I May go Linux

[evilchris]

lol @ "forced to upgrade Windows". What BS, does your XP computer explode on the eve of Vista launch?

[feld]

no, they are just stupid and stop supporting you. Major bug? Oh well, we don't support you. Enjoy your viruses.




-Feld

[feeyo]

no, they are just stupid and stop supporting you. Major bug? Oh well, we don't support you. Enjoy your viruses.




-Feld

LOL
/agreed

[gnutux]

I second that agreement ;)

gnutux

[carlos]

Just based from your explanation for using Linux, I can assure you that you will not use Linux long. People always think Linux is the answer simply because they are annoyed at Windows. This is the worst reason to use Linux.

My advice...buy a Mac.

[gnutux]

Now can you list the reasons why you tell people to buy a Mac. You need to support your answer. The original poster said that he saw what he likes + he didn't like Windows = he wants Linux.

gnutux

[carlos]

People start these threads like "I hate M$" or something along those lines and then install Linux expecting it to be day in and out like Windows, just free. This is never the case in from what I always see, they always end up going back to Windows (which is fine) but I think more research needs to go into these claims of switching.

Time will tell if Linux ends up being his savior.

[gnutux]

that is true, but the poster did say that he likes Linux, that's why he decided to make the switch, but as you said, only time will tell ;)

gnutux

[carlos]

I have not read this entire thread but you can't go wrong with Ubuntu. It will detect hardware not yet even invented. That are you can just install Debian and impress all the ladies.

[gnutux]

I hate Ubuntu, it is annoying!! It overrides your settings and it doesn't allow me to open an extra X window. That's why I keep switching back to SuSE Linux, because it's the best.

gnutux

[nemecb]

Gentoo all the way!!!!111one

/distro wars:)

[gnutux]

lol, no thanx

I like Gentoo, but it's like a BSD wannabe and the install takes eons.

gnutux

[Darkvater]

I have switched over to Linux about a year ago, and 4 months after that gone totally cold-turkey by deleting my dual-boot Windows XP.

I just had enough of the teletubby-stupid-user-attitude of Windows, and its annoying quirks, bugs, crashes, trojans, etc. etc. and switched to Suse 9.1 (at that time). Let me say the first 2 months were really really bad. I was completely lost didn't know what to do, the console and manually editing with vi (GWER@#$!@#$!@) made me sick; the usual. But after that it just got better and better, I even have become to love vi and am pretty comfortable with my Suse install (9.3 by now).

All is not well though. Annoying Nvidia Xid crashes still bug me (although less nowadays), and overall X-responsiveness really seems slower than on windows. My favourite browser Opera certainly is. I also started missing my good old programs like Photoshop (do not even dare say Gimp or I'll rip your head off :) ) and Visual Studio. Sure I found replacements such as KDevelop, "emulating" through Wine, but it's not the same and doesn't give me the same functionality.
Recently I've started hijacking my father's laptop with WindowsXP and do almost all the work there. My Linux install has mostly become a file/web-server and SSH box, which it is great at. And it's not even that slow a PC, 1.3GHz with 1GB of RAM. But it's not the same. Perhaps the difference is that the laptop is a newer generation and runs faster, but I just miss the old'e windows programs and as such am even thinking of switching back. A shame though since I've come to love Linux, but unfortunately to me it seems it is not ready for real home-desktop usage. Mostly little annoyances. I might reswitch in another year because I'm sure Windows will get on my nerves again and the change then will be a lot easier that time, but I guess I'm just "homesick".

I love linux though. Samba rox, mplayer is just awesome tv-out is much better than on windows (no jerky picture, although rebooting X-server to get Twinview is really annoying), SSH, Apache, ReiserFS, but the graphical part....ayy; and let's not even speak about games ;)

I'll definitely switch back to Linux when Vista comes out and XP stops getting supported. I'll never go the DRM way. So people you have a few years to polish up the OS for usage :P

[gnutux]

lol, anyways, nice transitition sotry. For me, I started around 3 years ago as a matter of fact. I quickly learned Linux in max. of 3 months, basic commands, paritally mastered KDE and all that junk. Then, I quickly got the hang of the UNIX stuff and eventually now I'm doing experiments, and stuff, trying to get Linux software working on FreeBSD for fun and stuff.

As for NVIDIA, I find it rendering things way faster than Windows will ever render.

gnutux

[nemecb]

If you're tied to Windows-only apps it's going to be very hard to switch to Linux completely. As far as the performance issues, personally I find that any slight degradation of performance in Linux is far outweighed by not having my system randomly stop responding because I clicked the wrong button. And actually, I don't notice much performance difference anymore, but that's just me and Fluxbox, so YMMV. Basically my Linux system never even hiccups, no matter what I throw at it (except real-time video encoding/decoding for MythTV - that's a CPU killer), and that makes me a very happy person (and is something I can't say about any Windows system I ever used, then again I have the worst luck with Windows of anyone I've ever known).

