I find it easier to install ubuntu inside of windows instead of setting up another patrician. If you get board of it, or don't like it, you can just uninstall it. No hard drive space wasted.
Switching to Linux?
- Thread starter tthor
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Just about any good modern desktop distro has a package manager that lets you install software. No terminal commands at all. Just a couple clicks.RAKtheUndead said:
I'd even argue it's easier than it is for Windows. The only problem is that if you're a gamer and/or want to use any heavy duty audio apps, you're probably better off using Windows.
Linux is fantastic. I run it on my old Dell after my Windows 95 fell ill to the awful "bluescreen" bug, and I had violated my warranty, and threw the disc away.
I would like to ask a question : Outside of using a emulation program, could I run any DOS program on Linux?
I would like to ask a question : Outside of using a emulation program, could I run any DOS program on Linux?
Because outside of the open source stuff, Linux gets fairly little games due to the fact that there are just too many variables there for game development to be viable.tthor said:
And Wine? There's only so much that a reverse-engineered compatibility layer can do. There are plenty games Wine can run but also plenty games it doesn't and it's all trial and error. Even their listings of "compatible programs" don't give you guaranteed information whether a program will work or not. Sometimes apps that are supposed to work really well just don't work on your setup.
No.sneak_copter said:
Linux is great for people who aren't afraid to learn new things. I personally use Ubuntu which is very user friendly, and with about 2 hours of work made it better than I can imagine windows or osx ever being. Compiz-Fusion is nothing short of amazing.
The only downside is that you have to run almost every game through wine emulation, but normally it's not noticeable when it works, which isn't guaranteed.
Besides, 95% of linux distributions are free, so you can't complain that the price is just a little elbow grease. Added to that, you can find help for almost anything on any number of forums from beginner questions to deep coding.
The only downside is that you have to run almost every game through wine emulation, but normally it's not noticeable when it works, which isn't guaranteed.
Besides, 95% of linux distributions are free, so you can't complain that the price is just a little elbow grease. Added to that, you can find help for almost anything on any number of forums from beginner questions to deep coding.
Hah! Oh God how many times Windows has "shat itself inside out" due to an update.Vordark said:
And as for re-installing, how many OSes routinely require a reinstall every couple years to maintain responsiveness? Why is "try reinstalling Windows" a standard tech support reply?
Nicely avoiding Vista there. Don't expect 7 to be any better.Vordark said:
It does, you just don't know it.Baneat said:
No more than with Windows. Fewer, probably.Baneat said:
Yes you do.Baneat said:
No you don't.Baneat said:
Windows nerds, ditto. It's irresponsible.Baneat said:
It took me TWO FRIKKIN WEEKS to get networking on Windows Vista (involving lots of fucking around at the command prompt and O_O the Windows registry), whereas Linux Just Works. Seriously, Windows is a piece of shit and Microsoft shouldn't be able to charge money for it.
Unfortunately it still has very poor support for Direct3D. Cedega's supposed to be alright, though (it's a "fork" of Wine, for which you have to pay a monthly subscription). And there's a couple other similar projects.tthor said:
Still, we all know "PC gaming is dead"
It's almost true. There are known to be some viruses that can infect Linux, but they're incredibly rare.tthor said:
It's designed from the bottom up to be secure, instead of having security stuck on as an after-thought.
Just like Windows.tthor said:
Yes, although as peeps have pointed out, niche software like professional music synthesisers, not so much. But if you want to do image manipulation, the Gimp is a very good competitor to the likes of Photoshop. There are lots of native Linux games, just not the latest blockbusters (Quake 4 and Doom 3 are notable exceptions; id is cool). There are quality free clones of old classics like Sim City, Transport Tycoon, Civilization, Settlers, Lemmings and LucasArts adventures (Monkey Island, DOTT, etc). There are very good flight sims, space sims and racing car sims.tthor said:
oktalist is 100% dead on.
Linux isn't completely virus free, as there has been ONE in it's 20+year history, but that's pretty good, all things considered.
As for command terminal? Yeah, you *can* do everything from the command terminal, but unless you are running slackware you will have some other option, as Ubuntu has Synaptic Package Manager for downloads.
The reason why we arrogant elitists who use linux scoff at Vista, other than the most obvious reasons, is that vista is a behemoth of coding which requires top notch hardware to even work adequately, while most linux variants work as splendidly with top end hardware as it does with decade old junkpiles.
Also, just look at this and tell me why windows again? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zC6BOZegNw&feature=related
Linux isn't completely virus free, as there has been ONE in it's 20+year history, but that's pretty good, all things considered.
As for command terminal? Yeah, you *can* do everything from the command terminal, but unless you are running slackware you will have some other option, as Ubuntu has Synaptic Package Manager for downloads.
The reason why we arrogant elitists who use linux scoff at Vista, other than the most obvious reasons, is that vista is a behemoth of coding which requires top notch hardware to even work adequately, while most linux variants work as splendidly with top end hardware as it does with decade old junkpiles.
