# Preparing To Migrate To LINUX. (Long)



## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

*Preface:*If you're reading this thread, then chances are that you're planning to migrate to LINIUX. If you're not interested in LINUX, then I suggest navigating away from this page. In these examples, I will give instructions assuming that you're gonna be migrating to the GNOME LINUX dsitro Ubuntu, and please note that there are literally thousands of LINUX distros to choose from; your steps may vary depending on the distro you choose to install, but I recommend using Ubuntu for salvaging your data because doing it with other distros can be tricky if you don't know how. Before continuing, you should determine if your computer runs a 32 bit, or 64 bit OS, so that you can download the appropriate version (please note that the 64 bit version of Ubuntu does face some serious limitations, so in some cases it may be best to run the 32 bit version even if your current OS is 64 bit). So, let's dive right in, shall we?

*Getting Ubuntu:* First, you'll want to go to the Ubuntu website, and if you're on a high-speed connection with a fair limit on traffic (and have a CD burner\writer), then you can download the ISO file and burn it to a disk, but if you're on dial-up or don't have a CD burner\writer you may want to consider ordering a copy from somewhere (Canonacle (the company behind Ubuntu's releases) has a very limited amount of CDs to give away for free, and they generally run out the same day a new version of Ubuntu is released :Bawling: ). You can probably find a few on e-bay if you search for them.

For those that downloaded the ISO: Open your favorite CD burning program (like Nero, Roxio, etc) and find the function that says something like "burn Image\ISO to disk" and choose that. Select the Ubuntu ISO that you've already downloaded, and pop a blank CD into your CD burner (if present) and wait for windows to recognize that there's a blank CD in the drive. When the burning program shows that the "destination" is a "blank CD-r" in your CD drive, then hit burn and wait for it to complete. When done, proceed to the next step; Booting From the CD.

*Booting from the CD:* Once you have your Ubuntu live CD, it's time to boot from it. NOTE: as long as you're careful about not starting the "install", you won't wipe out any of the documents you care about that you've got saved on the hard drive. If the computer you're booting LINUX onto is a retail computer (Dell, HP, etc), then chances are that it's already configured to try to boot from the CD drive when it starts up. If it's a hand-built computer, then you should still try to boot from the CD (just reboot the computer with the Ubuntu CD in the CD drive). If this fails, best try to get into the BIOS setup and see if it's configured (because BIOS setups vary tremendously from motherboard to motherboard, I can't provide you the steps for configuring your specific hardware), you can access the BIOS by tapping F1 and Delete as your computer boots up (well before it loads windows) until you see a screen of text; regardless of the computer's BIOS setup style, it should say "BIOS setup" across the top edge of the screen when you get into there. When you're in the BIOS setup, bash around (careful not to change anything until you find the boot device priority) until you find the option along the lines of "boot device priority\boot first device, boot second device" Assign "CDROM\ATAPI CDROM\removable media" to the first boot device, and "hard disks\HD0" as the secondary device. From there, save your changes and exit. At all times there should be a list of keyboard shortcuts on the bottom of the window so you'll know how to navigate around in there and change the various options. When you get your computer sucessfully configured and starting to boot from the LINUX CD, you should see a welcome screen (with Ubuntu, it'll ask you to select the language; just hit enter to select English, and then it'll give you the option of "try Ubuntu without any change to your computer" hit enter, and it'll load Ubuntu into your computer's RAM (sorry, but you can't eject the CD once it's booted; it'll need the CD to perform various tasks)). If it asks you for login info, and doesn't say "*distro name* will login in x seconds" then you'll need the login info for that distro (this is why I recommend Ubuntu 9.04; it's so simple to get started with!). Once you're logged in, and you're at the desktop screen, you can start bashing around in it (just don't choose the "install" option on the desktop, or anywhere else, and steer clear of the program "partition editor" unless otherwise instructed). If the screen layout is one that you can live with, then move on to my next post: Installing your LINUX distro.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

This looks more like a fresh install than a "migration".


