[smurph]

I am currently a user of XP but am investigating the possibility of switching Linux, rather than pay for the eventual upgrade to Vista.
All I can say is that I have heard of Linux, but have no experience or friends/colleagues that use it.
I would be grateful if you could comment on its suitability for me if I list the main programs and tasks that I use on a regular basis…

Programs:
MS Office:
• Word
• Excel
• Outlook (can a .pst be converted to retain email history?)
Azureus – download torrent files
Nero – burn music and movies (of diff. file formats) to CD, DVD
Tag & Rename – id3 tags for music files
Trend Micro Internet Security suite

Additional tasks:
Join & convert video files
Convert & edit music files
Wireless modem/router
Mediaserver (transmit from PC to TV)

Might you suggest to have the facility to run either OS?

[simple]

there are many linux flavours (distributions). get a good stable distribution. you will have to do a bit of googling and then i am sure you can find all that you want.
remember dude LINUX ROCKS!!!
c ya!!

you will get all the standard stuff like office on any distro but for some specific utilities you may have to resort to the Internet (and you can always post here )

[jakec]

try this Linux distro quiz

zegenie Studios Linux Distribution Chooser

[CalcProgrammer1]

I recommend Ubuntu Home Page | Ubuntu. It's an excellent distro, probably the most popular. If you have Windows installed, all you'll have to do is shrink the Windows partition using the included GParted and it will allow you to use both OS'es.

Programs:
MS Office: (No, without Wine anyways, no Microsoft products in Linux, but there is OpenOffice, a very capable and compatible office suite)
• Word - There is OpenOffice Writer, which can read and save .doc files.
• Excel - There is OpenOffice Calc, which can read and save .xls files.
• Outlook (can a .pst be converted to retain email history?) - There is Evolution, but I don't really know much about it, I use Gmail
Azureus – download torrent files - Yes, Azureus has a Linux version, uTorrent also works in Wine.
Nero – burn music and movies (of diff. file formats) to CD, DVD - There are many DVD/CD programs for Linux.
Tag & Rename – id3 tags for music files
Trend Micro Internet Security suite - lol...in Linux, you don't have to worry about this, as there are very few Linux viruses, it's a very secure OS

Additional tasks:
Join & convert video files - Mencoder probably will do that, it can convert, idk about join
Convert & edit music files - Yeah, you can get Audacity, Lame, etc to do this
Wireless modem/router - Ubuntu is good with wireless cards, though some can be a pain to set up
Mediaserver (transmit from PC to TV) There's ways to do this, but display setup can be tricky as Linux uses an ancient static configuration system rather than a new dynamic GUI display setup.

[Mak213]

Originally Posted by smurph

I am currently a user of XP but am investigating the possibility of switching Linux, rather than pay for the eventual upgrade to Vista.
All I can say is that I have heard of Linux, but have no experience or friends/colleagues that use it.
I would be grateful if you could comment on its suitability for me if I list the main programs and tasks that I use on a regular basis…

Programs:
MS Office:
• Word
• Excel
• Outlook (can a .pst be converted to retain email history?)
Azureus – download torrent files
Nero – burn music and movies (of diff. file formats) to CD, DVD
Tag & Rename – id3 tags for music files
Trend Micro Internet Security suite

Additional tasks:
Join & convert video files
Convert & edit music files
Wireless modem/router
Mediaserver (transmit from PC to TV)

Might you suggest to have the facility to run either OS?

Well from a fresh install Open Office is installed and usable which can replace your Office program. There is Evolution Mail, Thundbird among various other email clients to use. There is a version of Nero bu tit isnt free. There are many other apps on Linux that can be used for CD/DVD Burning.

With Linux you wont need a Anti-Virus or firewall. First many Linux distros have a built in firewall which is already comparable to that of any Windows firewall. 2nd there are few viruses written to attack Linux. So there really isnt a need to have a anti-virus installed. Spyware again only attacks Windows and very few are written for Linux.

There are several BitTorrent clients. Deluge, KTorrent, Azureus all work just fine in Linux.

As for you optional things i can speak of. Only cause i just started to use Linux myself this past month. But i know that there are ways to get those tasks done.

Honestly since i have tried 3 different types of Linux (Unbuntu, PCLinuxOS, Open SUSE) i have found that Ubuntu is the easiest to move over to from Windows.

[CalcProgrammer1]

Ubuntu is a good distro. I found it incredibly easy for someone who never touched a Linux box, in fact, I was able to install a dual-boot system on two hard drives (had Windows, didn't want to mess it up, so I stuck a 5GB drive in and tested Ubuntu on that). Ended up loving it, so I kept using it, and now, a year and a half later, it's still my favorite distro. It can be customized however you want it, so after you feel comfortable in Linux, you'll have no problem making it your own.

[kpmwrestler]

I think pclinuxos or opensuse is the way to go. Pclinuxos is what kept me with linux because it was so easy and it just worked. If i had used a harder distro at first, i probably would have been scared away.

OpenSuse is also good because it has EVERYTHING, and it is compatible with a TON of programs. (VMWare for example, it's Red hat and Suse compatible)

OpenSuse has everything you need and it feels full and complete.

both distributions are pretty easy to configure and both will make you ask "why did i ever use windows?"

[CalcProgrammer1]

Ubuntu is nice because it supports free software and open-source. OpenSuse comes from Novell, a producer of the enterprise (paid, business) Linux distribution called Suse Linux. Since Suse is a paid version of Linux, I tend to stay away from it (just this general idea...money = Micro$oft = dark, evil, vile places where businessmen rule the software world) as opposed to Ubuntu, where online forums and bug-tracking lists promote open-source community development. (Yeah, I know, Ubuntu gets a lot of stuff from Novell, but they use only the open-source stuff, you can get closed-source packages [drivers for instance] from Ubuntu's repositories, but these are often created by the device manufacturer).

Also, Ubuntu is just simple. Put in the disk, play around in LiveCD mode, GParted format your hard drive, and click the nice GUI installer. Within an hour, your new system is up and running...compare that to Windows or some other Linux distros, which have console blue-screen menus and prompts before you ever see a GUI, no chance to test it out before installing, and generally text mode partitioners that require you to press weird buttons instead of point and click simplicity.

[Jayce]

Just to chime in here since I didn't see it mentioned... as far as nero burning goes, k3b is by far the best burning software I have ever used for linux - and it's free!