Ok i really sick of working with windows and i willing to try something new so why not Linux. What i would like to know is what one is right for me? What i do mostly is gaming,music "big with music" ,photo, and video . If anyone can help me with the switch that would be a great help! Q('.'O)
To ease in to Linux, grab a recent live CD and play around with it for a while without installing it to your hard drive. A new version of Ubuntu is being released at some point within the next 24 hours or so, for beginning with Linux it is one of the best. Music, photo and video aren't a problem with Linux, and should probably work right off the bat. Gaming is another issue, and you've got three options for running anything made for Windows. First, you can try Wine. It's more focused at applications though, so quite likely it won't run really recent games, but you can always try. Another option is Cedega, a fork of Wine that focuses on games, but requires a subscription to get. Compatibility is a lot better, but still not 100%, you'll need to see if a game is supported. But if you are really into games, you might still need to keep a copy of Windows around (either on another partition, or as a virtual machine). If you are patient enough though, Wine or Cedega will probably come through for you. There are a few good native games, particularly UT, and a variety of free games, but the OS as a whole is fairly neglected, and it could possibly be a deal breaker for you if you really, really want to play all the new releases when they are released. You probably also don't want to run 64 bit either, as it will likely complicate the issue further (though it can be dealt with). If your hardware is all supported and you're comfortable with some of the workings of Linux, and are confident that you'll manage, you might like to look at more of a power-user distribution. I've developed a deep love for Arch Linux, some on these forums will recommend Sabayon (based on Gentoo), and some derivatives of Slackware. You'll need to do a lot more reading and understand how to handle config files etc though to use most of them, but you'll get the system a lot more to your liking if you don't manage to break it before you learn how to use it properly. I won't tell you to use one or the other, the major differences are in package management, package availability and what is considered a basic install. You'll work out what you want after a while, and don't be surprised if your requirements change and you go through several distros. It'll make you appreciate more what you're looking for, and give you a better understanding of how Linux works in the long run. Hope that hasn't scared you off, most of us are always after new users and are eager to help, just be aware of what you might be getting yourself into if you want to heavily play games.
OzMick, that is one of the best replies I have ever read in regaurd to that question. I'm just curious as to your comment about playing games in the VM. Is that possible? I'm just curious.. None of the VM's I ran supported 3d graphic rendering.
You're probably right, I've never tried to be honest. Not really a gamer myself, but I do get the occasional urge to play. In my opinion, I think PC gaming is largely a thing of the past, consoles are a better option these days, but that is just me. Having a standard platform allows a developer to focus more on the content, and less on compatability with every graphic card, every resolution and different performance options. If you were going to try though, I'd imagine something like Xen or kvm that does the virtualisation in hardware would be your best bet, but even then, you're probably right, 3D is probably sketchy at best, and most likely not good. I don't know a lot of the details of how other hardware is virtualised.
Did a little reading, and you are absolutely correct, no 3D through a VM. Sorry for any misunderstanding I may have caused. At least for the moment. I did find some mention that nVidia wanted to work with the Linux to get some support in the kernel regarding kvm, and I know that AMD have released a lot of information regarding ATi video cards, so maybe in the next 1-2 years you might see hardware virtualised 3D graphics. Pretty exciting times right at the moment, every day Vista is causing more people to convert, ATI and nVidia are competing to be the most open source friendly and things in general are snowballing. Can't wait to see where we are in 5 years...
I too have had my fill with Windows as I've been a strong supporter since the 88 mhz machines and the MSDOS green screen but the terms and conditions of Windows license are way past where I'm willing to go. I've tried a few versions of Linux and came to the conclusion the best version is the version YOU like and how it works for you. I would advise you to buy a commercial version as they are much more complete and far better supported. I tried reading the reviews, then tried SuSE but it wasn't for me, so I tried reading a lot more reviews and finally decided to try Xandros Business Edition 3.0 which made me smile so when the newest Xandros Professional 4.0 came out, I upgraded to it. I have a new custom PC based on a dual AMD 6000 CPU, 4 gb ram, Asus AM2SLI Deluxe board, 2- 7900GT graphic cards, 5 - 250 gb hard drives, a HP laserjet 1022 b&w printer and 2 DVD rw drives. Xandros saw and installed all drivers for all my hardware with one exception. The Logitech Pro 5000 webcam is NOT compatible with Xandros so I had to buy another Logitech Messenger Webcam to replace it. Do a search on Xandros website, you will find a hardware listing for compatible hardware. Check to see what you have and what works, good luck
