Aqua-Soft ForumsI saw today on TV that Linux Redhat 8 was released, and I asked what might be so cool about it? I know it is open source and supposly you have a lot of control over the OS, but how easy it is to install it? Is it possible to make a partition for it and have windows xp and linux? Which of all is better there are more than Redhat, right? How easy is to install hardware, might i have some trouble with it? How easy it would be to be switching between windows and linux? I plan to use it when classes are over, I might download it or something. Some help would be appreciated if you could answer to this quesitons, thanks in advance.
Going Linux?
I've heard of it, but I heard it wasnt that good yet.
Although I am not a Linux specialist, I can answer some of your questions. Yes, it is possible to install both Windows and Linux in the same HDD using different partitions. You can switch between Linux and Windows restarting your PC and choosing the OS to start, just like when you install Win98 and WinXP in the same PC, even, it is possible to have a "third" boot process, Linux, Windows 98/Me and Windows 2000/XP, my brother's pc is configured in that way, first you choose to start Linux or Windows and then you choose to start 98 or Xp.
And about how much good Linux is... I am not the best one to answer that, we do use Linux at the job for the servers and development, but I'm designer and not developer 
so I do use Windows and Mac OS 9. However, it's kinda stable and it has a nice interface but you can't expect too much applications like in Windows. In few words, it has sense only if you're planning to do something that can't be done in Windows or if you want to learn it.
I hope to be useful, greetings dude.
Iceman
yeah, you answered pretty much all, thanks for the info. Well I want you to see what it is, how good it is and how well it might run in my pc. But I checked the compatibility, and there is no driver for my video card adapter, is there a generic driver for video adapter? I also need to check more compatibility. I saw it today and I to use it althought it might be just for a bit, to remove that curiosity from me.
Yes, the compatibility thing is the main problem with Linux, but there are big advances with every new release. There is a generic graphic driver but you'll need to stick to 640x480 (I don't remember the color depht). What video card are you using? Nvidia has a great support for linux drivers and their cards works pretty well, even I have played Quake III Arena
Iceman
I have an ATI Rage 128 PRO, and it sayst that it aint supported, im sure that in searching in google must find something to solve it. However i need to check the motherboard, and other important stuff. I have a old video card there, S3 it is extremely "chafa" but it might work. I dont think there might be problems except for my sound card, but i think there most be generic drivers for that one too.
Jajajaja
"Chafa"... I bet some of our english speakers friends are wondering what the hell that means
BTW, it means something like "cheap"... but worst.
I dont know much about Red Hat 8 distro ,but Mandrake 9 is the one i use they say the they r almost clones of each other but I tried them both and I would stick with Mandrake distro is the one i use I've been using Mandrake since 6.1 edition , and I have a ATI 2000 pro with the 128 chipset and it works great,also if U also starting with linux I would recommed going to Mandrake distro they are more simple and gears towards the ****ie User,I know Im going toget some comment from a Red Hat User ,that's just my experience, once u Understand linux and comfortable u might want to go Debian distro or Slackware ,although they're linux r very different in their own right.I currently have in My partition hardrives Winblows XP PRO in 20 gig sharing with 20gig Mandrake 9.0 and on my second Im thrying my hands at Debian ,also if u have ur winxp partition in an NTFS or FAT file system Mandrake automatically mounts it ,some distros dont u have to manually mount that partition that way u can nose around ur Windoze files or listen to ur MP3's wiht out the use to going to reboot to another OS.Hopes that helps. 
oh I get, im gonna search about mandakre, and see what can I do.Thanks for your help.
Yeah, i have a chafa one, lol.It is a common term to refer to bad quality or cheap stuff,as icemansaid.
Linux...
well.. I am a linux users, the only reason why I keep Windows around is because the games. I can do anything with linux that I can with windows and for free, if I do not like the windows manager I change it without registry hacks or the like. There are at least 7 very good windows managers. I can run CrossOver which give me the capability of running windows apps like word, execl, visio, etc.
