windows to open source os advice please!

Hello, I am in need of some advice on selecting the best (and installing) an os such as,solaris,linux,or,gnu,etc on my computer. I have xp on it now and I just hate it, I need to either get someone to tell me how to set up windows for my needs or show me some options, I have no need at all for alot of this crap on my system and it just continues to foul up, all I need is a plain system set up for my artwork, I mean like The Gimp,GTK..etc I am very newbie with all this os stuff please help! thanx..Magickman

 

What issues are you having with XP? There are a ton of 'Nix options, but if you are having some trouble setting up XP, you might want to think twice about a Linux OS.

Not putting down Linux at all, but it is a bit harder to configure and use compaired to XP in my experience.

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I'll ditto the above statements. As a total newbie to Linux I'm surprised at how easy things are in XP compared to *nix. If you do decide to switch then you'll find a steep learning curve to contend with. Something you may want to consider is grabbing a 'LiveCD' which will not install to your hard drive, works totally off the CD, it's slow but it will give you an idea of what to expect. I've tried Knoppix, Kubuntu and PCLinuxOS so far on the recommendation of people to be the most 'Windows like'. I'm sure Adrynalyne, the *nix man, will give you better info.

 

Nah, can't really tack onto whats already been said, everyone hit the major points.

Augie is dead on the easiest distros; Fred, and MA are dead on with the hell to be endured with nix, even if a person is experienced with it.

Linux is for those that want something more than Windows, due to it not being powerful enough for them, or need it for a specialized task. There are those who switch to thumb their nose at MS too, but those are the ones who come crawling back to support the company they thought trendy to despise. One thing is for sure. Linux is not for the person who wants to replace Windows because they have trouble using it.

The closest thing to an OS that is user friendly enough to be a replacement for Windows is Mac OS X. There you get near the ease of Windows, and a lot of the power of Unix under one OS. The caveats would be cost and a considerably smaller amount of software titles available, vs. Windows.

 

After checking magickman's posting history, it seems he's mis-partitioned his XP system?? Is that true? Is this what you're trying to resolve?

If so, we can help you without having to format & reinstall!

For anyone interested, he has an open thread on the subject.

 

Hey yall, I don'nt even know where to start, I thank you all in advance ,even though I'm not up on most things you are telling me,so, I have had to re-install p-pro from scratch about nth-teen times exactly like I am instructed to do from the cd, and I don't have it up no time until it starts getting stupid on me,like, low disk space, snail speed, long file names, all kinds of error report's (which I have no idea what they are,or,what to do) geeeze...all I ever put on the darn thing is,ccleaner slim,auslogics defrag,the gimp,and gtk,also an antivirus-avira classic. And hats about it,I keep it cleaned and defraged but it has me stumped I've done everything possible I just need some help thats for sure,so HELP!!! lol also my computer is a sucky compaq 5bwm2a...5000a depending on what day you ask compaq..DUH!

 

I'd go back to you original thread posted above by MADA. You have other issues, maybe hardware.