Is anyone running Linux? I am considering switching from vista to linux, let me know what you guys think about it.
If you game, don’t even think about it.
If you overclock, don’t even think about it.
Now, if you need basic stuff, no problem.
If you’re new to linux, try out ubuntu. Should run everything fine. I run ubuntu (though I don’t use it due to lack of OC’ing applications) and its easy. Auto updates make thing very easy. People I know that use it 24/7 are very pleased with it.
[quote]Synthetickiller wrote:
If you game, don’t even think about it.
If you overclock, don’t even think about it.
[/quote]
The gaming I agree with (though there are some Linux games that are pretty cool), but what the fuck are you talking about with the overclocking? Quit being a pussy and OC through your bios like God intended.
JD, if you don’t play games that are Windows only (though WINE can run a lot of them pretty well if they’re not bleeding edge hardware-wise) and have a printer that Ubuntu supports, go with Ubuntu. It’s easy to use, supports all the capabilities home users need, and doesn’t suck the RIAA/MPAA’s nuts.
If you need to, you can also run Windows in a virtual machine for the off application you might need in the future. If I didn’t need to use Windows in order to use a lot of the professional software I run, I’d be a Linux man. If you have a reasonable grasp of how computers work, you’ll be fine and it’s free.
Before making the hardcore switch, though, boot from a Live CD and make sure everything works correctly. If you happen to have an uncommon hardware component it may not run correctly. If that’s the case, another distribution usually works, I’ve had good success with OpenSUSE as well.
-Dan
Linux and Unixesque operating systems are great for a lot of things, but it seems to me that Darwin/OS X is truly the best compromise for a non-technical student such as yourself. The reasoning behind this is the intrinsic security and stability of the Mach micro-kernel and Darwin systems and the elegance and functionality for superior word processing and data manipulation from the Office for OS X Suite software packages.
I recommend to you, that if you are just sick of all the bullshit you’re getting from Vista go for a Hackintosh/OSX86
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showforum=85
http://www.hackint0sh.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=104
build after researching the hardware compatibility reqs or simply revert to Win2k3 Server. If you go for an install of Win2k3 Server you can install Cygwin if you feel the need to play with GNU/Linux apps.
Get yourself a fresh copy of Ubuntu here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Burn to CD, reboot your machine and you’ll be in LiveCD mode. That would enable you to check how well your hardware is supported, the intuitivity of the user-interface and the myriad of apps you can choose from - without changing a thing at your installation should you decide you don’t like it (slim chance tough ;-).
And don’t forget, the community is extremely helpful and always there for you.
UBUNTU - UBUNTU - UBUNTU !!!
Dude, do yourself a favor and try PCLinuxOS. Has a great community, and it’s gaining quite a following. The best I’ve ever tried. It’s been just over a year now (Thanksgiving 2006) since I completely switched over to it from windows. Extremely easy to use and very full-featured. I tried many others before - Ubuntu, Redhat, Suse, etc etc.
PM me if you have any questions.
You didn’t happen to see my past post on Linux - …?
Me likey linux.
What do you primarily do on your computer?
Things like graphic design, internet, word processing, spread sheets, all that, work wonderfully.
Things like gaming, no.
Advantages:
- It tends to be more stable than Windows
- It is prettier
- It is free
- It comes with Beryl and Compiz
- It is faster
- It is more protected
- Windows media Player won’t be spying on you…
- It can run well on very low spec and old machines.
- Utilizes the CPU much better.
Also, if learn, you can program many awesome things for it.
If you are new to it, you will need to get a more user-friendly version. Good ones are
- Ubuntu
- Sabayon
- Mint Linux
- PC Linux
Ubuntu is the most supported - a lot of new software is being made to work with it. However, it is also becoming bloated. Not nearly like XP or Vista, but it is heading down a bad trail…
My laptop dual-boots Ubuntu and XP. Ubuntu [7.10] runs Compiz Fusion, which is awesome eyecandy, and the 4 desktops is great.
I recently stripped my desktop and install Sabayon. It is great for multimedia purposes. Sabayon is made in Italy, so it doesn’t have to follow all of the US’s ridiculous media laws. It comes loaded with every codec you can think of, and can run ANY movie or music file right out of the box. It detects wireless and usb out of the box, etc.
I recently install Sabayon mini on an old IBM Thinkpad, 4 gig HDD, 128 RAM, and now it runs as a DVD player.
Zenwalk is good if you want a really small OS that can run good and doesn’t look crappy like Damn Small Linux. It comes with all the software you need, but did give me a few issues acknowledging an external drive. It is a newer version of Slackware, which is notorious for being a pain in the ass. But, its still an option.
Linux is very cool. You can run a lot of Windows programs through WINE if you need them, but there really isn’t a lot you can’t do.
I am a big fan of Linux. There are disadvantages, but I really need more info on what you plan to do. If you have any questions, I’m more than happy to help.
