What do you do to "experiment"?

[AciDriveHB]

I just was sitting here thinking about playing with Linux, and was wondering which route I should take... build another computer to play with it on, test it on a machine I have (format/load), or to use Virtual PC. It got me to thinking; I wonder what most people do. Figured maybe we could come together and talk about pros and cons of each method and share tips/experiences?

[Blankman71]

AciD,

I've gone a couple of routes with this. I've installed it on a totally seperate machine and played around with in on there, but, more often than not, I find myself using a removable HD and doing a dual boot on it, that's what I've got the most experience with anyway. I find using another machine really allows you to tweak it the way you want, or at least the best way to correspond to whatever you're experimenting with. The HD theory is best, IMO, when you want to be able to switch between flavors in short order.

[MrLinus]

Well, I have two methods of "experimentation". The first is an old pentium class machine that I load *nux on (most of my stuff is with *nix). This month's (year's?) flavour is FreeBSD 4.7. I abuse the crap out of it. I also play with tools when my boyfriend is surfing to see what they can do. Very effective -- I figure -- when I hear "ummm.. what happened to the Internet?? You better call the ISP.. I think the router went down again" *snicker*

My other "experimentation" is my students. I have two classes (for now) who I experiment various DoS and other attack types. It gets them ready and allows for me to experiment in a safe environment. I also show them what I did so they understand what was going on. At least when they get out in the real world they'll have some idea how things react to different situations.

[mathgirl32]

AciDriveHB, I sort of do what MsMittens does. While I have two new machines that I don't really mess with (only use them for programming), I have an old pentium with which I'll do any kind of experimentation! I had it running mandrake 8.1, then just the other night took that off and installed windows. The point is, though, that you can feel free to be a little more daring if the machine you are using isn't "critical". For me this is a great way to learn.

[AciDriveHB]

That's interesting. I guess I kind of forgot my personal habbits with OS's and such. Me personally I do with whatever is at hand. If I have the money I will build a new computer (had 10 working PC's in my household for longer than a month once). If I don't have the money but have a computer I'm not doing much with, FORMAT/RELOAD >=) (which I'm known very well for). If all my stuff is running and I don't have any money, then it's off to Virtual PC.

Hehehe, I'm getting into linux, but never seem to find the time between the computer projects I have. Like tonight, was going to install Redhat 7.2 on my Compaq computer (Hey it's a 600 celly but works nice for the simple stuff), but at the last minute decided to throw a big drive in it and setup a deticated gaming server for my network.

Me though, I'm a Windows user at heart, I grew up with it what can I say. One of these days I will get hardcore into *nix like most of you guys/girls! But until then, the only time I will really worry about it is when it comes to working on my Internet server (I'm running Coyote Linux on my router).

[cheyenne1212]

I just did the same thing that your doing pretty much. I have a 40 GB HD with windows, and I bought a 10GB HD for Linux. Whenver I want to fool around with Linux I just boot up to the Linux drive and learn that way.

[cheyenne1212]

I just did the same thing that your doing pretty much. I have a 40 GB HD with windows, and I bought a 10GB HD for Linux. Whenver I want to fool around with Linux I just boot up to the Linux drive and learn that way.

[AciDriveHB]

Oh, do you use Li Lo (or such) to swap between the two drives, or do you physically disconnect one drive and plug in the other?

[Blankman71]

Originally posted here by AciDriveHB
Oh, do you use Li Lo (or such) to swap between the two drives, or do you physically disconnect one drive and plug in the other?

AciD,

My apologies for butting in on this question, but in my experiences, I've used Lilo to switch on the same HD.

[AciDriveHB]

No that's perfectly fine, that's what this thread is about is to discuss what methods people use to test out different OS's.