Which route to go for experimenting with other OS's????

[Abos]

The first OS I ever used was DOS. I use Windows 98 and XP now, but I have to say... I miss DOS. I miss the command line. That said, I've been thinking about messing around with some other operating systems. I'm particularly interested in Linux (Slackware, Debian, Gentoo), BSD (FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, DragonFly), and a few others (Solaris, SkyOS, BeOS, etc.).

I've got one computer at the moment: Dell Dimension 8250, P4 2.4 533mhz, 512mb rdram (Rambus rules!). The way I see it, I've got 4 options:
1) Partition current HD - I've already ruled this one out for various reasons, so I guess I've really got 3 options.
2) Pick up another HD - This seems like the easiest way to go, though I'm not sure if I want to dual-boot. Is it possible to have another HD with another OS and not dual-boot (aside from messing with the inards of the comp)?
3) Build a separate comp (maybe a SFF) - I like this option because I'd get to build a new comp, but space is a consideration (I'm in a very small college dorm).
4) Pick up a laptop - two problems here: first, i've heard that certain os's are picky about laptops; second, new laptops are pretty expensive -- anybody know where to find a good, cheap, used one????


Any and all suggestions are welcome...

Thanks.

 

[jfall]

Slackware

 

[Twsmit]

a few linux distros, at least i know does but i forget the name.. (sorry) make fully bootable CD versions that write nothing to the harddrive. Im an alternative OS nub, and you sound pretty knowledgable, but if you want to see if you like something before getting your feet wet and actually formatting or building an alternate rig, you cant go wrong with a OS on CD

 

[sharq]

Redhat/Fedora or Mandrake if you're going to be new to linux. Slackware takes a little bit of know how of linux to get you going (or a book on linux), and a ton of patience.
I would say option 2. You should be able to get a second hd for a good price from the hot deals forum, that way you might even have more space to work with in windows, and you could use part of the new hd to learn linux. When/If you decide to expand it's use, or use it more often, then you can mess with the partitions on that hd.
By the way, what video, sound, lan, and/or modem do you have?

EDIT: Forgot about the linux distro's that fit on a bootable CD. You could try those before you mess with a new hd.

 

[Budman]

You could always install Virtual pc then then you can install pretty much any os you want without messing up your current setup.

 

[MDE]

There's versions of Lindows and Mandrake that'll run off of CD. This is what I'd do:
-Unplug current hard drive, plug new one in
-Format, partition, etc.
-Install Linux\*nix OS
-Once configured, plug Windows drive back in
-Use BIOS to switch boot order when you want to boot into Linux

I've had very limited Linux experience, but that setup worked for me. Also, ATi's Linux drivers have a reputation for sucking Rocky Mountain Oysters, just in case you have a Radeon card. If you won't be gaming in Linux I wouldn't worry about it though.

 

[Abos]

Originally posted by: sharq

By the way, what video, sound, lan, and/or modem do you have?

Oops, forgot all that...

ATI Radeon 9700 TX
Onboard LAN 10/100
I got a modem, too (forget what kind tho)
Hard drive is 120 gig with 2mb buffer
Audigy 2 sound card

 

[Abos]

The bootable discs everyone is talking about are Live CD's... I've actaully tried a few of them out already (mainly Knoppix). Aside from the fact that they aren't as fast as they could be if you did an install to the hard disk, they aren't available for all the OS's I listed. Besides, I want to be able to modify things on the hard disk, I just want to make sure that there's no chance of me screwing up any of the Windows stuff.

I'll look into VirtualPC, but the best idea at the moment seems to be MonkeyDriveExpress's. If I'm switching constantly, it could get annoying, but I can deal with that.

Also, if it makes a difference, there isn't any particular thing I'm looking to do with these other OS's. Windows suits me fine (I'm not "converting" or anything). I just like fvcking around with things. I may try to set up a web server or something tho. My main goal is to understand these operating systems at the command line level before exploring GUI's, so graphics aren't too big of a deal.