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## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

*Preface:* There are few prerequisites for migrating to LINUX successfully, and a few of them are hardware in order to ensure that you get all the documents\photos\music you care about from your windows install (I'm sorry, but I don't have the steps for saving data from a MAC and porting it over to LINUX, as I don't own a MAC and have never dealt with one). The main hardware prerequisite for keeping all the data you care about is having somewhere to copy it to before you install LINUX and wipe it all away. I recommend a external USB hard drive, because they're cheep, big, and fast. I also recommend shutting the computer down and safely disconnecting any slave hard drives, so that you don't accidentally blow away the data on your secondary drive (if even present) by mistake; BTDT

*Saving your Data:* First step, once you get your computer booted with the LINUX distro you want to install, is to go to the "places" menu on the top bar in Ubuntu and choose the hard drive that your windows install is on. I realize that most computer manufacturers put a recovery partition on there, and it may show up as a second entry in the "places" menu; so, If it says "recovery" or anything like that next to the entry in the "places" menu, then don't mess with it; that's not what you're after. I may be wrong about this, but I think I'm right. Anyway, once you've got the partition with all the data that you want saved mounted (clicking on its entry in the "places" menu will mount it, and open it in the file browser) you're gonna navigate to your documents (for windows XP users, it'll be "Document and Settings>username>My Documents" and any subfolders therein that you want saved; for windows vista it'll be something like "users>username>Documents") and any other folders you want to save (if you know the location and could browse to them in windows explorer, it will be no different under LINUX.) To copy a folder to another location (and here's where you should connect any external hard drives, USB thumb drives, etc) click on the folder once (if you're using Kubuntu, this absolutely will not work; you must use Ubuntu! (or Xubuntu, but that's different, and will require different instructions from just using Ubuntu)) to select it, then right click on it and choose the "copy" option, then minimize the window, and open the destination in a new window, then right click on a blank part of the destination (inside the window) and choose "paste"; this will create a bit-for-bit copy of the data inn the folder you selected, just as long as you have enough free space to hold all the contents, and none of the (INDIVIDUAL) files are >4GB in the case of FAT 32 formatted media (if any individual file is more than 4GB, and you're trying to copy it to a FAT 32 formatted drive, then it'll throw up an error like "error copying file: destination doesn't have enough free space"; this is a problem with FAT 32, and if you've got that kind of an error, you'll need to reformat the drive to something else (I recommend ext4, because it's fast) before proceeding (this is also why I had you use the "copy" option, rather than the "cut" option; otherwise, when you reformat the drive (if at all nessesary), you'd lose the only copy of the data ("cut" is the equivelant of the "move" command in windows) you've salvaged so far.) PM me if you need to know how to reformat a drive to hold large files. When you've salvaged all the data you care about, then right click on whatever you copied your precious data to and choose "unmount volume" and when the icon disappears from the desktop, you can unplug it from the computer, and you're now OK to begin the Install.

*Installing:* Double click on the "Install" icon on the desktop, and wait a few moments for the install wizard to come up. If you're a speed demon, then you'll want to go with EXT4; otherwise, just go through the motions and tell it to "use the whole disk" when it asks you how you want to install it and proceed with the install. PM me for the steps on how to install onto ext 4; it's a lot more involved, and a very long process to describe. Set up all the user acount info, and when you get to the last step before it copies the files and really installs the system, just click "finish" and go off and do something else while it installs; it takes a little time, even on a fast system. When propted, reboot and begin using your newly installed linux distro. (don't forget to remove the CD from the drive before it comes back up, or it'll boot from the CD again!)

*Getting your internet connection up and running:* NOTE: using dial-up with LINUX has never been very novice friendly, and as such you really shouldn't install LINUX unless you've got something like wireless broadband through sprint, or DSL, or another internet connection like that.

