Ya know what I need..?

I would love to see a document somewhere that makes certain comparisons between the two OSs. Here's what I mean:

In Windows you have a Registry, is there an equivalent in Linux?
In Windows you have .INI files, is there an equivalent in Linux?
In Windows you have profiles, what is the equivalent in Linux?
In Windows you can map drives, how is this done in Linux?
In Windows you have DLLs, is there an equivalent in Linux?

There are plenty more, but that's the idea. Basically I would like to see a document that takes common tasks and items well known in Windows and lists their equivalent (or comparable) technology in Linux.

Well, I'm still not sure what Windows registry is supposed to accomplish so I can't explain that one.

If by .ini files you mean start up scripts, Linux also has those (init scripts)

Linux has profiles, for the choice of shell, also for desktop environments.

In linux you don't map drives, you mount them whether they are physical media or network file systems.

Linux also has libraries which most commonly are found in, yup you guessed it the /lib directory.

Hope that cleared it up a little bit.

You Asked:

In Windows you have a Registry, is there an equivalent in Linux?
In Windows you have .INI files, is there an equivalent in Linux?
In Windows you have profiles, what is the equivalent in Linux?
In Windows you can map drives, how is this done in Linux?
In Windows you have DLLs, is there an equivalent in Linux?

Here is how unix or linux handles this:

Registry - is basically a database of program configurations and windows configurations. Unix / Linux does not have something like this as far as I know. Unix / Linux use config files instead.

Ini file - this is basically a config while. Unix / Linux use config files.

Profiles - Unix / linux store user profiles in /home

Mapped drives - Unix / Linux use NFS mounts (which are really cool!)

.DLL's - these are basically libraries. Unix / Linux have libraries but they are not called .dlls. (also, a nice bonus for Unix / Linux is that libraries are not stored in the same location. As a result, unlike win9x you don't have .dll hell)

Just so you know, I am a unix / linux / nt / administrator and am technology neutral..

What an excellent way to describe yourself, "technology neutral"! I would definately consider myself the same. This is why I'm trying to learn Linux.

Thanks for your information, as that helps to give me a good start. Another similar question that popped into mind... in Windows you have "batch" files. What's the Linux equivalent?

I'll be coming back with very basic newbie questions like this often, cuz I am just that... a newbie :-).

Linux has shell scripts, which I guess are the equivalent of dos batch files.

The windows registry is like a big store of settings, these are usually kept in /etc for global settings on RedHat (i guess the equivalent of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE), or in the user directories (/home/username) usually in a folder that starts with a . then the name of the application (kind of like HKEY_CURRENT_USER). A file/folder beginning with a . is a hidden file in linux, you can see them using 'ls -A' (uppercase A stops it displaying .. (parent dir) and . (current dir) in the listing).

You can use windows sharing with a program called Samba, where you can setup your own shares (in /etc/Samba/smb.conf) and access other peoples shares using smbmount.

The (almost) equivalent of a shortcut is symlinks and hard links, but links are tons better cos you can link whole folders and use them as if they existed in both places on the harddrive.

I am new to the Linux world. I am trying to figure out just how you mont a network drive. Thanks in advance for any help!

Linux has the rpm database
Linux has config file
Linux has users in /home; real users not like win98/98/me
Drives are in tha Mandrake Control Center.
Linux uses .so files, they do the same things dlls do in win.