linux

banbutcher

ive been hearing alot latly that linux is better than windows so ive decided to see for myself! thing is i know squat about linux! which version is the best? where do i get it, on the net or in a shop? and a few pointers would be nice aswell!
Cheers
Sleepy

Baz_

best place to go for information is on the linux forum right here on boards.ie.

I think the best for starting of with is mandrake, it is an easy install and eases you into the world of linux, and the window manager (kde) is fantastic too, not that kde is unique to mandrake.

But in the world of linux variety really is the spice of life, so get some more opinions (and some more fleshed out opinions )

Baz_

Syth

banbutcher wrote:

where do i get it, on the net or in a shop?

You can get Linux from many places. Unlike Windows you are encouraged to copy the software to help out people, and that's perfectly legal. You can download the disc off the web ftp://ftp.heanet.ie would be best. However most distros would come on many CDs or a DVD, so it might not be feasable to download it. If you buy a distro you'd be paying for support and mabye a big thick manual, however there is tons to info on the web (the old give it away philosopy). Some PC magazine have Linux distros on cover discs, however a word of warning: the latest Linux Format has a CD with Gentoo Linux onit. I would not recommend that to a newbie.

Of course if you just want to try it out without installing anything, you could try a live distro like Knoppix. Alls you do it set your PC to boot from the CD drive, put Knoppix disk in and restart. It doesn't touch you're harddisk. For the cost of a blank CD (bout €0.50) and postage I can burn you a copy.

I'm running Fedora Core 2, and I find it quite easy to use. Very suitable for a newbie. (Again price of DVD & postage and it's yours.)

Fenster

banbutcher wrote:

ive been hearing alot latly that linux is better than windows so ive decided to see for myself! thing is i know squat about linux! which version is the best? where do i get it, on the net or in a shop? and a few pointers would be nice aswell!
Cheers
Sleepy

It wouldn't say its better...its different. It has a far, far steeper learning curve than Windows, but its equally rewarding. Its far more of a hands-on OS than Windows as right from the start you'll be delving into changing settings that Windows wouldn't even think of letting you toy with, to get basic things working (my network and a firewall comes to mind ).

Mandrake, Suse and Fedora Core 2 are definately the distros to start off with, although I might add that for all its usability, I found Suse lacking in features such as a working compiler.

Ciaran500

How reliable are windows emulators on linux for running game? THats the only readon I haven't dumped windows for linux.

Fenster

Ciaran500 wrote:

How reliable are windows emulators on linux for running game? THats the only readon I haven't dumped windows for linux.

Hmm, I've been using Cedega a lot lately. It depends on your distro and what you want to play, really. As with everything else under Linux, it takes a lot of tweaking and twiddling to get a game running, but when it does, they can run without a hitch.

Natively OpenGL games like Quake 3 Arena run smoother than a baby's ass, but on the other hand, games such as Unreal-engine ones (Deus Ex 2, Thief 3, etc) can have quite shoddy preformance unless you put a lot of work into getting them running. Older games work great though, such as Homeworld, Baldur's Gate, etc. Its great firing up BG2 in a window for an hour or two if you're doing a large download.

I hope this helps somewhat.

Ciaran500

Can you get configs that other people have made for games?

Thanks for the answers.

Cabaal

If you wish to try Linux without all the hassel of installing it get yourself Knoppix from www.knoppix.org.

It loads off the CD and generally will detect most things, its good for those that want to see what Linux (Debian) and KDE are like
Its about 700MB and needs to be burned onto a CD
have fun...

Azza

Well wine or winex or whatever its called now was quite a good elumantor. Some games will work out of the box with them some will require tweaking.

Linux has a much stepper learning curve and makes use of the command line. Windows hides you from the workings of your computer. with linux you can get down and dirty.

Fenster

No idea, but I tweaked and prodded games myself. Check out Transgaming. They have an instller program for Cedega called Point2Play which takes a lot of the problems out of your hands and gives you a nice GUI for installing and configuring games. However I personally had a hell of a lot of trouble getting it working, compared to the command-line version which worked for me (to use a pun) out of the box.

Half the fun of Linux, I find, is changing and configuring settings so that you get things just how you want them.

Fenster

Azza wrote:

Well wine or winex or whatever its called now was quite a good elumantor. Some games will work out of the box with them some will require tweaking.

Linux has a much stepper learning curve and makes use of the command line. Windows hides you from the workings of your computer. with linux you can get down and dirty.

Once again someone puts things into words far better than I ever could.

A key difference between Windows XP and Fedora (for example) is that Windows is a GUI-driven OS a command-line emulator tacked on, whereas Fedora is a command-line OS with an optional graphical interface.