Need to know the advantages and disadvantages of Linux.

I want to install Linux on my machine(presently working with win98 & win2k), instead of my present OS's. Would it be a good idea. The last time I installed it ,the GUI was very slow(I just had 64 MB RAM), but now I have 256 MB RAM and am very interested in knowing more about Linux. I just need to know the advantages and disadvantages in doing so. Please help me out.

By the way I have a p-3 800Mhz processor, Intel 810 Mobo, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB HDD, and linux 9 installation cd's ( the 2 which came along with the book).
I would also love to know more about modifing the kernel.

I'm sure people will have a lot more to say than me, but this is my short list from my experiences:

Advantages
-Free
-Stable
-Easy to use
-Plenty of open source programs

Disadvantages
-Can be difficult to set up, depending on distribution
-Not all programs work with Linux (especially games)

Essentially, I have found that Linux is just as good as Windows for just about everything (that I use it for) apart from games. Plus, it's free!

I would like play games on my machine but I really like to install linux and work on it,especially trying to modify the kernel. I would also like to know if any software that can be installed on Windows can also be installed on linux the same way or do we need a different installation file?

jesus christ - how many more of these generic threads will appear.

1.) do a little research on the basics of linux - you'll find there are many distributions that offer pro's and con's within the linux environment

2.) This basic research on linux will show you the pro's and con's that are relevant to you eg: its open source which means people contribute to it for free, however this means unless you pick a distro which is a "product" that has a support chain which can cost money your on your own

3.) Linux can be lean, or it can be fat, it can be stable, it can be unstable, it can be fast it can be sluggish depending on what your doing, which distro you choose and how you configure it.

4.) the fact that you say "linux 9" and "came with the book" suggests to me you have not even opened page one of the book and read the contents page as "linux 9" will probably refer to "Redhat 9" or "suse 9" which is a distribution. As I assume you have not even looked into any of the topics above I've mentioned I'd also suggest you leave WELL ALONE with playing with, learning about or modifying the kernel, until you have a more basic grasp of whats out there, what your doing and how it work.s

sorry to be harsh but there appears to be a massive lack of even basic reading on linux topics and there are so many "which is the best distro" "why should I choose linux" etc etc

linux isn't just a different version of windows. from the ground up, it's designed with completely different concepts in mind. you don't have a C: drive, you have /dev/hda. you don't have Program Files, you have /usr/local, /opt, or whatever. it's completely different. and, as a result, you can't just stick in bog standard windows shovelware and expect it to work - software like WINE can help to run a lot of windows apps, but rarely 100% accurately.

it's also worth remembering that there si no one 'linux' you can install and use - there are any number of gnu/linux distributions which allow that. there's certainly no 'linux 9', though there is a slackware 9, mandrake 9, red hat 9, turbolinux 9 (none of which are at all recent, and all of which will give a bad impression of a modern linux system).

as for modifying the kernel, that depends on what you want to do. you can download the source from kernel.org right now & have a peek - but at 35mb of compressed source code, you may be at it a while.

perhaps you're better off staring with some reading:

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...lld19JRD03OTI=

I have redhat linux 9, and I do know a thing or two about the cli interface and a few common commands as well.I just installed it on my system but it wont recognise my modem. I guess this is just one of the problems with linux. I might need to get a linux compatible driver for the modem. Anyway thanks guys. I would love to have a fast linux distro with in built drivers for my modem. any sugestions?

if your modem is a software modem, you're not going to have much luck with built-in support for it. the result of 'lspci' would help.

work through the book.

I'm sure it will explain the basics

My modem is an internal D-Link DFM-560IS++. The cd that came with it does not have the linux drivers. Kindly tell me about another site where from I can download a appropriate driver just to make my modem function. Or could I try running Windows 98 enviornment in linux and the try to use the modem. Please advice.

it's almost 100% certainly going to be a software modem - i.e. it has a modem port, but no modem chips, with a windows driver emulating the required chips at a system performance penalty. i can't begin to find whether a linux driver exists without knowing the output from `lspci`. my girlfriend has a lucent (agere) winmodem in her laptop for which a linux driver exists.

and you can't use windows the way you intend to drive unsupported hardware.

firefox - this is running before walking.

You can always look at linmodems.org

don't say I never spoon feed, a quick google search on the modem model and linux brings up http://open.nit.ca/lists/archives/wvdial/doc23959.doc

Hopefully that will be able to help you out, let us know how it goes.

Edit: This file may also work http://members.driverguide.com/drive...start=0&len=10

I downloaded a driver and my modem is getting activated but I do not know how to dial a connection or if the modem is doing so. Also I would like to see my FAT32 partions from linux. Is there any way to do that.

determine the partition number for a fat32 partition, make a mountpoint (e.g. mkdir /mnt/foobar), then mount -t vfat /dev/hdXX /mnt/foobar

Wouldn't it be worth playing with a live CD version for a while? No install, no problem.

perhaps READING THE BOOK YOU'VE BOUGHT STEP BY STEP AND NOT RUNNING BEFORE WALKING

How much of this book have you actually read ?????

Thank guys,I havent read the entire book but quite a bit and it did not help so i have to ask you. Anyways I still do not know how to actually dial a connection.