"Why disconnect the Windows drive?"

Because someone that does not know linux......Will definitely muck it up. They do not know what linux will do automatically.

99% of people who try linux......will return to windows within two weeks. The destruction of your windows system will happen when you try to get rid of it.

Linux...beyond any doubt is a much better OS. It just that one needs to be a REAL geek to use it productively.

It it the most difficult and UNSUPPORTED OS that there is. I have tried to use linux for over 10 years. After I get it installed........only about 30 min goes by.....and I have to return to windows to do or run something that linux can not run.

It's a total waste of time. AND I have NEVER been able to solve a linux problem on any linux forum.

They are not helpful people....they're geeks and like it that way. Snobs.

Windows has problems......But you can ALWAYS get a solution and fix for windows...and fine easy installable software.......but not for linux.

And then, if you are determined and get geeky........learn linux real good........you will still install virtual windows. This is because after you study and spend time on geekyness.......you still NEED windows.

That's why, for someone new to linux....I recommend to keep it isolated from windows and see if one really wants to run linux.

My recommendation is from personal experience. I can not give a professional opinion....not qualified.

Just trying to save the TS a headache. They come with linux.

 

It it the most difficult and UNSUPPORTED OS that there is. I have tried to use linux for over 10 years. After I get it installed........only about 30 min goes by.....and I have to return to windows to do or run something that linux can not run.

Funny. While I find Linux nearly infinitely easy to work with, Windows 7, 8 & 10 mystify me. I never was able to get my head around the system registry. The last Windows with which I was able to be productive was XP.

So, maybe I am a geek. But not a Windows geek.

As an aside, waiting hours for Windows updates to complete drives me batty.

 

joey......you are in a geek kingdom of your own. If I had just half of your geek....I would be happy.

 

Hello,

The current linux distributions are far more user-friendly as the distributions from 10 years ago.
OpenSuse has a lot of graphic tools to manage the system using Yast.
This is a screenshot with the yast control center open (Dutch version):



If you want to see wich distrubutions are available, have a look at distrowatch:
https://distrowatch.com/

If you want to try linux without installing it, you can try one of the many liveCD's:
http://livecdlist.com/

A very well known live distribution is Knoppix:
http://knoppix.net/

Bertus

 

Interesting chat going on here, I must say.

What it boils down to (for now..) is if I get anything from installing it, given my current "situation". All of this is just a hobby, I don't aspire to work with this stuff, I'm a maritime engineer by trade. I am mainly interested in hearing if switching/VBinstalling Linux will have some positive effect on my mission to learn to code C on projects involving microcontrollers, and embedded stuff. Maybe somethings get speed up with Linux, I don't know...

Thoughts?

 

I am mainly interested in hearing if switching/VBinstalling Linux will have some positive effect on my mission to learn to code C on projects involving microcontrollers, and embedded stuff. Maybe somethings get speed up with Linux, I don't know...

That would depend on how you define a microcontroller. Some, like RPi, run Linux and some don't. If you're going to use something that runs Linux, you might as well bite the bullet and learn Linux.

 

@dl324 I will eventually try a RPi, but I'm more than content with my newly arrived MSP430.

 

I am mainly interested in hearing if switching/VBinstalling Linux will have some positive effect on my mission to learn to code C on projects involving microcontrollers, and embedded stuff. Maybe somethings get speed up with Linux, I don't know...

That's the other problem. The development systems for the micro controllers primarily want Windows.

Arduino - not necessarily;

Rasberry PI; doesn't really matter

High end development might use BusyBox and a VM to run that environment with cross-compiling where Linux works nicely.

 

For just about anyone, the easiest platform to work with is the one you have the most experience with. Linux is lightyears ahead of where it was several years ago, but so is Windows. In my own experience, when working with development packages, commercial products targeted at Windows usually work more or less out of the box, where the free and open source stuff typically expects you to dig in and get your hands dirty. For example, the Keil uVision compiler for windows is pretty much install and go, but setting up Eclipse and gcc/g++ for the same platform took a couple of hours, though it does work once it's going.

And if you think Linux is the most difficult, then you haven't experienced Trusted Solaris.

The warning about breaking your Windows by playing with boot loaders is real, if you're not sure of the side effects of the options that you choose. That's a great way to become expert at repairing Windows boot environments!

 

And if you think Linux is the most difficult, then you haven't experienced Trusted Solaris.

Any Mandatory access control model OS will be a pain for simple things like email where all objects have security based attributes. Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is just as painful. Compared to a MLS system like BLACKER, Trusted Solaris was a cupcake.

 

I think you meant Compartmented Mode Workstation OS, MAC is basically standard user level access controls. I haven't used BLACKER. One of the "fun" parts of Trusted Solaris is it was setup so that no one user could rule the machine, no all powerful root user. So your admin cannot read top secret docs, etc.. So many tasks took 2 people to accomplish. Unless you're the developer and you put the machine in debug mode and enable all the cheats!

 

I think you meant Compartmented Mode Workstation OS

They usually went hand in hand in my day 1970s. I personally hate things like AppArmor for general use today.