For wireless broadband users: You should have the contract with all the info you needed to configure your wireless broadband card when you first installed it under windows, or else get your ISP on the phone once you've gotten to where you need the user ID and password. (CRITICAL NOTE: do not tell your ISP that you're configuring LINUX to use their service, or they may not give you the info you need!) Go to the Connection manager (right click on the little "progressing bars" icon on the top bar, and choose "edit connections") after you've inserted your wireless broadband card into the slot and go to the "mobile broadband" tab, then click add (don't be surprised if it asks you for the password (it's the password you use to log into the user account); it's a small quirk of LINUX) and then navigate through the wizard, filling out the username\password when needed. When you're done, close out the connection manager, then left-click on the connection manager icon (if it's not showing a little animating icon in the place of the little progressing bars) and choose the wireless broadband connection you just created, and then wait for it to connect. If it fails, then you did something wrong; go back and instead of creating a new connection, just select the one you already have and click "edit", and correct any errors you made (note: the username is generally the wireless broadband account's e-mail address, example: [email protected]).

For DSL users: I have no personal experience with setting up a DSL connection under LINUX, but I imagine you'd follow the steps I've outlined above, just going to the "DSL" tab rather than the "mobile broadband" tab, and following the instructions from there.

*Installing other apps:* When you've got your LINUX install all finished and you're ready to install more programs, go to the "applications" menu, and open "add\remove applications". at the top of the screen, there'll be a search bar (a text bar that you type into and it searches for applications that match what you typed in) and a "sources" drop-down menu; click on it once, and choose "all available applications" then search for whatever you need. NOTE: you can't get microsoft office for LINUX; but you can get openoffice.org's office suite, and I believe most of the frequently used components are installed by default when you install Ubuntu. You will need an active internet connection to install the software, as LINUX must first download the installer from the net and then execute it.


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## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

Nevada said:


> This looks more like a fresh install than a "migration".


Aye, it is. I just call it a migration, because really, that's what you're doing anyway.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Whether Ubuntu, Puppy, or whatever, I suggest first getting used to linux by using the live cd version for a period of time before ever doing a full install. I know Ubuntu can be run via live cd, cant remember if it offers to save settings when you do so. Some live cd distributions like Puppy or Knoppix offer to save the settings and changes in a file someplace you decide upon. Others just offer the live cd version as a demo and there is no way to save anything unless you install it to hardrive.

I cant remember if I've tried latest stable Ubuntu or not, but if you have dialup, Ubuntu has historically been a royal pain in rear for newbies trying to set for dialup. Seems the linux afficienadoes that create modern distributions dont think any linux users still have dialup modems. Puppy probably goes as far as any distribution in being dialup friendly, even going so far as to include any legally possible linux modem driver with the cd. The connexant modem drivers for example arent included cause they are proprietary and the company owning rights sells them.

Also if you are wanting to put linux on an older system you might want to go with mini distribution or at least the lightest of the medium size distributions. So maybe instead of Gnome desktop or KDE desktop version of Ubuntu, you go with Xubuntu that uses Xfce desktop. Or for even older systems maybe Puppy or _D_a_m_nSmall or Slitaz or other mini distributions.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Mechanic Intern said:


> Aye, it is. I just call it a migration, because really, that's what you're doing anyway.


Not me. I'm a Redhat Linux server guy all the way, but I'm also a Windows workstation guy. I don't expect either to change any time soon.


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## Manny (Dec 26, 2003)

If you are a person that is comfortable with navigating around in Windows I would suggest going to the KDE version of PCLinuxOS 2009. It handles external modem dial-up with ease and is the most "Windows like" distribution I have tried. Ubuntu is "Gnome" and sort of strange to an old Windows user. I would also suggest installing a second hard drive in your computer and have Windows on one and Linux on the other, Grub is very easy to set up to be able to boot to either one. Also, with two drives PCLOS will let you see what is on the Windows drive so you can move or copy most of your picture, text, music, etc files (but no applications) from Windows to Linux. I have apps in windows that I use all the time and since there are no exact equivalents in Linux with two drives I have the best of both worlds.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Manny said:


> If you are a person that is comfortable with navigating around in Windows I would suggest going to the KDE version of PCLinuxOS 2009. It handles external modem dial-up with ease and is the most "Windows like" distribution I have tried. Ubuntu is "Gnome" and sort of strange to an old Windows user.


