48 replies to this topic

[iibbssee]

I first tried Linux a few years ago, not because I was completely against Windows or anything like that, but just because I had some free time on my hands. I started off with Mandrake 9.0 which was very user friendly and Windows-like. After reading through a bunch of message boards and learning which distros are good for what, I soon realized my current distro was great for Linux noobs. So then I decided to try something a little more advanced like Slackware which I knew had a steep learning curve.

Since then I've been using Slackware as my main OS and couldn't be happier. Of course somethings are a pain in the *bottom* to configure, but that;s Slack for you. If it ain't hard, then you won't learn anything from it.

That's my story, I basically started to learn Linux because I was bored.

[rvalkass]

Two of the four computers in my house run Linux. The first was my laptop, which I put Kubuntu on. I switched mainly because I wanted to see what Linux was all about, and I liked the idea of everything being free, in both senses of the word. I pretty much stuck with Kubuntu until 7.10 came out, which failed miserably to upgrade, so I replaced it with the KDE version of Linux Mint. It's based on Ubuntu, but has some different packages available and a few bugfixes.

The second computer is an ancient desktop (around 8 years old now) that recently had the hard disc die. As I didn't have a Windows CD to hand, and didn't feel like buying one, I put Kubuntu on there. That computer is used mainly by my parents, and they say that it is much easier to use than XP, runs much faster, looks much better, and the software is a lot more stable. They are not computer-literate at all. Things they wouldn't have had a hope of doing in XP (ripping audio CDs, downloading updates, even installing new software) they can now do with ease.

[babyboomer]

Quote

it is much easier to use than XP, runs much faster, looks much better, and the software is a lot more stable

Do we really need any other reason to switch to linux

[dre]

Quote

Do we really need any other reason to switch to linux

Games would be nice. Well, more of them, at least.

[iGuest]

Replying to dre

I agree that games would be nice in Linux. Games like Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell would be nice on Linux.

-reply by Devon Day a.K.A. Madkid

[Galahad]

I too kind of started playing with linux out of boredom and sheer curiosity... I started years back, with Red Hat 6.0, then 7.2, then made a little pause in linuxes I then tried Ubuntu 5.04, then another pause, then 6.06, and now I'm a happy user of Ubuntu 7.10... Since most of what I do is programming, linux is a great OS for me, stable, and has everything you need on your hands... If you know how to find it

In reply to games... There are a ton of games for linux, mostly FPS, based on Unreal engine, and some others... Linux was more of a pro user OS, and as such, doesn't have a great variety of games to choose from, but the list is rather big... I just finished downloading Americas Army game for linux, and will try it on... There are also RPG's, Strategies, and other games... What I noticed lacking are driving simulation games, but hey, nothing is perfect.... And there's always wine I hear that the lates version can run pretty much anything windows you put into it...

[dre]

Quote

And there's always wine biggrin.gif I hear that the lates version can run pretty much anything windows you put into it...

BF2 still crashes for me, but I wouldn't mind playing some recent games. I realize there's loads of games that are free for linux out there, but they just don't really fit my style. I tried out Truecombat: Elite the other day, not very noob friendly, got pwnd with a 1-21 or so k/d, but it's one of the few games that I can stand playing more than 15 mins. that's free.

Edited by dre, 03 April 2008 - 10:03 PM.

[osknockout]

I started to play around with Linux because I was bored one day. So the genius osknockout decided to install Slackware as his n00b distribution. Wasn't the greatest idea in the world and I stopped using Linux again for like two years. Then came across a copy of Knoppix, decided linux was cool again, installed mepis (debian/ubuntu derivative) and gentoo then sabayon (gentoo derivative). Now I have a very modified ubuntu system.

Games in linux.
I see one of three possibilities:
1. Linux gets native Direct X support
2. Some avenging Microsoft ex-programmer puts Direct X support in wine.
3. Everyone finally realizes that Direct X's API is inferior to OpenGL's and starts coding in it.

