Hi, you were soliciting tips.... Read on.
A lot has happened in recent years, and anyone looking to bail out of the MS Windows environment has more options today, without burning bridges or facing steep learning thresholds. I can sympathise with how you've tried to go minimalist Win98, but the OS has serious problems, as do most other MS ones. Not least security unless you connect to the Net through hardware router/NAT/firewall.
GNU/Linux is becoming a viable migration strategy for desktop and notebook users, providing at least two low-maintenance options.
One is Xandros. Download and burn the CD image and you can install a pretty much turnkey system, if need be as dualboot with your existing Win98 system. It can resize and repartition without losing your existing harddisk data. Xandros gives you much of the look and feel of Windows, with the robust and flexible nature of Debian based Linux. It also recognizes and automatically configures access to Windows-based networks and shares.
Another is Knoppix (or any one of its derivatives). Download and burn the CD image. The threshold is a bit steeper than for Xandros, but the highly compressed Live-CD can boot you into an equivalent 2.5 GB system with literally thousands of tools and applications runable from the CD without touching the harddisk. Largely plug&play networking as well as long as your hardware isn't too special.
Knoppix Live-CD is a great way to explore the new environment hands-on without committing to a harddisk install, yet being able to access all your files (and in FAT write back) in your old system.
Knoppix is excellent for emergency rescue work too, because it automatically recognizes and mounts existing harddisk volumes whatever the filesystem. You can often pull off critical files from a drive that Windows refuses to see, and perhaps repair corrupt filesystems, even if Windows itself can't start.
Some relatively "hardcore" Windows gurus I know who for years dismissed "desktop" Linux finally reached the breaking point last year, what with virus, continuous patches and reinstalls. In desperation they agreed to try out Xandros. This after positive experiences with other software from across the divide (StarOffice/OpenOffice, Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird...) that also exists in Windows versions.
A few months later, almost their entire home networks now run Xandros. And they are recommending to all and sundry to make the same transition ASAP.
In my own case, I looked at Linux on and off for several years, but it was Knoppix that got me started in late 2003. By 2004, I moved over my entire working environment to Linux systems. And never looked back. Only the kids still use Win2k regularly on their computers, mainly for games. For that matter, we retrofit an older system with Win98 for some older games that won't run in the newer system.
I do retain a working dualboot Win2k for writing occasional articles about MS Win software, and connecting some things like IrDA mobile phone or legacy digital camera that lack working interface software and drivers for their functionality. I've never given "upgrading" to WinXP serious thought, instead I have consistently retrofit Win2k to recent systems preinstalled with WinXP.
Anyway, to summarize. GNU/Linux, especially Debian-based "unstable" (that is, newest versions of software), is a completely different world. You, the user, are totally in charge and largely immune to the kinds of constraints, bugs and exploits that make WinXX systems so frustrating.
If you're connected and need some specific tool or program, just run a search of the huge repositories (tens of thousands of packages). "apt-get install name" (or a click or two in the synaptic GUI) and you're ready to use it. Did it need specific run-time libraries? Not a problem, the installation sussed that out and installed/upgraded any dependencies automatically.
And if you have several machines networked, or work against remote servers, you have no idea how seamless this becomes after a while. Roaming profiles in WinXX are nothing compared to how irrelevant physical machine becomes when you log in on.
> ... Installed StarOffice....
Then your transition becomes that much easier, because a major application suite you use will be familiar territory.
Simplifies matters since you won't be as dependent on running MS Office, though Crossover Office in Xandros makes even this easier.
Sorry if I seem overly enthusiastic and long-winded, but you seemed in need of serious cheering up. There is hope.
As for filesystems, Linux-native ext3 is the way to go. Its journaling commit and recovery mechanisms (ntfs in WinNT/2k/XP is similar but less tractable) ensures that filesystem corruption is extremely rare. Abnormally terminated changes are either redone or rolled back on next start, unlike FAT where you're left with all kinds of cluster problems.
But as mentioned, you can mount almost any filesystem. USB-drives in FAT, for example, or for that matter newer digital cameras whose memory appears just like a USB FAT-harddisk to the system.
Take care.
/ Bo
Justin Walsh wrote:
Currently I have got myself in a bit of a muddle, and Windows is like a pair of cement shoes.> ...
I'm removing it in stages.
> The weak link in my platforms seems to always come down to the choice of OS.
> Tips welcome.
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