coLinux
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The typical coLinux user will:

  • have a background with Linux or other Unix
  • already have a nice text editor and a bag of tricks like Cygwin, TaskInfo...
  • know how to do research to find solutions to problems on Google or IRC
  • be more than happy to start editing a few files to make the network work then download software then try a few crazy things.
  • most likely already use Linux to do certain things, and will use coLinux as a convenience, in order to be able to do said Linux things in Windows without having to reboot.

However, some people may prefer to stay with Windows (at least in the short term). These would include people who:

  • want a colorful graphical user interface, similar to Windows itself
  • are not familiar with DOS or command line related tools
  • want full multimedia support
  • want to be able to quickly play 3D games

It really depends on what you're looking for. There is a particular Linux distribution called Ubuntu which has become extremely popular with Windows users who are curious about Linux. In addition, Linux has been improving radically as a gaming platform recently; you can find out more about that here. 3d games like the ones shown there can take a little work to set up, in terms of installing drivers and so on, but it's not impossible. The Ubuntu people have also been doing a lot of work to make Linux as friendly as possible for people who are starting out with it.

A possible usage scenario for coLinux is that after using Ubuntu for a while at home, you may find that you really enjoy using it, however you also discover that you are unable to use Linux at your workplace, for whatever reason, for example. If that were the case, you would be able to download coLinux and with a certain amount of work get it running so that you could continue to use Linux from within Windows.

In several occasions we helped new users with absolutely no experience in Linux and led them from A to Z to a fully configured, working system, complete with a X desktop and applications. So the lack of prior knowledge is not a handicap, and a open spirit will surely help.

"andLinux" one of the newer distribution based on Colinux and Kubuntu, has been breaking that knowledge barrier. It includes sound and network support out of the box, and can be configured without using one single line of shell.

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