Quite frankly, needing to use KDE or Gnome (which a workstation will require) takes away a lot of the speed and low-overhead advantage offered by Linux. Let's face it, KDE and Gnome both make Linux as bloated as Windows is.

In a Linux server environment I have to option of only installing a command line environment. I use webmin to help with routine chores, but webmin is a low overhead environment. Windows server products don't offer an option to install without the graphical environment, so they are bloated by nature.

When you have to turn Linux into bloatware with KDE or Gnome, I don't see that much of an advantage over Windows. With the disadvantage of being less compatible with applications, I don't see the migration as worth it for myself.


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## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

Manny said:


> If you are a person that is comfortable with navigating around in Windows I would suggest going to the KDE version of PCLinuxOS 2009. It handles external modem dial-up with ease and is the most "Windows like" distribution I have tried. Ubuntu is "Gnome" and sort of strange to an old Windows user. I would also suggest installing a second hard drive in your computer and have Windows on one and Linux on the other, Grub is very easy to set up to be able to boot to either one. Also, with two drives PCLOS will let you see what is on the Windows drive so you can move or copy most of your picture, text, music, etc files (but no applications) from Windows to Linux. I have apps in windows that I use all the time and since there are no exact equivalents in Linux with two drives I have the best of both worlds.


Good reply. All my pc's and servers at home and work dual boot Linux and Windows. Any desktop operating system including XP, Linux Distros whether it be KDE or Gnome are easy to strip out much unneeded programs and services to free up memory and CPU resources.

I also use VmWare to run either operating system when I don't want to reboot.

Many of my clients run multiple Linux workstations and server systems (DNS, Apache, Postfix, Samba, Postgresql, Print Server, Firewall with VmWware and they love it as it does cut down on the cost of hardware and also with VmWare, if one of their servers go down, the backed up image can be deployed and running on any server within minutes.

Vmware is also a good place to start for people who want to explore the world of Linux. As long as their pc has minimum of 1 GB RAM and a minimum P3 or equivalent, once loaded the guest operating system runs quite fast.

The VmWare player is a free download and there are several sites that provide many different Linux distros to try.

Vmware site to download images:

Another good site to download images.


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## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

*sighs deeply while massaging his temples*

I am writing this for the novices that want to switch to LINUX to get away from the bugs and app incompatibility of the past couple versions of windows (win 7 included, even though that's just vista with a new look). Yes, there are few *games* for LINUX, nobody with half a brain will contest that; but there are some pretty powerful multi-function apps out there that (while not identical to the windows equivelents) will serve your purposes just fine. Furthermore, since MS changed the code base for windows by making that god-forsaken vista, windows has fallen to behind LINUX in the app compatibility front, and that's why people are looking to switch; win vista and 7 still suck in app compatibility, and the few apps that _are_ compatible have significant bugs to drive users away from the enormous pile of male-bouvine-solid-waste-products that MS has become!!!

I wrote this from the vantage point of a GNOME desktop because that's the only desktop environment I've found that *behaves* the most like windows; looks don't really matter that terribly much when a user is navigating their USB thumb drive that they've got a bunch of files on (let's say they want to delete a .exe that came already loaded on the drive) and they go to select a windows-only file; they instinctively left-click on it, only to be met with unresponsiveness until LINUX finishes copying the file to RAM and then throws up the "do you want to open this file in a text editor, run it in a terminal, or cancel?" pop-up; that can spook the user too much, and may drive them back to paying big money for windows (that's KDE behavior, by the way)! GNOME based Ubuntu may not look like windows, but KDE doesn't either, and nor does it behave like windows. I will admit that the last KDE LINUX OS I've ever looked at (running live on my computer) was Kubuntu 7.04, but I very highly doubt that KDE will change that difference in behavior since then MS can due them for pirating windows layout and behavior (which is about half the total code base of any given OS).

