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Unix/Linux a differance?

I want to learn Unix as it is widely used in my workplace and figure good knowledge could lead to a promo, trawling through the net im even more confused!!!
What I want to do is dl UNIX so I can emulate it and learn it on my winxp system is it possible?, is it free?, most links tend to lead towards Linux though.
Could someone please post URL's for the best approach to learning and dl/buying?
Thanks
 
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EnglishGuy said:
... What I want to do is dl UNIX so I can emulate it and learn it on my winxp system is it possible?, is it free?, most links tend to lead towards Linux though. ...

There are a number of ways to run XP and Linux -

a) Set up a dual boot system - modern distros tend to sort this out for you.
b) Run Linux in a virtual machine.
c) Other half way houses ...


I`m currently running various flavours of Linux and FreeBSD in MS Virtual PC 2004 under XP. My processor is equivalent to a 3 gigahertz Pentium and everything runs speedily - I also have 1 gigabyte of RAM (fast processor and extra RAM let virtual machines shine). Having said that I have also run XP under Linux on a 350 megahertz Pentium with around 350 megabytes of RAM and it was still usable.

Something like Mandrake, SUSE, or Fedora should install with Virtual PC without too much of a problem. Mandrake and Fedora come as free ISOs while SUSE requires an FTP install - or you can buy it fairly cheaply. :)

EDIT - If your workplace uses Solaris I think you should be able to download/purchase an x86 version (even I have a copy knocking about somewhere) - don`t forget to check for hardware compatibility if that`s the case.
 
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Ee bah gum !!

There seem to be reports of dual boot problems with the latest distros - my advice is stick them in a virtual machine, VPC 2004/VMware, until things become clearer. :eek:
 
Looking at the Mandrake Linux page it looks nothing like my works system, we run Windows 98 and log into a Unix system which records ticket input systems and various databases. Is this still Mandrake Linux or will it be best to wait till tomorrow and I post the version here!
 
The graphical front end is bolted onto Linux and is highly configurable so don`t be deceived by it. It`s probably best to post back with more detailed information. :)
 
i liked using red hat linux for a while - though i got bored of having the option during boot up to choose whether to have xp or linux load... so i got rid of it :( - probably mainly cos i didnt really need it - just wanted to see what it really was like... just need to test out the Mac OS - see what that is like :)
 
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You can always try cygwin (http://www.cygwin.com/), which brings UNIX/Linux commands to Windows, a good way to start learning the basics.

You need a full install to really get moving, but not all UNIX are the same and all the various setups, such as devices etc, tend to be different.

Fortunately, most applications are available on all UNIX/Linux distros, so if you are happy using an alternate Windows environment, like GNOME or KDE, then it will work with any variety.

I use FreeBSD myself.
 
EnglishGuy said:
Ok
Its a win98 system running "Multiview Terminal Adaptor" and the software is "SCO UNIX Open Server 5"
Any tips?

SCO Unix appears to be a dying brand and they are currently involved in a legal dispute with IBM (and others) - if they lose, and things look pretty bad for them at the moment, the whole company could be finished. Most members of the Unix family are similar under the skin so using Linux will let you get used to Unix type systems. If you really want SCO Open Server I`m sure they`d sell you a copy (understatement - things are not good at SCO right now). :nod:
 
There are differences between Unix and Linux, if you need to learn Unix then maybe Learning Linux isnt a good idea.
I dont have the link to hand but i did read last year of a free Unix download for people who wanted to learn it; i'm afraid you'll have to google for it.
 
Captain_Cretin said:
There are differences between Unix and Linux, if you need to learn Unix then maybe Learning Linux isnt a good idea.
I dont have the link to hand but i did read last year of a free Unix download for people who wanted to learn it; i'm afraid you'll have to google for it.

There are many different flavours of UNIX; part of the problem in the past was that each vendor created its own proprietary standards (like SCO) within their own distribution and this prevented the market growing - take a look at this page to get some idea of the number of different offerings - http://www.levenez.com/unix/ . Even MS had its own version of UNIX for a while.

I think you may be referring to Windows services for UNIX ( was free ) which does something similar to Cygwin; or possibly Solaris.
:)
 
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EnglishGuy said:
Thanks for the advice, im going for SUSE Linux 9.1 only because I can lay my hands on one.
I hope this is ok????

From a recent posting to Slashdot ( http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/05/23/1448209&mode=thread&tid=110&tid=187 ) -

..."It seems Fedora Core doesn't like to boot alongside Windows 2K or XP. According to a bug first reported in February on Fedora's bugzilla site it has a tendency to chew up partition maps making it impossible to dual boot into Windows. ....

And -

...This is Linux kernel 2.6 - Mandrake 10, Suse 9.1 and Fedora Core 2 all suffer from this problem.

Switching to Debian won't help if you want Linux kernel 2.6. Your paritition table will be fubared.

Furthermore, people do know what's causing the problem. The Linux kernel now doesn't show the same disk geometry as the BIOS does. The fix is to use sfdisk to recreate the partition table. ...

This is all rather unusual but that`s why I suggested running in a VM .
:confused:
 
If my memory serves me correctly to install Linux under MS VPC 2004 you just select the OS as "Other" and typically I give the vm 200 megabytes RAM and a 16 gigabyte virtual disk (think it just expands as needed - I`m not at my main machine right now). :)
 
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