IS USING LINUX WORTH IT?

[Viralbug 0]

I have been going to many many problems with Windows. I have been using windows since v3.1. Lets just say that I have grown to Hate windows. I am wondering if it is even worth my time to install Mandrake Linux. I want to still have the ability to play all my favorite Multiplayer Online Games but have a system that rarely has errors and can perform at top notch capabilities. Is Linux worth it?

[casstyle 0]

Changing to linux is a wise choise. But you must realize that you will need to get settle into the linux mentality, therefore it wont be easy, since windows creates such bad habbits that die hard. If you can do something in windows you can do it on linux (much better). The key word in linux world is READING

 

Sorry for my poor english. Rusty I guess.

[Tekchip 0]

casstyle makes a good point. Windows does cause some bad habits that are extremely hard to break. The only way your going to get into the linux thing is through a lot of reading and through keeping at it. It's really easy to run into a wall(dealing with dependencies any one?) and just give up simply because it's easier to run crying back to microsoft. Once you have the major things figure out with linux you'll find your self not only wondering why MS didn't do it this way but you'll also find your self addicted to learning linux.

 

Now I'm not talking out my ass. I've just recently gotten to a point where I'm comfortable with linux. "I'm not just the president I'm also a customer". I still dont exactly know what I'm doing with kernel recompiles and I still run into issues with dependencies but hell if I'm not bound and determined to figure it out.

 

I'd suggest to you first that you make sure your hardware is supported by Mandrake or Redhat. Especially your monitor and video card. I've found that the hardest thing to figure out and get properly configured seems to be X. Given the newer installers pretty much keep you covered and make it easy but it's not a bad idea to stay on top of things. Secondly make sure you know some basic linux command line commands. Most things linux are going to come down to some sort of command line usage so it's a good thing to have a knowledge of some of those commands.

 

Just keep in mind that it is different and will require a very large amount of time to learn.

[defector 0]

Viralbug, what version of Windows are you using now that has finally pushed you over the edge? XP is what provides me with motivation to move away from Windows. Windows 2000 was reasonably stable, but Microsoft really dropped the bag with Windows XP.

[m1ndctrl 0]

I personally switched to linux because I got tired of point and click. After widnows trashed DOS, there was nothing but point and click. I've recently started using Redhat, and even though I know it's not the optimal distro, it's still good for the level of knowledge I have.

 

I wouild suggest moving to mandrake, then up to redhat. Once you are comfortable with those two go to debian. Finally, if you like you can switch from debian to gentoo or slackware.

 

I really like the concept of how there are different learning curve distro's. I find redhat to be great for exploring and learning the ways of linux. Slowly I will learn more and rely less on GUI, which is my goal.

 

Just keep in mind that linux is not a gaming platform as is windows. Yes you can play games here and there, but it will not run everything.

 

Aside from checking your hardware compatibility, check that the games you like to play are offered in windows versions.

 

As another note, make sure that if you are using dial-up or send faxes that you.

 

a) Don't have a winmodem

or

be prepared to set up a winmodem.

 

Thats my .02

[Kenzo 0]

Quote:

...
I want to still have the ability to play all my favorite Multiplayer Online Games ...

Is Linux worth it?

No, at least not as the only option. I have my computer set up with a "dual-boot" option so that I can either start Linux or Windows. I generally have to use Windows to play most of my games - Linux covers all my other needs just fine.

[PenguinBiker 0]

I've only been useing linux about 2 and a half years. and i personaly would never switch back.

I run suse 8.2 and i found it remarkably easy to learn how to use i started with mandrake duel boot with win xp home (which i later took off beacause it pissed me off to much

 

as far as progams that a can't use i find alternatives or wait untill support for linux comes out (like enter the matrix which is on the list of things transgaming is going to work on)

 

if i were you i would check out suse as well as mandrake and redhat

[paulten 0]

Sure Linux is worth it, I agree that windows creates some bad habbits that die hard. But computing reaches a new level using linux.

You may have problems with your gaming though, but linux has so many opportunities you don't need gaming

 

Regards Paul

[PenguinBiker 0]

Well as far as i'm concerrned games on my desktop is esential its one of the reasons i got the computer i did. (laptops are another story)

 

Game support under linux is getting better at a fast rate as more big companies release their titles for linux

 

(i took winblows xp off my computer after it needed to be reinstalled for the 5th time) i think towards the end windows rg (http://people.freenet.de/sDuke/index.html) would have worked better

 

but as far as windows multiplayer games suport goes its not quite, there yet (but it is getting better rapidly)

[Maillion 0]

I currently have Windows 98, XP and Mandrake 9.0 installed on my machine. I don't use XP much, but I have a couple of graphics related programs that I use each and every day that Linux has no equivalents for. The Gimp is OK, but it doesn't compare to JASC Paint Shop Pro, and there is nothing at all that comes close to Thumbs Plus. It took me years to find decent programs that will do what these programs do, and I figure it will take more years before anything close comes along for Linux, so I am kind of stuck with Windows for a while, but not because of bad habits, but because of lack of specialized software!

[Dapper Dan 0]

Maillion, you could run your Windows 98 from Win4Lin from your Linux. It shouldn't have any problems running those programs. We use it at my radio station for a few Windows apps we need, and it runs them as well as under Windows alone and they are actually are more stable.

