HOME
TOPICS
ABOUT ME
MAIL
Xandros turns your Windows PC into a Linux computer without touching your Windows files in any way.
|
| technofile
Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983
T e c h n o f i l e
$100 Xandros software creates a Linux computer out of any Windows PC without modifying Windows files
July 24, 2005
By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2005, The Post-Standard
The competition for your computer operating system just got hotter. Xandros, a software company in Ottawa (at www.xandros.com), is selling a $100 operating system that turns your Windows PC into a Linux computer -- without touching your Windows files in any way.
This dual-boot system is called Xandros SurfSide Linux. After you install it, you can choose whether to run Windows or Linux at each bootup, and you can make one of them the default so the computer will boot up one way or the other if you're away from the keyboard.
That kind of scenario should make sense for at least some Windows users who have grown weary of Windows problems. For an outlay of $100 (or less, if you buy Xandros SurfSide Linux at a typical discount), you can own a PC with an escape hatch. When viruses, spyware, zombieware and browser hijacking knock your Windows system out or slow it down intolerably, you can reboot into Linux and keep on doing your Web browsing, e-mail, MP3 playing and report writing. (Viruses are very rare in Linux, and spyware, zombieware and browser hijacking don't exist.)
Trying out Linux this way also makes sure that you can still run Windows programs you can't afford to be without, such as tightly integrated financial software and specialty software for a small business.
When I decided to install Xandros SurfSide Linux on my wife's game-playing PC, I had the same motive. My wife needs Windows to play the games she reviews, even though her normal computing is done on an OS X Macintosh. So I knew I had to leave the entire Windows system as-is when I installed Linux.
Xandros SurfSide Linux creates a separate partition on the PC's disk drive for its own use if the PC has only one drive, and is able to "see into" the Windows side of the computer easily. (Files can be viewed, changed, deleted or created from the Linux side to the Windows side, although Windows can't do it the other way.)
My wife's game-playing PC has two physical drives -- I added one when drives prices started dropping a few years ago -- so I deleted the old backup files on that drive and instructed SurfSide Linux to use that entire drive for its own installation.
The installation went quickly, and Xandros automatically hooked itself up to all the network connections available to that PC, including our Road Runner Internet connection and our Windows-Mac network.
That was impressive enough, but the best was yet to come. Without any prompting, Xandros Linux automatically located and installed drivers for every printer on all the computers located on our home network. Not only did it connect up properly to our Mac-based laser printer and our two inkjets, one on Windows and the other on a Mac, it even connected to the Adobe PDF print engine -- a software driver -- on my OS X Macintosh.
SurfSide Linux uses an interface called KDE that works a lot like Windows, so first-time users shouldn't have problems getting around and running programs. It comes with DVD-burning software, MP3 audio software, the Firefox Web browser and its companion Thunderbird e-mail program, the OpenOffice suite (compatible with Microsoft Office in most ways) and an almost countless number of extra programs for nearly every function. (Linux installations are typically like that. You get an immense amount of software.)
As a longtime Windows user and a confirmed fan of Apple's Mac OS X operating system, I was surprised at how easy Xandros SurfSide Linux was to install and use. Both Microsoft, maker of Windows, and Apple could learn from the automatic updates built into Xandros. You're able to see at a glance which of your programs need updates and which programs you have not yet installed.
On an otherwise dull vacation day, I had a lot of fun trying out dozens upon dozens of free Linux programs I got through the Xandros update system. Uninstalling was even easier than installing.
If you're interested in trying Linux without getting rid of Windows, Xandros Surfside Linux is the best way I've seen yet. If you like to try alternatives to Windows and don't want to pay the price of new hardware, SurfSide Linux is a great way to make use of your current PC.
| |