have your Compiz Fusion Cube configured just right!)

Unfortunately there are no shortcuts, at least I didn't find any. There are however, many forums out there with plenty of people willing to help - I found most of my questions had already been answered somewhere out there.

Good luck!

Thanks Sope. Now the next thing for me to do is to just select the best few and compare them. Ubuntu seems to be the most popular so it's on the top of my list. So far, I'm still not sure which GUI should I choose, there's Gnome and KDE. They both seems so nice and they even have their own sets of applications! There's so many of them you just don't know where to start.

If you've got a reasonably fast internet connection I would download a few, burn to rewritable disc and then just try them out from live CD rather than install, just to get a feel for them first and check that they work ok with your hardware.

Personally I would suggest the best to try first would be Ubuntu, Linux Mint, PCLinuxOS and maybe Mepis.

I found this thread an excellent starting point - http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=179902

If you wanted to be adventureous you could set up a second HDD with multiple partitions and install a bunch of OS in a multiple boot system - depends on how confident you are.

Good luck.

I have a dual boot and use Mandriva. I have tried several linux distro's and love this one. All the others I have problems with and the forums never seem to answer my questions. However Mandriva has been very helpful, so I stuck with them and quite happy. The down side of Linux is that it lacks the refinements that you expect in Windows and the gloss. Although KDE is a better product than Gnome. Its getting your feet wet that is the first step and you don't know which is the best and quite frankly only you can decide. I also tried Linux different types on older computers and found that Vector worked well on one and not on another and there were others.

Look at the the CPU you have and the amount of memory and that would help you make a decision as to go with Ubuntu, Mint who mainly use gnome and that is not so draining on your resources. If you have 2GB CPU I would suggest KDE would be fine. Although I did try Kubuntu and that collapsed within a week, Mint lasted nearly 3 weeks and so forth until I came to Mandriva.

If I can answer any questions you have through my experience then please ask away

Tony

I wish I could download a few Linux distros, burn to rewritable disc and then just try them out from live CDs but unfortunately, my internet connection isn't that speedy. I prefer to narrow down my current list of Linux distros to just say 2 or 3 then try them from live CDs. After some forum visits and googling around, I have a question. Is it a good idea to upgrade a Linux distro to it's latest version? Like upgrading from Ubuntu 8.04 to Ubuntu 8.10? Or is it better to reinstall from scratch? Some people say they encounter problems with upgrading while others say things went smoothly. What's your experience?

MobaLiveCd is one application, which will let you run the live cd without writing the image on the disc. You can just download the image, and run it with MobaLiveCd. Please read more about it on its site.

If you want to just try out Linux, then some small but excellent distros are there, which you can try out. Puppy Linux, Damn Small Linux, Insert Linux.. these are distros around 50 MB or so. You can try them out, to see what is linux like.

If you want to have a look at the list of live cds available, or the distros available, these links will be helpful:
http://www.livecdlist.com/
http://www.linux.org/dist/ - here you can choose the list you want based on your requirements, from the drop boxes.
http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/in...lect_lang=true : This link will
help you choose some distros based on your requirements.

If you want to read about linux, there are free pdfs and online material available on many sites, like : www.tldp.org

With Linux it really is TRY AND SEE. What I suggest is you buy a Linux OS as they are very cheap and then start from there if your internet is not good. Mine isn't good either and I do pay the price for it. If I were to upgrade I would prefere to start from scratch. A clean slate makes sure you reduce your problems. Hope that helps

Tony