Linux Folke, speak up!
Quaunaut
The longest seven days in history... Join Date: 2003-03-21 Member: 14759Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
The longest seven days in history... Join Date: 2003-03-21 Member: 14759Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
<div class="IPBDescription">I wanna know about switching.</div>I've been highly interested in Linux for a little over 2 years now- I actually passed out 30 CDs with some friends at school to different administrators, and actually got a small portion of my school switched over(I just brought the idea up to a teacher, who then did most of the work).
I had installed Ubuntu on my laptop...which then went on to be my grandparent's computer. They have used it since. Note that they don't treat it much different than Windows, the only big deal being that I put some simple games on there originally(solitaire, poker, chinese checkers).
I never messed with it much. Now, I'm quite interested.
I gave Vista a good try earlier this week: It was fun. Better than XP. But while it was fun, and I like a lot of the ideas, I've always been a big lover of the open source ideal, and I'd like to go dual boot with XP and Ubuntu on the side. So I have some questions.<ul><li>I understand Unix uses a different file architecture that I will need to format the unused space in my drives with. What is it, and how do I format the rest of my space like this? For extra info, my current machine is in 2 partitions, one for the Windows main install and several programs there, then the one with all the rest of my space. I heard there is a architecture type that allows both NT and unix style systems to store things there, and I'd like to use that and not cut stuff off if I can.</li><li>What is the reccomended type of Ubuntu for someone who isn't looking to be a coder, but a computer user in support of the Linux movement? I've been hearing lots of nice things about Kubuntu Edgy Eft.</li><li>How good does WINE work? Can I reliably run a lot of things with it? I know World of Warcraft works, but do most modern games work with it?(Note, mentioning any newer games that definitely don't work is good too)</li><li>What is the hardest transition part to going to Linux, with Ubuntu? What do I need to beware of doing?</li><li>Any reccomended programs? I already know I'm going to use Firefox and OpenOffice.org(using both now already), but what else?</li><li>I am also interested in the Beryl demos I keep seeing. How do I install something like this, and does anyone use it here and like it? Anyone try them and not like them?</li><li>Whats the driver situation? Note that I use an AMD 64 X2 6400+, a NVidia 7800 256mb, and an Audigy X-Fi Fatal1ty Sound Card.</li></ul>A good walkthrough of how to get this going would be appreciated oh-so-much. <3!
I had installed Ubuntu on my laptop...which then went on to be my grandparent's computer. They have used it since. Note that they don't treat it much different than Windows, the only big deal being that I put some simple games on there originally(solitaire, poker, chinese checkers).
I never messed with it much. Now, I'm quite interested.
I gave Vista a good try earlier this week: It was fun. Better than XP. But while it was fun, and I like a lot of the ideas, I've always been a big lover of the open source ideal, and I'd like to go dual boot with XP and Ubuntu on the side. So I have some questions.<ul><li>I understand Unix uses a different file architecture that I will need to format the unused space in my drives with. What is it, and how do I format the rest of my space like this? For extra info, my current machine is in 2 partitions, one for the Windows main install and several programs there, then the one with all the rest of my space. I heard there is a architecture type that allows both NT and unix style systems to store things there, and I'd like to use that and not cut stuff off if I can.</li><li>What is the reccomended type of Ubuntu for someone who isn't looking to be a coder, but a computer user in support of the Linux movement? I've been hearing lots of nice things about Kubuntu Edgy Eft.</li><li>How good does WINE work? Can I reliably run a lot of things with it? I know World of Warcraft works, but do most modern games work with it?(Note, mentioning any newer games that definitely don't work is good too)</li><li>What is the hardest transition part to going to Linux, with Ubuntu? What do I need to beware of doing?</li><li>Any reccomended programs? I already know I'm going to use Firefox and OpenOffice.org(using both now already), but what else?</li><li>I am also interested in the Beryl demos I keep seeing. How do I install something like this, and does anyone use it here and like it? Anyone try them and not like them?</li><li>Whats the driver situation? Note that I use an AMD 64 X2 6400+, a NVidia 7800 256mb, and an Audigy X-Fi Fatal1ty Sound Card.</li></ul>A good walkthrough of how to get this going would be appreciated oh-so-much. <3!
Comments
I already promised him I would write him up some good answers when I finish up at work today ^_^.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But the more people helping, the better! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->No son, do not encourage him, nix is bad. Bad!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thats what they said about women too, but they're the bestest evar!
