I had my first Linux experience today!
I used the free version of the MandrakeMove Live CD as a beginner’s crutch. As I’ve discovered, this type of CD means that no installation is necessary. The whole thing is run off the CD and RAM, and my computer never has any files changed. The reason I’ve never tried Linux before is that I was always too afraid of messing something up – I’ve never had a lot of extra hardware lying around.
So I busted out my old Armada E500 and gave it a whirl. I’m somewhat impressed. Unfortunately the CD drive is too slow on that laptop to do much of anything in real time. But the interface looked nice, the few things I did do were very intuitive, etc. I couldn’t get my internet access to work, but my ISP has funny settings to use so that could be the culprit. When I was done I simply popped the CD out and booted back into Windows. No problems!
It’s looking like I’ll have very little to do over spring break, so I’ll probably take some time that week and get a full install up and running.