Linux questions

[Erdrick Holmes]

I've convinced myself that Windows sucks and I want to get a free Linux OS. So I have a few questions.

1. I've been raised on Windows my whole life, does Linux run like a Windows OS?

2. I heard there was a Linux that runs almost exactly like a Windows OS, where can I get it?

3. A friend told me that if you want to use Linux properly you need to read a huge maunal, is he right?

[Flying Mullet]

I'm no expert but I found the "Linux for Dummies" book very helpful for getting my feet wet with Linux. Also the book typically comes with a version of Linux (RedHat in my book) for you to install on your computer and learn with.

[Necronopticous]

It depends on the extent to which you wish to use it. If you plan on playing video games on your computer stick to Windows, (The only reason I still use Windows at home) Hardly any games port to Unix/Linux because most Linux/Unix users typically stay away from proprietary software. If you just want to use your computer for writing papers, going on the internet, listening to music, watching video clips you don't need a large manual. If you want to go deeper than that you might consider taking a class at your local community college, (or normal college if you are currently enrolled in one) I've taken all the UNIX classes at my school and loved them, they're fun and useful.

[Erdrick Holmes]

Hmm, I did some googling and I found something called "Lindows" it runs like a Windows OS only not as sucky. Should I try it?

[Necronopticous]

No.

If I were you I would run Mandrake or Slackware, those are my favorites at least.

Unless you want to go all out and run FreeBSD :love:

[Erdrick Holmes]

Can somebody raised on Windows use those? Because I'm an idiot when it comes to other OSs.

[Necronopticous]

Like I said, what do you want to use it for? Anything outside of the reasons I listed above?

[Erdrick Holmes]

Well I'll be using my comp for mainly webrowsing, playing games online and listening to music. XP crashed on me because it can't handle my video driver so I want to switch to Linux so this thing won't crash anymore.

[Necronopticous]

Well you definately won't be dissapointed in the switch, Linux is alot 'cleaner' than any version of Windows you can get your hands on. With what you said you're gonna use the computer for you shouldn't have any problems getting used to it, but be warned about the Online game thing. Linux is not really an OS for a PC gamer, lots of games will not run on Linux and once Windows is gone, if you have a problem you'll have to start from scratch to have fun again.

*note to self: If I had a really fast and reliable computer I would run Linux and play PC games in a Windows XP virtual machine via VMware.

[Erdrick Holmes]

Would games like Diablo II, Halflife, and Ragnarok? Link me to where I can download Mandrake or Lindows.

[Necronopticous]

I don't know which games will or won't run but I'd guess all of those probably will not run. Linux and Windows are totally different so you'd have to find a Linux port version of the game you want to run. Software you pick up in stores for Windows is for Windows. Check it out before you make any final decisions.

You can download Mandrake here:

http://www.mandrakelinux.com/en/ftp.php3

Use Bittorrent

http://www.torrentstorm.com/

[Dr Unne]

Cedega runs Diablo2 and Halflife perfectly.

[Endless]

I still have to see RO run on linux, though (I tried wine, wine cvs, and wineX, no luck). On another note, isn't Cedega not free?
Ans last, forget about playing games in vmware, because vmware has <u>no</u> hardware acceleration support, nor DirectX support, and doesn't plan on doing it.

[Necronopticous]

Ans last, forget about playing games in vmware, because vmware has <u>no</u> hardware acceleration support, nor DirectX support, and doesn't plan on doing it.
Note to self: :cry:

[Shoeberto]

Do not use Lindows.

Mandrake is a good newbie system.

The thing is, if you want to use Linux like Windows (like...without having to learn anything and having the OS do everything for you), you won't be doing much. You'll have to do a lot of learning (Google becomes your best friend) to do much. Fortunately, for most problems you run into, someone else has run into the same problem with the same OS on another message board and someone else has supplied them with an answer. So yeah. Learn to love Google.

[Yamaneko]

1. A lot is different. A lot is the same. The Linux community took a lot of stuff from the Windows OS (and from the Mac OS) during the mid '90's, back when Linux was not eye candy. How long did it take you to learn how to use Windows "productively"? It might take twice as long with Linux. When you do, though, it's well worth the wait. You're rewarded with a clean system, free of hassle (unless you start compiling everything beta) and stress.

2. Looks, but not runs (at least I hope not). Lindows, but yeah, stay away from that distro. Mandrake, SUSE, or Lycoris are right up you're alley.

3. Nah, just don't be afraid to crash your system when you're learning, though. That's how you learn to use Linux. At least that's how I'm learning.