[Neus 0]

yeh my laptop that i use was off ME, but after previewing XP a bit on other computers, i saw i better quickly change over to linux if i could, so i could get used to it. Personally i would like to dual boot my comp, but currently i dont really have the hard disk space to do that kinda thing... i use my laptop with my old sucky games before that had low graphic needs, but now i dont use it for gaming at all really... i might soon try to, but right now i use our desktop( windows 2000) for all my gaming needs...

 

So far, ive been loving linux... its awsome also my system which used to keep the fan running full almost the whole time under windows, its now compleatly silent.

[Maillion 0]

Dapper,

 

They ask for email addresses and such. Are they trustworthy? I've had to change my email address 5 times in the last couple of years due to spam that resulted from this kind of 'membership' :x

 

Never mind, I went ahead and did it, but it won't allow me to download anything but kernels and kernel patches, and I am not knowledgeable enough about Linux yet to change change or patch kernels... I am hoping that wine will allow the same thing, and I will be installing it in my Mandrake as soon as I research it a bit more. I really appreciate the suggestion, though, and I may get Win4lin once I have a few more dollars to spare...

[Dapper Dan 0]

Quote:

Dapper,

They ask for email addresses and such. Are they trustworthy? I've had to change my email address 5 times in the last couple of years due to spam that resulted from this kind of 'membership' :x

LOL! I regularly get between 15 and 60 junk e-mails a day! Netraverse is a good company. I don't know for sure, but I wouldn't think they would do that. Once you purchase it, (around $90.00), the Win4Lin install is actually so easy it's almost no fun!

[PC-Janitor 0]

Quote:

Once you purchase it, (around $90.00), the Win4Lin install is actually so easy it's almost no fun!

Sounds like a dumb question, but I need to ask, do you need Windows licences or am I right in thinking that Win4Lin like Wine on steroids?

[Dapper Dan 0]

Win4Lin is really sort of an interface between your Windows OS running on top of a Linux foundation. When I was running Windows 98 natively, I got many crashes weekly if not daily. With Windows 98 on top Of Linux, it seldom crashes and Windows programs are very stable. I would not advocate going out and buying Windows 98 to run with Win4Lin, but if you are like me in that 98 (type windows) was the last OS you used before moving over, you can put it to use with Win4Lin. After all, you already paid for it.

[PC-Janitor 0]

I'm guessing from what you say there that its possible to use some of the code or functions in a regular installation of Win98 to enhance Win4Lin. Is this markedly different from the scenario presented by Wine where you can set variables to point to existing 'True' Windows DLL's rather than the ones that Wine itself ship with?

 

I don't really want to pay out for something that I would (with a lot of reading) have managed myself eventually.

[Dapper Dan 0]

I'm not sure about your last question, but after installing Win4Lin, you then install Windows right onto your Linux just as you would any other app. You then have an icon on your desktop that when you click, it simulates the Windows boot up, (only much faster) and you have a complete Windows OS from which to use that looks, appears, and for the most part, works just as you are used to seeing it. I've yet to find apps it wouldn't install and run, except games. Presently there is no active X support. That's really the only drawback. Once you install your Windows programs, it uses it's files and .dlls just as under Windows. The Windows OS itself is running from Linux which in turn makes it possible for you to run your apps from the Windows OS.

[PC-Janitor 0]

I understand,

 

It's like Mac-on-Linux where you install the OS on the software which seems (to all intents and purposes,) to make Linux invisible to the host system!

 

I may persist with Wine http://www.twoostwo.org/competitors/wine.php for a little bit longer as I only realy want to run a few applications Internet Explorer (wierd eh!) and I have some practice A+ and Net+ exams that are designed to run under Windows but I spend so little time in XP these days that I'd practice more often if I had them running in Linux.

 

Thanks for the advice.

 

Jon

[bulio 0]

try using slax www.slax.org it is a live linux cd which means you boot it from cd and install nothing to your hd you can try it and see if linux is right for you

[PC-Janitor 0]

Good tip, I lug around a copy of Damn Small Linux which fits on a credit card shape cd-rom.

 

Just used it today to ftp files off an 8086 (ripped the harddrive out and bunged it in an old Pentium :-) ) on to my machine for output to a CD-ROM.

 

But my best 'try-it-for-size' distro has to be Morphix, especially for anyone testing the waters outside Windows.

[Dapper Dan 0]

Yes! Morphix rules!

[Maillion 0]

Quote:

Maillion, you could run your Windows 98 from Win4Lin from your Linux. It shouldn't have any problems running those programs. We use it at my radio station for a few Windows apps we need, and it runs them as well as under Windows alone and they are actually are more stable.

I've used a lot of those type of programs. So far each will do some but not all. I guess I will keep an eye on Wine (I like the name...) it will be changing and improving as time goes on. Eventually I hope Linux will replace Windows altogether (I dream sometimes...) and we won't have to have such programs... I have five programs that I use in Windows - Wine allows three of them, and the others I've tried will do two each... (I tried Wine, Winex, and Lycoris.) 8) Another thing that doesn't work at all in Linux is my HP scanner. It is not compatible in any Linux distro I've tried so far, so I have to start Windows to make a scan. (I use it for copies, faxes,and images).

[Dapper Dan 0]

My Visioneer scanner is a boat anchor too. I'll sacrafice a piece of hardware or two in order to use Linux.