Lol digi. my second quote, I was Kidding. yes its true they download the stuff. One time they downloaded a .bmp that had such a long filename, it wouldn't let us move it or delete it. We had to delete the my shared folder. Its so embarising (spelling?) when i don't have apache running, kazaa is running, and people try to go to airjoe.kicks-ass.org , and they see all these Adult Content files. -_-''
Airjoe
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Yes of course! The graphical desktop of most modern Linux distros rivals even XPs simplicity is some cases - it is just a little different, and takes a short while to get use to. Only the MacOS X interface is easier in my opinion. (Just wish they weren't so dang expensive!)
Maz: What I found most annoying was the lack of access to my Windows files
It takes just a few moments to be able to access files on your Windows partition from within Linux. Most modern Linux distros will even detect and setup that connection to the other partition for you (since often Wine will use your existing Windows installation for its emulation abilities).
Airjoe: O NO! WHAT A TRAGEDY! MY BROTHERS CAN'T DOWNLOAD ADULT MOVIES ANYMORE!
Heh. No problem! There are several P2P programs for Linux, such as eDonkey. Plus I here there is a port of Kazaa to Linux sometime in the near future. Worse case (if your machine is above 1Ghz) you ought to be able to run Kazaa under Linux emulation (VMware or Wine for example).
Crispy: I've heard that there are ways to access the Windows partition from Linux, but I don't know what they are. Anyone?
Easy. Usually partitions follow some logical naming scheme, like hda1, hda2, etc. This is like c: drive, d: drive, etc., under windows. Find out what partition Windows is listed under and at a shell prompt you ought to be able to mount the Windows partition with: <font face=courier>mount /windows /dev/hda#</font> where # is the partition number. You might need to add an option to tell Linux to mount it as a msdos volume, so read your MAN pages about 'mount', or check out numerous tutorials online. Often the modern distros do this for you automatically (RedHat 8 did it for me, but RedHat 9 did not, oddly).
Nadrew: I believe everything from the Windows partition is located in the /bin somewhere
<buzz> Wrong answer! But thanks for playing! =) Actually all hardware devices are represented in the top-level /dev (which stands for 'device') directory. Looking in there you will find virtual connections to anything from hardrives to modems to USB devices. The /bin directory contains 'binaries', or executable programs (like .exe's in Windows), and often only programs that the root user or the system can run (though you would also find those in the /sbin directory too) - take care not to mess anything up in any of the above mentioned directories!
AbyssDragon: You can access you Windows partition if it uses FAT32, but not if it's NTFS.
Actually I think that this is no longer true. With the advent of the Reiser Journaling Filesystem and the Ext3 filesystem, getting to NTFS volumes is a lot easier now from the Linux side. Even with the former Ext2 filesystem you could do it, but it took a bit hoop-jumping to set up the connection right. I recall helping to set-up a network connection from a Linux server to a Windows NT box (we were transferring data from the NT box), and a colleague dug up info on mounting the remote NTFS volume from the Linux box to ease in the copying of data. It can be done I understand, it's just not obvious on how to do it.
GSurge: If you have Windows and install Linux aswell, will everything work the same? Like will will your internet connection mess up or have hardware problems?
Nadrew: Only if your modem is strictly a "WinModem", these are modems that only work for Windows, most newer modems run on Linux just fine.
Nadrew is right - aside from some problems with certain internal modems on PCs called "WinModems" (basically just software versions of modems integrated into a motherboard for example), modern distros will hook up to the 'net with no problem. After installing RedHat 9 just recently, I was online within a minute of installation - no reboot!
The only trouble I had with Linux is a lack of driver support for some of the less popular Lexmark printers (Z25 for example). Annoying, but then I just need to get a better printer anyway.
USB devices, such as scanners and webcams seem to hook up ok under the latest distros (I've only tested SUSE, Mandrake and RedHat) as long as the drivers are available. There are many webistes that support Linux drivers for hundreds of PC devices.
I do understand that WinModem support has improved in the top distributions, but it is always good to check the hardware compatibility lists that are usually posted on each distros website.