I will never contest that a CLI LINUX install runs faster than a version with a formal desktop environment, but I do contend that a CLI LINUX distro isn't very novice friendly, and as such isn't the best example of LINUX's ease of use. For 99% of what people today do online, LINUX will meet their needs; that's the key that we should be highlighting, not the fact that most distros are just mutations of a very elitist server OS with no sense of style!

There is a learning curve, but that's to be expected; LINUX can't be exactly like windows, or it'd be total sh**!

While there are some hardware compatibility bugs to work out, those are few and far between and are being hammered out by developers all around the world! I admit it would be awesome if LINUX didn't have any problems with hardware at all, and supported everything under the sun right out of the box, but that can never happen; some things are just impossible.


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## Kari (Mar 24, 2008)

Mechanic Intern said:


> *sighs deeply while massaging his temples*
> 
> I am writing this for the novices that want to switch to LINUX to get away from the bugs and app incompatibility of the past couple versions of windows (win 7 included, even though that's just vista with a new look). .


Don't sweat it, I for one appreciate all your time and effort in posting this information.


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## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

Karihwanoron said:


> Don't sweat it, I for one appreciate all your time and effort in posting this information.


Thanks. Seems that you're about the only one that does.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Mechanic Intern said:


> Thanks. Seems that you're about the only one that does.


Don't let me discourage you. I recognize the effort, and I hope that it helps some people around here. It's just that I don't happen to have a use for a Linux workstation right now.


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## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

Manny said:


> If you are a person that is comfortable with navigating around in Windows I would suggest going to the KDE version of PCLinuxOS 2009. It handles external modem dial-up with ease and is the most "Windows like" distribution I have tried. Ubuntu is "Gnome" and sort of strange to an old Windows user.


I'd like to put in a strong second on Manny's recommendation for Windoze users to go with KDE instead of Gnome. KDE is much more intuitive than Gnome for those (of any knowledge level) who are accustomed to Windows. And PCLinuxOS is widely reputed to be the best for Linux newbies, as far as ease of installation etc.

Also, for dialup users, please note the _external_ modem recommendation. Yes, it's possible to make some internal winmodems work with Linux, but trust me, just spring the $15 for a used external modem off Ebay, you'll save yourself a lot of time & headaches.



> I would also suggest installing a second hard drive in your computer and have Windows on one and Linux on the other, Grub is very easy to set up to be able to boot to either one.


Or let the Linux install program do the same thing by partitioning your single hard drive.



Nevada said:


> Quite frankly, needing to use KDE or Gnome (which a workstation will require) takes away a lot of the speed and low-overhead advantage offered by Linux. Let's face it, KDE and Gnome both make Linux as bloated as Windows is.


Not really the case. I just installed PCLinuxOS on a 600mhz P3 with 192MB RAM. I had to go back one version (2007 vs. 2009) because of the low memory, and it's rather slow to load large programs, but otherwise KDE is pretty snappy most of the time. On my workbench at the moment is another friend's 400mhz P3 with 384MB, on which I put PCLinuxOS 2009 with similar results. Both these machines would be agonizingly slow with XP. I'm typing this on a 1.2ghz machine that was quite sluggish with XP, but with PCLinuxOS 2007, it does just fine for everything most folks do on a computer. PCLinuxOS 2009 is actually faster than 2007 on slow machines, if it has enough memory (at least 256MB).



Mechanic Intern said:


> There is a learning curve, but that's to be expected; LINUX can't be exactly like windows, or it'd be total sh**!


I've switched quite a few folks to Linux. Most are the kind of user who knows where to click to do the 2 or 3 things they do on a computer, and that's really about all they know. I've found the learning curve for them to transition to Linux with KDE, to be around 10 minutes or so. After that, they don't really know or care whether they're on Windows or Linux, but they really appreciate not having to worry about viruses all the time (most switched after a catastrophic virus problem with Windows).