I don't see any of that happening soon, so I'm going to have to say that the majority of the cool games that use direct x won't be coming too well for linux soon.

[dave2win]

Switching to linux has many reasons. I first tried Ubuntu Breezy Badger ( that's Ver 5 if I'm not wrong). It was some 3 years back. Now I've both Linux & Win XP on my box. It really suits me. When I need to Network related stuff I switch to Linux & whiler playing games I'm in win. I also hope that Direct X Api s get incorporated soon within wine. Linux gives it's users a great level of Customizability. Also it can run directly from CD in case of Some Live Versions. I think Gaming in Linux will grow in very near future cause many noobs are getting extremely interested in Linux. As a result I hope someo0ne will code the API for Linux as well and we have our vwery old wine which will do Win emulation for us in Linux. Currently I'm using Fedora Core 8. It's great & also runs faster than any other Linux Versions. It also installs very fast on my PC. While Redhat 9 took sopmething around 2 hrs to install the Core 8 installed and was up and running with all settings modified to my needs and with my day to day neeeded softs in just a few over 30 mins.

Hats Off to Linux

[Galahad]

Well, the stuff I hear about wine were not quite true, possibly because of DirectX... I attempted to play 3 games, a logical ones, that probably use DX, and wound up with nothing... So, until I try to install DX on wine, and then try those games, I guess it's a bust... The lates version of wine, the one I installed, supposedly has support for native windows api, meaning you can put a dll in wine's virtual directory, and the software should work... We'll see

As for games, I see that FPS's are most dominant for linux... And so, I wound up playing Americas Army, that runs pretty smoothly and nicely with OpenGL... Too bad they halted development for linux...

Hopefully, we won't have wine one day, as windtendo won't exist anymore

[truefusion]

I think it was the fact that Microsoft Windows felt restricting and lacking a lot of features and my low budget (no way am i going to pay over $200 for an operating system!) (Vista was the only thing in the stores at the time). I guess you could say, i got spoiled by KDE and open source software: the eye-candy, the customizability, the stability, security, et cetera. I've been with Ubuntu since, i think, 6.10, and with each new version that comes out, i'm loving it even more (i'm currently running 8.04 beta). The only games i play on my Linux machine are Call of Duty 4 and Warzone2100; only Warzone2100 runs natively, since it became open source (it was one of my favorite RTS games for the Playstation console). If people ever give up on their projects, they should give out the source code to the community, just like the creators of Warzone2100.

Galahad, on Apr 10 2008, 04:58 AM, said:

...until I try to install DX on wine...

Don't install DirectX through WINE, that'll ruin WINE's own DirectX immitation DLLs (if any)! In order to have a better chance of playing games through WINE, you must first patch WINE with the 3dmark patch, which you can download at the WINE website. This makes WINE compile its "DirectX" DLLs for use for games. This is how i got Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare, to work. Deny any DirectX installation that comes with your games, or else it'll mess everything up. I remember letting CoD4's DirectX installation go through—i therefore was not able to play CoD4.

[Galahad]

truefusion, on Apr 10 2008, 03:25 PM, said:

Don't install DirectX through WINE, that'll ruin WINE's own DirectX immitation DLLs (if any)! In order to have a better chance of playing games through WINE, you must first patch WINE with the 3dmark patch, which you can download at the WINE website. This makes WINE compile its "DirectX" DLLs for use for games. This is how i got Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare, to work. Deny any DirectX installation that comes with your games, or else it'll mess everything up. I remember letting CoD4's DirectX installation go through—i therefore was not able to play CoD4.

Thanks for that tip... I actually did try to install DX9.0c, before I saw this post of yours, but fortunately, it didn't install, some error with the M$ installer or something... I shall try that Merk3D patch, and report back... Not that I want to play many games, just these few logical games, that don't exist for linux yet (or I hadn't found them)...

