h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have a PC running Windows 95. I also have a lot of Windows programs - mostly games, but not ones that require things like graphics accelerators.

What I want to know is, does anybody out there have experience of running Linux on a PC? (Thing is, I have my original Windows 95 CD, but I've lost the piece of paper with the install code on it - OOPS! This means that if I dump Windows 95, I can't get it back!) Is it possible to dump Windows completely and install Linux instead, obviously with a Windows emulator to allow my programs to run? Which is the best Windows emulator? Where do I get it and how much does it cost? Will Linux cope with games? As I say, they're not 'shoot-'em-ups' or arcade games, so the graphics requirements are fairly straight-forward. Should I go for something like Red Hat Linux, or should I get it of the Web? Should I wait a while, until I need a new PC for example (whenever that is) and make the change then?

Answers on the back of a postcard. No more than 50 words. The editor's decision is final. Thank you!

I haven't got Linux, but I get the impression it is not just a plug-in-and-go system. You will have to hunt for drivers, tweak parameters and so on. If you don't know what a parameter is or how to tweak it, you are probably not the sort of person who can get a Linux system running.

As far as I know, the actual serial numbers are not inscribed on the Windows 95 CD, so if you find someelse who has the same version, you can use their serial number. But be warned, there are at least five different versions of Windows 95, and possibly as many as 8:

Windows 95 Upgrade
Windows 95 New Installation
Windows 95A New Installation
Windows 95B New Installation
Windows 95B with USB support New Installation

Linux is supposed to be a lot simpler to install right now. I'm actually doing it tonight on my PC (which already has Win98) and running as a duel boot system.
If you want more information, pick up a book from you local library or one of the Linux magazines (I work for Linux Format) in the UK. If you registered your Win95, you should be able to contact MS for the serial number, if not, it is somewhere in the installation. I'll check mine tonight and post again tomorrow. Unless you've found your by then.

Things in the Linux world have become a whole lot easier recently. About 2 years ago it was pretty hefty tricky-dicky stuff quite often. ahh, the good old days

One thing's for certain - this ain't no MacOS UI but there are some pretty good ones out there.

My personal favourite at the moment is KDE. KDE 2 has just been released, and it kicks some major butt.

Personal advice (from someone who's been on the linux boat for about 2 years, and really does know what he's talking about) is grab a copy of RedHat (or any other major distribution such as Debian, SuSE etc) and download and install KDE2.

You can keep your windows there too (although anything u can do on windows you can do better on linux). For running Windows programs in LInux you can use a program like VMware (which actually runs windows on top of linux) or this thing called WINE (which just runs windows programs on linux). WINE now actually runs Excel and Word 2000 so it's pretty advanced at the moment. It's not perfect, but it's pretty good for $0!!!! VMware you have to pay for

SO all up cost: CD of RedHat (or whatever) about $3 to $5
Download KDE2 (free, or maybe a few $$ for net time)
copy of WINE (10 minute download?)
and some time to set it up and learn a few things.

always look out at www.linuxdoc.org
for really cool (and step by step) documentation.

as i said, this aint no MacOS GUI but it's a damn site better than Windows (and i use them all everyday).

It's OK, I've found where Microsoft hides the serial number. It is coded into the CD that you do the installation from, but the installation then puts the serial number into the registry. This means that if you try to do an installation of new facilities from somebody else's CD, your computer won't let you. So your idea of borrowing somebody else's CD wouldn't work. However, if an installation of Linux onto a clean PC went OK, I'm not sure I'd want to go back to Windows 95. It's just if the installation of Linux *didn't* go OK.

For those that are interested, or have lost their own serial number, run 'regedit'. (Click the 'Start' button on the task bar, click 'Run', type 'regedit', and hit 'Enter' or click 'OK') You will find the serial number in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion. The key name is ProductId. It's nice to know it's there if you need it. Other MS product serial numbers are probably hidden in similar places.

Just in case you're interested, my installation of Caldera eDesktop 2.4 went smooth as a nut. My biggest worry, partitioning the disk, was a breeze because the distribution contains a copy of Partition Magic. Anyway, it correctly worked out most of my hardware (something that Mandrake had problems with), configured the desktop and within about 30 minutes I was up and running.

The only problems I've found are that a. I've got no sound (probably due to the motherboards integrated sound system) b. the wheel doesn't work on my mouse, and c. my graphics tablet wasn't recognised.

Still these are minor problems that I'm sure I'll resolve in the fullness of time.

These are the very problems which put me off going down the Linux road. Sure you can get Linux to work, but will it work with my:

SoundBlaster PCI128 sound card
Kodak Digital Camera
PlusTek scanner
Canon Colour Bubblejet Printer
Mouse
Typing Keyboard
ATI Rage "3D" graphics card
MIDI Keyboard
Two hard disks (4GB and 10GB)
CD-ROM
3.5" diskette drive

Unless it can do all of those (and Windows 95 can) then it is not worth having.

I'm in a similar situation. I have:

3.5" floppy drive
3.2Gb hard drive
512Mb hard drive
CD drive
Soundblaster 16 sound card
Matrox Mystique (I think) graphics card
Epson Photo 8xx printer
Olympus C21 digital camera and associated software.

I assume that Linux won't have problems with the floppy and hard drives - they are standard pieces of kit, after all. It's drivers for the other bits and pieces that concern me. Plus the fact that the software for the camera is Windows-based, but it sounds like 'WINE' might be able to cope with that.

Somebody quoted $3 - $5 for a CD of Red Hat Linux. I'd love to know where those figures come from. You can buy Red Hat Linux in the shops, and it costs a lot more than that! Maybe the packs in the shops come with stuff like paper based manuals or more utilities than just Linux.

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