Thats what they said about women too, but they're the bestest evar! <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Actually, we are bad, very bad. You should never talk to us, ever.
ubuntu: i don't like it. there's gentoo (ricermode ENGAGE! CFLAGS JUST KICKED IN, YO! etc.) *BSD (for the nonfonformists, i run *BSD on my servers) and slackware (i like).
WINE/cedega seem to work for things that don't use high-end DX9 thingies (i only use *nix on servers)
things not to do: be very, very careful when working as root. one mistep after "sudo" can make your day very, very sour.
programs: oneko!
beryl: not a clue
drivers: results may vary
oh, don't forget your mittens of patience. something will go wrong and you will spend the better part of a week looking for that one damned semicolon you missed.
as a side note, all of my servers are *nix-based, all of my desktops are windows-based and all of my heated footrests are apple-based.
Ubuntu comes with a nice tool in the Live CD (gparted) I beleive you can access it from the System menu under Administration. Resizing takes time though. I've used a few times to resize NTFS/ReiserFS/Ext3 paritions in the past and had no problems with it.
Having your NTFS partition set up for windows, and your *partition for Ubuntu, you can also have a seperate fat32 partition, most modern OS's *nix, OS X, Windows, etc, reat fat32 just fine.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> * What is the reccomended type of Ubuntu for someone who isn't looking to be a coder, but a computer user in support of the Linux movement? I've been hearing lots of nice things about Kubuntu Edgy Eft.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I personally prefer a Gnome desktop to a KDE one, and I use OpenBox more often than not anyway, but that's all just personal preference. If you decide you want to try KDE, you can just install it with apt, it's silly that they call it a separate distro when it uses the same package management system and repos.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> * How good does WINE work? Can I reliably run a lot of things with it? I know World of Warcraft works, but do most modern games work with it?(Note, mentioning any newer games that definitely don't work is good too)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You want to know how well a certain application works with wine. <a href="http://appdb.winehq.org/appbrowse.php" target="_blank">http://appdb.winehq.org/appbrowse.php</a>
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> * What is the hardest transition part to going to Linux, with Ubuntu? What do I need to beware of doing?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
By default, Ubuntu blocks many media formats, such as mp3 and DVD video, there is information on how to install support for those and other formats. <a href="https://help.ubuntu.com/community/" target="_blank">https://help.ubuntu.com/community/</a> is a good place to look.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> * Any reccomended programs? I already know I'm going to use Firefox and OpenOffice.org(using both now already), but what else?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The GIMP for basic image editing.
mpd (music player daemon, and read the docs) with the gmpc client.
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> * I am also interested in the Beryl demos I keep seeing. How do I install something like this, and does anyone use it here and like it? Anyone try them and not like them?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pointless eyecandy, but if that's what you're into, find one of the community repos (assuming it's not in one of the official Ubuntu repos) and apt-get install beryl
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--> * Whats the driver situation? Note that I use an AMD 64 X2 6400+, a NVidia 7800 256mb, and an Audigy X-Fi Fatal1ty Sound Card.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think edgy has smp support by default. The nvidia drivers are great. apt-get install nvidia or some such.
Your sound card however:
Sound Blaster X-Fi
Chipset: UNKNOWN
NOTES: Card delivered to developers. Completely new architecture. Creative actively preventing support due to no datasheets being released to ALSA developers. Reverse engineering work not started due to lack of time.
-drivers
-finding linux replacements for windows ones
-very few good linux native games
-wine/cedega/other windows API emulating apps aren't perfect
-loads of time spent at the big black console
If you can get past that, you're good to go.
<edit>
I run dual boot, for serious gaming.
Linux can read safely from NTFS, writing is supported but not considered 100% safe.
Beryl is fun, but not the most stable thing, and although awesome in looks and system requirements, it's fluff and pretty useless.
When trying to game with it, I had to use work arounds to actually be able to play (3d) games, and at a serious performance hit.
</edit>
That being said, Linux is not a gaming OS. There are good games out there for it, some commercial, some open source, but the selection is much lower than what is available for windows.
Quake 1 2 3 and 4
Doom 1 2 and 3
Unreal Tournament , UT2003, UT2004
Savage, Savage 2 (Eventually)
Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Tribes 2
Neverwinter Nights
Sim City 3000
Darwinia
Most older games also run fine under wine with a decent system, especially opengl ones such as half-life and Quake 3 engine games.
However, multimedia, web and office use with Linux is dandy. You can also get by without ever touching a terminal, depending on the distro, but you won't be able to have any fun that way. But Linux will never have decent Direct X support, and therefor never compare to Windows in terms of gaming.
You don't find Linux replacement for Windows ones... you find Linux drivers.
--Scythe--