I got very spoiled using linux, ability to do everything in an instant... I personally don't like using my mouse to click around, and so, everything is available to me through terminal... Schedule tasks and such with cron, install practically anything with apt-get or dpkg... My ADSL network is actually working on it's full speed now, not only 90% of it... Heck, I even got my old TV card to work in ubuntu...

I don't have special effects turned on, but when I tried them, I was playing with the rotating cube for 20 minutes like a craed child lol...

Anyways, those who say linux is hard to use, don't have a clue... I used linux a few years back, it was red Hat 6.0, and THAT was hard to use, nowadays, everything starts to be more and more acceptable for newbies... Heck, even my 53-year old mom and dad have learned to use Ubuntu, surf the web, play games, write emails, even install new stuff...

[roooss]

i remember tryin slackware way back in 2000 had it running on a p3 toshiba was mint! loved it these days im using a heavily customised version of gutsy ubuntu! also made my own distrobution of linux using LFS [linux from scratch] only command line at the moment but im working on it!

as with games for linux

try something called codega i can run oblivion and f.e.a.r on my machine with it just fine! ok its not free but a small one month subcription doesnt break the bank!

[chappill]

I moved to Linux because i was annoyed with Vista, i also liked the sounds of decreased chances of viruses (they were a pain in the lower regions).
My main reason for moving though was the fact that its so majorily simple to set-up and run a web server from your computer (not to mention secure I've managed to close off all my ports (for those who understand) including (somehow) port 80).
Also i was bored, nothing to do all the games i played had gotten boring and notepad was so simple it bored me (I'd heard about GEdit). So one very cold afternoon after blowing my computer with a hair dryer because it refused to start, i set about finding the Linux version for me, this was easy due to Linux's distribution finder, and after 5 or so minutes i was downloading PCLinuxOS, i wanted Ubuntu but that didn't like my screen resolution.

It's so simple to use and installing stuff is *insert word here* easy, after a week i had ton's of new games to play open office installed and a program to download music off you tube and then put them onto my ipod. I've recommended Linux to everyone and hope they take my advice!

[saitunes]

I am a mac user, however the desktop (once i download the DVD iso) will be running edubuntu, a variation of ubuntu. For a while I dual-booted it. I liked it. My lil brother didn't. Then again he likes to play his games, nothing special, just sim city and sims and a few other ones.

Basically I'm tired of having to fix it. It keeps coming up with an error 'Cannot mount boot volume' at start up. The thing that annoys me, I can mount it in linux, about 4 different distros. Basically I have given up on windows on that computer. Edubuntu all the way, comes with openoffice, firefox, pidgin messenger as well as a stack of education related software. V.good

My old laptop has not given me trouble however, not like this desktop. My old laptop has given me other problems not covered by warranty, The lid broke a few months after i got it, because it was WAY too tight and snapped one of the bits its mounted on.

Sorry, I'm rambling.

[Gravedigger]

There are a lot of games for linux, but it can also be unreliable so you have to be careful.

[StaticIp]

When I first switched over to Linux I used Ubuntu. Love at first sight! Worked out of the box with my old desktop and made it run like it was new. Now I have it installed on a removable hard drive so I can take my desktop with me. Windows was just getting too... well crappy.. I was tired of all the malfunctions and hardware incompatibility. Thank you Ubuntu!

[Framp]

The main reason I switched to linux is that performance on windows are really bad if compared with linux one.
On my KDE desktop I can work with 40 windows/tabs opened and all works perfectly.
(Mac os need a too expensive hardware - according to what it offers)

Of course there are a lot of reasons because I use only nix systems now:
- stability
- speed
- nice and high customizable desktop
- fancy 3d desktop with old hardware
- no need to cr*ck expensive programs (like office)
- virus menace near to zero
etc

[thorne]

I switched to linux to learn about computers/operating systems, but I found that I really liked the cutomizability of it. I use arch linux which is really lightweight; you only put on the things you need, nothing more, nothing less. I love this because I can have a faster, more stable system than Windows which is so BLOATED that I don't know what to do with it. I love having a choice of desktops with linux as well; it's tough going back to Windows and having to use everything the way it is and having little control.

