My wife and I treated ourselfs to new laptops, 7 the newest and mine vista, I used a home built desktop with xp pro for business and home stuff and it was fine. But what a nightmare these two offerings from MS are, so enough is enough can I use Linux os and keep vista till I get all my business stuff converted to the linux os on the same pc then bin vista if so whats the process also, I have to download data from a electrical tester to a Seaward data base via a r232-usb converter (that was another issue ) Will wordpro work with linux, yes it’s old but I have no need for a bells and whistles letter writer also I have epson dx4800 will I need something else So basically what do I need does Linux come on an install disc I hope you all an help
Devlin
For Lotus Word Pro documents (.lwp files) in Linux, you have 4 options…
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Run Lotus Word Pro in WINE… It is likely to have some problems… the WineHQ App Database rates it as Silver (see link below).
WineHQ - Lotus Word Pro -
Install Lotus Word Pro in Windows running inside a Virtual Machine, such as VMware, or Virtualbox… doing it this way, you will actually be running a full copy of Windows inside Linux, so you will still need a Windows Licence, but Word Pro should run perfectly.
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You can install the Go-oo.org branch of OpenOffice which has an LWP import filter, but I’ve heard it isn’t perfect.
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You can install Lotus Symphony, which is free from IBM, and is in the Ubuntu software repositories. It opens LWP files which can then be saved in ODT format for editing in Writer, part of the OpenOffice suite, or you could just continue to open/edit them in Lotus Symphony.
(don’t go for the Lotus Symphony beta version, get version 1.3, I’ve heard later versions won’t contain the import filter… luckily 1.3 is still the current version, and is also the version currently in the Ubuntu repos, so it will be very easy to install, at least in Ubuntu or Linux Mint)
Options 3 and 4 are aimed at ditching Lotus Word Pro, and getting your documents into the Open Document Format (ISO 26300) which won’t tie you to a particular application in the future, ODF is supported by MANY native Linux and Windows apps including the big 2 - OpenOffice and Microsoft Office 2007 (SP2)/2010… for a list of other apps, see the link.
OK, your printer… Epson don’t do any Linux drivers for your printer, but according to the OpenPrinting Database.
The Epson DX4800 is supported in Linux:
http://www.openprinting.org/printer/Epson/Epson-Stylus_DX4800
using the gutenprint drivers.
Your other option would be to get an HP printer or All-In-One, as HP printers and AIO’s tend to be the best supported printers in Linux… Indeed, most HP’s “just work”, without the need for installing drivers at all.
Your RS232<–>USB adapter… I can’t say how easy this would be to get working (never tried it)… it may “just work”, or you may have a little work to do, but I’ve found quite a few references to people who are using them in Linux, so it must be possible.
Maybe someone else can help here?
Yes Linux comes on an install CD… you can either download an ISO image and burn it to CD or DVD yourself, or order one from places like Codesages, or Ubuntu will send you a CD for free
Nowadays Linux distributions tend to come as a LiveCD which you can boot to a working desktop directly from the CD to test drive before installing… bear in mind running Linux from a CD is much slower than when it is installed to a hard drive… another option (particularly if you have no CD/DVD drive) is to install from a LiveUSB key.
for further info, go to our main site:
http://linux.co.uk/
and click on the “Getting Started” button.
I would suggest you try Ubuntu or Linux Mint, if for no other reason than you will find support/help easier to come by.
Dual-Booting Windows and Linux… See here for instructions on installing Ubuntu (should be similar for other distro’s)
http://linux.co.uk/pages/installation/
When you get to Step 6, choose the “Install them side by side” option, and use the slider to select the amount of free space you want to allocate to Ubuntu.
Or you can use the “Advanced” option to resize your Windows partition.
Quick Tip - Before starting to install Ubuntu (or any other distro) and resizing a Windows partition, run a defrag from within Windows, this will move your data closer to the beginning of the drive.
If you need anything explaining further, just ask 
If you can detail your USB->RS232 converter, i.e. which end goes into the PC and where does the other end go, and what is the make/model of the converter, I might be able to tell you whether it’ll work.