The benefits of Linux?
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Kayden
Banned
1- Almost everything is free.
2- Very low requirements.
3- Mind blowingly customizable.
4- Almost everything is community driven/open source, if something needs to be fixed, anyone can do it. You don't have to wait for some company to maybe put out a patch later.
However, there are a lot of downsides too.
1- Gaming can be a total bitch as games are coded for windows. Programs like WINE and Cedega can make it possible, but I haven't used them myself. A guy I work with says its a huge pain in the ass to patch games too.
2- Everything is alien. If you're coming from Windows or OSX, you're going to be overwhelmed by the number of choices available. For every function you want to accomplish, there are dozens of utilities that do it. All of the do different stuff, some the same, some overlap... its mind boggling at times.
3- Compiling from source can be a pain in the ass to find all the resources you need.
All-in-all, it depend on what you want to get out of it. If you want to make a gaming system, I'd say go with XP. Vista is still a bit hookey on games and Linux is a pain unless the game is coded for it.
If you just want to surf the web, watch movies and play music, look into Ubuntu Ultimate. Ubuntu is a very userfriendly distrobution and the Ultimate just means a guy bundled it with a lot of utilities you may or may not need or want.
2- Very low requirements.
3- Mind blowingly customizable.
4- Almost everything is community driven/open source, if something needs to be fixed, anyone can do it. You don't have to wait for some company to maybe put out a patch later.
However, there are a lot of downsides too.
1- Gaming can be a total bitch as games are coded for windows. Programs like WINE and Cedega can make it possible, but I haven't used them myself. A guy I work with says its a huge pain in the ass to patch games too.
2- Everything is alien. If you're coming from Windows or OSX, you're going to be overwhelmed by the number of choices available. For every function you want to accomplish, there are dozens of utilities that do it. All of the do different stuff, some the same, some overlap... its mind boggling at times.
3- Compiling from source can be a pain in the ass to find all the resources you need.
All-in-all, it depend on what you want to get out of it. If you want to make a gaming system, I'd say go with XP. Vista is still a bit hookey on games and Linux is a pain unless the game is coded for it.
If you just want to surf the web, watch movies and play music, look into Ubuntu Ultimate. Ubuntu is a very userfriendly distrobution and the Ultimate just means a guy bundled it with a lot of utilities you may or may not need or want.
Kayden
Banned
Well, at the top, you have Debian, which is the original Linux distrobution. Then off of that you have breakoff distrobutions. Red Hat is a huge distro that a lot of smaller distros are based off of. Fedora is like Red Hat's little brother. Then based off of Red Hat, theres Mandriva which also has a lot of things based off of it.
Its a lot like looking at a family tree, except its ok when the branches meet again.
I don't know the context, but I'd say repos was short for repositories, which is just a bunch of files.
[quote name='ahmedmalik']Thanks for the response. What are Fedora and Red Hat?
Also what are repos?[/quote]
Its a lot like looking at a family tree, except its ok when the branches meet again.
I don't know the context, but I'd say repos was short for repositories, which is just a bunch of files.
[quote name='ahmedmalik']Thanks for the response. What are Fedora and Red Hat?
Also what are repos?[/quote]
SilverPaw750
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If you just want more customizability/less resource usage in XP, get Litestep or another Windows Shell replacement. Keeps the compatibility, but adds lots of customization and tones down the resource usage.
I don't have Litestep myself, just know a few people who do.
I don't have Litestep myself, just know a few people who do.
Zen Davis
Banned
[quote name='Kayden']Well, at the top, you have Debian, which is the original Linux distrobution. Then off of that you have breakoff distrobutions. Red Hat is a huge distro that a lot of smaller distros are based off of. Fedora is like Red Hat's little brother. Then based off of Red Hat, theres Mandriva which also has a lot of things based off of it.
Its a lot like looking at a family tree, except its ok when the branches meet again.
I don't know the context, but I'd say repos was short for repositories, which is just a bunch of files.[/quote]
Awesome man! Thanks a lot! I am downloading Ultimate Ubuntu 1.3 right now but it says this in the description.
Its a lot like looking at a family tree, except its ok when the branches meet again.
I don't know the context, but I'd say repos was short for repositories, which is just a bunch of files.[/quote]
Awesome man! Thanks a lot! I am downloading Ultimate Ubuntu 1.3 right now but it says this in the description.
How would I install Java and Flash and what not? Also how do I know if I have an i386 or x86_64 setup?
Photomotoz
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[quote name='ahmedmalik']Awesome man! Thanks a lot! I am downloading Ultimate Ubuntu 1.3 right now but it says this in the description.
How would I install Java and Flash and what not? Also how do I know if I have an i386 or x86_64 setup?[/quote]
Ubuntu is a good choice.
The answer to your question depends on your processor, which do you have?
