Ok, what live cd linux is the best and could you like save files onto it and does it have a program that lets you type commands like the command prompt for windows? I am trying to learn linux.
Thanks.
There are many, many different live cd's most of which are nowadays quite user friendly. Ie gui's, point and click etc. When i was trying different ones i used a cdrw and tried a few. I have used them many times to recover my computer from extreme errors. as long as the bios work they will boot and give u internet access.
have a read into the main ones, knoppix is probs a gud one to start with, most come with loads an loads of free full software
http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php this site lets u list types of linux from what they were intended for ie gaming, server, desktop, and then takes u to a page with full description
as for saving files or settings with a live cd you will need to have a partition on a hard disk with a linux filesysem on it (ext2 or ext3) and ideally a pagefile - this isnt neccasery though as it will use your ram if u dont have a pageile. if u have low ram u might have to. i used knoppix on 128mb ram before, slow but worked.
If u decide to install linux choose carefully as not all are point and click with nice gui's. many are for running machines and are based around commands like as u asked in dos. only the commands are nothing like dos.
for example if the linux system didnt load your floppy disk, you have to mount it. the command for this is 'mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy'
mount is the command, dev is the folder containing all the device types, fd0 is the device name given to floppy, mnt is the folder where stuff is mounted to and floppy is just a folder that u(usually) mount the floppy to.
It gets complicated with hard drives because you mount a filesystem to a folder rather than a device - ie you would mount /dev/hda -type fatx to /mnt/hda. so u mount fatx from hda which is your primary hard drive to /mnt/hda.
if u r to install read carefully about the bootloaders, its easy to muck up your windows boot.
not trying to scare u off though, as i said, most now are point and click so you would right click on the floppy icon and select mount. hard drives are mounted at boot procedure
u might even be past this stage and wonder why i'm waffling ... i'll stop!
have fun
