Linux first timer, questions about Zorin OS

I've been wondering about Linux for a while, but never really explored or researched the product until recently and i'm really starting to wonder if its time to switch from Vista, which is comfortable, familiar but eccentric and unreliable to the point where it has the personality of a demented walrus, to Zorin, which seems beautifully put together, efficient and user friendly. I've never really had much of an issue with vista, i dont use it for high end gaming (at most, i play vampire the masquerade, black and white 2 and Hellgate, my girlfriend plays sims so I dont need to worry about how difficult it will be to get *** game released with next gen persomance and graphics to work on linux) i'm rambling though, its a bad habbit of mine, so here are a few questions.

1. I use my laptop for professional purposes, Photoshop/Indesign/illustrator and flash are my main tools, MS office is my secondary tool for graphic design and free lance writing, will these programs run up to good standards on linux? i understand that MS office might not but at this point theres endless amounts of alternatives i can choose from instead.

2. Will i have to uninstall Vista before installed linux? if so, how is that done, or can I dual boot linux/vista until i settle on my final OS

3. If I can dual boot both OS's, will i be able to transfer files from one os to another without having to use cloud/external storage?

I had alot more questions, but I cant remember right now, so any extra info would be appreciated -- while I wait for replies I'll be reading the other boards for more info I might not have come across before posting here. if you need any additional info (Such as a DXDIAG) please let me know.

Thanks

Hi,

you can dual boot using the resize Windows partition function (you will be asked where you want to install Zorin during the install and just tell the installer to resize the Windows partition!) which will alow you to run both Vista and Linux side by side.

See this post from Swarfendor437 about dual booting and installation:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=12

Some Windows progs will work under Linux using WINE.

http://www.winehq.org/

You can transfer files from Windows to Linux no problem by simply mounting the drive you wish to copy from and using copy and paste!!.

Any further questions can be answered in the help and support section!!. Don't post any further questions in this section; thanks!!.

Regards Wolfman

Wolfman wrote:
You can transfer files from Windows to Linux no problem by simply mounting the drive you wish to copy from and using copy and paste!!.

It is very easy to do so when you are running Zorin. When you are running windows it is more tricky to do so.

Hi, let me address your questions as you posed them

1) There are alternatives to the tools you are using, but they are not as good as good and you should look very carefully at the alternatives to see if they are up to snuff for your workflow. You can also do some research on the wine app database to see if the versions of the programs you own are supported.

2) You don't have to uninsall Vista, but you run the risk of doing so if you are not careful.

3) you can dual boot, but file transfer from one OS to the other is not trivial, since Windows does not recognize linux file systems. This means that you won't be able to see the documents you stored on your linux partition(s) unless you install software on your windows partition. I personally solved this problem by creating a FAT32 partition for documents that I will share between the 2 OSs.

I hoped I helped you with your questions and don't be shy to ask again anytime.

Great answers, I've just cleaned up my computer and will be backing up to an external hard drive (Fat32 format, since i also use it for my PS3) thanks for the help. One thing i'd like to clarify something more specifically -- does adobe (photoshop,illustrator etc) run on linux? All other programs are not important since there are alternatives but I really cant replace adobe suite with anything since few programs come close. If its not possible to run Adobe on linux I'll simply use it on the windows partition instead.

Another question -- my dvd drive isn't working (malware related failure, wont open, and when I manage to get it open it wont burn or read disks) is there any way to get around this since I wont be able to burn the ISO to a disk -- would it be possible to use something like Daemon tools to use a virtual disk instead? I did the same thing when downloading a torrent version of hellgate from their website after it went Free to play, but not sure how the results would differ on an OS installation.

swarfendor437 wrote:If you have a 4 Gb USB thumb drive you could download the iso and create a bootable thumb drive using unetbootin from http://www.pendrivelinux.com then once booted, from the desktop select "install to hard drive" option.

Would this work with an SD card?

So i'm on the zorin live mode after booting, trying to install and replace windows vista (even after 5 minutes of testing i knew this was the OS for me -- i'm completely in love and extremely happy with the whole feel and look of Zorin. However, when I try to install to replace vista i get the following pop up -- http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z10/ ... enshot.png

anybody know what I can do to solve the problem?

Solidor,

I forgot to mention that you can run a "Rescue CD" to rid your PC of infection, you just need to create a CD from a downloaded file!!. This is Linux based and can run on any PC!!.

Go here:

http://www.avira.com/en/support-downloa ... cue-system

Main page:

http://www.avira.com/en/support-download

Regards Wolfman