[Saint_Michael]

Unlike some of the linux nuts here I have not converted, yet (rval and electriv) and so as long as XP works for me I don't think I be going to linux any time soon although I am putting in hours into it just to check it out and what not.

[seba1killer]

Well, i changed to linux about 5 years ago.
The reason was that i was tired of Windows Antivirus, it makes my Pentium 3 really slow and the Windows XP works as a writing machine.
I also like the different things so i downloaded an Ubuntu image and installed it, it was about 5 years ago and they werent distributing bootable images. After Ubuntu i installed Debian, with this OS i learned a lot, i make my own web/ftp server and did some hacks on the kernel and other software.
Now i am using a Debian with Gnome desktop, using Firefox as web browser, OpenOffice, Eclipse as IDE, GNU C compiler and other open source software. Sometimes when i have time i also contribute developing this kind of soft.
I think that GNU/Linux is more a philosophy than software.
I recommend it everybody that is using Windows, dont scare!

[ZhuzKamill]

I switched to linux becouse i love to be able to do what i want and i love the fact that its almost virus free...and its free
my favorite distro is openSuse...but mandriva and fedora is also good distros..i hate the fact that most people tend to think that linux is hard to install and you can't do anything with it becouse thats not true..I think openSuse,Mandrivas and Fedoras install i smooth as it can get and easy. And i can do everything i can do with a windows xp computer...play games with cedega and such


Edit: I have had linux for about 5 years now

Edited by ZhuzKamill, 09 July 2008 - 10:09 AM.

[GMBlazed]

I just had to post here for the reason that I did NOT switch to linux.

1. Why can't you just use Windows? It is universal and most companies use it. A lot of companies couldn't give a s&%$ if you know linux or not. Windows is really easy to code, and, if you're a gamer like me, you can play a HUGE variety of games.

2. Linux is very hard to understand for noobies. I know Windows Xp very well and I can code very easily. With linux, I tried to do some commands after learning, and it was a very difficult concept to conceive.

3. Windows is very straightforward. Windows is fully explained and the user-interface is REALLY easy for someone who is new to a computer to get. Linux is really tough to setup things and programs are hard to execute sometimes.

4. DRIVERS! Most things that you buy for your computer today are for Windows Xp or Vista. On the package it says under system requirements that you must have a Windows Xp or Vista OS. Linux drivers are very hard to come by for things such as a capture card or wireless USB to connect to a network.

5. Looks. Most people say it looks better than Windows, but I highly disagree with that. Windows is EASY to customize it's looks. You can create your own look and release it for others to use. I love Windows and how my desktop looks. I don't care about making windows wobble, because to me, I think it's just dumb.

6. LASTLY, people say that it runs faster than Windows, however, this is not true all the time. Windows is very speedy on a lot of computers. Okay maybe not old ones, but with just a little clean up with a simple program every week, you have a fast computer.

**Edit**
1 more thing:

7. Viruses. I realize that Windows is the easiest OS to receive viruses, but if you aren't dumb and keep an anti-virus running and scanning, then you'll be fine. If you get a virus, they can be really easy to get rid of, unless you were stupid and downloaded a really hard virus.

Edited by GMBlazed, 10 July 2008 - 06:58 PM.

[rvalkass]

GMBlazed, on Jul 10 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

1. Why can't you just use Windows? It is universal and most companies use it. A lot of companies couldn't give a s&%$ if you know linux or not. Windows is really easy to code, and, if you're a gamer like me, you can play a HUGE variety of games.

The £400 cost for a Windows licence is the main point that puts me off. Linux is... oh, free. Thats £400 I can spend on my PC to make it better. Then theres the software. MS Office - £300. OpenOffice - oh, free again. So, thats £700 of savings so far...

