BleepingComputer.com: Moving From Windows To Linux

Hi...

I have had Linux 6.0 before and, well, I'd like to just get rid of windows completely and go back to linux...But I don't know if my computer is compatible with linux...

Computer: HP Pavilion 511w (I know it's an old computer, I like it, don't need anything faster)
Internet Connection: Belkin Wireless Adapter: Driver version 6.3.2.16
Display: Intel 82810E Graphics Controller (Latest updates of NVIDIA drivers)
Sound: SoundMax Integrated Digital Audio: Driver Version: 5.12.1.3035
USB: There are 3 items for the device in Device Manager.
>>Generic USB Hub
>>Intel® 82801AA USB Universal Host Controller
>>USB Root Hub
HD: 2 Hard drives, each 40gb. (I don't really need a lot of space either)...


I am certain that the display does not support OpenGL, I've had problems whenever I run programs that use it.

I have done a little searching online and have found that most of the programs I have are capable of being ported to Linux, such as OpenOffice, MikTex, FB and FP programming languages I use, as well as several others. I've even found that I could keep my Doom and Duke Nukem games, LOL. The only one that I am sure I wont be able to keep will be Microsofts Flight Simulator 2004, but because of the Copyright BS, once the disc gets scratched up, it'll be useless anyway (which had I known that I wouldn't have wasted $40 on it, yeesh).
So I am not worried about loosing the programs that I am certain aren't compatible...The only trouble would be copying every little text file, etc to a CD then recopying it back to the harddrive...

Anyway...Thanks...

If you not sure if your PC will not support a Linux distro, you can download a live CD to test the PC. Many of the most popular distributions, Ubuntu, openSuse, RedHat, etc., have these editions.

I agree with DJB....Although I tend to like Ubuntu the best More user friendly in my opinion. You can burn the ISO file onto a CD then boot it and just click run ubuntu to try it out before you actually install it.

Thanks...

I was leaning more towards Fedora. Which started me thinking, is there any great difference between Fedora, Ubuntu, Mandriva (I think this one is close to Mandrake which is the one that I had before)?

I have a couple other questions, too...Granted this may sound stupid, but it was like 10 to 15 years ago the last time I used Linux...Is Xwindows, Gnome, and KDE still included? I preferred KDE and one that I can't remember which didn't have a program group like MS Windows but instead you had to right click to get the program group. The other X window system that I used was just a window with a shell prompt.

<Edit> I found that KDE, Gnome, and Xwindows is still there...

The next question is more geared towards installing them, though...I was thinking about using a CD Rom to copy all my files, etc so that I can recopy them back to my hard drive once I install linux, if using the live CD works. I remembered that I use two hard drives, so would I, if it is possible, need to repartition my slave drive so that it can be used in both Linux and Windows XP so I can copy everything over, or would Linux be able to read the XP formatted harddrive?

Thanks again...

This post has been edited by Mol_Bolom: 05 September 2008 - 09:43 PM

<EDIT>

Ok, looks like I wont be able to install any of the newer linux's on my computer...Since it is so old...
I'm looking into DSL (Damn small linux) and a few others...Any ideas of some good old linux systems that would be decent for mathematics, linguistics, games, etc?

I would prefer having KDE, Gnome, and the Xwindow system...If X has the same windows that I used with 6.0, that would be great...

Thanks...

This post has been edited by Mol_Bolom: 05 September 2008 - 11:49 PM

Quote

http://tinymelinux.com/doku.php

Most Linux distributions support dozens of programming languages. The most common collection of utilities for building both Linux applications and operating system programs is found within the GNU toolchain, which includes the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) and the GNU build system.

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This post has been edited by garmanma: 11 October 2008 - 09:37 AM
Reason for edit: spam removed