Hello,
I am probably going to be buying a new PC soon. While I have always used windows (XP FTW) I have been thinking lately of switching to something else. The main reasons for this are that I constantly hear bad things about Vista. I would switch to MAC, but I don't know if I want to pay for it, plus the whole set up is foreign to me and just doesn't feel right. My other option is switching to Linux.

From everything I have heard Linux is great, if you use the right version and if you know how to use it. While I am pretty comfortable at a PC, and can typically get a good handle on things sort of quickly, I am worried that Linux might be too complicated for me to learn in a reasonable amount of time.

Also I hear that with Linux it is more complicated to hook up to the internet.

Any advice? I know a lot of people around here use Linux, so any pointers would be helpful. Also if you can recommend an easier to use version.

Thanks.

Cedega although not essential for getting windows games working does save a lot of time & effort. I don't use it myself, but I do know that making a manual setup in Wine that pleases everything is a nightmare.

Ubuntu's a great choice for beginners, although I found the wireless issues in the last version incredibly annoying.
Don't worry about hardware issues though, there's always a way of getting something to work with it.

The only reason I'm not using Linux full time ATM is because Sony Vegas refuses to behave in it, and working in Quicktime for video making is a pain in the ass.

hm, this may sound increadibly stupid, but Im not sure if I would be able to do that dual partitioning thing. I know that right now Windows XP takes up about all of my space on my home PC. Would I just have to reformat and set aside some extra space for Linux?

If nothing else I may just end up buying a new PC with Vista and using that as my main one, then keeping my current one and running Linux on that.

I dont know, thanks for all the links though. Im going to check them all out.

if you dont want vista, just get a new computer and put XP on it...

I would, except that I am currently using a pirated copy of windows at home and I am unsure if I can get a working serial number again. Plus from the little bit that I have looked actually finding a copy for sale of XP is pretty difficult (although I havent check the internet *facepalm*)

On top of that I DO want to learn how to use Linux and what it is.

I hear that if you buy a Dell with Vista on it they embed advertising software into the regisrtry. I refuse to buy a Dell.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=157838http://forums.techguy.org/all-other-...bloatware.html


The first link is more along the lines of what I was talking about. Dont cuss at people if you dont know why your doing it, dumbass.

Deady speaks the truth, but at the same time it doesn't affect the machine's performance etc.

It's cos Dell use a doctored version of whatever OS they install, thus there's various oddities like the product keys for Windows they provide don't activate - and if you've ever had to sit on the phone for a few hours trying to sort it with MS you'd understand why I have a dislike for companies like that.