Linux Questions

[watercooled]

the thing is that OSX is based on BSD Linux....

Exactly!
And don't forget with Linux/BSD you get a great OS for free most of the time!

[peterb]

the thing is that OSX is based on BSD Linux....

Well, just to be picky, it's actually BSD Unix - Linux is a unix like system, but with a different origin, and again to be picky, Linux is the kernel - the bit that you download and install is a distribution which included the Linux (or Unix) kernel and a large number of applications that do useful things. *nix is built on the principle that you have lots of mini applications that do only one thing, but do it really well. So the operating system is the kernel that handles IO functions, task scheduling, memory management and so, and that is accessed by user and admin applications. The compatibility between Linux and Unix (the kernels) means that many apps written for Unix will either run natively or can be compiled to run on the other system.

So to get back to the OP's question, binary applications written for Windows will not run on Linux systems. Application layer modules like WINE will allow some windows applications to run under Linux, but not all. Some Windows applications can (and have been) be cross compiled to run on Linux systems, more usually (as Linux is an open source system) is that Linux applications have been cross compiled to run on Windows.

Applications written in a high level or scripting language like PHP will run on both operating systems, provided a PHP interpreter has been installed on on the computer.

As an operating system, you can run from an external disk, provided you can boot from it, usually, for a dual boot system you install it on the hard disk (provided it has space). But the OS has to be installed, unless you make a live CD version, which allows you to run Linux from a CD or DVD without affecting the hard drive at all. It will be relatively slow, but you can try it out first before you make changes to your hard drive.

[watercooled]

You could also try Wubi for an Ubuntu type OS ie Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Mythbuntu.

[DoubleTop]

try the new install of Fedora 11, there is a specific distro for gaming and my first impressions of it are very positive. I like the fact that at last a distro is trying to have a go at the linux gaming issues. I know of a few firms that are making linux only games, LinuxGamesPublishing for one as I have a friend who codes for them on the occasion.

DT.

[lodore]

Fedora is a decent distro.
I couldnt get the dualboot of fedora 11 to work with easybcd. 10worked fine with it.
the problem seems to be the boot partition since the grub being used doesnt support EXT4 booting=(
ubuntu and other distros have a grub that boots ext4 but fedora wont until 12 now.

i reccomend the guides at howtoforge

[UseItNow]

Linux natively won't run windows applications but you can use a piece of software called WINE which does let you run a lot of Windows apps and games - some run perfectly, some won't run at all so it's best to check compatibility first. However, apart from games, most of the same type of software you use on Windows will be available on Linux ie instead of MS Office, you can use Openoffice which is free and supports documents made in Office.
And yes, you can boot 7, XP and Linux but it's best to install them is this order: XP, 7, Linux.
Hope this helps

Thanks for pointing out the Triple Boot order and WINE! Got lots of reading coming up on Linux!

For a while i've been meaning to try linux, but the main thing i would like to know is how is compatability with some windows software and games. and can i dual boot with xp\7 ok?

Thanks for starting this thread, gives me a nudge after a long time to attempt to use Linux to get a flavour of whats out there and how useful each is!

......You can try a 'Live-CD' version of Ubuntu where you can play(?) with the OS while in Windows then if you want, it will install it for you and take care of all the intrices such as boot partition etc.

Thanks for the info, wasn't sure on that!

[SoK]

You may be interested in cygwin rather that doing a dual boot arrangement. While cygwin is a bit slow it does port over most of the *nix type applications.

Personally I would prefer a dual boot arrangement. Much faster and over time you will find you spend most of your time in the *nix boot environment.

Debian is a very stable operating system. Ubuntu is good for first time users. Gentoo for the non-beginner however you can compile source in Debian so I have never bothered with it.

[watercooled]

You may be interested in cygwin rather that doing a dual boot arrangement. While cygwin is a bit slow it does port over most of the *nix type applications.

Personally I would prefer a dual boot arrangement. Much faster and over time you will find you spend most of your time in the *nix boot environment.

Debian is a very stable operating system. Ubuntu is good for first time users. Gentoo for the non-beginner however you can compile source in Debian so I have never bothered with it.

That's WINE but the other way round basically. I think the OP wants to run Linux and still be able to run Windows apps - if he hasn't used Linux yet I doubt he would have any applications to use on Windows...

[peterb]

You may be interested in cygwin rather that doing a dual boot arrangement. While cygwin is a bit slow it does port over most of the *nix type applications.

Personally I would prefer a dual boot arrangement. Much faster and over time you will find you spend most of your time in the *nix boot environment.

Debian is a very stable operating system. Ubuntu is good for first time users. Gentoo for the non-beginner however you can compile source in Debian so I have never bothered with it.

Strictly Debuian is a distribution based (like most others) on the linux kernel - it is the packaging and implementation that distinguishes it from others. Ubuntu is itself a distribution based on Debian.

[mike_w]

Strictly Debuian is a distribution based (like most others) on the linux kernel - it is the packaging and implementation that distinguishes it from others. Ubuntu is itself a distribution based on Debian.

Debian can also use some other kernels - most notably, the FreeBSD kernel, which I'm told works rather well.

Personally, I use Debian - Ubuntu is probably better for the user that doesn't wants to avoid the command line, but in my experience I've found Debian to be more stable, and there's nothing in Ubuntu that I want that's not already in Debian. Compared to other distributions, such as Fedora, I tend to find the packaging done in Debian to be of a higher quality - things just seem to work with less effort.

[PodgePapin]

I've got round to installing ubuntu 9.04, i made a partition for it, but it gets to 44% and says either my dvd drive or hdd are faulty then stops (i know are working fine), also it hasn't put a boot option at the beginning. I know i've not done something right, but not sure what

[Splash]

Did you check the iso against the hash when you downloaded and then again using the media check prior to installation?

[PodgePapin]

no, i got the iso from a pc magazine. didn't know about that

[Splash]

no, i got the iso from a pc magazine. didn't know about that

Hokay, you should still be able to verify the image integrity using the media check after booting from the disc (not used Ubuntu 9.0.4, but I guess it's the same as all the others)

[watercooled]

Yeah it is - rather than selecting try without change to your PC or install just select the verify one instead.

[Jay]

i always use windows xp

good for you....