If I download Linux, will I still have all my music, applications, etc.? Will they still work?
Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at
02:37
I was considering downloading Linux, but I wasn’t sure if the applications I had on my computer would still work. Also, I have a lot of music on this computer, so, will I still be able to access that?
Filed under: Linux Applications
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If you are unsure of linux and haven’t used it properly before, why not use some Virtual PC software to try it out. http://www.virtualbox.org/ is free software which in effect allows you to run linux from your windows desktop. Very handy to try linux distros out before you decide to use it full-time!
If you’re currently using a computer with Windows installed or a Mac one, the answers is:
1. no, you’ll have to search and download all the software packages for all the functionality you need. Because application formats is not compatible between Linux/Windows/Mac/whatever else for the very few exceptions when you’re using Windows emulator like WINE.
2. yes, you will still be able to listen to music, unless it is in the Microsoft’s proprietary WMA format. Because there are lots of music players available under Linux.
Linux normally wants to install by formatting (completely erasing) your hard drive. So in that case, you would loose everything on your computer during the install.
You can install using a partition or a second hard drive and not loose the data thats in the other partition or hard drive. Be careful though, it’s really easy to inadvertantly install to the drive you want to keep.
If you just want to play around with Linux without a real "commitment" to it, try Ubuntu Linux. They have a download option for a version that creates a boot CD that is fully functional. You burn the image to a CD and then boot the computer with that CD in your computer which loads a fully functional desktop. Add a memory card or thumb drive and you can save any files you create while using Linux.
Shut down your computer, remove the disc and you’re back to windows (or mac) no harm, no foul.
*Note: I’m assuming you’re switching from Windows.
Music, Videos, etc. files should still work, if not then just download a player for them. Applications probably won’t work, unless you can get a Windows emulator for them.
Although before install I HIGHLY recommend you back up your hard drive or transfer those files off the computer, because the install will completely wipe the hard drive.
Don’t waste your time if you have Windows already. If you do back-up everything!!!! You can dual-boot, but its not worth it since you will be using Windows in the background and Linux is pretty worthless outside its speed factor. Yes, all codecs, file formats used in Windows will work on a linux if you have a player which runs on Linux.
I have PuppyLinux on a CD. I mean it actually boots from the CD and doesn’t use my hard disk at all. You might give it a try.
http://www.puppylinux.com
Whether or not you can play the music is really a question about the player software that is on Unix. Certainly the Windows players that you have will not run under Linux. You have to have a Linux-specific player.
Puppy comes with a player of some sort, but I was used to RealPlayer on Windows, and fortunately Real has a Linux version. So I just installed that on Linux. It plays all the audio (and video for that matter) that I have. However it will not play anything that actually needs Windows Media Player. (Can you imagine Microsoft making a Linux version of WMP?! Fat chance of that.)
Anyway, you can get a copy of Puppy or some other version of Linux that doesn’t use your hard disk. It certainly won’t hurt anything to try it.
Linux is an operating system.
Windows is an operating system.
Mac is an operating system.
Programs will say that they run on Linux, or Windows, or Mac.
Files (like music files or graphic files or document files) dont really care what they are on.
If you are listening to music using a Windows program on a Windows machine, and you install Linux.. then the windows program will become unhappy. You can do things to try and make it run, or you can get a Linux program to do the same thing. The music files wont really care.
The bigger problem is the fact that some programs will not run in another operating system. Such as… your games are a program, and they might not want to run in Linux. And even if you were willing to buy it again, there might not be a linux version of that game.