Are there any edition of UNIX that have a GUI as opposed to just a boring CLI?
X Windows is the main GUI that people run on Unix or Unix-like systems (it has been ported to Linux, BSD, etc). Representations of X vary a LOT, due to the fact there are so many different window managers that can be used with X. X provides the client-server system for drawing windows; window managers prettify X. Then on top of that you get collections of applications that together form a system very akin to MS Windows. On Linux, Gnome and KDE are the big 2, both of which provide far more functionality than Win9x.
So where could I download a copy of the UNIX OS so I can practice with it? Would that be free or do I need to buy it from SCO now?
Well if you really want
Unix, you can now freely download
Solaris from Sun, since they realised everyone was moving over to Linux... Tick the boxes on that download page, and be ready to burn lots of CDs...
Alternatively, if you have a modest spec PC to install the system on, you might be better off downloading Linux.
Ubuntu is one of my favourite distributions at the moment, although you have to ensure you read as much of the documentation as you can in order to get the most out of it.
Can I set a dual-boot configuration with Windows XP so I can choose which OS to load at boot up?
Certainly. Split your hard drive into (e.g.) two partitions, and put XP on the first (bootable) partition. Then install Ubuntu (to the second partition).
Lastly, can anyone recommend some good books that will really help get my feet wet with using UNIX?
You don't really need any books, to be honest. Read the documentation that comes with your system, and lean heavily on Google. There are a LOT of resources out there, and so many different topics that it's impossible to recommend just one book. If you decide to go with Linux, then head over to the
Linux Documentation Project, an excellent starting point.