Also, just look at this and tell me why windows again? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zC6BOZegNw&feature=related
Windows has never shat itself inside due to an update. At least not for myself or anyone that I have ever known.oktalist said:
I've had to re-install Linuxen a lot more often than Windows.
Vista sucks, and yes, Windows 7 is already a lot better.
Seriously, never take advice on Linux from a Linux fan boy. You all have this nutty cult/religion thing going on.
Linux is (mostly) stable, can stay up and running for months at a time if you don't mess with it, has a lot of snazzy GUI stuff depending on the packages you install and can easily let you surf the web, check your mail, etc. But no matter what the distro, you'll be spending a lot more time being a sysadmin than actually USING your machine, unless your needs for a machine are as trivial as grandma's.
And if you are actually trying to convince people it's a gaming platform at all comparable to Windows, then you're delusional.
Installing Linux is one of the first steps many people take to becoming programmers. I could never really get the feel for the whole programming aspect of it, but most Windows programs will run smoothly, and on top of that, Linux looks good.
I'd recommend starting with Ubuntu, it's one of the popular ones for beginners.
I'd recommend starting with Ubuntu, it's one of the popular ones for beginners.
I started with a dual-boot of Ubuntu and Windows after hearing some good things. About two days later, I went straight Ubuntu. I installed it on a Compaq laptop, and was worried about wireless capabilities and such, but encountered next to no problems and enjoyed it very very much (Until the cord got caught on my foot and the screen got smashed...that really really sucked).
I'm planning on getting two new PCs for myself in the next little while: The Eee PC 1000HE and the Eee PC Box 202. Both of them will be running Ubuntu for sure.
It doesn't take a lot of knowledge, and anything that does require a bit of learning won't take you long. The beauty is that the community is so very strong for Linux users, that you can find solutions to your problem very very quickly. I'd say just as fast if you had a Windows based problem (Faster if you actually decide to call MS tech support).
I'm planning on getting two new PCs for myself in the next little while: The Eee PC 1000HE and the Eee PC Box 202. Both of them will be running Ubuntu for sure.
It doesn't take a lot of knowledge, and anything that does require a bit of learning won't take you long. The beauty is that the community is so very strong for Linux users, that you can find solutions to your problem very very quickly. I'd say just as fast if you had a Windows based problem (Faster if you actually decide to call MS tech support).
Touche for Windows.garmat said:
As for changing to Linux, there is absolutely no incentive to go Linux. Linux doesn't offer me anything. I can't think of a single thing that I dislike about Windows where I think "Well, I know that this is different in Linux. Let's use Linux instead.". I'm a tech savvy user and the idea of command prompts and such doesn't scare me. I could switch to Linux now. But .. why would I?
I might also add that not only was Vista fine, but 7 is a great piece of kit. Don't knock it unless you've actually used it.
Really? Mine just worked. Even when using wireless, a traditional pain in the ass, it just worked.
As for gaming, there is nothing even remotely comparable to DirectX. Nobody is claiming that DX10 is the wonderchild and it will bring us all double FPS and triple image quality. On the other hand, Linux has nothing that can compete. If you want to play games, you have to use Windows. Even the Source engine doesn't support OpenGL. Pretty much the only game makers that do are Blizzard and iD.
My answer is run a dual boot system.
Its what I do, when I feel like gaming I boot up my Vista partition and when I'm doing anything else I run Linux.
Linux is amazing, if you get a starter distro such as Ubuntu you're in for an amazing ride. The software repository is great, you just select what programs you want, and it automaticly gets the required libaries.
It will take you alittle while to get used to the file structure but once you get that down you'll prefer it. The Terminal (Command Line for Linux) might take alittle getting used to if you've never used a command prompt before, But don't fret almost everything can be done without using the Terminal.
By far the best part about Linux is the community. If you use the official forum for trouble shooting you're likely to get the answer within a matter of minutes.
If you're not going to be playing hardcore games I'd definatly sujest going with Linux, However it does have its limitations. It's not going to be able to run Crysis.
But you'll be able to run games like Warcraft, and pretty much everything else made by Blizzard with ease. This is because they've coded their games to be able to run on OpenGl as well.
To run most of Windows apps you'll be using WINE, which stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator.
Its a compatability layer that gives you some of the nessesary DLL's to be able to run Windows programs. However this is not a fool proof way of running Windows apps sometimes they can be buggy or not run at all.
Luckily for most people there is at least 1 opensource alternative that will suite their needs. Ie: Microsoft Office = OpenOffice.org
Most of all the best parts about Linux is; It's Fast, Free and Completely Customizable.
So in the end you should be running a dual boot system, Until the game dev's wake up and start making games in OpenGL.
Its what I do, when I feel like gaming I boot up my Vista partition and when I'm doing anything else I run Linux.
