windows shutting down, also non-system disk or disk error with linux installation, are they related? hardware failure?

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i feel better about not hanging out there all by myself, and i appreciate the support-- thank you.today i downloaded both knoppix and ubuntu, and let me tell you, a fiberoptic connection is FAST! my initial download speed from the argonne national lab mirror for ubuntu was MORE THAN 1 MB/SEC! it came down to about 650 mb/sec after a minute.anyway, the computer i have been trying to use has windows installed on it, and i have been having difficulties getting it booted up. it boots up to windows, and then shuts down. i don't know what the problem is, so i tried to install knoppix, and the gui just wasn't appearing correctly, and then when i tried to install ubuntu, i get a non-system disk or disk error.i downloaded knoppix and ubuntu without any problem and burned them to disk properly, so why am i getting this problem, and is it related to why windows is shutting down-- could it be a hardware failure? a bad ram

stick?any ideas?thanks in advance.LLps, it's a compaq 6016us with an amd 1800+ cpu @ 1.53 ghz, with 512 of ram, 60 gb hd, dvd-rom & cd-rw."Jerry Park, D.O." wrote: Larry, You probably will evolve some over time if you get into using Linux as there are quite some differences in the various Linux distros. Knoppix and most of the LiveCD Linux distros will install to a hard drive. Knoppix installs to follow a Debian structure, and will use Debian tools to install new software, such as

apt-get. is a long-term fan of Slackware, which has a lot of great tools, but I wouldn't exactly try it for my first Linux distro based on your "short term" goals. It might be a bit more complex to get installed and going. You can run ubuntu as a LiveCD and try it fully to see if you like it before installing. It follows a Debian structure. They have 32-bit and 64-bit versions. Some Linux distros are a bit "raw", but ubuntu is well put together, has nice fonts and wizards, and tends to try to follow some Windows wizard conventions to make it easier when migrating from Windows. It uses apt-get and Synaptic to install software, which is really easy to use. The LiveCD is an approx 600 meg download, so hopefully you have some bandwidth. ubuntu doesn't have some of the nifty "Swiss Army Knife" like tools that can help you do all kinds of stuff, but it sounds like you're not worrying

about that right now, and it has plenty of wizards for the usual stuff you would want to do. Wine is a Linux program that provides "fake windows" binaries and .dll's, so it does not run a full installation of Windows inside Linux like VMware player, Virtual Box, or win4lin. Wine has advanced a lot, and you can run MS Office Pro, and hundreds if not thousands of Windows programs with it. I just checked on Instant Medical History. It has a web version (of course) which I would think would be more useful since you're getting the patient to use it to fill out stuff ahead of time. On a local machine it says the system rec's are WinXP...I don't know if it will run on Linux using wine or no. If I had a copy I would try it. Most Linux distros have plenty of tools to deal with PDF and filling out forms. ubuntu uses Evince instead of Acrobat Reader, which is very good in my opinion. It is the only

Linux PDF program (other than aipdf) I have seen so far that will allow you fill out text entry boxes and text boxes on PDF AcroForms. You can easily install Acrobat Reader for Linux as well if you don't like Evince. ubuntu uses Firefox as the main browser, and I (and many others) prefer Firefox on either Windows or Linux. One thing that may drive you a bit buggy in Linux at first is permissions. Some Linux distros run only as the superuser "root" which is like only being able to run Windows as "administrator". ubuntu is multi-user, and is fairly strict about permissions. This increases security, but is something you have to study a bit to avoid frustration when installing some software. If you decide to try Linux, I'm pretty sure I can speak for , Graham and myself that we will help or try to point the way to help. Jerry > > Larry, > >

Ubuntu should work fine. All the major Linux "distros" use the > same underlying components like the Linux kernel, Xwindow for the > windowing environment and KDE and GNOME as the "window managers" that > give a certain flavor and provide their own suites of useful > applications. The distros differ mainly in how easy they make it to > install the whole thing. They also have some variation in how they > organize the important system files and how things are set up when the > system boots up etc. But it is not hard to jump from one distro to > another if you have used one. If you are going to use instant medical > history, I don't think that would run directly under linux, if it has > a web browser interface to a server, you could run the server on a > Windows machine maybe. I'm not familiar with instant medical history > to say. But you might be able to run it under

"Wine" a windows > emulator that runs on Linux. Jerry has been using Wine a lot and knows > more about it than I do. Another interesting area that is getting > popular is to run "virtual machines" where you can run Linux as a > "Guest" OS under Windows or vice versa. This is a very handy way to > try out different distros without making permanent changes to your > basic system and avoids having to repartion and create new filesystems > etc. > > Caldwell > Tulare, CA > > > > > > ok, i have had it with microsoft and bill gates taking my money. > > i am setting up my kiosk computer, and have made the decision to > go initially with linux. > > i have been looking for

the easiest to install form, i downloaded > knoppix, but it's designed to only run from cd. i am now looking at > ubuntu, v 7.10, which appears to be the most user friendly. > > i just want an operating system that is easy to install and works > well, and upon which i can use several relatively simple applications, > including patient intake forms and possibly instant medical history, > and for fill-out-able administrative forms available on the internet. > > i don't want to turn into a programming geek. > > any suggestions/recommendations? > > LL > > > > > > --------------------------------- > > Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! > Search. > > >

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