sharing data between windows and linux

One of the problems most "linwin" users(users with linux-windows dual boot config..and who are new to linux) face is transfering data to and from the different filesystems. Thankfully, most of the distros now automatically mount the windows partitions. In Ubuntu 5.10 (the distro I use), you still can't write any data to your partitions. This can be solved by logging in root (you can do so temporarily by typing "su" in the console). Even after doing this, you won't be able to write to NTFS partitions. To do this, you must download and install a package called ntfs-3g. After that, you have to modify your /etc/fstab file. Just change the file system type under the file section from ntfs to ntfs-3g. Reboot your system to see the change.
Accessing your files in linux (in ext2 or ext3 partitions) is much easier. All you have to do is to download an application called Explore2fs. The current version allows you to browse your linux filesystem and export files to your windows filesystem. The latest beta does give an error message sometimes when you try to exit, but it should cause too much problem. This is particularly helpful if you are browsing a support forum using windows and you need to post a config file from linux.

Ubuntu!

I finally got tired of trying to get linux to work with my graphics card. I even tried Mandriva after SuSe.. still didn't work. So the only option left was Ubuntu.. and my cd was spoiled! Fortunately one friend of mine also had a cd so I made a copy.
After removing SuSe and installing Ubuntu, I suddenly realised. Why do I need my graphics card for linux? Instead, I can run it on my onboard card and even the soundcard will work then. So then I had a lot of other options in the hostel like Mandriva, Suse, Fedora Core, Red Hat but I decided to stick to Ubuntu.. and I am glad I did!(explanation comes later)
Everything was running fine.. but there were 2 things remaining which prevented me from using Ubuntu regularly:
1. Internet: I still hadn't figured out how to get my CA-42 datacable and nokia 6020 phone working.
2. Music and Movies: The codecs don't come by default!
To start out, I just connected my data cable and went to device manager. It was detected as a Serial Communications Device.. and the surprising thing is the publisher was mentioned as Nokia! It was listed as /dev/ttyACM0. I created the wvdial.conf file as follows using "man wvdial.conf" for help:
[Dialer Defaults]
Modem = /dev/ttyACM0
Baud = 117965
Phone = *99#
Username = ""
Password = ""
And then I tried the wvdial command. Lo and Behold! I was connected to the internet. I didn't imagine in my wildest dreams that this could be so easy. After all, even windows xp (and even Vista!) required seperate drivers for the CA-42 modem!
With internet, there was nothing stopping me from downloading whatever I wanted for linux. Using Synaptics Package Manager, I downloaded VLC media player for linux and amaroK. I really don't need to say much about VLC: it's one of the best media players around even in windows. The only thing is the File listing in the Open Dialog is a bit cramped.. but thats okay.
I was delighted to see amaroK. This is SO much than the other linux player I tried.. xmms! It was originally made for the KDE environemt and I just had Gnome but it was possible to install and run it(the package manager installed the kde library files so I can run kde applications.. hmm not bad!) But the files were not playing! Gstreamer was the only engine available so I went ahead and downloaded xine and then it started working.
This was far better than what my friends using FC5 experienced. I was able to connect to the internet my the friend's computer by Firefox was acting as if there was no connection. And where is the Device manager? I found several things in Ubuntu which were missing in FC5. Ofcourse FC5 has tons of applications on its DVD which I don't get from Ubuntu(after all, Ubuntu is distributed in a cd) but I can EASILY download and install all that in synaptics package manager. There are tons of interesting applications just waiting to be downloaded and installed.. making me wish I had a faster internet connection! Perhaps this is why Ubuntu is still one of the most popular and best distros available. Ofcourse I hadn't tried SuSe and Mandriva but the ratings say that Ubuntu and FC are the best so I won't bother with those. Maybe I will try them later after using it in my friends' computers.
Now, I have using Ubuntu for 2 days straight without shifting to windows (except when my friend came to play a game).
So maybe its time to take back my words... Linux isn't so bad after all. Infact I really like Ubuntu! It rocks! It inspired my to go to the IRC channel (#ubuntu on freenode) and help out newbies to install linux... something I wouldn't think of doing before as I always used to criticize linux!
Perhaps you will see a lot more posts related to linux from now on :-)