Linux is amazing, if you get a starter distro such as Ubuntu you're in for an amazing ride. The software repository is great, you just select what programs you want, and it automaticly gets the required libaries.
It will take you alittle while to get used to the file structure but once you get that down you'll prefer it. The Terminal (Command Line for Linux) might take alittle getting used to if you've never used a command prompt before, But don't fret almost everything can be done without using the Terminal.
By far the best part about Linux is the community. If you use the official forum for trouble shooting you're likely to get the answer within a matter of minutes.
If you're not going to be playing hardcore games I'd definatly sujest going with Linux, However it does have its limitations. It's not going to be able to run Crysis.
But you'll be able to run games like Warcraft, and pretty much everything else made by Blizzard with ease. This is because they've coded their games to be able to run on OpenGl as well.
To run most of Windows apps you'll be using WINE, which stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator.
Its a compatability layer that gives you some of the nessesary DLL's to be able to run Windows programs. However this is not a fool proof way of running Windows apps sometimes they can be buggy or not run at all.
Luckily for most people there is at least 1 opensource alternative that will suite their needs. Ie: Microsoft Office = OpenOffice.org
Most of all the best parts about Linux is; It's Fast, Free and Completely Customizable.
So in the end you should be running a dual boot system, Until the game dev's wake up and start making games in OpenGL.
If you want to run GNU/Linux, make I'd advise you to use an nVidia GPU and a motherboard with Intel chips, including an Intel processor. Those brands have integrated and working drivers for many distributions that will simply work out of the box.
I'll also recommend that you use Ubuntu as your first GNU/Linux distribution, because it is the most user-friendly one, with the largest community and a wide range of compatibility and support.
I'll also recommend that you use Ubuntu as your first GNU/Linux distribution, because it is the most user-friendly one, with the largest community and a wide range of compatibility and support.
Because it teaches about your machine! You learn how it works and you learn how to better protect and care for it. As you should!Baneat said:
Me too, but how am I supposed to say everything I want to say?Baneat said:
Not as separate, smaller posts, that's for sure. OMFG, here's another one. I've cut it down as much as I can possibly bare to.Vordark said:
It did just work, until Windows Update screwed me over.DeadMG said:
I wasn't trying to do anything special, just get on an ordinary 10/100 wired LAN with a router & DHCP. But when it doesn't work, Granny can't check her emails.Baneat said:
I'm not sure if I'm really a Linux fanboy, just a Microsoft hater. Sure I really like Linux, I personally think it's the best general purpose OS, but by all means use Mac OS X, BSD, Solaris or whatever if you like.Vordark said:
Open source is the only way to have a truly secure, stable, trusted environment, and it's my belief that any closed source OS will not survive another decade. If Windows went open source I'd gladly use it, but at the moment they have this whole "release new, incompatible version every couple years, just when we'd finally patched most of the bugs in the previous version" business model, which is really not sustainable unless they're very, very devious.
Most of the time, yes. But again, the deluded fanboy in me is screaming that I must add "but the same can be said of Linux!" (apart from the bit about games, obviously)Baneat said:
Same for Windows, I'm afraid.Vordark said:
How do your needs differ from Grandma's, if you don't mind me asking? (besides games)
I know where you're coming from. I used to dual-boot Gentoo Linux and Windows XP, and even though I loved Gentoo, I found myself just doing most things in XP. It was the default boot option so I'd get XP if I didn't touch the keyboard while booting up, and it Just Worked because my needs were about the same as Grandma's, except with games. However, when something breaks you'll wish you had a proper operating system.DeadMG said:
Of course I'm not. Although it's only due to the lack of support from the games industry. In purely technical terms it's comparable.Vordark said:
Same here actually, but only in the bad old days of kernel 2.2, before any sort of user-friendliness had emerged and hardware support was still lacking; distros like RedHat 6, Debian 3, Slackware 9, Mandrake 10. It's easier to reinstall though, even installing one distro in place of another.Vordark said:
I bought Ubuntu for $3 NZ in the weekend, but it's incompatible with my laptop and my mum won't let me install it on the desktop because the last OS I tried to install resulted in an entire week being spent to get Windows going again. I might sell the laptop and get a new one.
oktalist, thanks for saying all the things and more that I was getting ready to say even if I don't completely agree with your anti-Windows bent. I have a friend that for a time was a pure Linux user, now he uses both because sometimes we get games before Cedega is compatible with them. However EVERY SINGLE GAME he has tried to run in Cedega has worked once they had compatibility with it.
There is nothing wrong with using Linux as a desktop OS, you just have to find the distro that is right for you. All of these people complaining about hardware incompatibility and not being able to play their Windows games just haven't done the research or tried hard enough.
There is nothing wrong with using Linux as a desktop OS, you just have to find the distro that is right for you. All of these people complaining about hardware incompatibility and not being able to play their Windows games just haven't done the research or tried hard enough.