Novus
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Fot or not?
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This is the first time I posted with a quote. Are these HTML "tags"? (eg ?) 
One the other hand, I suppose it's possible to have a "master" and "slave" hard drive--it's been a while since I've heard much of that.
Parallel ATA does that (to put two disks on one cable); Serial ATA just has two separate connections.
I know how to boot off a floppy and I think I can switch hard drives by opening the lid. I'm just worried that my computer would be Ok if I tried it (what do you think, is that a big risk or no?).
Check your BIOS settings (see your display in the first seconds after starting your computer for information on how to get to them); you can probably switch disks that way.
I had KDE and X Windows on Linux Mandrake, with the picture of a penguin. I wanted to use the enclosed web browser, Konqueror, but I couldn't get it to work.
I have a book on Linux and a book on Red Hat, which I don't think is oriented to me (it's for business, isn't it?).
As opposed to Windows, which is produced and sold by a single company, Linux and related projects such as GNU and KDE (and, to get back on topic, UQM) have been released with the specific intent that others may modify and distribute the programs as long as they grant others the same rights. Hence, anyone who wants to can produce their own Linux distribution, which is typically tailored to a specific need. Red Hat has an enterprise version, but their Fedora distribution is quite popular and could be suitable for your needs. Ubuntu, Mandriva (formerly Mandrake) and openSUSE are other popular desktop distributions.
I had a friend at college ask the Linux folks to send me a copy of Ubuntu, another form of Linux, apparently. I wasn't sure about putting it on my computer, but another friend of mine had his PC pretty much go ker-plunk and I tried installing it on his computer. No go.
Don't know what the problem was.
Whatever made his computer go, as you put it, "ker-plunk" may have messed things up beyond what installing a new OS can fix.
So, Novus, you don't get viruses with Linux? If only I could be so lucky. Like I was complaining to someday the other day (don't remember who), I should be able to do a lot of what I want to do with a minimum of effort and errors and bombs.
Linux is a much harsher environment for malware. Fewer end users have Linux than Windows, and the ones who do tend to be more careful. Also, many versions of Windows by default implement daft behaviour like automatically executing programs from removable media in situations where you would not expect it. The habit of getting most of your software from a few trusted sources and low level of piracy also help.
Do you know where the dollar sign comes from? The letter U superimposed on the letter S. Imagine, then, the S being squashed horizontally until it is a simple straight vertical line. Learned that in world history class way back in high school.
The accepted theory seems to be that it was originally a sign for the Mexican peso (or some other peso; several Latin American pesos use the same symbol) formed by superimposing an S on a P. Your history teacher may have been reading a bit too much Ayn Rand. In any case, what is usually referred to in English as a "dollar sign" means something else in a sizeable chunk of the world and refers to a different dollar in many other countries. We have at least one active Kiwi on this board, for example.
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