By far, my favorite operating system is Linux. You can download it for free, or you could probably find someone who has already burned it to a CD, and buy the CDs from them. If you are interested in Linux, I would go to canadadrugstop.com www.mandrakesoft.com. That is the home page of Mandrake Linux. That is the type of Linux that I use, and I really enjoy it, it is very easy to use, even compared to Windows! You can do lots of very neat stuff with it, including copying CDs, ripping music CDs, send/receive e-mail, edit graphics, watch movies, browse the internet, and even Instant Messaging!
I like Linux because it is clean, efficient, fun and easy to use, and very powerful. It is a superb networking machine, and it can even read and write Windows files! There are tons of neat games, and utilities that are made for Linux, that you can get FREE! And, one of the main benefits of it, is that it is VERY stable, on my system, Linux has only crashed once, Windows XP, well, I'll let you decide! And the one time that it did crash, was my fault, I ignored the error messages, and went ahead and did something anyway, FREEEEEEEEEEEZE!
I am using Mandrake Linux 9.2, and Windows XP Pro. I only use windows because everybody knows that it has become a monopoly in the computer world. I confess, I am in Windows right now to right this. Why? Because I only have an Internet connection in Windows, I have to upload these files using the Internet, not to mention get a few e-mails out. I think that Linux is a better operating system then Windows in many areas, but I have already said that in the paragraph above.! Another thing that is neat about Linux is that it is virtually virus proof, you can still get them, but they can do very little damage, because to do any real damage to the system, it would need “Root” authorization. Root is the “Super User”, it has unlimited access to the system, but to get that you will need it's password. And, since Linux is not used as wide spread, there are not as many people that make viruses for Linux in the first place.
Linux and Windows programs are not exactly compatible, however, using WINE, which is a Windows emulator, you can run certain Windows programs in Linux. Another difference is the file system, Windows used FAT16, then FAT32, and now with Windows XP it uses NTFS. Linux uses EXT3, it is a very nice file system, and it supports long file names as in Windows. Windows can not read or write any of the Linux file systems, but, Linux can read and write FAT16 / FAT32, and it can read NTFS. So I can access all of my Windows files from Linux, it is really handy sometimes. Like in my case, when Windows crashed and would not work at all, I booted into Linux and backed up all of my important data onto a CD so when I had to do a hard disk wipe, I did not loose any data.
A really great registry tweaking program is subsystems X-Setup Pro, that is probably one of the best that I have tried. It is freeware and available for download at, x-setup.net.
I am currently using an eMachines D2266. It has a 2.2 GHz CPU, and a 40 Gb hard drive. I have a very slow Internet connection, only about 26Kbps, so it is a real pain to upload all of my files and everything. I wish that I would be able to get a faster connection, but I don't think that it is possible since I am so far out in the country. I cant find any ISPs that are within 25, 30 miles of us! And they don't even have DSL out here! :-( I don't think I will be able to ever use the library's computer again, after I get back here I don't know what I would do to my computer! And my download speed, on average, is about 2.7KB a second. REALLY slow.
If you would like to find out more about Linux, I would recommend going to one of the links that I have on my links page. One of them is Linux.org, and it is a non-profit organization that really like Linux! Another good Linux site is Linux.com. Either way, there are lots of great Linux/Unix sites out there, you just have to look for them.
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