Linux!

[PacSubCom]

So, who uses it? What are your expericences? Does open software appeal to you? Getting out of the fangs of Microsoft? If so, what distribution do you use?

I used it for my diploma thesis, so I used it even professionally, kind of. I installed it at home, but after trying to install a dvd viewer for four or five hours I just forgot it and got over it.

That was three years ago. And now the Linux virus has me again. I bought a Linux magazine just for general interest, and in it were OpenSuse and unbuntu. I found an unsused partition on my drive and installed ubuntu. It's kind of neat.

Linux has a very different feel and look in contrast to Windows. You have the impression you really work with your computer, because you are tuning lots of things manually. With online wikis and forums it's not tooooo frustrating. Overall much better than 3 years ago. Still, you should forget all you know about windows and start afresh. Your Win knowledge is worth nothing.

My goal is to only use windows for gaming and nothing else. It will be a stony road, but let's see ....

[Erik]

I used Linux for a while but this was 6 years ago.

I love open source software and I use it a lot.
I think it (generally) has far less bugs, better interfaces, and it's free too.

But I don't want to have two operation systems, and I need windows to play games, so I removed Linux.

[Mr.Flint]

Linux is nice, but its lack of compatibility with windows based progs is annoying.
So instead i opted to remove Microsoft as much as possible with the exculsion of the core...
Its unbelievalbe how many open source progs out there... (This approach is also resource efficient, Microsoft products are ram hogs)

[Francisco Montana]

Yea, I also dabbled in it a few years back. Your new assesment of it, SubPacCom, has be intregued.

I may have to set up a partition and try it again when I do my yearly reformat this spring.

[Nihil]

I love the idea of open source, and hopefully in the future we will be able to do without windows. Unfortunatley at the moment I use a lot of software that is windows-only, so I'm stuck with it.

[Spiff]

Linux sounds cool.. in that it can be installed on an ipod and used to play iDoom..

[PacSubCom]

Yea, I also dabbled in it a few years back. Your new assesment of it, SubPacCom, has be intregued.

I may have to set up a partition and try it again when I do my yearly reformat this spring.

Do that.

But it's still not easy. Today I had a problem with my sound and needed quite some time to find the relevant guide in the net. You should not give up too easily if you decide to do it. I mean, few weeks could pass before you have a have set up a satisfying desktop, if you're new to Linux, But if it works it works I think. And better than Windows. Because you know exactly what's where and what's what. I probably will make a little guide for myself how to set up ubuntu in for the time I want to install it on a new computer. I don't want to work myself into something only to have to relearn it when I want to do it again!

[Darth Wong]

I am typing this on a Linux box right now. For development and server apps, Linux rules. For games, it's no good.

[Kanaric]

I used linux at school and want to work on unix for a living. My laptop uses SuSe, used to have Ubuntu on it. Great OS, especially for old machines that chug on Win XP.

Also you CAN play games on it, you just have to fool with it. I know people who play WoW, CS:Source, Call of Duty, Hearts of Iron, etc on it. Their are also a few good native games, like the Quake series and Unreal Tournament, Neverwinter Nights, etc.

I know a few people who ONLY play UT and NWN who use linux simply because it runs better on it, lol. Not to mention you can't get adware/spyware, etc.

If their were more native games on Linux, or if they start charging monthy for Windows Vista which they are saying they might, then I would use it on my main computer. I dont feel like playing with Cedega (the prog that lets you play Win games on it) to get everything to work.


Many of the Cedega forced games then only work half-assed. I know Eve Online, WoW, and many though work perfectly, like on Windows. Had guildwars on it when I had it on my main pc for a month. Half-Life engine games work perfectly on it as well, including HL2 engine games. I know these from experiance.

Linux ISNT no good for games, its halfway decent for them.

[Last Roman]

I had used Linux for a short bit and couldnt stand it. It is not user friendly shall we say (im still kinda computer retarded). Thats the one thing MS has going for them.

[GodNeptune]

I've used Red Hat, Mandrake, and currently I'm using SUSE along with Win XP in a dual boot system. Linux is far more stable than Windows, and you never have to restart your PC or worry about viruses. And with the wine emulator for Linux, you can run many Windows programs in Linux. I used to play WOW in Linux. Why Linux isn't the most popular OS is beyond me.

[Darth Wong]

When I said Linux was no good for games, I didn't mean that there's anything wrong with it in terms of its technical game-playing capability. I was more referring to the small numbers of games which are actually playable on Linux. After all, this is TWC, and if I can't play Rome: Total War on Linux, that's a problem for me.