Thanks for all the quick replies, BTW.

 

[Dennis Travis]

Twsmit, Suse 9.0 has a CDROM version that runs on the CDROM. Only thing it saves to an HDD is a few configuration files. Tried it, was a bit slow but worked well.

 

[VTEC01EX]

I'll second the vote for Virtual PC. I'm using it to run 98 SE, 2000, and Gentoo linux on my XP Pro machine. It's cool to just have them run windowed so you can still use XP apps while playing with a different OS.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: VTEC01EX
I'll second the vote for Virtual PC. I'm using it to run 98 SE, 2000, and Gentoo linux on my XP Pro machine. It's cool to just have them run windowed so you can still use XP apps while playing with a different OS.

I'll third the idea, but reccomend VMWare instead of VirtualPC.

 

[Jumpem]

Solaris:heart:

 

[Abos]

Does using VWWare or VirtualPC affec the performance or usability at all?

 

[DaveSimmons]

I recently evaluated both VMWare 4 and Virtual PC 2004 at work,
- speed was about the same for both
- Virtual PC made more memory available to the hosted OS (this matters if your box has less than 1 GB)
- VMWare gave you a bit more control and the docs explained the emulation in more detail.

I liked VMWare better, except for it not providing as much memory.

> alter the performance

Emulation is slower than using a partition and actually booting an OS. For interactive applications the slowdown isn't terrible, for some other applications it is.

We wanted to run WebCT (a course management server built on Apache webserver) on W2K server, and the speed was unusable on a P4 3.2 GHz with 1 GB RAM -- it was running at slower than 1/10 speed.

 

[Abos]

I did a little researching about VMWare and VirtualPC and found that they supposedly don't support all the OS's that I'm looking into. Plus, as Dave mentions above, it's slower.

I've also ruled out the "build another pc" option. That leaves me with:

a) get another hard drive (Best Buy has an WD 80gig 8mb cache HD for $50 after rebates...... I'm tempted)

b) get a laptop... the more expensive option, but it gives me a whole new toy to play with. Anyone know anything about compatibility issues with Linux, BSD, Solaris, etc. and certain laptops?

 

[ViRGE]

What OS are you looking at testing? VMWare is a virtualizer; for it to be incompatible with a major OS would be quite a stretch.

 

[Abos]

See my original post. And that's just what I read, so I could be wrong.

 

[VTEC01EX]

I might try VMware anyway, if you can get your hands on a copy. I've never personally used it, but there's a lot that VirtualPC supposedly doesn't work with either. Of course Microsoft isn't going to support using Linux on it, but it runs like a champ on my machine. Otherwise, if building another machine is too expensive, so is getting a laptop. I'd get the hard disk.

 

[Frightcrawler]

Whoa, you have an RDRAM-based computer too? Thats cool, I have a Dimension 8100 series (one of the earliest p4's computers). I'm typing with it right now .

 

[Abos]

Fvckin' A.... Rambus is god

Building another box isn't necessarily too expensive, I just don't have the room for another box. And I don't wanna deal with a KVM and what not. At least with a laptop it may actually come in use for other things. Though it does look like if I want one, I'm gonna have to pay for one. I'm gonna check around for some older hardware, otherwise, a new HD is on the way.

 

[MichaelZ]

A personal choice would be Fedora cause it's so damn sexy and it's easy to learn.

 

[Abos]

Hmm... it seems a lot of people are getting the impression that I was asking which OS to install. Oh well.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
What OS are you looking at testing? VMWare is a virtualizer; for it to be incompatible with a major OS would be quite a stretch.

Some operating systems have issues with it. You might have covered yourself by saying major though.

 

[Abos]

Well, I've made my decision: I'm just going to get another HD. The question now is wether to dual-boot or take the safer route and switch between hard drives via the BIOS.

 

[aircooled]

Build a new box dedicated to the new OS (it's cheap these days) and pick up a KVM. I prefer seperare OS's on seperate machines.