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[pgtl_10]

I'm thinking about switching to Linux but I have a few important questions:

1. Can I have both Windows and Linux at the same time?

2. How compatible is linux with various software?

3. I remember reading a thread in the gaming forum

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233118

on games working on Linux. I figure that games are usually more complex than the programs I use so is there any way I could make certain programs compatible with Linux?

 

[crestfallen]

1. Yes, you can dual boot with systems like LILO and the much preferred GRUB.

2. What software? You'll need Linux versions to run the stuff without emulation.

3. WINE. Search for it. There are other pieces of emulation software out there for games too, if I'm not mistaken.

 

[Fireblend]

I'm thinking about switching to Linux but I have a few important questions:

1. Can I have both Windows and Linux at the same time?

Yes. Dual booting is actually really easy to do. Just install windows first, have some free, unpartitioned space on your hard drive and install Linux on that. In case you're using Ubuntu, it will ask if you want to use that space by default so you don't have any trouble partitioning or anything.

2. How compatible is linux with various software?

You may misunderstand how Linux software works. Linux software != Microsoft software. Entirely. 100%. Unless you use other solutions such as Wine, which is some sort of replacement engine that can be used to run .exes and such, Linux software is completely different from whatever you can use in your XP everyday; you can't just put the Office CD in and install it. There is however, an amazing, growing repository of Linux software you can install, and many popular applications such as Firefox have their own Linux version.
Plus, it doesn't get any better than Ubuntu's software management.

3. I remember reading a thread in the gaming forum

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233118

on games working on Linux. I figure that games are usually more complex than the programs I use so is there any way I could make certain programs compatible with Linux?

As someone I said, there's some solutions to make your games (and other Windows apps.) work on Linux, such as Cedega which specializes in games or Wine, which basically tries to make windows applications work, but it's hardly 100% functional and it's really a hit-or-miss thing.

In my case, I have found Linux (my only OS for the last year and a half or so) great; everything I need it for is programming for which there's as many powerful tools as there are in windows, browsing the web for which there is Firefox included as the default browser, IM for which there's Pidgin, which is actually the IM application I use whenever I'm using Windows and music-listening, for which there's the best music player/iPod manager/godsend application and IMO reason #1 why I switched to Linux fulltime: Amarok. God bless the souls that made my music listening experience so blessed.

If there's any specific Windows application you think you would miss on Linux, post it here and I'm sure one of the many Linux users in GAF will point you to an alternative or wine directions if it's possible to use it under Wine.

Edit: Also, if you want more answers/testimonies/whatever, drop by www.ubuntuforums.org . Even if you're not planning to use Ubuntu, I've found the community to be by far one of the bests in the web when it comes to support or troubleshooting of any kind, Linux-related or otherwise.

 

[QVT]

Make sure you haven't got an iPod as despite what Linux users say, it wont work as intended.

If you like youtube, don't install linux. It crashes the linux firefox everytime you close the youtube tab.

Other than that, it's much faster and more effective than windows but I went back to windows anyways.

Also Amarok is the worst program ever designed.

 

[Mr. Banana Grabber]

Make sure you haven't got an iPod as despite what Linux users say, it wont work as intended.

If you like youtube, don't install linux. It crashes the linux firefox everytime you close the youtube tab.

Other than that, it's much faster and more effective than windows but I went back to windows anyways.

Also Amarok is the worst program ever designed.

Entirely false.

 

[Alien Bob]

Also Amarok is the worst program ever designed.

What the fuck is wrong with you

 

[Fireblend]

Make sure you haven't got an iPod as despite what Linux users say, it wont work as intended.

You can't be any more wrong. How is Amarok's iPod management not a million times better than that piece of crap iTunes'? Before Amarok: It takes me 2 mins. to get an album on my iPod because it's laggy as hell, it insists on adding the album to the library, syncs who-knows-what to it and sucks. After Amarok: Drag and drop, 5 seconds.

Also Amarok is the worst program ever designed.

 

[Glass Brain]

Make sure you haven't got an iPod as despite what Linux users say, it wont work as intended.

If you like youtube, don't install linux. It crashes the linux firefox everytime you close the youtube tab.

Also Amarok is the worst program ever designed.

Happy April Fools' Day!

 

[Mr. Banana Grabber]

You can't be any more wrong. How is Amarok's iPod management not a million times better than that piece of crap iTunes'? Before Amarok: It takes me 2 mins. to get an album on my iPod because it's laggy as hell, it insists on adding the album to the library, syncs who-knows-what to it and sucks. After Amarok: Drag and drop, 5 seconds.


What.

Actually the only problem with it is that it can't differentiate between movies and tv shows on video ipods. I'd love to be proven wrong though.

 

[QVT]

You can't be any more wrong. How is Amarok's iPod management not a million times better than that piece of crap iTunes'? Before Amarok: It takes me 2 mins. to get an album on my iPod because it's laggy as hell, it insists on adding the album to the library, syncs who-knows-what to it and sucks. After Amarok: Drag and drop, 5 seconds.


What.

Because if you own a new iPod nano or the new 80 or 160 gigs, or a shuffle, then it doesn't work. I'm sorry, I didn't try it with "your ipod".

And Amarok is fucking horrific. I switched just to try it out and it's got fucking playlists and loads slower than iTunes.

