Linux is an Operating System, Windows that you probably use is also an Operating System, Linux is mainly used by computer programmers, uni students doing computer science, people running servers of some kind and general people who are just interested in it. If you want you can download it, i recommand DSL (damn small linux) if you want to try it out, You just download the ISO, use nero or something to burn it to cd. Then pop it in the cd drive restart your computer, Boot from cd and it loads linux into memory. so no changes are saved when you reboot. Go to http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/ to see. Or http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/damnsmalllinux.org/archive/damnsmall-0.7.1.iso for the ISO image
It doesnt install. see thats the beauty of DSL, it exists only in your computers memory, so it has limited space, this dont really matter you only use it to play with and getused to linux. Try it out. the download is only 48 meg, also its worth the cd Really handy OS, helped me out plenty of times. You can even install it to a flash disk and boot it from any computer anywhere!
Linux is supposed to never crash but i believe it's usually a play on words, ie the 'kernel' is supposed to be stable and not crash (i'm not saying it does, i do Unix for a living but i'm not a bearded geek so my knowledge has it's limits LOL); when ppl say 'Linux crashed on me' i think they usually mean some application(s) crashed but 'underneath' the kernel is still working ok. This has i guess been my own experiences with Linux so far, that when 'it' crashes, it's really a rogue app that has crashed. in fact here's an example - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/262857 my 64-bit Mandriva 2006 install was crashing constantly even after a few reformat/reinstalls!, in the end i tracked it down to 'KDE' so reinstalled again without KDE and it seems to work now i don't care to dig when a Linux box goes south on me, i just format and reinstall. if it's one of our Solaris boxes however, it gets fixed cus they're the money earning machines (plus Solaris just don't crash!, just thought i'd whisper that one!).
Indeed, the actual kernell crashes are minimal (i.e. 1 in every 100.000 crashes is kernell related according to statistics), it's usually a problem with an application that crashes, while the kernell is still running fine. And since you can usually just disable *kill* the app and continue either with a different app or go and find an immediate fix for the problem, i dare to say that linux and unix in general outrank Window$ anyday
@flanker27 - there's a forum, but it's very new - http://forums.afterdawn.com/forum_view.cfm/162 there is stuff out there, maybe the linux diehards can comment for ya..
Hi guys, Im am really interested in linux and want to try the ISO on my windows XP. I made a boot data disk with my nero and added the zipped linux file rundata linked. Still, I do not know how to boot it and how to reboot it. Can anyone help please?? By the way, by booting I will be able to use linux operating system and by rebooting I will return to Windows XP which will suffer no changes and will not be affected by the linux boot. IS that RIGHT??
As far as i know when you PC boots up you just choose to boot from the Disc, and yeah i dont think it affects windows in any way
