EggXpert

I am currently a Windows user on my primary laptop but am getting a Acer Aspire One Netbook with a 160 GB HDD Hardrive and the Intel Atom 1.6 Ghz Processor that uses the Windows XP OS, and am intrigued by Linux because it is free and open source, but it seems like there is a lot to understand such as the partitioning and knowing code (of which i know none). I was looking at the newer release of Ubuntu, but i would like to know more before starting a foray into another OS that i have minimal knowledge of even though Ubuntu seems easy to work with.

 One Question would be would it be optimal to have 2 OS's (due to linux not being able to support games albeit the only ones i would put on the netbook are older such as Starcraft, Diablo 2, Red Alert) Usually i only plan on using it for Word processing , Excel sheets, Powerpoints, and internet browsing/ music storage for my ipod. Another thing i would want to know is if there is an Itunes like program or if itunes can be loaded onto a linux os so that i can still synch my ipod.

Any and all help or opinions would be greatly appreciated

Don't worry about knowing how to code or program anything, that's not necessary to run a Linux system. Once in a while you'll have to do something in the terminal, but its not that bad. There are plenty of applications to play music like Amarok, XMMS, Banshee, Songbird, and so on. Many of them also have iPod support.

It would be possible to dual boot with Linux and Windows, but for just a few applications you might consider running them in Wine. Games that are less demanding of the system like Starcraft have been running in Wine for years. If you do decide to dual boot, install Windows first and leave part of the hard disk blank, then install Ubuntu and it will automatically setup the boot loader to include Windows. Instaling Linux first then Windows can be done but its a little more tricky. Cheers!

Latest Ubunutu you can 'shrink' the existing Windows Partition. I'd try that first before uninstalling/reinstalling. 

Linux uses Grub as the boot manager so as long as Linux is installed second, you can use Grub to select Windows or linux to boot into.

WINE works for some Windows apps (like starcraft) but not all (like itunes). If you are dead set on itunes (ala itunes store) and can't deal with purchasing songs from places like Amazon, then I'd dual boot or you can install Linux and use a vmware-type solution like virtual box (http://www.virtualbox.org/).

On the install level, you can pick and choose what components are installed.

On the compile level, if you are designing your own distribution, or "distro" you can choose what components to include or not.

No, because linux has fewer users.

Linux viruses and exploits exist, but are less common.

CheapAsianGamerGuy:

No, because linux has fewer users.

Linux viruses and exploits exist, but are less common.

Says the Windows Administrator. |o.O|

You forgot to mention that:

• Linux goes about security a LOT differently than Windows. Without root access, it's extremely hard to own a linux box.
• Linux is open source. Windows is close source. Being more open means more eyes on the code and harder (faster) code.
  

root:

CheapAsianGamerGuy:

No, because linux has fewer users.

Linux viruses and exploits exist, but are less common.

Says the Windows Administrator. |o.O|

You forgot to mention that:

• Linux goes about security a LOT differently than Windows. Without root access, it's extremely hard to own a linux box.
• Linux is open source. Windows is close source. Being more open means more eyes on the code and harder (faster) code.
  

"own" meaning "to compromise"

In Linux, when you have root access, you "own" the box.

In windows, when you have administrator level access, you "own" the box.

More eyes on code meaning there are more  developers who can see the source code of the OS and fix mistakes.

"Starcraft, Diablo 2, Red Alert)" double check the winedb, but I'm pretty sure linux will run these.

You don't need to know code to run linux. But if you run it long enough your learn code as it makes it so much easier. Though a warning once you start writing code in linux, you might not want to run linux again.

 But Ubuntu is extremely easy. Its easier then windows by a margin. Especially now a days. Linux, even 64 bit linux supports flash (which doesn't sound like much, but 5-10 years ago this was a big deal). After you get use to it your be fine. And of the 10 or so people I've gotten to switch to linux. One of them has actually bothered to learn the command line, but you really don't need to these days. If you do, its makes your usage much easier then windows, but if you don't its about the same(stability, crashes, etc, etc, etc). Technically 99.99% of the time, when you think linux has crashed or frooze, it hasn't and if you know the command line and your keyboard shortcuts you can usually fix it very easily.

Linux has alot in common with Windows 9x in terms of how its run. Which has alot to do with its stability, its not graphical at most levels, compared with nt(xp, vista, etc) which is graphical at practically every level.