IS Linux free? is it good os?

Question

HI.
I heard that Linux is awesome and i was wondering what others think about it!
Can i use it on my windows 98 pc with 256 megabite ram and 40 gb harddrive ?
can i keep windows 98 on or do i have to remvoe it?

Answer 1

The above answers are correct, you can run Linux on your existing system alongside Windows 98, and it should run pretty well.

What you might want to do is try a LIVE CD first, this is a version of Linux which runs strictly from a CD. It will let you play with it without breaking anything at first and see how everything works.

A good live CD is Knoppix which is available here: http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Answer 2

Linux is indeed free. There are companies who produce Linux operating systems and sell it on CD/DVD format which is shipped to you - this is the only instance where you may end up paying. But this should only cover costs. All good Linux flavours are available for free.



You can download Linux and burn it to CD, and use it as what's know as a Live CD. This is where you can put the CD into your computer's drive, and run the operating system direct from the CD without installing anything onto your hard drive. The only drawback to this is you can't save any settings. From a Live CD, you can normally install the full operating system if you wish.



Your PC specs could run Linux, but more modern versions might run slow. You don't have to uninstall Windows, but you will need to give Linux a partition on your hard drive. You may need to defrag your drive and use special tools in order to make a large enough blank space to make a partition. Ubuntu is one version of Linux which supports "dual boot", and it will normally install a "bootloader" when it installs. This means each time you start your computer, it will ask you whether you want to run Windows or Linux.



The only thing I'd say is, consider getting Windows XP and replace Windows 98. Support for Windows 98 is almost non-existent nowadays.



Visit http://www.ubuntu.com for a solid and popular version of Linux. Download the Live CD and play around with it - and if you like it, install it later on.

Answer 3

Linux is good, yes, but I find myself using Windows a lot more, just because it's easier. It's often hard to do certain things and use certain programs on Linux without a whole lot of computer knowledge.



Most versions of Linux are free. You shouldn't have to remove Windows 98 - my PC has both Windows Vista and Linux Ubuntu on it. I'm not sure how easy it'd be to find a version of Linux that works on your PC though, as it's not all that new.

Answer 4

You can dual boot with windows, without having to remove it, but you have to make sure that you partition a section that is big enough for Linux, to be safe at least 10 gigs.



Now, if Linux free, yes and no.



Linux itself is Free as in Freedom, not Free as in Beer. What this means is that you can always look/edit/use Linux code for whatever you want, it is all opensource. However not all Linux builds are free. They are all cheaper then Windows, and there are some that are free.



Ubunto is one build of Linux, that is free to use. It has been gaining popularity because of its ease of use. However, it does require some decent specs on your computer to use it to its best ability, your computer is a bit old, and it might be very slow. There are other free builds of Linux that are not as graphic intensive, and would run a lot better on your PC.



Linspire, is a version of linux that is not free, but it is pretty cheap, and its based to look and work like windows.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Linux_distributions - This is pretty comprehensive list of linux distributions.

Answer 5

your machine probably won't take 1 gig of ram. Check the specs for the distro you want to try. Ubuntu as I recall should be happy with 256 ram - if you have the harddisk space free, set up a dual-boot.



I am looking at installing Vector linux on a 98 machine, with lower ram specs, but lots of free harddisk space.

Answer 6

Linux is good if you are familiar with the codes and all. It's pretty tricky to install programs on it. Most of them come with it, I downloaded an iso from their website which allows you to install it within your OS so you dont lose anything and I found it a little bit tricky. I do not recommend it if you're used to the interface of windows but if you want something completely new and challenging, I'd say go for it.



Use Imageburn to burn it to a cd after you have downloaded it.

Answer 7

Linux is totaly free and open source, there is different types of Linux. Redhat is best of them. Its the best os for a decade. But its little less userfriendly than windows xp. You need two partition for linux only. one will be totally dedicated to linux. 98 cannot access that partition because that must be nondos partition. and increase ram to 512 for better result. Radhat always depends on mainboard, u didnt mention it so i cant tell u about it.

Visit www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/

Answer 8

It's free. It's called dual-booting.



You can keep windows on it, just when you go to install, make sure to only shrink your hard drive--DON'T select 'use entire HD' because that would be bad.



You'll need 2 partitions--one for linux, and one for a "swap" which can be as little as 256 mb, but I recommend 1gb.



swaping is like paging in windows.

Answer 9

Your computer should be able to run Linux. It is possible to install both Linux and Windows on one computer.



Linux is awesome but also awesome complicated :)

Try it if you have some time! It's very interesting !

Answer 10

yes, most versions of Linux are free and pretty good actually.

you can keep both operating systems on the same system, but first you have to partition your hard drive, or install Linux on an external drive.

Answer 11

You may want to upgrade your system first.

Yes, linux is mainly free. A good choice would be ubuntu. You can either order it online or get a free CD. Search them.

Answer 12

*Most version of Linux are free

*You can download liveCD (mapies,Knoppix etc.)which are run direct from CD and have no need to installaion

*it depend on you that keep Microsoft's os or not

*1st upgrade Your system configuration but current configuration is enough for Linux