UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi guys and galls. I was wondering if u could help me?? At the moment i am a win xp user, but like most microsoft users im fed up of my computer not working, so i was thinking of buying a new hard drive and getting a unix based system on that basicly giving new life to my system. I was just wondering if you could help suggest an os and any other help..
What im looking for is something highly compatible with pcs and macs, easy to use and secure. thanks in advance for any help..

There are quite a few different types to choose from.. you may wanna read up on some of the past posts, starting with the FAQs...

I'm new to Unix. Which books should I read?
Where do I download LINUX & UNIX?

There's also the search function which will turn up posts like these:

https://www.unix.com/unix-for-dummies-questions-and-answers/10383-what-latest-version-unix.html?s=
https://www.unix.com/showthread.php?threadid=10137&s=
https://www.unix.com/unix-for-dummies-questions-and-answers/8516-newbie-unix.html?s=

Thanks, id read most of those already but while looking through ive noticed how little i know about unix, so im going for mandrake linux. Where do i go from here. i wanted to partition for now and keep windows for the family to use, but ive been told that windows always tries to mess up stuff when u get more than one os. is this true? if so what could i do?

You might want to get a taste of UNIX by loading Cygwin first and learn some of the commands before dumping it on...it will help for when you start up.

May I suggest something?

If you have been using Windows for all of your life then it would be a good idea that you try the latest version of Linux (say RD9.0). They have wonderful GUI and very easy to use! Its almost as if you are working in windows; but if you intend to learn more (and of course have good patience) then you can install any latest Unix OS. And according to me, I did some survey when I was planning to install Linux/Unix, Solaris is good option; but that my personal opinion.

Also, I found it easy to partition when installing Linux. I have Windows and Linux.

All the Best.

I can't recommend Cygwin, personally (as thehoghunter did).

The power of Linux, Unix etc is in the network capabilities. Cygwin does not give a good flavor of this.

In fact, I downloaded Cygwin this AM and checked and was disappointed. My thoughts were that if someone started with Cygwin they would decided not to use Linux or UNIX.

However, if someone really liked UNIX and Linux and then installed Cygwin, they might find some of the commands useful.

So, my thoughts were that Cygwin is not for beginners, but for experienced users that needed some Linux functionality on their Windows setup.

Lots of nubs like Mandrake Linux because some say it is very easy to install compared to other distros. My recommendation is to start there and experiment.