John Moore talked about migrating from Windows to Linux and suggested several Linux equivalents to Windows, most of them being free. details are at How to Transition from Windows to Linux in his "Lessons in Linux" series on this web site.

A lot of interest was expressed in an installfest, so that will be the focus of the next meeting. All are welcome, whether you just want to watch to learn, want to load Linux on one of your computers, or would like to help those installing.

John suggested people do an advanced search on Google for their computer model number and "Linux" to look for any suggestions or problems with your particular model. Laptops seem to have the most difficulty, as there is often more oddball hardware in them. However, your Webmaster just installed SuSE 9.0 on a Toshiba 2805 laptop flawlessly taking all the defaults, including partitioning.

A lot of information about installing on specific laptops can be found at www.linux-on-laptops.com.

John suggested a full backup of your machine, as should always be done prior to any major changes, "just in case."

No fee is charge for the Installfest. If you think you'll be coming, send an email to LinuxWPCUG@aol.com with "installfest" in the subject line, so we'll have enough space set aside for the effort. You do not need to bring your monitor. We can provide one.

If you have a Knoppix CD or can borrow one (or can download and burn your own CD) it's an ideal "test" to see if you need an special drivers for your particular machine. If needed, download any drivers in advance if possible, although a broadband network will be available as usual.

Here are three things John asks participants in the Installfest to do in advance:

1. Pick which distribution you want installed, and bring the Distro if you have one. He will have copies of Knoppix at the meeting.

2. Bring a system hardware map of your computer. You can do this with sysinfo under windows. This will help determine needed drivers before attempting the install.

3. Either provide a second hard drive and data cable or back up all your data and we will try to do a repartition. He is open to suggestions as to partitioning tools. Partition Magic 8.0 works well with Windows XP and predecessors.