[quote]buffalokilla wrote:
Synthetickiller wrote:
If you game, don’t even think about it.
If you overclock, don’t even think about it.
The gaming I agree with (though there are some Linux games that are pretty cool), but what the fuck are you talking about with the overclocking? Quit being a pussy and OC through your bios like God intended.
[/quote]
You can’t run stability programs like prime95. Thats my issue. I don’t want to run that in wine. That would probably be problematic.
I OC through my bios.
Ubuntu seems to work with all the new hardware as far as I’ve seen (I haven’t tried scsi though).
Runs fine w/ my p35 and quad, but ati video drivers can be a bitch.
[quote]Synthetickiller wrote:
You can’t run stability programs like prime95. Thats my issue. I don’t want to run that in wine. That would probably be problematic.
I OC through my bios.
[/quote]
Oh, okay, my apologies. I thought you meant the software OC programs out there.
I remember a little while back reading that a couple distros had started including ATI’s drivers by default… was it PCLinuxOS? FreeSpire? Could be good alternatives if you have problems with ATI and Ubuntu.
im not new to computers, if i install linux i will be keeping a dual operating system. basically vista for school and linux for myself. My laptop has a gig of memory and a 160 gigs of space, so im not dying for speed or space.
The main reason I would install it is because it is more secure, faster, and 100% customizable. Windows is too slow and is a piece of shit.
Ubuntu is good for people that want linux but do not really understand linux. In my opinion, Fedora is a really good distro, it used to be red hat and is extremely user friendly; however, the one that I will most likely install is gentoo.
It is the best in my opinion, it is for advanced computer users since everything basically needs to be coded into this distro, but one of the upsides is that it supports both gnome and kde. If I install linux I will most likely be installing the OS X theme to the linux, probably through gnome (I think gnome is better than kde).
So ya, I don’t know if I answered a lot of the questions, but let me know what you think, just stop the talk on ubuntu because i am not a fan of it.
Try PCLinuxOS, you too will be a believer.
Hands down the best distro out there.
Known as the “distro-hopper-stopper.” 
I just had a bad experience with a dual boot Ubuntu and Windows XP Pro machine. I’ve looked all over the internet and it seems like it’s fairly common with Ubuntu.
Basically, Ubuntu wrecked my MBR and I had to go into the Windows recovery console to fix it.
It was easy to fix but hard to diagnose because of how fast the only clue I had to go on disappeared. When the computer rebooted instead of going to the OS Selection Menu it would flash a message by and then reboot again.
The message was “GRUB Loading Stage1.5” and then it would reboot. It only appeared for about .2 seconds and the only reason I figured out what it said was because I recorded it on the camcorder on my cell phone. After that I had to remove “Hard Drive” from the boot sequence all together (because even with CD-ROM first it would immediately reboot), launch recovery console and run “fixmbr” to fix it.
There’s always a chance recovery console isn’t going to be able to fix the MBR, too. So make sure you have a backup.
[quote]Jacked Diesel wrote:
The main reason I would install it is because it is more secure, faster, and 100% customizable. Windows is too slow and is a piece of shit.
[/quote]
Red Hat distros are very, very bloated and annoying. The startup scripts and the RPM binary system is just atrocious, and perhaps even more annoying than Vista’s overhead, IMO.
You sound like a guy that likes the myriad complexity, mutability and programmability of *nix systems. And you say that you have some experience with the system. If you’re heart is set on Linux, then the only Linux distro I can promote is LFS [ http://www.linuxfromscratch.org ]. It’s the only proper distro that you can customize in a truly RYO fashion, without all the cruft of packaging systems, boot scripts, and B.S.
As an aside, you are not stuck with Desktop Environment Systems like KDE or Gnome - there are a slew of great window manager systems with great levels of customizability. I really love Blackbox and Fluxbox, but you can choose from a massive assortment here:
Good luck with everything. If you need any specific instruction/advice on a particular aspect of the system you can drop me priv msgs or whatever. I’ve contributed code to the OpenBSD and Debian projects in the past and have been using GNU/Linux, OpenBSD, and Solaris almost exclusively since I was a young’n.
update:
so i just installed gentoo. it is a pretty nasty distro. it took about a day and a half of solid programming to get it up and running, that is the cool part about gentoo, it is 100% customizable, so everything has to be programed in using the terminal. once you get the kernal up and running and the interface going, you can then install even small programs like flash through the terminal. you never have to go to a site to find it, simple go to the terminal and type emerge then whatever you are looking for, it finds it, downloads it, and installs it.
It also runs the four desktop option, and all that jazz, but i am no where near done with it. I still have to install sound drivers and shit like that. right now i have a dual boot screen running, so when i boot, it asks if i want to go to gentoo or vista. eventually i will have it configured where i will have 2 linux desktops and 2 vista desktops on the cube, so i will just boot into linux and with the click of a button be able to switch from gentoo to vista.
this is not my version of gentoo, but it is a good example of what it is capable of graphically, check it out.