Linux enviroment

[boriar]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

Not if you wish to interact with Windows programs too.

You are right. That's the clue for me.

[Lucas Malor]

Avoid Cygwin. It's a mess.

A virtual machine is harder to set up and it's slower, but it's more simple to use and more reliable. Personally I use Virtualbox and it's ok. It's a bit complicated to install the Guest Addiditions to have all the bells and whistles, but you can use it also without it. If you care about it, Virtualbox without Extension pack (really not needed) is free and open source.

Furthermore, if you're a noob, use Gnome or KDE. I used xfce for a whie and I'm actually using lxde and yes, I agrre with Kacir, they are cool and faster, but they are really, really less easy to use.

[Rizla]

You can install Ubuntu Linux alongside your Windows installation.

[Glorfindel]

Still no interaction with Windows.
A live cd as HarryT suggested would be easier if no interaction was required.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by Glorfindel

Still no interaction with Windows.
A live cd as HarryT suggested would be easier if no interaction was required.

Do you mean with Ubuntu? Ubuntu can see the Windows file structure, but it can't run at the same time, if that's what you mean. Not that I know a lot about it.

[HarryT]

Perhaps the OP can clarify if he needs to run Linux and Windows programs simultaneously on the same computer, or simply to be able to access the Windows file system from Linux.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by PeterT

A virtual machine is harder to set up and it's slower, but it's more simple to use and more reliable. Personally I use Virtualbox and it's ok. It's a bit complicated to install the Guest Addiditions to have all the bells and whistles, but you can use it also without it. If you care about it, Virtualbox without Extension pack (really not needed) is free and open source.

You can download installed image with all the bells and whistles.
The only problem I ever had was, that I had to change the default emulated chipset to ICH9 for the virtual machine.

Originally Posted by PeterT

Furthermore, if you're a noob, use Gnome or KDE. I used xfce for a whie and I'm actually using lxde and yes, I agrre with Kacir, they are cool and faster, but they are really, really less easy to use.

In case of Mint Linux the xfce and lxde versions are optimized to resemble the main edition - Cinnamon. And Cinnamon DE resembles "Good Old" Gnome 2, despite the fact it uses Gnome 3 internals.

[boriar]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Perhaps the OP can clarify if he needs to run Linux and Windows programs simultaneously on the same computer, or simply to be able to access the Windows file system from Linux.

Exactly. I need run windows and use linux for some little works (at least for now). That's the reason because I don't like a livecd.
About virtual machine, because the works are simple, I don't want to spare my time with installation and configuration. May be later when I need some more complicate work.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by boriar

Exactly. I need run windows and use linux for some little works (at least for now). That's the reason because I don't like a livecd

The only way to do it, in that case, is to run Linux in a VM.

[Terisa de morgan]

Depending on what you need, cygwin is a solution although it's not very well liked here

[latepaul]

Something I just discovered today was VMware player's "unity mode" which allows you to run applications of the guest OS on the host desktop.

You need to install the VMware tools in the Linux VM but once you do it's pretty easy to switch to unity and you have access to the Linux start/application menu.

Of course if you know Linux you can do a similar thing with an X server on windows but this was simpler to setup and felt slicker.

[Difflugia]

To get the environment that it sounds like you want (Linux and Windows programs sharing the same desktop, cut/paste, etc.), I recommend (as others have told you) installing and running Linux in a VirtualBox virtual machine.

Then install the X server from Cygwin (building Windows executables using Cygwin isn't for the faint of heart, but the tools are great).

Once you have the X server set up, you can run the virtual machine (you don't even need to run another desktop) and leave it minimized. Run the X server in multiwindow mode, then use Cygwin's xterm to ssh to the virtual machine and run Linux desktop applications. The applications will appear on your Windows desktop alongside your running Windows programs. You can give the virtual machine access to portions of the Windows filesystem using shared directories. I use this setup at work for software development and the whole thing's pretty robust.

[Difflugia]

Originally Posted by latepaul

Of course if you know Linux you can do a similar thing with an X server on windows but this was simpler to setup and felt slicker.

...I guess I should have read a little more carefully before posting.

[Lucas Malor]

Originally Posted by kacir

You can download installed image with all the bells and whistles

Of course, it's only a bit more hard.

Originally Posted by kacir

Originally Posted by PeterT

Well, there's a mistake about know-it-alls

[JFeole]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Perhaps the OP can clarify if he needs to run Linux and Windows programs simultaneously on the same computer, or simply to be able to access the Windows file system from Linux.

I use Linux exclusively..(and Windows if needed is in a VM) with Virtualbox
software.

If the need is simply to access files from one environment to the other on the same machine, take a look at the Virtualbox "Shared Folders" option, under the settings menu when you set up your VM. I use this daily.

For example, If I'd purchased from Google Play Books, I need to run
ADE on windows, and after I get the ebook, I drop it in shared
folders directory, and then side load to my Kobo H20 using Linux..

Thanks,
JFeole