Linux versus Windows

[sft42]

I am thinking of ditching my current OS (windows XP) in favour of Red Hat Linux and getting rid of IE & OE for Netscape (or maybe Opera) and Eudora respectively...What sort of compatibility nightmare could I expect and will all the info (mp3's, avi & mpeg's etc.) i have on a second drive be lost/unreadable without using windows as an OS?

[gilf]

I think you would not be able to access your second drive as Linux needs to be set up with distinct partitions. I would ask why you are considering using Linux and warn you that its a bit of a nightmare. Red Hat is pretty simple to set up but in terms of compatibility you will need to manually configure/setup anything thats not part of the standard PC kit, graphics cards etc and be warned you wont find the install files on the disk. I'm not saying this is true of you sft42 but I think people forget how much windows actually does for them and using something like Linux is hard work. I'm a full time programmer with 10 years in I.T. and I gave up using Linux after a week. I would say let us know how you get on but fear if you try you'll never get back on line :)

[darth vader]

sft i'd be interested to get feedback if you go for it - what the O/S is like, how it handles, easy to configure etc., out of curiosity's sake (having not used anything except Windows O/S since the DOS days... well i did try UNIX once - and gave up pretty quickly)

[Phantaxus]

Biggest problem I encountered with Linux was the learning curve. I have used Mandrake Linux and found that easy to set up. It was also able to see my windows drives. I dont you will encounter too many problems with accessing mp3's avi and mpeg.

[sft42]

After some discussion with my (admitted small) ISP I have had to put the idea on the back burner for now as they can't give support or assure compatibility for Linux users.....May try to pick up and older PC and give it a spin on that though!

[gilf]

Thats definatly the way to go. I had a similar problem that I'm on broadband but there is no support for that on Linux.