Windows Vetran,Linux well not even a newb

~~ut2k4wikichici~~ · May 4, 2005, 02:05 AM

Hello peeplz i have been with windows since i was born 1991 may and since windows 3.1 windows has been buggy driver picky and un helpful

SO! i kept on asking my self "what the hell is linux?"

Is it better

Can it run games that require SP1 in windows XP ?

Would i get any more performace then i would in windows? (in 32bit games)

What are the benifits of Linux ?

Thankyou looking forward to hearing from u all ive allways wanted to try linux and yea

UberLord · May 4, 2005, 02:25 AM

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Originally Posted by ut2k4wikichici

Hello peeplz i have been with windows since i was born 1991 may and since windows 3.1 windows has been buggy driver picky and un helpful

I feel for you

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SO! i kept on asking my self "what the hell is linux?"

It's a kernel. Windows NT, 2000, XP and 2003 have kernels too - you just don't see them. Kernels bascically manage your hardware at a very low level and provide a software layer between user-space programs and the hardware.

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Is it better

Depends on the context.
Better as a server? Yes
Better as a desktop? Yes
Better for playing games? No (but it's improving)

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Can it run games that require SP1 in windows XP ?

Not unless you buy some sort of package like Cedega that allows this to some extent. The games won't be as fast (most of the time you will not notice this) and some games will have bugs as a result of Windows being emulated.

Why don't you check your games list
http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/

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Would i get any more performace then i would in windows? (in 32bit games)

Mostly no, but sometimes yes. Doom3 and UT2004 play better under Windows on my box. Enemy Territory plays better under Linux on my box. Note, all three of those games work natviely under Linux without any need for something like Cedega - but games like this are few and far between.

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What are the benifits of Linux ?

Freedom.
I can install what I want, not what is dictated.
I can safely save documents knowing that I can open them with other applications.

Standards.
Programs are written to open, documented standards which means greater competition. There a a choice of at least 8 Desktop Environments (GNOME, KDE, XFCE, Fluxbox, OpenBox, BlackBox, ICEWM, Enlightenment) which control how your desktop looks and feels.

Under Windows there is only 1 - no choice. And for me, that's no choice.

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Thankyou looking forward to hearing from u all ive allways wanted to try linux and yea

Thank-you for listening. Maybe you'll try Linux, maybe you won't. Hopefully you will

BTW, you mention Windows 3.1 - the days of DOS. If you enjoyed finding the best TSR's to contol your mouse, etc, and squeezing them into the High Memory Area so everything was good, fast and you had enough low memory for games then the recommended Linux distro for you is .......... Gentoo

~~ut2k4wikichici~~ · May 4, 2005, 04:47 AM

Thankyou very much i will go to the local shop and see how much it is

PS. will it run GTA SA PC better then windows would ? (just a hypofetical Question)

UberLord · May 4, 2005, 05:43 AM

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Originally Posted by ut2k4wikichici

Thankyou very much i will go to the local shop and see how much it is

I doubt if shops stock any Linux distros. Best idea would be to download a CD set - in Gentoo's case you need a LiveCD or a Universal CD + GRP CD's depending on how you want to install it.

Failing that, you can always order CD sets online. Gentoo has a online shop for this.

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PS. will it run GTA SA PC better then windows would ? (just a hypofetical Question)

NFC
But seeing as GTA III and GTA VC are supported, there's a good chance GTA SA will at least run. Also they have very high playability ratings which means that it will play well - however the user that posted that may have a super ninja PC, so YMMV

~~ut2k4wikichici~~ · May 5, 2005, 12:14 AM

Thankyou Uber lord. its a shame i have 56k and i live out where i carnt get Broad band otherwise i would D/L linux

But thankyou anyway

epi1lux · May 9, 2005, 01:49 AM

Freedom? I've never been told NO! by windows that I couldn't install something. I've been told NO! by linux a crap load of times that I'm an idiot.

UberLord · May 9, 2005, 05:04 AM

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Originally Posted by epi1lux

Freedom? I've never been told NO! by windows that I couldn't install something.

I didn't claim that Windows stopped you installing stuff.
Do you have the Freedom to change the Windows TCP/IP stack to make it more standards compliant? NO!

Do I have this Freedom in Linux? YES! *BSD? YES!

You may not want this Freedom, but others like myself do like this Freedom.

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I've been told NO! by linux a crap load of times that I'm an idiot.

Is that NO! you're not a idiot or NO! you are an idiot?

I'm not saying that you are an idiot, but it's not hard to install, learn and use a Linux distribution.

epi1lux · May 9, 2005, 10:56 AM

If it wasn't hard, wouldn't more people be using it? I've tried 6 times over the years and all of them had some major failure. 3 on gentoo alone that wouldn't even boot, 3 others where there was no internet, no mouse + keyboard, no sound.... ugh!

And what does changing that stack do for you?

UberLord · May 9, 2005, 02:07 PM

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Originally Posted by epi1lux

If it wasn't hard, wouldn't more people be using it?

