[Potemkin]

Is there something out there like that for Linux?

Yes. It's called IceWM. It even looks and feels like Windows 98. Have fun.

Just looked at Noel's offering. Microsoft stole a lot from Linux for Vista, didn't they?

Yes, they did. Even the glassy icons were ripped off from Gentoo Linux.

[Oblisk]

[Douglas]

So like, if I back everything important up (on an external harddrive?)...what would realistically happen if I got rid of my Windows XP and replaced it with Ubuntu?

#

Why would you want to do that? Why not have a dual boot set up by wubi from inside windows. It is easy and fool proof.

[Tigerlily]

I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT MEANS DOUGLAS.

/drunk girl

[Douglas]

Pfft girls and techology.

Okay....... (this is why I quit teaching)

There is a program called wubi, it runs inside windows, it installs ubunutu.

You download it, you run it liek any other windows install program, it downloads ubuntu, and ubuntu is added to your system. Next time you start up your system you have the option of running ubuntu.

You have thus installed a version of linux.

So now every time you start up your computer you can either choose to have a windows computer or a linux computer.

Now if you decide you don't like the linux, then you go back into windows and uninstall ubuntu like you uninstall any other program.

No need to clear your hard drive, no need for hard decisions.

Just try it.

[Tigerlily]

I have nothing backed up atm because I'm poor and have nothing to actually use. Will any data get lost if I mess things up.

Is this Wubi thing free?

[dilpill]

Setting up a dual boot is not a problem anymore, you can do it inside windows with wubi. It's extremely simple to do now.

Holy Shit, this is fucking sweet! Thanks!!!

Yes, Tigerlily, its free. I'm downloading it now.

[Dr House]

Me too.

[dilpill]

It's done.

See you on the other side!

[dwix]

I don't see what's wrong with a somewhat edited Vista. Get rid of pre-installed garbage, run OOo, firefox, uTorrent, etc. and you're not getting anything with Ubuntu outside of safer anti-virus-ness and fancy looking windows. And lots of updates, and BS to do with the terminal.

[Dr House]

I'd agree, except I have a severe, seething, nearly irrational hatred of Vista.

[dwix]

Sounds nearly irrational. Accidentally delete everything, or what?

[Dr House]

Spent 4 months troubleshooting connectivity issues with data devices. Vista was a pain in the fucking ass to work with.

[dilpill]

I fail.

When I booted my computer to Ubuntu, it started on some command line thing, and I have no idea how to get past it.

[Dr House]

I installed Ubuntu, booted up on the Linux side, could not figure out how to connect to the wireless router, and promptly returned to Windows.

[Adrien]

Typical case of not being prepared, trying, failing, and running back to Windows.

I haven't tried that Wubi thing. But all the Ubuntus I installed were installed with the official CD. And then everything is step by step and works perfectly, from the GUI to the plug and play. And again you should't switch your OS on a whim, it's a choice.

[sploop!]

Does Wubi install Grub? Or is it a seperate boot-loader? I could look it up, I guess, but...

My first install of the full Vista deal was painful, and I scrapped it quite quickly (once I worked out how to get XP going again - Vista seems to be a pain to fully uninstall because of the loader it uses...). I have been playing with a Vistalited version of it, and it is really pretty good now. Fast, and stable.

That version of Ice WM looks like the baby for me. Is that one of the theme choices that comes with it? I've had a quick look around, and newer versions seem to be more busy...

[Potemkin]

My first install of the full Vista deal was painful, and I scrapped it quite quickly (once I worked out how to get XP going again - Vista seems to be a pain to fully uninstall because of the loader it uses...). I have been playing with a Vistalited version of it, and it is really pretty good now. Fast, and stable.

Installing Linux is actually a lot easier than installing Windows (well, unless you're installing Gentoo Linux, in which case it can take a week just to compile the kernel....). Don't try to take any shortcuts, and you should be okay.

That version of Ice WM looks like the baby for me. Is that one of the theme choices that comes with it? I've had a quick look around, and newer versions seem to be more busy...

Yes, it is. IceWM can be as spartan or as busy as you want it to be. It's basically a window manager rather than a desktop, so it's extremely light and fast.

[Adrien]

Gnome can be also either light or heavy. Right now I have a middle-of-the-road setting because I encountered compatibility issues with Compiz-Fusion when maxxed out. From what I read it'll all be fixed in the next release though. I had XFCE on my old laptop to try and be easy on it but some functionalities were missing so for this one I switched back to Gnome, I wasn't familiar enough with Linux to improve the situation in XFCE.

Maybe installing directly from a Xubuntu CD would have helped? Oh well.

[sploop!]

I'm kind of thinking a dual boot with Linux as my internet facing O/S to save getting constant malware attacks, and Windows for whatever else I might need, and compatibility.

Am I right in thinking Linux is pretty well bombproof as a tool to surf the interweb? Could I scrap AV and AM programs if I am using Linux?