As far as hardware compatibility unless is very very very new linux will recognice pretty much anythig in your system. If it is very new you bet that someone is already working on porting it to linux. you can put a shoe inside a computer run linux and linux will detect the shoe and ask you what do you want to do with it 
There are trillions of applications for linux, check http://freshmeat.net for a quick look. The support is amazing, you have a question, IRC, news, websites, and in a few minutes your problem has been fixed or someone has given you a work around.
As far as stability goes... I have a 486 that handles the mail for my domain, and in the past 4 years I've taking it down once for a real problem (death power supply), and a couple more times for kernel upgrades, the uptime right now is 628 days.
btw. You can make linux look very close to OSX, there are plenty of aqua themes for the windows managers and gnome's dock can be made to look very close to the OSX dock, alas without fancy stuff like magnification and all that.
I love linux and im a linux fan.. i have mandrake 9.0.. easy and favorite distro... Im pretty sure they have support for RAGE 128 Pro Drivers.. and even then default drivers generic can go up to what ever resolution. My friend has the generic driver with ATI RAGE 128 and he has it at 1280x1024.. of course no GL or playing games since its the generic driver.. if you go to ATI's website they do have support for Linux drivers.. although installing them can be a handful if you are very new to linux.
if ya need any help feel free to ask me!
Thank you guys, I think i'm going with Mandrake, but there is prob with my sound card, it is a forte media 801 "fm801", there seems not to be drivers, are there generic drivers for this? And my modem is a Motorola SM56, it seems to have some issues with mandrake, and it seems to work with redhat, are there generic drivers for the modem that would work? So i need generic drivers for my soundcard and modemm the rest including my motherboard works.
Have u visited the Manufacturers website sometimes they have all the info there,another thing is dont expect the drivers to be like Windows hit an .exe file and ur done ,it will take some headaches,go to this site is very good for any linux begginer Linux****ie is got plenty of information try the NHF library first then try ur question in the forums there r plenty of people there that will help U.
hope this helps
I'm gonna check that site, I think it might be useful.
42450 ,registered users cant be wrong,just about everything I know about Linux is thanks to that community
I think so, lol. I'm gonna check it through the week.
Hey mmr,
Modems is a hella problem on linux.. Most modems out thre are WinModems.. meaning they will only work on windows.. although linux has made some break throughs on making winmodems work on linux. So you must cehck to see if your brand is a win modem or not. like said before checking the manufactures website is a good idea.. and as for your sound card.. iv never heard of it before but.. lol
is it a ISA or PCI sound card and have you disabled Plug and Play in the bios?
-bolero
Well there is linux support for my modem, but just upto mandrake 7.2 however i found in google a way to use it on mandrake 8, but it didnt said 9. My sound card, I googled it, and it came with people wanting to use it, and offering something I didnt understand, and I think it was a solution. Why should I disblae plug&play in the bios?
hmm.. I had a similar problem when installing drivers i found a solution only for mandrake 8.2... but.. i did it anyways and it still worked on 9.0 of mandrake.. basically.. mandrake has the same system layout... otyher distros are different so a mandrake solution may not work on a redhat... for plutg and play.. it can help detect some Cards on your computer i think i forget.. i read it in my Linux book thingy... just a sugestion. Also you said you found a solution for your modem.. mind if i look at the solution and i can tell you if it 'can' be used on mandrake9.0?
here is the solution:
modem
http://www.angelfire.com/linux/sm56
google results for my soundcard
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=...=fm801+mandrake
hmm okay i see.
now refering back to my other driver problem "similar" to this... the drivers were only for 8.2 but.. what i did was i had to compile the drivers from the source and install it on my system so that it would work with my kernel.. of course you have to have the Kernel sources installed... then i followed the steps and fixed it.. same thing can go with this.. if you are able to install drivers from source.. you may be able to tweak it around for it to work.. although... since your a ****ie to it.. i would get used to linux first. find out how it works.. the lay out of the system etc etc.. learn the CLI commands. as for your soundcard... i would sugest going to
gho to the forum its amazing there.. ask all your qwuestion im sure people will help you more there
-bolero
I see, well I will need to start searching about it and ask for some help there. Thanks for all your help.
no problem, anytime.
need any help with things feel free to ask! although i dont know every single thing.. lol but i know alot
-bolero