More and more people are using it. Remember that a lot of people haven't even heard about Linux or *BSD. Too many people think PC = Windows. They think that Apple Macs are just expensive PC's that run Windows. Sad, but true.

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I've tried 6 times over the years and all of them had some major failure. 3 on gentoo alone that wouldn't even boot, 3 others where there was no internet, no mouse + keyboard, no sound.... ugh!

There have been some issues with Gentoo LiveCD's not booting but they should have been fixed by now.

If you have issues with keyboard and mouse then you must be using obscure hardware or you haven't told the distribution what keyboard layout (ie country) you have.

Seriously, Gentoo is not a beginners Linux. It is hard to install as there is no installer (yet), just an installation manual - and you have to know about your hardware too.

If RedHat (Fedora), Ubuntu or SuSE won't work with an easy install then you would have had to have done something seriously stupid as they are just insert CD's, click a few options, install and you're working right away. The only gotcha is modems (including ADSL) as they are a PITA. Routers on the other hand are zero problem

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And what does changing that stack do for you?

Make it standards compliant so it does not abuse QoS to give it a false impression that it's faster in Networking benchmarks for starters. You may say that it's taking advantage of something to make it go faster, but a lot of people don't like it as it's not supposed to do that.

Another example is that you should code web pages to the W3C HTML and CSS standards and not Microsofts own variantion which only works under IE.

Standards compliance is for everyone except Microsoft.

epi1lux · May 9, 2005, 03:03 PM

Ahhh, I see. No my hardware was your run of the mill microsoft mouse and keyboard from like 1997. Go figure. I'd prolly be on linux if it wasn't for games.... *sigh*

UberLord · May 9, 2005, 03:58 PM

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Originally Posted by epi1lux

Ahhh, I see. No my hardware was your run of the mill microsoft mouse and keyboard from like 1997. Go figure. I'd prolly be on linux if it wasn't for games.... *sigh*

Now that's really weird. Every distro I have used (RedHat 5 to 9, Mandrake 8 to 9, Gentoo 1.4 to present) has had no problem with my keyboard (MS Office keyword) or mouse (MS IntelliExplorer).

It may be that your computer has a quirky BIOS - I don't know.
Maybe if you tried again and posted exact error messages I could say more, but a simple "didn't work" isn't much to go on!

And if Windows was so trouble free, there would be no need for these forums eh?

IMO the only reason to run Windows is for games. But with top titles such as Unreal Tournament and all the iD titles (doom1-3, Quake 1-3) and Enemy Territory with native Linux versions it's not all bad

Kombatant · May 10, 2005, 04:21 AM

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Originally Posted by UberLord

Now that's really weird. Every distro I have used (RedHat 5 to 9, Mandrake 8 to 9, Gentoo 1.4 to present) has had no problem with my keyboard (MS Office keyword) or mouse (MS IntelliExplorer).

It may be that your computer has a quirky BIOS - I don't know.
Maybe if you tried again and posted exact error messages I could say more, but a simple "didn't work" isn't much to go on!

And if Windows was so trouble free, there would be no need for these forums eh?

IMO the only reason to run Windows is for games. But with top titles such as Unreal Tournament and all the iD titles (doom1-3, Quake 1-3) and Enemy Territory with native Linux versions it's not all bad

100% agreed to what Uberlord said. I also have the MS Keyboard/Mouse combo and have zero probs with it (even the multimedia keys work).

Linux is getting more popular by the day, if I may say so. The notion PC = Windows is very strong (almost as strong as Web pages = Internet explorer once was, but nowadays Firefox is changing that) but the tides are changing.

epi1lux · May 10, 2005, 01:08 PM

For the large part I would say we don't need these forums. Niche community doing niche things. Most people won't ever come here. We both know who these forums are really targeted at.

But alas, it is games and Microsoft office that keeps me. I have to hang and stay with what formats and stuff my college uses.

***Zardon*** · May 10, 2005, 01:35 PM

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Originally Posted by epi1lux

For the large part I would say we don't need these forums. Niche community doing niche things. Most people won't ever come here. We both know who these forums are really targeted at.

That is pertinant to 99% of tech forums. not sure the point you are making with relevance to linux or windows. Do you mean the whole site or the linux forums?

And yes if you mean the forums are primarily targetted at driver support, they are indeed, but many people want to learn linux so with experts like uberlord around im sure they will learn !

Kombatant · May 10, 2005, 03:23 PM

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Originally Posted by epi1lux

For the large part I would say we don't need these forums. Niche community doing niche things. Most people won't ever come here. We both know who these forums are really targeted at.

Actually you are wrong. These forums are here for help to exactly those people who need help and (believe me) come here to find it. Yes, it is also a place where the "niche community", as you call it, posts and argues, but it's primary goal is to help newbies. And believe me, it has done just that numerous times. You don't have to post to get help; searching for previous topics is equally valuable.

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But alas, it is games and Microsoft office that keeps me. I have to hang and stay with what formats and stuff my college uses.

Actually, just games. OpenOffice.org is a damn fine alternative, and it reads and writes in MS formats so there is no reason to use MS Office anymore.