Linux / Partitioning Question

Hello,

I mainly use a Mac computer but have a sony vaio notebook computer and am thinking about installing Linux on it. It now has Windows XP home edition.

Having only used Mac for years, I cannot stand windows. I never can tell where I'm at, can't find files I've downloaded and when a problem occurs the error message almost never contains useful information as to what the problem actually is, etc.

Also, the computer came partitioned so that there is barely any room left on the "C" drive so I have to copy files to the "D" drive then erase them from the "C" drive, then bring them back to use them and it all seems so unnecessary.

So if Linux will work better than Windows, what I'd like to do is partition the computer so that it's just one computer drive like the Mac and install the new system. I am not concerned with saving any files currently on the computer.

I searched "Linux" on google and came up with hundreds of thousands hits and could not really tell much about Linux. So, does anyone know if Linux is indeed "better" than windows and where to get it? And if a new partition is in order?

All the best,

Billy Baty

I use Gparted. What distro do you want to install first?

[add'l]

Some distros like PCLinuxOS, Mandriva and Ubuntu have thier own partition editor. The simplest is to allow the installation to use the entire disk space. Though manual is the way to go. Unlike Windows that can exist in a single partition, Linux dos not. It need /, /boot, optional /usr, /home, /temp, /var and a swapfile. I suggest you use partitioning with /home and /usr plus a swapfile, in case you want to reinstall again all your docs are intact at /home.

Distro suggestions: PCLinuxOS or LinuxMint