GameBanshee Forums

As some of you may know, I've been considering switching to Linux for my regular task at home, having been troubled by M$ again and again.

Since most of my beloved games can only be run in Windows (BG series, PS:T etc), I am not going to convert everything into Linux (that'll be waste of time and money), so I'm going to create a partition for Linux. I will use it mostly for wordprocessing, and I already have OpenOffice (free CD-Rom from the computer centre at my university).

Now, here is my first list of "in need of help":

1. Which distribution of Linux is the best for home use?
2. Is it possible to introduce Linux in the second drive?
3. Do you have any recommendation of useful or interesting program(s) to have?
   [/list=1]
   
   Any advice is welcomed.
   
   Thanks in advance.

I can't recommend "best", since I've only tried one, but Mandrake (I have 9.0) has been good to me.

You should know that it will technically be more than one partition - I forget the exact setup but it's 2 or 3 partitions at minimum IIRC. Also, I have my Windows partitions split as NTFS (boot and programs) and FAT32 (storage) because all non-NT operating systems have an easier time reading FAT32.

I have it dual booting too, using a program LILO (and Mandrake set it up pretty much set it up by itself, I only changed the names of the boot listings)

I'm not sure what you're asking with the second question.

The program I'd recommend is the web browser Mozilla Firebird (formerly Phoenix), particularly if 0.6 comes out by the time you set this up. Actually, I use this on Windows too, so it's more a universal recommendation.

One last note: do remember I'm a Linux newb myself so while I kind of see it from your viewpoint, I don't have that much experience.

Originally posted by Quark
I'm not sure what you're asking with the second question.

I meant, for some of older Windows, you always must install in the master drive, while you can install XP in any part of your hard drive. I wonder if I there's any problem if I install Linux into my slave drive instead of squeezing to create a partition in the master drive.

Minerva,

Mandrake, Suse, Red Hat will all work for you.

If you've got the hardware and the cash, you could convert to a linux box, install a program call VMWare and then install virtual M$ OSes to run within VMWare.

M$ OSes actually run more stable within VMWare and perform faster as well. Go figure. WMWare workstation will cost roughly $350 USD. It is so worth it.

I'd agree with Quark on Mozilla. Way better than IE6