I have windows now, and lots of files/windows programs that I want to keep. However, I also want to get Linux. I don't want a special "user-friendly" edition or anything like that-- I know it'll be hard to get used to, which is why I'm keeping windows until I'm comfortable enough with Linux. If anybody can help me to install Linux without losing everything else, or recommend a good simple version to start building onto and customizing, I would really appreciate your help.
Quote:I have windows now, and lots of files/windows programs that I want to keep. However, I also want to get Linux. I don't want a special "user-friendly" edition or anything like that-- I know it'll be hard to get used to, which is why I'm keeping windows until I'm comfortable enough with Linux. If anybody can help me to install Linux without losing everything else, or recommend a good simple version to start building onto and customizing, I would really appreciate your help.
Hi, welcome to the forums! :)
As you probably know, there are lots of different distributions to choose from, and the choice of which one you want to use is completely up to you. I'll mention a few here, but they are far from the only options -- just the ones I am most familiar with.
Ubuntu and derivatives like
Linux Mint are great starting points. They are easy to use, but that certainly doesn't mean that you can't do advanced things with them.
Fedora is my initial reaction of what might be a good fit for you at the moment -- it focuses on being up-to-the-minute with very frequent software updates, often bringing you new features as soon as they become stable, rather than waiting for a whole new 'release'. It also gives you some scope for customisation, but still has an easy-to-use installer and has a good range of software that you can install without lots of hassle.
If you really want to get serious about customising your own Linux system in the long run, distributions like
Gento,
Slackware and others give you a huge potential for fiddling around with, at the cost of being more complicated to install. As you say, though, that may be exactly what you want! Those kind of distributions aren't really my area of expertise, but whatever distribution you choose, I'm sure we can help you to set up a dual-boot environment with Windows and Linux and you can go from there.
Let us know how you get on and what you choose to do from here. :)
Quote:I don't want a special "user-friendly" edition or anything like that..
...or recommend a good simple version to start building onto and customizing...
Echoed what Hybrid stated: Ubuntu, Mint or Fedora are good starting points because they are somewhat user-friendly and aimed at people that want things just working, but doesn't mean that they're not advanced.
I'd advise trying those out before moving onto the "trickier" distros if you want to progress, but many people find those three distros above suit their needs quite well.
As an aside: the differences in functionality *will* catch you out if you're used to Windows - you'll need to change mindset to an objective-driven approach to tasks, rather than application-driven. Rather than "how do I get Outlook on here?", ask yourself "what mail programs exist? What is it I want from my mail application?" etc. Once you start to see applications in terms of "tools that achieve outcomes" rather than "only that one will do what I need" then you'll find picking up newer ways of doing things (not necessarily better, just different) and be able to explore possibilities of Linux distributions.
I agree with Hybrid and Dave, I'm fairly new to linux and I ran on Ubuntu for a while and I found it a good distro to get me used to linux. I recently switched to debian for my desktop machine and seems to more of a challenge to get things to work but that way I learn more :)
You have to specify which Linux distribution you want to use. You can install VirtualBox inside Windows and install with it any Linux distribution of your choice. If you want to test Ubuntu, here is a step by step tutorial explaining how to install Ubuntu 11.04 inside Windows 7:
http://www.upubuntu.com/2011/07/how-to-i...natty.html