How would I install Java and Flash and what not? Also how do I know if I have an i386 or x86_64 setup?[/quote]
Ubuntu is a good choice.
The answer to your question depends on your processor, which do you have?
Debian is not the first linux distro. It is however, one of the older ones. I believe Slackware is older than Debian.
I would suggest something like Ubuntu or openSUSE to start out with. Many distros have live cds where you can burn an image of the operating system to a cd/dvd and then boot from that cd and test out the distro without installing anything on your system.
Fedora is the free verison of Red Hat. I wouldn't recommend Fedora to start out with. Ubuntu has great package management so you will be able to get many free programs without too much difficulty.
www.ubuntuforums.org has many helpful tips.
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_dapper is a nice helpful guide to get you started and how to do things in Ubuntu.
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download where to get the ISO of Ubuntu
I am currently dual booting Windows XP and Ubuntu. I use XP only for games and everything else is Ubuntu. I have used both Cedega and Wine. Wine is a bit of work but you can get games to run in it such as WoW and Warcraft 3. I've gotten CS to run in Cedega and partial operation of BF2 in Cedega(not really that playable)
As for benefits, Ubuntu runs much faster than XP does on my machine. Everything is free so you don't have to shell out $$$ to pay for additional software. However, there is some support issues for some hardware(wireless). I made sure my hardware was supported before I built my computer. Generally the things to look for are if wireless cards and graphics cards are supported.(those are the big ones) It has come along way though so much more hardware is supported.
For a laptop, I would expect you to get better performance. But as mentioned above you might want to make sure wireless is supported.(You can also try a live cd to see what works and what doesn't work with your computer). Another thing that may be an issue is suspend//hibernate for the laptops.
In Summary: Try a few distros out with live cds/dvds you don't have to install anything.
I would suggest something like Ubuntu or openSUSE to start out with. Many distros have live cds where you can burn an image of the operating system to a cd/dvd and then boot from that cd and test out the distro without installing anything on your system.
Fedora is the free verison of Red Hat. I wouldn't recommend Fedora to start out with. Ubuntu has great package management so you will be able to get many free programs without too much difficulty.
www.ubuntuforums.org has many helpful tips.
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu_dapper is a nice helpful guide to get you started and how to do things in Ubuntu.
http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download where to get the ISO of Ubuntu
I am currently dual booting Windows XP and Ubuntu. I use XP only for games and everything else is Ubuntu. I have used both Cedega and Wine. Wine is a bit of work but you can get games to run in it such as WoW and Warcraft 3. I've gotten CS to run in Cedega and partial operation of BF2 in Cedega(not really that playable)
As for benefits, Ubuntu runs much faster than XP does on my machine. Everything is free so you don't have to shell out $$$ to pay for additional software. However, there is some support issues for some hardware(wireless). I made sure my hardware was supported before I built my computer. Generally the things to look for are if wireless cards and graphics cards are supported.(those are the big ones) It has come along way though so much more hardware is supported.
For a laptop, I would expect you to get better performance. But as mentioned above you might want to make sure wireless is supported.(You can also try a live cd to see what works and what doesn't work with your computer). Another thing that may be an issue is suspend//hibernate for the laptops.
In Summary: Try a few distros out with live cds/dvds you don't have to install anything.
Photomotoz
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[quote name='dpatel']I have a question. Since Linux uses less resources, would I see a gain in battery life if I used it on my laptop? Currently I am using XP on my laptop (what it came with).[/quote]
Yup, but it really depends on which distro of Linux on how much of a difference it will make. Try a live CD and check the difference.
[quote name='ahmedmalik']The cpu is a intel core 2 duo e6600 dual core 1066mzh fsb.[/quote]
Then you should use the X86 64 bit one. But the other would work as well. The 64 one should be better suited to your computer though.
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/member.php?u=34725
Yup, but it really depends on which distro of Linux on how much of a difference it will make. Try a live CD and check the difference.
[quote name='ahmedmalik']The cpu is a intel core 2 duo e6600 dual core 1066mzh fsb.[/quote]
Then you should use the X86 64 bit one. But the other would work as well. The 64 one should be better suited to your computer though.
http://www.cheapassgamer.com/forums/member.php?u=34725
[quote name='dtarasev']Yup, but it really depends on which distro of Linux on how much of a difference it will make. Try a live CD and check the difference.[/QUOTE]
Thanks. Although, the live CD might not give me the best idea either, because Live CDs run directly from the CD as opposed to the HDD so, there may be more battery use because of all the cd drive use.
Thanks. Although, the live CD might not give me the best idea either, because Live CDs run directly from the CD as opposed to the HDD so, there may be more battery use because of all the cd drive use.
allout1986
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Was the file an ISO? If so, burn it to a CD/DVD (depending on size) and then boot from the disk. It should be pretty self explanitory after that. If you are installing it as a 2nd operating system, make sure you have enough space partitioned off for it.
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