Posted 04/12/2008 at 11:01:45pm

I've wanted to start using Linux for much longer than I care to remember, something (including learning curves) always seemed to get into the way. I'll be 80 before the end of the year, and plan on being an Ubuntu Linux user before that birthday. But, there are a few problems. 1. I'm running an older Dell Optiplex GX-1 with an Intel Pentium III running at 548 MHz, and 256 MB RAM. 2. My hard drive has 12.6 GB, 11.6 GB used, 997MB free. It might be possible to remove all photos and a lot of unused or little used files to free up about half of the drive's capacity. 3. I have just bought and installed a Maxtor 3200 160 GB USB hard drive that the computer recognizes as having 149 GB with 69.5 MB used (overhead, I suppose, as I have no files installed) and reporting 148 GB available. The computer calls this a local disk listed as NTFS The computer will boot from disk. And, I have had an Ubuntu 7.04 live disk running on it with no problems seen. I do need Windows on it because my wife uses it in conjunction with her work; it's currently running XP-PRO with sp-2 installed. My question is, with what I have available, how can I install Ubuntu (I will have live disk Ubuntu 8.04 before installing) to be most effective? I would like to favor Linux over Win XP-PRO space-wise and (I think) need to double boot (favoring XP-PRO because of the wife). If necessary, I could also use up to two 1GB USB travel drives if that would make it easier to install and/or use. Can anyone offer suggestions?

Posted 04/12/2008 at 10:17:08pm

When I tried watching: "XP can't give me the tricked-out, animated 3D desktop I created using Beryl--- a community-developed Open GL desktop utility. (See this demo to know what i'm talking about.)" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-tWFFeJMQY&mode=related&search= This was the response. This video has been removed due to terms of use violation Oh well!