I switched over to Linux a long time ago when I realized that my computer could no longer run any of the programs I needed for school. I was still using a Pentium II with 512MB ram and like 20 GB of hard drive space, so my word processor was clunky and other programs were slow as hell. I didn't have enough cash on hand to get a bigger hard drive or more ram at the time, so I experimented with Ubuntu's liveCD. I was impressed, considering how the liveCD version ran faster than windows did, so I deleted windows and installed it. I've been pretty happy with Ubuntu ever since. It's got a user-friendly GUI but still has the elasticity and form-fitting of your typical linux OS. if you choose to use it that is.
Anywho, I have since acquired an additional computer. One is a dedicated Linux computer where I store all of my files for security and stability reasons, and the other is a dedicated Windows gaming machine. Eventually what I want to do is run the internet through my linux machine and into my xp machine so that I could use the linux machine as an external firewall/server for my xp machine. I hate networking, so I haven't gotten around to it. It should be a fairly easy project.
I used to do the partition thing...but after having to repartition my hard drive a ton of times...so many times that now the mbr somehow OVERRIDES cd boot (like the only way to cd boot is to unplug the hdd), I've gotten sick of it. It's a time consuming process which is prone to error when your hdd is going bad...and if you're like me, you'll forget that you needed X GBs left on your hdd to install whatever game you wanted to play, and now you're gonna have to do everything all over again.
BUT, if you're still looking into doing the partition thing, I have some recommendations:
1.) Burn yourself a copy of GParted, or like program. I use GParted, and it's finicky sometimes, but it usually works when I need it to.
2.) Create a partition especially for your home directory so you can have a place to back up your things on-site supposing that you change your partitions around a lot...and don't forget to update it every few months.
3.) Get a Linux Rescue CD...not sure I can recommend anything in particular, but it's helpful to have when you fuck things over royally.
"I would be totally embarassed to write this, even as a fakepost. it's not funny except in how you seem to think it's good. look at all the redundancies, for fuck's sake. "insipid semantics, despicable mediocrity" ugh gross gross. I want to take a shower every time I read your prose." -Steel
