UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi, all you unix people. I am a pretty advanced windows user, but I am curious about unix. Is there any reason I should attempt to acquire some form of unix for my home computer system? What sort of things is unix useful for? Unix is open source, right? Assuming that to be the case, I infer that there are probably lots of different versions available. If this is the case, which should I use? And what about linux?

What I want to know is as a home user who is already familiar and comfortable with windows (xp currently) should I bother getting unix; what are the pros to balance out the cons of installing a new os, learning a new os, loss of compatability with a lot of software, price, etc.

If you only want one system that works for you, you may not really want to consider Unix if you already have a working Windows installation. I tried to persuade a friend of mine whom I know are quite proficient in computers to try Linux. Nope, he didn't dare to move.

To learn or not to learn depends totally on whether you have interests in it, because it is so much different compared with Windows. Of course, in my opinion you won't lose anything if you have a unix installation alongside your Windows installation, provided you have disk space. You can delete it if you don't like it, so I think it's good at least you have some tastes of what it is about.

Unix is not entirely open source, but most software on it are. Linux in particular is. Usually on x86 machines you install either *BSD or Linux. I think Linux is generally easier to set up (with installers) and gives you a more complete installation by default as shipped so you don't need to do a lot of post-install configuration. You can get more advice by doing a forum search here.

thats how i got into linux. i wanted something different, something not constrictive and proprietary. if your motherboard supports selecting which drive to boot, id suggest that you get a new harddrive and install linux on that, while still able to use your windows installation. that way you can use both until you migrate completely to linux, if that is what you want. if you want a suggestion for which linux distro to try, i would suggest suse 8.2

Hi,

Why are you posting here ?
It's because you're interested in Unix, right ? Now that's the reason to have Unix installed.

It's the strenght of your own knowledge to learn multiple OS'es.
I think ones you have seen Unix/Linux you know it's going to be your next job or not. Let's say Unix is flexible, you get free downloads everywhere for the OS itself or software for your OS.

If I where you I'dd at least tried it for ones, it won't hurt, will it ?
Better go to a shop and get the books in as well for those few 60 Euro's. I prefer Sun, but for intel Mandrake should do, of course RedHat, etc are ok as well. Try to strick with a GUI based one as your first try. It will be hard to understand all command's the first time.

@yourservice
David