[brady]

I would suggest that if you want to seriously continue playing games on your computer then don't switch to linux. Getting things to run, and run well can be very diffictult sometimes. Don't expect to just be able to plop your cd's in and go.

Currently I have a laptop that only runs on ubuntu. It took some time to get the built in broadcom wireless chipset to work but now that I've figured it out I'm not switching it back to windows. It's free, pretty user friendly, and I would never try to play games on the integrated ati345m chipset anyways so that's not a problem.

My main rig has windows media center, and I don't forsee a change in that any time in the near future simply because it is far more simple to integrate into my home network (xbox360, ect) than a linux server.

Good luck with linux. I guess my point is, if your trying to switch over for the first time AND keep playing all your games, I think most everyone is right in that you'll probably be back to windows pretty quick. However, If your switching over for pretty much anything else, you should be just fine.

[mullet]

I love Ubuntu its for ppl that dont know crap about linux. I would give that a try first.

[NightsPaladin]

Like most everyone here, I would recommend doing a Dual-Boot system, because as most have said, it's not the same, and definitely won't run all your games.

Most newer games run with TransGaming's Cedega (WINE offshoot), but many old games don't. The support for games mostly revolves around FPS, RTS, and a few RPGs. Sports and Racing games tend not to work, though some newer one's like NFS Underground (1/2) do work with little to no issues.

For Windows Apps many recommended WINE, you could use that, or save some hassle, and use CrossOver Office from Codeweavers. It costs money, but you get support, and easy installation, etc, and that money goes into the WINE Project, furthering it's development.

Which distro you go with (obviously you've already chosen to try Ubuntu) is dependant on what you want to do with the system. I've used Slackware, (K)Ubuntu, SuSE, Mandrake/Mandriva, Red Hat/Fedora Core, and Xandros. All have their strong points, and they all have their weak points.

Slackware is easy, but is more in depth, and pushes you to learn the core of Linux, and such. It comes with some tools to make setup of the system easy, and installs on almost any system, but it's not for the faint hearted, or newly acquainted.

SuSE has a great distro overall, and their Setup/Config tool YaST is very very helpful to the Linux newbie. I didn't like the fact that like Windows, customizing it can be a chore sometimes, but otherwise awesome deal.

Fedora Core is great for newbies, but very unstable. Over the past few years using FC1, 2, 3, and 4, I've seen the instability of the system increase with each version. Maybe that's just my experience, and/or my hardware, etc. But it crashed very frequently for me.

K/Ubunutu is decent, they have some nice tools, inheirent to being Debian-based, but setup can be a pain once in the system, and I experienced a lot of lock ups and crashes on it in the last version (5.10). They do have awesome support forums though, and can be invaluable to a person just starting out with Linux.

Mandriva is great overall, from setup, to config, to working with the system, and it's neatly organized, and such, but my biggest complaint with it, is they're customizing it too much. They've pretty much borked the Samba (Windows) file sharing in it, and sometimes finding software can be a pain, though they do have a few places you can get plenty from.

Xandros is ok, but my biggest problem with their system is you have to buy it if you want things that come standard with other distros. They limit things like CD Burning, you have to pay to get KOffice (MS-Office Compatible Office Suite from KDE), and other applications, and their "Xandros Network" offers very limited software choices considering what you pay for it. It's been awhile since I used it, so it may be better now, but I was definitely not impressed with it.

On the topic of how long people have been using Linux, so far, I seem to be the oldest Linux user posting. I've been using it since early '97. Starting with Slackware 3.2. I can honestly say it was a struggle to learn, but I had a blast, and it's install instructions were much more simple than Red Hat's at the time. I had a choice between the two, and RH just made things too complicated to me. As I recall, the FTP download was all setup for 3.5" floppies, and you could order a CD-ROM set from Walnut Creek CDROM (www.cdrom.com then). I remember having to fight hard to get X Windows running for the first time, just to be impressed by running an early version Netscape Browser in it. LoL Of course that was a later version than my first, and I tried out AfterStep (still in active development, last I checked), and FVWM95 Window Managers. It was quite interesting. I didn't have a clue what I was doing, but I was having fun. :P

Anyway, to cut the reminiscing short, because I could probably go on forever with it, those are my experiences and recommendations. :)

NP

[backinblack]

Nice to read other people' thoughts about Linux.
There is a major transition from Windows to Linux!
Windows does have that click 'n go convenience, but its prone to viruses, and there is never any certainty about just what is on your computer!
Linux is simpler, and a lot more stable, but there is the need to learn how to do it yourself. For example, if you're having connection problems, and call up your ISP, forget it!
They will tell you,"We only support Windows"