[Sidus Preclarum]

My goal is to only use windows for gaming and nothing else. It will be a stony road, but let's see ....

those are my plans for my next computer: using linux for games mostly, and installing only GPL stuff, and slapping an Ubuntu on the HD to fiddle with it, till I am proficient enough to use it for online and working purposes...
Now the only thing I need to proceed with the plan, is said computer...

[PacSubCom]

That's cool info, Kanaric. Seems there are more games working on Linux than I thought.

Btw, did I say stony road? It seems I am already there. One of the things that let me drop out of it three years ago, namely the installing of multimedia players and codecs, is already accomplished. One request on a forum and I was pointed to a program ('Automatix') which installs all multimedia, or most of it, automatically, just install it with a few commands in the terminal and then it's a push of a button. Now I can see streams over the internet, radio and tv and comedycentral (and the o'reilly factor ) But I have no specialized software to use, just office, internet and multimedia. I can see encrypted dvd, which is illegal to see with open software You own a legal copy of your favourite movie and are not allowed to see it with Linux. Naturally, these laws are there to be broken ... :sign_alri

The world's insane while you drink champagne and I'm living in black rain.

[Sidus Preclarum]

those are my plans for my next computer: using linux for games mostly, and installing only GPL stuff, and slapping an Ubuntu on the HD to fiddle with it, till I am proficient enough to use it for online and working purposes...
Now the only thing I need to proceed with the plan, is said computer...

well, if things go as planned, this is like 3 months away from now...

[Kanaric]

I had used Linux for a short bit and couldnt stand it. It is not user friendly shall we say (im still kinda computer retarded). Thats the one thing MS has going for them.

Actually many distros are VERY user friendly, like Ubuntu for example. Its just that you have to learn a new way of operating a computer, other than that its no different than windows. For example like how their are no "c" or "d" drives but their are folders.

Basically i had a extra laptop that is laying around (500 mhz shitbox) so I installed Ubuntu on it to fool around with. After playing around with it for a little while you can learn it quickly. Right now i'm using SuSe on that machine...

Why Linux isn't the most popular OS is beyond me.

That will change soon if MS charges monthly or whatever for Vista. Its allready gaining a lot of popularity as it is...

One request on a forum and I was pointed to a program ('Automatix') which installs all multimedia, or most of it, automatically, just install it with a few commands in the terminal and then it's a push of a button. Now I can see streams over the internet, radio and tv and comedycentral (and the o'reilly factor ) But I have no specialized software to use, just office, internet and multimedia.

What you may want to do is use a program called MPLAYER. Its one of the better media players for linux and it comes with all the Windows Codecs as well, their is another one but I forget what its called..... I download anime and foreign movies on occasion (that is legal if they aren't liscenced, heh) and posted on a few boards on how to get them working and I was pointed to that, it works great as well. Their was another media player i used a while back but I forget what it was called..... however mplayer should work fine.

If you can't use the apt or software install program to get it try their site: http://www.mplayerhq.hu/homepage/design7/news.html here is the media it supports:

* (S)VCD (Super Video CD)
* CDRwin's .bin image file
* DVD, including encrypted DVD
* MPEG-1/2 (ES/PS/PES/VOB)
* RIFF AVI file format
* ASF/WMV/WMA format
* QT/MOV/MP4 format
* RealAudio/RealVideo format
* Ogg/OGM files
* Matroska
* NUT
* NSV (Nullsoft Streaming Video)
* VIVO format
* FLI format
* NuppelVideo format
* yuv4mpeg format
* FILM (.cpk) format
* RoQ format
* PVA format
* streaming via HTTP/FTP, RTP/RTSP, MMS/MMST, MPST, SDP
* TV grabbing

encrypted dvds are on their, mwahahaha. If I remember it can read dvd .ISO files as well.... which is useful. This program works for Windows too, i used it for sites that requred Real player since I refuse to install that spyware prog.

[Necropsique]

Hi.
Someone knows if there is a way.. any way.. to make RTW run on Linux ?

[Niles Crane]

I ordered the Ubuntu CD's some time this year, but I've never gotten round to installing it. I figured it might be nice to try out (which I did using the Live version). I'll try it later.

[Nihil]

Ubuntu is my OS of choice these days for internet stuff (no problems with security on Linux), word processing, programming (interprocess communication is cool), and learning about Unix-style operating systems (using the terminal and shell scripting). I still need windows for a lot of things, but someday it would be nice to be free of it. I mess about with SuSe a bit too.

On the other hand, I find Ubuntu rather uneconimical with system resources. Linux GUIs seem to eat ram in a wasteful manner, but maybe I just need to learn how to tweak it.

[Locky]

I was fooling around with Redhat, and made me wonder why i was even using windows. It makes me shudder when i think about how terrible window's OS, are. Redhat, just had cleaner interface, runs alot faster, esasier to navigate, looks nicer, etc.