Linux any good? Options

[Renzoblade]

Hey all, im sick of windows, i want a new operating system. does anyone have any experience running them,i hear fedora 7 linux is good. Do windows programs run on linux based OS?

[amir]

i don't know about it's technicalities but, dude check this out :
Its Ubuntu (a distro of Linux) with Beryl and Kiba Dock installed. (these are stupid stuff but yet fun)

[MaD_cOw]

If you were seriously going to switch to Linux from windows then you would probably want something with the KDE desktop environment,

This most resembles the windows start menu act. but there is way more functionality in it.

Ubuntu, being a very good Distro. runs Gnome. Genome is probably one of the most inefficient GUIs that I have used, even the creator of the Linux kernel Linus Trovalds recommends KDE and does not like Gnome.

I would ether choose one of these two distros:
Kubuntu (http://www.kubuntu.org/)
or
Mandriva Linux 2008 (http://www.mandriva.com/)

Both of these are good distros both running KDE.
In my mind I think that Mandriva is much better for functionality and flexibility,
But Kubuntu sends you free disks in the mail.

Packages:
The next part you have to think about is the package managing system.

Programs can come in three formats:
Distro specific (.deb, .rpm,)
Source code (usually in compressed folders)
Distro Independent (.package)


The distro specific files can only be used with a certain type of distro eg .deb files are used with Debian and Ubuntu/kubuntu (because they are both based on Debian) and Mandriva uses RPM.

In my experience RPM files are easier to find and in Mandriva Linux the package manager makes installing these very easy.

I haven't had as much experience with debian and .deb files but I know that rpm files are easier to find because multiple Linux distros are based on thr RPM package.

Next source code can be installed on any distro, but it must be compiled first and it pretty much the same on most distros.

And also the Distro independent packages work on almost every distro with out much effort and lots of big Linux programs are distributed in these.

Distribution Choosing:
Ok, now you have an idea what distro you might want, you go to the site and you find about 7 different types. Here are some of the most common types and what they mean:


X86 – This means that it is for use on 32 bit and 64 bit computers
X64 – this means it for use on 64 bit computers
PPC- this is for Mac PowerPC based systems

A live CD – this is a CD that run totally in ram and does not touch your hard drive at all.

It is great for trying out Linux before you install, and you can even install a Linux environment from these CDs. These CDs have fewer programs on them because they run off a CD. If you know what type of Linux you want I would suggest downloading the full DVD install versions. They don't run from a DVD but they do contain more programs.

Both of the distos that I have talked about have live CD versions and Kubuntu even sends you free live CDs in the mail. Mandriva on the other hand makes you download a CD image and you have to burn it to a disk.



Running Windows Programs on Linux


The first thing you need to know about running windows software on Linux is that all of your programs are not going to work right or if at all.


This is possible thought three programs:

Crossover Office
Cedega
Wine


The first two are commercial programs that you have to buy, but the last one is free and open source.

Cedega is mostly for running games under Linux and you can look at their site to see what games are working and how well. (there is a surprisingly big list)

(http://www.transgaming.com/)

Crossover office is my personal favorite. It is able to run MS office 2000, Photoshop 7 and Dream weaver MX perfectly just like on a windows box. You can also look on their site to see what is supported and how well everything runs.

(http://www.codeweavers.com/products/)

Wine is not as user friendly, but being open source sometimes can be the best thing. I haven't played with it much, but I have used ie4linux (http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Page)

To run IE 6 under wine so I can visit those annoying IE only pages under Linux.


Conclusion:

I myself have been running Mandriva for a while now and will recommend it to anyone out there, I have tried many different distros and found this one to work the best for me.

Good luck running windows programs on Linux, it can be tricky but you can get it to work but the thing about Linux is that its open source with many open source programs so you might just find free software to do what you get with paid software in Windows.



If you have any questions just post back here of PM me,

This post has been edited by MaD_cOw: Nov 21 2007, 04:47 AM

[Renzoblade]

^ thanks a lot im going to read everything in detail slow so I dont mess nothing up, more complicated than I first thought.

[MaD_cOw]

Yeah Linux is a wonderful thing, I just installed Kubuntu on my newly gotten Ibook.

It runs so much faster then OS X,

[Renzoblade]

cool thing, I almost got it, i get a day off tommorow so ill be able to go at it full time.

[MaD_cOw]

The one big deciding factor is are you using it to connect to a wireless network. If you aren't it will be easy, if you are well its a semi-hard thing to set up wireless under Linux, and thats only because some manufacturers don't help out the developers by providing specs ect.

It also depends what Kind of wireless card you have, my apple Airport card worked right out of the box.

[Stumpey]

Hi

I have been using Linux at home for the last four years I have tried a few distros in that time but I am currently using Ubuntu 7.10 Gibbon. This has to be the best so far for ease of use (in my opinion) and is currently used full time by myself and the wife and kids.
You have to remember that when you start as with any new programme its a steep learning curve and yes there will be some frustration but it is worth it in the end. I even have my dad on Ubuntu and he is 84 and can surf and email without a problem swopped him last year from XP and he has never looked back.

If you are new to this I would recommend you get another hard disk and dual boot your current OS and Linux then if you make a crap out of Linux you have not destroyed your windies set up and can still do something until you get the Linux fixed ( I learnt this the hard way) you can also dual boot on the same HD but if things go badly wrong it is more difficult to rescue as both OS's are on the same HD.
Most modern Linux disto's give you an easy path to set up dual booting...I still dual boot but with other Linux distros as I try them out and see if they are worth or I like to change to a new distro.There has to be Hundreds of Linux distros out there so there is plenty of choice its just picking one thats difficult. If you are having trouble deciding look here http://distrowatch.com/ it may help you make up your mind.

Steve

[MaD_cOw]

you can duel boot, but the niceness of a Linux Live CD is that if Linux does give you you can pop in the cd and resize the Windows partition back to full or do a reinstall.

Also I would still stay away from Gnome, get Kubuntu much better support anyways for KDE and it still has all the ease of Ubuntu.

BTW if Linux does crap out, your windows partition will still work 100%, and if it doesn't its becasue your drive has problems, because Linux doesn't affect your Windows side at all.

[Stumpey]

There is always a huge debate over "desktops" and who likes Gnome, KDE etc but the point is you have a choice.

KDE and Gnome are just the tip of the iceburg look here http://xwinman.org/ for even more info on other "desktops".

Steve

This post has been edited by Stumpey: Dec 1 2007, 08:51 AM