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J

Jantessa

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I have a Dream Lenux program. Have not installed it yet. I was told it is so much easier to use than Windows and does not have all this issues Windows does, but I have been hesitant to make the big leap. I would like someone to talk to about the differences between Windows and Linux.

Can I run both programs on the same computer, or do I have to uninstall one before I can install the other?

Does Linux have similar programs like MS Office has, such as Word, Excel, etc?

Would like someone to talk to about Linux before I install it.

Jan
 


I have a Dream Lenux program. Have not installed it yet. I was told it is so much easier to use than Windows and does not have all this issues Windows does, but I have been hesitant to make the big leap. I would like someone to talk to about the differences between Windows and Linux.

Linux and Windows are two completely different platforms. However depending on the distribution of linux that you choose it should actually be easy to adapt to the new interface in a matter of hours.

Can I run both programs on the same computer, or do I have to uninstall one before I can install the other?

You can have both OSs running simultaneously, for this you will probably have to shrink and repartition your main harddrive.

Does Linux have similar programs like MS Office has, such as Word, Excel, etc?

Linux does have replacements for this and many more popular windows programs.
 
I would recommend that before you "make the leap" you download a "Live" version of one or more Linux Operating Systems to give you an idea of what it is like. Most major distributions have a "Live" DVD or CD that can be downloaded and run from your computer with little or no changes made to your system.

You can find a list of the most popular distributions Here.

Should you decide that you want to permanently install Linux on your computer, whether by dual-boot or otherwise, you can begin your search for windows' program replacements Here.

Feel free to ask any other questions you might have and I will try my best to answer them.
 
I don't know if my last email went through, so I'm posting it again.

I have a live CD. The only reason for having both Windows and Linux installed is so I can transfer all my documents over to Linux before I delete Windows. However, I don't know if it's possible to copy/paste across different operating systems. I have the feeling it can not be done. I don't want to loose all the letters I've written.

I'm somewhat technically minded but I'm not as experienced as many on this site seem to be. I simply met someone who showed me Linux on her computer, then she was gone. I liked what I saw but she really didn't explain much. Is here a Linux user in Albuquerque, NM? I get the feeling that this operating system has very few users. I noticed that the Linux sites seem a little techy, which is intimidating to the average user. I would like to see it become a little more user friendly to the average Joe. A lot more people would probably start using Linux.
 
It is possible to transfer files from your windows (presumably NTFS) partition onto your Linux OS. After repartitioning and installing Linux on your Harddrive, all you would need to do is find a way to mount your NTFS filesystem in Linux.
I have never tried it before but from my readings it doesn't seem to be a very challenging task, however, it does seem that the commands to do so vary (as many others do) across the various distributions. I would advise that you do a Google search on mounting filesystems on your specific distribution to get an idea of the tasks involved in accessing your documents.
 
I don't know if my last email went through, so I'm posting it again.

I have a live CD. The only reason for having both Windows and Linux installed is so I can transfer all my documents over to Linux before I delete Windows. However, I don't know if it's possible to copy/paste across different operating systems. I have the feeling it can not be done. I don't want to loose all the letters I've written.

I'm somewhat technically minded but I'm not as experienced as many on this site seem to be. I simply met someone who showed me Linux on her computer, then she was gone. I liked what I saw but she really didn't explain much. Is here a Linux user in Albuquerque, NM? I get the feeling that this operating system has very few users. I noticed that the Linux sites seem a little techy, which is intimidating to the average user. I would like to see it become a little more user friendly to the average Joe. A lot more people would probably start using Linux.

If you are talking about document files, then what you can do is just copy them out into a pendrive before you migrate to Linux. I have a separate partition on my hard drive which I use to keep all my data files, both text and graphics. I also have a dual boot system where I can boot up into Linux or Windows. I haven't faced any problems in saving my files while using Windows and, later, using those files when I am in Linux.

This is my recommendation.

Divide your hard drive into three partitions. Make two partitions of 20Gb each for Windows and Linux. Use the rest for the data partition. Install both Windows and Linux. Remember to install Windows first, then Linux because Linux can recognize a Windows partition but Windows cannot recognize a Linux partition.

Format your data partition as 32-bit FAT. This will make it accessible to both Windows and Linux.
 
Thank you very much Victor.
Where do I go to partition my hard drive?
 

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