Linux question

[dabbler]

I have the opportunity to buy Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 with lots of extras included (KDE 1.1.1 Applixware 4.4.3; StarOffice 5.1, WordPerfect 8 etc. for the princely sun of £5.00 from a local computer exchange shop. (It's still sealed software) It says it has 2.2.10 Linus kernel, multi-user, multi-tasking; glibe 2.1.1 and libe 5. It also includes a full version of Partition Magic 4.0 which it says is worth $69!

I was thinking of trying linux on a separate partition on one of my h/d's - is this a worthwhile purchase, do you think? I'm asking those with experience of linux, because I have heard so much about it, but never seen or used it.

The package says that it has a simple-to-use graphical installation with automatic remote and hands-free installation and configuration -- sounds like my sort of thing! -- and with PartitionMagic and BootMagic I can share the PC with Windows - I use XP.

Over to you guys for help and feedback please.

[dbindel]

I have the opportunity to buy Caldera OpenLinux 2.3 with lots of extras included (KDE 1.1.1, Applixware 4.4.3; StarOffice 5.1, WordPerfect 8 etc. for the princely sun of £5.00

You can also download the latest version of Caldera OpenLinux for FREE from their website: http://www.caldera.com/products/workstation/

All of the "extras" you included in your message are available for free..... in much newer versions also.

If you have some a fast connection (and some time) to download the ISO from Caldera's FTP site, I would recommend that you download the latest version for free rather than buying an old version.


HTH,

David Bindel

[cbkihong]

The software packages listed are already too old. Considering KDE is going to release 3.1 next month (using the beta and it's a LOT better than 2.x, not to count 1.x), and the stable kernel is now > 2.4.19, trying this "antique" package isn't likely to give you much pleasurable experience. At least not the kind of experience you would hope for.

Get a distribution shipping KDE3.x. You'll be amazed. Also, installers of most distributions today will do the partitioning of your hard disk for you. It's not just in Caldera. Why not go to a site like distrowatch.com and get some more information?

[dbindel]

I maintain my own FTP mirror of slackware-current.... y'all are welcome to download Slackware Linux from me. See ftp://davidbindel.com. The entire distro is currently 771 MB, so if you have a high-speed internet connection like DSL or cable, it should be done downloading overnight. I am only accepting 10 anonymous FTP connections simultaneously, so you may have to wait for a while before you can get it if I suddenly get flooded with requests.

Slackware is a really good distro, and it all fits on one CD, as opposed to Red Hat (which fits on four CD's). It is very stable and I have had no problems with it.

I'm running a dual-boot system with Microsoft Windows 2000 Server and Slackware Linux 9.0b (the current version), and it wasn't hard to set it up either.

If you need any help doing this, please ask.


Thanks,

David Bindel

[dabbler]

Thanks very much for the advice and the offers of help.

D/l seems the best way forward - I have a cable modem connection so that's not too great a problem.

I'll do some more research on this. BTW - I have 2 drives in my PC - a 4gig which has Windows XP on it, and a 40gig drive where I keep programs installed and data files. I've used about 11gig of that. Is it possible to set up a partition on that drive without deleting the stuff I have on it? - or will I have to format the drive again?

[Zero Angel]

Using FDISK will destroy all the data on your HDD. There is a way to create a partition without destroying data, but you'll need partition magic or a similar program with the same capability.

There is one thing I should mention. These programs don't come cheap, there are no freeware or even trial partitioning programs out there (from my previous searching) that can partition without wiping your hard drive first :(

[dabbler]

I wonder then, if the £5 being asked for this package could be worth while as it includes Partition Magic 4.0!

[dbindel]

I would stay away from it.

They told you that Partition Magic 4 is worth $69....

The latest version of Partition Magic is version 8, so the one that's included in the package must be about 10 years old or something. http://www.partitionmagic.com/


HTH,

David Bindel

[cbkihong]

Originally posted by dabbler
Is it possible to set up a partition on that drive without deleting the stuff I have on it? - or will I have to format the drive again?

Apart from PartitionMagic that was mentioned, there are software that does non-destructive partition.

On Red hat discs, the "fips" program is shipped that does exactly that. I divided my 15GB primary hard disk containing Win98 into two partitions with this program to set up my SuSE Linux 7.2 1.5 years ago. Of course, this program is very primitive and it's a lot less flexible than PM (and it is executed on the DOS command line instead of giving you a GUI), but it's free. Note that you need to defrag your hard disk beforehand such that all files reside at the beginning of the disk in order to prevent loss of data. After a reboot, it worked fine.

But I have not used it for newer installations as the SuSE installer has automatic non-destructive partitoning of DOS/Windows partitions. The professional version gave me 7CDs and contained everything I will ever need for around $60 with a thick pile of useful manuals.

I'm glad to found my $60 spent was far worth the value. But if you are just trying to have a taste of Linux and have no intention to keep, then having you to pay any bucks isn't likely to make you happy. That's why you should do more research before deciding on which distribution to use, especially if you are not having an extra machine to play with.

Some info about FIPS: http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/linux/RHL-7.1-Manual/custom-guide/dualboot-fips.html

[dabbler]

Thanks for that advice, Bernard.

I don't have another m/c to play with at the moment, but I have a friend who works for a big company which occasionally replaces old hardware - so I may be able to get some parts to start building a new m/c.

He just gave my wife a laptop (she has been wanting one for a long time - but sooo expensive!), a Fujitsu Lifebook with win98 on it and 96meg ram, CD drive! (They were throwing it away after replacing it!!!!!) Would you believe the h/d is partitioned, and he had actually REMOVED Linux from it because he didn't want it to confuse her!!

I'm not going to install on her machine - that would make it mine and this is definitely for her.

So I may build a basic machine to play around with linux on. But the advice from everyone is so very helpful.

[dbindel]

Many Linux distros charge money and they will ship you a CD set of the distro. However, every Linux distro is also required to be available for free download on their website.

If you have a high-speed internet connection, I recommend downloading the distro for free rather than buying the CD version. The downloaded version will always contain the latest version, whereas the CDs cannot be constantly updated (it's a one-time thing).


HTH,

David Bindel