GMBlazed, on Jul 10 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

2. Linux is very hard to understand for noobies. I know Windows Xp very well and I can code very easily. With linux, I tried to do some commands after learning, and it was a very difficult concept to conceive.

Linux isn't difficult. Even my mum finds Linux easier to use than Windows People are just reluctant to learn, and assume that because something is different, it is wrong. When people use Linux from the off, they find it much easier than Windows.

GMBlazed, on Jul 10 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

3. Windows is very straightforward. Windows is fully explained and the user-interface is REALLY easy for someone who is new to a computer to get. Linux is really tough to setup things and programs are hard to execute sometimes.

A graphical installer that does everything for you, and one central location for installing all your software. Much easier than Windows.

GMBlazed, on Jul 10 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

4. DRIVERS! Most things that you buy for your computer today are for Windows Xp or Vista. On the package it says under system requirements that you must have a Windows Xp or Vista OS. Linux drivers are very hard to come by for things such as a capture card or wireless USB to connect to a network.

I have never needed to download a driver for any of my hardware on Linux, including USB and PCI wireless cards, three different portable music players, three printers, a graphics tablet and video capture cards. On Windows, each of those would have required a driver CD. Suddenly Linux makes a lot more sense with drivers than Windows.

GMBlazed, on Jul 10 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

5. Looks. Most people say it looks better than Windows, but I highly disagree with that. Windows is EASY to customize it's looks. You can create your own look and release it for others to use. I love Windows and how my desktop looks. I don't care about making windows wobble, because to me, I think it's just dumb.

Looks are entirely personal preference, but KDE, Gnome and Xfce are much easier to customise than Windows, and have a lot more options. Then there are central sites like KDE-Look which have loads of stuff to customise the look and feel with.

GMBlazed, on Jul 10 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

6. LASTLY, people say that it runs faster than Windows, however, this is not true all the time. Windows is very speedy on a lot of computers. Okay maybe not old ones, but with just a little clean up with a simple program every week, you have a fast computer.

Linux is fast without a "simple program every week", and runs much faster on both my new PCs and my old ones than Windows does.

GMBlazed, on Jul 10 2008, 07:56 PM, said:

7. Viruses. I realize that Windows is the easiest OS to receive viruses, but if you aren't dumb and keep an anti-virus running and scanning, then you'll be fine. If you get a virus, they can be really easy to get rid of, unless you were stupid and downloaded a really hard virus.

Linux is much less likely to get the virus in the first place, and prevention is better than cure.

[truefusion]

GMBlazed, on Jul 10 2008, 02:56 PM, said:

7. Viruses. I realize that Windows is the easiest OS to receive viruses, but if you aren't dumb and keep an anti-virus running and scanning, then you'll be fine. If you get a virus, they can be really easy to get rid of, unless you were stupid and downloaded a really hard virus.

Wow, i don't think i've ever seen someone praise Windows concerning viruses before. This is the first time i've seen someone give a reason on why they didn't pick Linux because of its viruses. And i wouldn't say that a person is stupid because they downloaded a strong virus. Not to say that anyone is stupid, but the one that downloaded the strong virus is equal to the one that downloaded a weak virus, because it is uncertain of the virus' strength until after getting warned by your virus-scanner.

When you pay for something, you place faith in the product that it'll perform well to fit your needs. If i were a consumer and purchased Windows, i would expect it to be on a level that is satisfying, without having to worry about problems that are known issues by the developers (or distributors) and that were caused by the system itself. And if any problems are found, i would expect the company selling the product to be able to help me solve the problem regardless of my knowledge in computers. Linux doesn't need to worry here, as it is shipped without warrenty. Interestingly enough, although it is shipped without warrenty, problems concerning the distro of Linux end up getting fixed; and in many cases, in good timely fashion.