It always a good idea to keep a Windows partition running alongside a Linux partition, just in case you ever need to use Windows for something. It's a lot harder to install Windows once you have Linux running.

[Erdrick Holmes]

Is there any way to download this as an EXE instead of an ISO? I'm out of CDRs.

[Necronopticous]

....You're joking right?

[Yamaneko]

Is there any way to download this as an EXE instead of an ISO? I'm out of CDRs.
You need to burn the ISO(s) onto a CD (Nero does a good job), and then boot your computer up making sure that your cdrom drive boots before your HD. Some Linux distros allow you to download a minimal boot system that connects to the Internet so that you can download the rest of the OS. There's no other way around it.

[Necronopticous]

Yeah you can't exactly have windows execute a file that will wipe it off your harddrive and then install another operating system... That's like uroboros...

In order to make your CD drive boot before your harddrive, enter your BIOS and set it in the Boot Order tab. You should probably read a guide on how to set basic Linux partitions, beside that installing Mandrake won't be much different than installing Windows. It's known for it's simplicity as well as it's functionality.

[Citizen Bleys]

I really don't think Linux is for you, Joel. Trying to make emulators, let alone D2, run on Linux will make your brain explode.

Hell, it was more hassle than it was worth for me. The emus that I could make run at all were utter garbage.

[Necronopticous]

I really don't think Linux is for you, Joel. Trying to make emulators, let alone D2, run on Linux will make your brain explode.

Hell, it was more hassle than it was worth for me. The emus that I could make run at all were utter garbage.
Aye, I like video games more than I hate Windows. Which is saying alot because I <i>really</i> hate Windows.

[Shoeberto]

There's always the option of dual-booting, of course, with a Windows partition just for games but...that really kind of kills your original reason for wanting Linux in the first place.

[Yamaneko]

Not really. Most Linux geeks have a Windows partition on their machine.

[Flying Mullet]

I've never heard of Lindows. What's bad about it?

[Necronopticous]

Not really. Most Linux geeks have a <b>[pirated]</b> Windows partition on their machine.

[Shoeberto]

Not really. Most Linux geeks have a Windows partition on their machine.
He wanted Linux because Windows was messing up his graphics drivers when playing games. If he's still using Windows to play said games, then you see where I'm getting at.


I've never heard of Lindows. What's bad about it?
An attempt to make Linux be like Windows. The problem with it is that the OS itself is free, but to get anything on it (RPM-wise...I'd assume you could still compile source) is through a subscription service. Plus the fact that it's a stupid concept. People go to Linux to get away from Windows.

[Erdrick Holmes]

Well they play fine now because I reinstalled. I wanted Linux because I think if I have a less crappy OS it might not happen again.

[Yamaneko]

Like Bleys said, it's going to be hard to get emulators to work the way you want them to on Linux.

[crono_logical]

Wow, people pirate partitions these days? :p

[Yamaneko]

If you used fdisk to partition it, it is. :p

[Mindflare]

I installed Fedora Core 2 today. Complete Linux newbie, never worked with it before. I was suprised at how... user friendly it was. It looks great. Though, I haven't tried to "do" anything on it yet, so my world may yet crash down upon me.

[Erdrick Holmes]

Run a SNES emulator on it, and tell me what happens.

[Mindflare]

I haven't quite figured out compiling yet, so installing much of anything will be difficult, let alone installing an emulator. Heh.

[Dr Unne]

I still have to see RO run on linux, though (I tried wine, wine cvs, and wineX, no luck). On another note, isn't Cedega not free?
Ans last, forget about playing games in vmware, because vmware has <u>no</u> hardware acceleration support, nor DirectX support, and doesn't plan on doing it.

http://chwombat.net/random/screenshots/07-29-2004.png :) That was last summer. It's clearly not perfect. The text was either completely missing, or else it had those transparent boxes everywhere. Also backspace doesn't work in the chat box, which is INCREDIBLY annoying; you have to use home,right arrow and delete. Interestingly enough, it ran smoother in Linux than in Windows, in terms of handling the redrawing of the screen. Walking through Prontera in Windows results in choppiness, but Linux was nice and smooth.

I tried RO again this week in the latest version of Cedega and it displayed perfectly (good text, no transparency) but the backspace key still didn't work in the chat box. That alone is enough to make it pretty much unplayable unfortunately.

[Endless]

Maybe I'll give it a try then, I saw that cedega is available on gentoo from portage. I can do without backspace: shift and the back arrow. It's annoying, but not the end of the world.