 

[medrew]

Amarok, Exaile, Banshee, Rhythmbox > iTunes



I'm using 64bit Linux with 32 bit Flash and Firefox has never crashed on me. Sorry I didn't try "your install", QVT.

 

[QVT]

Amarok, Exaile, Banshee, Rhythmbox > iTunes



I'm using 64bit Linux with 32 bit Flash and Firefox has never crashed on me. Sorry I didn't try "your install", QVT.

I can only go on my experiences. And I said it was better in every other way. Except for video players where zplayer is much better.

I used to have a picture of iTunes with the browser section circled and "this is the only reason I use itunes" captioned on it but I lost it somewhere. Still.

 

[Fireblend]

Because if you own a new iPod nano or the new 80 or 160 gigs, or a shuffle, then it doesn't work. I'm sorry, I didn't try it with "your ipod".

And Amarok is fucking horrific. I switched just to try it out and it's got fucking playlists and loads slower than iTunes.

It's not the developers fault that Apple decided to block the devices. They're already hard at work to make them fully compatible now that the lock's been cracked and if you're so desperate I found a how-to enable them now tutorial as the third result on a google search.

And about Amarok being slower than iTunes... Mine and apparently everyone else's opinion differ. I guess I didn't try it with "your install". Amarok doesn't go above 10MBs in RAM usage for me; iTunes can easily go up to 90.

 

[Mr. Banana Grabber]

I can only go on my experiences. And I said it was better in every other way. Except for video players where zplayer is much better.

I used to have a picture of iTunes with the browser section circled and "this is the only reason I use itunes" captioned on it but I lost it somewhere. Still.

Rhythmbox had the exact same browser.

 

[miyamotofreak]

Because if you own a new iPod nano or the new 80 or 160 gigs, or a shuffle, then it doesn't work. I'm sorry, I didn't try it with "your ipod".

And Amarok is fucking horrific. I switched just to try it out and it's got fucking playlists and loads slower than iTunes.

:/

 

[phillipgessert]

What was that nonsense about youtube? I've never experienced that.

 

[QVT]

What was that nonsense about youtube? I've never experienced that.

It fucking crashed if I closed the tab. Every time. I just assumed it was normal.

 

[AmishNazi]

Seems with the growing popularity of Linux and Apple we're going to see a lot of these this OS is shit because of my operator error / laziness. It's a sad sad day

 

[QVT]

Seems with the growing popularity of Linux and Apple we're going to see a lot of these this OS is shit because of my operator error / laziness. It's a sad sad day

I fucking said it was better than Windows!

 

[Arkaerial]

Wow, I thought QVT was April Fools joke posting, then I noticed he was serious.

Fireblend I'm going to borrow your pic because it sums up pretty much everything I feel at the moment.

Well I'm using linux right now with amarok running in the background. I paused it and went to youtube and watched Dr. Tran (and just for shits and giggles left amarok running). Then just closed the tab with no problems.

Now Ipods do work under linux, but I do remember reading they got Ipod Touch to work. It's going to takes a few steps and requires you to install stuff on your Ipod Touch.

As for Amarok, well people have opinions on everything...while I completely disagree with your assessment of Amarok it is your opinion.

 

[pgtl_10]

Thanks for all your help.

BTW the software I really want to work on Linux is WordPerfect Office and security software. Hopefully it will really work. I'm go to use Ubuntu which I heard is very good Linux software.

 

[theBishop]

Thanks for all your help.

BTW the software I really want to work on Linux is WordPerfect Office and security software. Hopefully it will really work. I'm go to use Ubuntu which I heard is very good Linux software.

Is there a reason OpenOffice won't work for you? OpenOffice can read and write wpd files.

And what security software? Linux is one of the most common platforms for security-minded IT workers.

 

[Fireblend]

Thanks for all your help.

BTW the software I really want to work on Linux is WordPerfect Office and security software. Hopefully it will really work. I'm go to use Ubuntu which I heard is very good Linux software.

OpenOffice comes by default with Ubuntu; you can use that, guaranteed.

Also what kind of security software? Linux is pretty much virus-proof, though you can install AVG antivirus (its Linux version which I use to scan USB drives before connecting them to Windows). Also Ubuntu's next version (8.04) due this month will include a really easy to configure firewall by default. If you want online privacy, Tor has its own Linux version and installation is 100% painless. Using Linux is already a thousand times more secure than the most customized, bullet-proof Windows installation by just installing it.

 

[Wraith]

I actually installed Ubuntu alongside my aging XP install a couple of weeks ago and have only dipped back into Windows once since(OpenOffice's .doc interpretation isn't perfect - Had to flip back to Word). I've had some very frustrating experiences, but things are actually moving along pretty well now. It's uber-nice how Ubuntu can see all of my NTFS drives by default... now I just have to get around to figuring out how to auto-mount one of them and I'll be set.

 

[Danj]

If you're not sure if Linux would be suitable for you, why not try installing it in a Virtual Machine? Both Microsoft and VMware offer free virtual machine software, and you can install your chosen Linux on there without it affecting anything else on your system to see if it's the right Linux for you.

The down side is, this will not tell you if Linux would have any problems with any of your real hardware, and you won't be able to try out games in the VM either.