Linux or Windows on my Mac

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I have a MacBook Pro 2.33 gHz with 3 gb ram. I'm wondering which program would be better to set up as a partition on it, Windows XP or Linux? Which one offers the most useful programs? Also I was wondering if it is possible to set up a system so I can run another OS on my mac, but it can be ran from an external hard drive since I only need to use it when I'm at the house.
Thanks a lot.

Ryan
 
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The first question you should ask is "why would I need another OS?".

Just because you can do something, doesn't mean that you have to.

What is it that you cannot achieve with OS X and would need to install Linux or Windows for?
 
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well, normally I wouldn't need linux or windows. I am very satisfied with the mac OS, there are just a lot of programs used at my college that are not offered for mac (yet). So if I want to install them I need a different operating system. I've been trying to research the exact differences between linux and windows and I'm slightly confused. They are completely separate systems right? You can't run any windows things on linux or vice versa can you?
 
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well, normally I wouldn't need linux or windows. I am very satisfied with the mac OS, there are just a lot of programs used at my college that are not offered for mac (yet). So if I want to install them I need a different operating system. I've been trying to research the exact differences between linux and windows and I'm slightly confused. They are completely separate systems right? You can't run any windows things on linux or vice versa can you?

Well there's a commercial application called Crossover, available for OS X and Linux, that is based on the open source app called WINE. These apps let you run many Windows apps in OS X and Linux without the need to have Windows installed.

That said... you don't seem to know what you even need Windows or Linux for. I suspect your computer literacy skills are somewhat low (nothing wrong with that, mind you), so given that, I wouldn't even try to install and use Linux since that really requires some stronger than average computer skills/literacy. Until you can be more specific on what you need, I'd hold off doing anything.
 

dtravis7


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If there are programs at your college that for sure need Windows and there is no other way, I would first try Crossover like was suggested and see if they run there. If not Parallels is the way to go for most application type programs as you can still be in OSX and run Windows and your applications at the same time.

Do check first to be sure the applications for your college do not have OSX versions or something else in OSX that will do the same job.

Stay away from Linux. For your needs at College it really will not do anything for you that can not already be done in OSX. It's also a lot harder to set up and get working.
 
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I'll admit, my computer literacy is not the highest, especially when it comes to mac (I used windows my entire life up to a year ago). I do have bootcamp running right now and I can startup using Windows XP. I was just thinking about getting rid of the partition because it takes up so much space on my hard drive. Thanks for all the responses.
 
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Yeah, Windows XP does take up a ridiculous amount of space. I wouldn't ditch it too quickly though since you may have a specific need for it while in school. It's too hard to predict for ya from here.
 

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