> I admit it would be awesome if LINUX didn't have any problems with hardware at all, and supported everything under the sun right out of the box, but that can never happen; some things are just impossible.


I've really only had issues with the modems and printers that are designed to work only with Windows (winmodems and winprinters). Other than that, most hardware issues I've run into with Linux have been either similar to, or actually easier than, those one runs into with Windows.


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

Nevada said:


> Quite frankly, needing to use KDE or Gnome (which a workstation will require) takes away a lot of the speed and low-overhead advantage offered by Linux. Let's face it, KDE and Gnome both make Linux as bloated as Windows is.


Pox on both KDE and Gnome. I have yet to figure out what the big deal with people thinking they need these bloated behemoths. There are literally dozens of window and file managers out there. 

Personally I have no problem with whatever the most minimal window manager I can find if it works, it works. For long time Puppy used FVWM95 and it was ok but unsupported with no updates or improvements, then they went to JWM (Joe's window manager) and personally I really couldnt tell much difference, but it was actively being developed and the developer was willing to make some changes for Puppy's special needs. Fine as far as I'm concerned, still light weight and unbloated. And there are packages to change Puppy's windows manager without breaking things or rather the fixes are built into the package. Some people are really into themes and eye candy and want more than the simple window managers offer. You can get an unofficial KDE version of Puppy and think even a Gnome version. But it really bloats things up.

As to file manager, its ROX all the way. ROX was what attracted me to Puppy when Puppy was pretty rudimentary and just starting to be developed. Even if I am using a KDE or Gnome distribution, I will add ROX. There even used to be a version of ROX for M$ windows, but cant even remember if I ever tried it. 

And you can add or change window managers in any distribution, some like Blackbox even offer a version for M$ windows.... The only problem changing window managers yourself from whatever default happens to be is that you will probably break menus and such and have to do lot patching.

Also some programs are KDE or Gnome specific and if you want that program you have to at least have all the KDE or GNOME libraries installed. Though some have found not all KDE affiliated software requires such. K3B the burner program for KDE doesnt and neither does KPPP the dialer program. I have installed and used both without KDE on various Puppies. They will throw up error when starting that they cant find such and such file but dont in reality even need that file so work fine once loaded. Such desktop dependent programs are annoying, bit like M$ software looking for IE or activeX or windows media player when they dont even need or use such. Back in win98, somebody even wrote a small program that would modify the registry to indicate IE9.9 was installed and just that entry would satisfy programs looking if latest IE was installed even though IE had been forcibly removed by IEradicator, another little 3rd party program.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

Nevada said:


> Don't let me discourage you. I recognize the effort, and I hope that it helps some people around here. It's just that I don't happen to have a use for a Linux workstation right now.


What he said. Keep in mind that on ANY bulletin board, it's almost always the most vocal/set in their ways and opinions that post the most.

It all depends upon what you want. I personally chose OS X (on a Mac) because I love love LOVE *nix, but because I spend my after hours and weekends troubleshooting other people's computers, I don't want to do it on my own; and I don't want to tweak my *nix install. I agree that nowadays *nix installations are nowhere near as unstable as they used to be; but there is still quite a bit of tweaking to be done by the average user.

And when I (an IT professional with going on 13 years or so of experience) say 'the average user' I mean the person who NEEDS assistance every step of the way. I recently had someone tell me their printer wouldn't work - and then only after about a half an hour of troubleshooting she helpfully offered "Oh, well, I DID unplug the printer a while back...would that cause it?"

:help:

The only criticism I would offer of your article, as an IT guy and the mod here, is that it's obviously a bit long. With all due respect to you, it would come across a bit more palatable if it were shorter and more concise. But it is appreciated.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

One other addition that you didn't cover but could potentially help people out quite a bit who are considering migrating to *nix/Ubuntu.

The Wubi installer may be the perfect choice for trying it out.  It is, essentially, a fully bootable Ubuntu OS partition that resides as a folder within Windows. (Specifically, the C:\ubuntu folder; the OS itself is c:\ubuntu\disks\root.disk.) It offers almost all of the advantages of Ubuntu; you can even access your Windows files from within Ubuntu still. However, if you do not like it, you simply uninstall it like any other program in Windows.

