Big Linux question

Ok, I got this burning question.

Currently, I'm runing Win2K. And in our building, we have a
network where you have to log-in to your computer using a specify user/pass to be able to log-in to the network.
And to be able to access the Internet, we have to install Microsoft
Proxy Client. If I don't install it, I can't access the Internet but I can access the network.

I want to install Mandrake on my computer (or any other linux,
but ppl said that Mandrake is good for newbie). And I want it so
that my linux is able to connect to the Net. But I don't see any Microsoft Proxy client version for linux.
So, can someone here help me figure out how to make it so that
my linux will be able to access the Net? Is there like a linux
version of Microsoft Proxy cleint. Or is there another way to connect to the net?


Thanks

can someone help me out here please?

Thanks

You could use a separate HD partition and dual boot, Linux and XP. After playing with different distros of Linux, including Mandrake, I came to the conclusion that while Linux makes a great server, there are good reasons it has so little penetration on the desktop. Whether KDE or Gnome, its desktop is awkward compared to Windows XP or even 2000. The word processors don't come close to MS Word or Lotus Word Pro for Windows, the font rendering leaves a ton to be desired. It will long live on servers, but for a client desktop it is not worth it. That is just my opinion. But I suspect that by an large those who disagree are more MS haters than Linux lovers. Stick with Windows or at most dual boot so you can play in Linux and get your work done in Windows. (I have taught a course in Linux, so my sense of it is not totally based on ignorance. Great server software, in any case. My students were laughing at Abi Word and crying at Star Office, two Linux GUI "word processors". They liked the server aspects, not the client ones.)

denro: how is that answer my question?

I think you are answering questions for another person in the wrong thread

No I was answering you. You stated that you could access your network on your client machine through MS Windows, but you wanted to run Mandrake Linux instead. I offered one solution: dual boot so you could do things in Linux, but when necessary you could reboot into windows and have access the regular way to your network. In addition I suggested that your desire to run a client machine (which is your office machine) in Linux when the rest of your network is running Win 2000 is probably not worthwhile, becuase Linux is a great server operating system, but makes a rather bad desktop client. Those were the answers I thought you need.

I could do that, but I really want to be able to access the Net
from linux.
I want to learn linux. And if I needed help or I need to find info
that I needed, I could just go to the net and I don't have to go
to windows and find the info I needed.

Does anybody here know if there is a microsoft proxy client
version for linux?

How about if I downloaded an win emulator and run microsoft
proxy client from linux using the emulator. I know that there's
several windows emulator (I think one of them is call WINE)
do you guys think it'll work?