Linux

[Sindwiller]

Linux and Windows are usually so similar these days anways.

They are never similiar. Even GNOME and KDE who use to be kind of "Windows-clone" arent very similiar to the Windows Desktop. Their more concise, faster, more customisable (without 3rd party sofware) and using also a more safe architecture than Windows, because Windows is a Microkernel and has his GUI and all other stuff in the Kernel. In Linux, the Window-System and the Desktops or Window-Managers are external.

I just hate ATI for sucking at it, but support is progressively getting better every few months.

Full ack. Good that i dont buyed a ATI 2 years before. And now, im gonna buy a nVidia again

If anyone haven't tried linux yet, then you should grab some distro right away

I can recommend Ubuntu but since Dapper, it started to get unstable. I loved Breezy and Hoary, but Dapper, meh, it sucks. Ive used Gentoo a short time and it rocks. I'll install it on my new machine. In fact, Gentoo isnt something for you if you arent suited for some hardcore compiling action and you dont have a good machine. :roll:

Wfr, Sindwiller

[Squirrelly]

Never used it, and I don't plan on it.

[Duff-e]

i've used redhat gentoo mandrake and some other kind that I can't remember the name of but runs off of a CD. edit: (knoppix?)

linux is only interesting cause it's something new to learn...once you understand the basic idea and know how to do stuff it's like "ok thats great...now I can't do anything but play tux racer and surf the internet." unless you're running a server or are some kind of elite hacker I think it's just a bragging tool

oh and getting wireless to work on a laptop is annoying.

[TomWithTheWeather]

I used to use it along side Windows in a dual boot setup. It was pretty cool, and I found that I could do all the same things with it I could do with Windows, with the exception of hassle free gaming. You can play games, and I'm sure many of the more recent distros are much more compatible with games (Wine comes to mind), but because I'm so much more used to how Windows works, it's just much easier for me to stick with that instead.

I'd only really ever use some form of linux on a secondary machine for experimenting with or running some type of web server or router.

I liked Linux (I think Mandrake8 was what I was using at the time), but when absolutely everything else out there that I interface with is Windows based, I basically have to be Windows also.

[Sindwiller]

"ok thats great...now I can't do anything but play tux racer and surf the internet."

What? Hello, there are hell much open source games for Linux (Wesnoth, Warsow, Nexuiz, Transfusion, Tremulous, Globulation2, Battle for Survival) and there are also very much titles who have been developed or later ported to Linux. All Quake games and Doom3/Prey were developed on Linux too. Additionaly, ET:QW will be also for Linux available. There are also much companies who port Windows games to Linux. Like LIFLG, MLG or Loki (RIP...). A month before, X2: The Treath was ported to Linux. X3: Reunion Port is in the works. You can also wrap (NOT EMULATE) games and windows application through wine or cedega. Tough, there is much stuff who does not work (DeleD, Silo, MS3D, holy shit, i need dualboot; i have it^^). But its a start. Steam works very fine. Ive also tried HL1/CS:CZ trough Cedega. Not bad (for my damn machine). HL2/CSS works also OK. But only OK

Wfr, Sindwiller

EDIT: Some Links if you wanna try

http://wesnoth.org

http://warsow.net

http://nexuiz.com

http://tremulous.net

http://sauerbraten.org/

http://cheapy.deathmask.net <--- 4 leile OpenArena btw

http://icculus.org/quake3 <-- IQ3 works fine on Linux, Tremulous is built on the top of it tough

[leileilol]

don't forget my project, and freedoom too, lol

the games that won't run on linux at all through any compatibility or emulation are probably horrible games in the first place. Great bad game filter indeed!

[Sindwiller]

the games that won't run on linux at all through any compatibility or emulation are probably horrible games in the first place. Great bad game filter indeed!

Indeed. Because their very bad written

Wfr, Sindwiller

[Spellbinder]

CSS?

[Sindwiller]

CSS?

You wanna say Steam is written good?

Well, CSS works very well, both on Wine and Cedega.

http://appdb.winehq.org/appview.php?iVersionId=3731 <-- Wine

http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/games/vi ... me_id=3524 <-- Cedega

Wfr, Sindwiller

[Thrik]

I'm not really sure what the incentive to use Linux is. I understand that it's a fairly well-developed operating system, but what makes it special? What does it have over Windows and OS X, both of which are extremely comfortable operating systems that for most people never have any significant stability/speed issues? Yeah, they did in the past, but that's not an issue.

For the sake of this argument, "it is free" is not a valid answer since if I'm going to spend almost endless hours on a system for both leisure and professional work, I'm prepared to spend a bit of cash on it. Also, I don't want to hear any "It can do X just like Windows/OS X!" answers since I can just carry on using Windows or OS X for that.

I'm being serious here btw and am prepared to listen to any equally serious answers.

[Steppenwolf]

This thread remembers me that i recently downloaded a knoppix live cd-rom to test out linux. I heard these live cd-roms are cool to recover data from your harddrive if windows has gone mental.

[leileilol]

No spyware?

[Polaris]

You'd have to be pretty computer-illiterate to fall victem to spyware. Which would also make you the kind of person that doesn't even know what linux is.

[Section_Ei8ht]

I'm not really sure what the incentive to use Linux is.

Uh... complete and total control of your operating system?

I can recommend Ubuntu but since Dapper, it started to get unstable.

No problems here. Dapper runs like a champ on my machine compared to Hoary (never tried Breezy)

Linux and Windows are usually so similar these days anways.

No. Just... no.

oh and getting wireless to work on a laptop is annoying.

Not with Dapper. Instant detection for mine.

the main reason for my dual installation is windows for gaming and modding, linux for everything else. Since we use debian an our university labs, I can ssh straight into the labs straight through the command line without the need for a bunch of poorly coded windows shells that try to do the same thing.

Unless I'm programming in .NET, all my programming is done on linux (sad part is I'm required by my job to do more .NET programming these days. Had to start modding the Doom 3 sdk to remember what C++ felt like [Mmm-Mmm, memory management. Damn virtual machines have spoiled me.])

[Duff-e]

heh...wine

not feeling that too much...the games I did manage to get working on wine got like 20 fps where they normally got 80 in windows. i agree that there are a lot of interesting games that run on linux...that being said you wont be able to play 95% of newly released games. Coded well or not I still want to be able to play the latest games.

seriously though there are a lot of innovative puzzle/thinking/independent types games that I can't badmouth. you CAN stay entertained on a linux machine...but call me stubborn I want to play battlefield 2.

I'd rather just have a mac as an alternative to windows. At least that has warcraft.