Need information before installation

[Helmet]

Hello i'm a fresh starter of linux. And i have a few questions before dowload and install it. And i'm hoping to get some help here.

- Does all the site where i can dowload the OS are the same verion of if and also are they all updates ?
- Also i have all my files on my computer wich run with windows right now will i be abble to access it with linux if i go for a dual boot installation ?
- If i go for a dual boot installation would i need to assign a part of my harddisk wich will be dedicate to linux only ? ( and loose memory on the windows OS doing so )
- And finally i choose linux to kinda learn the different informatic langage do you think it's a must have if you start learning programmation ?

Thanks for the people that will take time to read and answer me.

 

[Peer]

First you have to pick a so called Linux distribution the most popular are manjaro, mint and Ubuntu. This distributions are independent operating systems which all use the Linux kernel. I would just download the latest version of your favorite distribution, from the manufacturers website. When you have windows and Linux in dual boot you can access the windows file system using Linux. Linux will take a significant part of your hard drive that can not be used by windows anymore.
I think installing Linux is the best way to learn programming etc.

 

[atanere]

Hi @Helmet, and welcome!

- Does all the site where i can dowload the OS are the same verion of if and also are they all updates ?

For the most part, yes. Many sites called "mirrors" host not only the latest versions, but sometimes some older versions too. Having a mirror closer to you helps to make transfers faster and more reliable. They should all receive updates from each distro on the same schedule. If you have any doubts, download directly from the distro's own website instead of a mirror.

- Also i have all my files on my computer wich run with windows right now will i be abble to access it with linux if i go for a dual boot installation ?

Yes, but if you are using Windows 10 (maybe Windows 8 too) you will need to disable "Hibernation" or else Linux will not be able to access the Windows partition.

- If i go for a dual boot installation would i need to assign a part of my harddisk wich will be dedicate to linux only ? ( and loose memory on the windows OS doing so )

Yes, that is the usual way. You can instead install a virtualization program, like VirtualBox, in Windows... and then use that to install Linux. This creates it's own special storage file (needs to be big enough for an operating system, so about 20 or 30 GB). So even though this "file" is now reserved by VirtualBox and Linux, you can more easily decide to delete it later and recover the space if you don't like Linux. You might also choose to just run Linux off of a USB drive for awhile to test it out. It's a bit slower, but it doesn't make any changes to your computer.

- And finally i choose linux to kinda learn the different informatic langage do you think it's a must have if you start learning programmation ?

No. You can learn programming within any operating system. We're just partial to Linux around here.

Cheers

 

[Helmet]

Thanks a lot for your answer that's really help me a lot. I think i'll go for a virtualisation program in a first time to testing it. Have a nice day Cheers.