Download Wubi

Wubi Faqs


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## DoubleBee (Nov 13, 2006)

I appreciate this thread. Although I'm not a fan of ubuntu, I have played around with different linux distros for a few years. 
I have a spare pc that I use to try out different OS's. I recently installed the RC windows 7 on it and wasn't impressed.
I usually run opensuse on it, but this time installed the latest mepis stable version. Then I found antiX and installed it instead. I still need to see if it will work with my printer, but am thinking instead of plunking down any more money for a Windows OS (which are way too pricey now) I may just have to find the Linux distro that I can use full time. Read that as "ease of use". It doesn't have to be bloated, it just needs to work with my hardware and peripherals.



Nevada said:


> When you have to turn Linux into bloatware with KDE or Gnome, I don't see that much of an advantage over Windows.


The big, big advantage is that you can get most Linux OS's for free!! And that says a lot now days.

added-I switched over to PCLinuxOS due to some problems with the other ones. This one seems to be working well on my main tower.


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## Mechanic Intern (Jun 10, 2007)

Kung said:


> One other addition that you didn't cover but could potentially help people out quite a bit who are considering migrating to *nix/Ubuntu.
> 
> The Wubi installer may be the perfect choice for trying it out. It is, essentially, a fully bootable Ubuntu OS partition that resides as a folder within Windows. (Specifically, the C:\ubuntu folder; the OS itself is c:\ubuntu\disks\root.disk.) It offers almost all of the advantages of Ubuntu; you can even access your Windows files from within Ubuntu still. However, if you do not like it, you simply uninstall it like any other program in Windows.
> 
> ...


Not to sound argumentative or anything, but I wouldn't recommend the Wubi install option because when you un-install ubuntu from there (using "add\remove programs") it doesn't always get rid of the Ubuntu entry in the "boot" file (that the windows boot loader uses for its OS list), and if you select it after ubuntu has been removed, it'll surprise reboot the computer; not the kind of thing you want a novice to see, it'll likely make them panic.


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

I am aware of that; but the fix for that is easy (show hidden files, and then delete that line in the boot file). I've heard of that happening but it's fairly rare. As it is, Microsoft doesn't get rid of its OWN files that much.

In other words, I guess what I mean to say is that if we restrained ourselves from installing something every time something bad happened, we could install NOTHING.  EVERY Linux distro has bombed someone, somewhere; as reliable as Ubuntu is (and it is very reliable) I've had it cause me to have to reinstall an OS, through no fault of my own - and I'm an IT pro with about 12 years experience. If the Wubi installer messes up, this is about the worst that happens; if a regular Ubuntu install happens, however, you run the risk of screwing up that install plus the current Windows partitions.

You do raise a good point, however, which is that we need to be aware of that possibility, and have information on hand, should that happen.


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## beorning (Apr 14, 2006)

Nevada said:


> Windows server products don't offer an option to install without the graphical environment, so they are bloated by nature.


Server Core . Not that It didn't infuriate me mightily in the Windows Network Infrastructure class I took last semester, but the option does exist.


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## DYngbld (Jun 16, 2009)

I like openSUSE11. It really is a nice distro. For a now frils distro DSL (---- small Linux) works great. I ran RedHat back in the early days. Also ran JNOS for Ham radio work back in the early 90s. You can run a live CD of Suse, and DSL is designed to run live, or on a small device, I have a copy on a thumbdrive in my pocket. (I guess I am a geeky farmer). Ubuntu looks nice I have not run it takes to long for me to download the ISO so I will hold out on testing it for now. I would agree if you are planing to switch to Linux, try the Live CD route first to see if you like the feel of it. There are several distros out there one of them is bound to fit your needs. IF you are not a game player, and all you really do on the computer s check email and use the Internet, then Linux is a great idea, and safer. If you are a big gamer the stick to windose.


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