Is Linux a Viable Alternative to Windows?

Posts: 8221

Pros:

Cons:

Recently I tried Gentoo, and Ubuntu (different distros of Linux). I primarily focused on Ubuntu since I loved the ease of use of it's live cd. You can stick the cd in your computer and have it boot from that right into a useable OS (if compatible) to test drive it. You can also browse the web, etc while installing it to your hdd. The lastest release (6.10 Edgy Eft) comes with Firefox 2, GAIM, gFTP, and other things you may want to borrow your friend's computer for.

What I liked about the installer: Absolutely no hardware installations were necessary. Normally with a Windows installation I have to install the sound, network, and video card among other things. It started up in a higher resolution than I knew my system supported which was better than starting at 800x600. VLC was easily installed through the Synaptic Package Manager, and the previous 15+ minute technical install of flash (on other slightly older distros) is now automated. My arguments against Linux are fading.

I cringed as I chose the manual partitioning setup choice the installer gave me (as opposed to wiping the hole drive clean), but found it very intuitive. Installing multiple times on the 3rd primary partition, formatting the partition, deleting it, etc, and it still installed the OS and allowed for multi-boot with Windows on the first partition with ease.

Not everything was smooth though. I skipped the guide and jumped right in. In order to enable the side buttons for the mouse: I did a web search and followed the instructions. These instructions had me edit a file that effects the graphical interface of the OS keeping it from booting to the desktop. The official instructions had a similar instruction but included a backup of the file, but not a strong enough warning. It turned out that the solution wasn't to replace or over-write the whole text; but to add the two changed lines to it. I suggest skipping the wheel part of the tutorial, and setting up side buttons (if you have them) right away to avoid possible lost work until you learn better recovery methods. The wheel was already working, but not for image zooming. When I completed the wheel tutorial; it caused the wheel to function as forward and back.

What's helping Linux is the fact that many open source programs are becoming popular now, so people will be comfortable with the software available for it such as VLC player, Gaim and Firefox.

Another thing Linux has in it's favor is a well functioning 64bit flavor (xp64 wouldn't install for me). I tried Ubuntu's 64bit version and while I was pleased with performance; I was limited in what I could do with it. I couldn't install the latest flash on it (no version available) which meant if I wanted to view google, youtube, liveleak, metcafe, etc on the web I needed a non free windows emulator (which worked but is an inconvenience). The Usenet client (Pan) was not up to date for the 64bit version, but I couldn't find any reason to be concerned as both were buggy, and I couldn't figure out how to use NZB's with either (the site claims it works with NZB's but instructions or ability seems nowhere to be found). A nice feature of Pan I noticed was you can choose how many headers you want to download, and have it get the most recent instead of starting as far back as your server holds (nice when having to start from scratch over and over).

The ugly: Video conversion is still confined to command line which isn't bad if you make yourself a text file (copy the part of the guide) with parameters you can copy and paste, or make yourself a script for routine conversions. I can't easily figure out how to change the default media player (if I double click on an avi file it opens in Totem which complains of not having the codec, but right clicking and choosing VLC works). Some flv's from the same source complain in ffmpeg of not having the proper codec, or of a borked file when I could convert them in Windohs.

Firefox, and other programs still crash! A nice feature is that I can press Ctrl+Alt+Backspace to reboot Gnome (similar to win9X's quick reboot). Firefox 2 which comes with it (didn't with previous version) also has crash recovery built in.

Well, alexclaton suggested ubuntu based on his friend's preference, and I can say I'm pleased with this version. I haven't tried Linux in a few years, and think it's come a long way. I believe it's now a viable replacement option for Windows. You can run many windows programs through Wine (I couldn't get newsleecher, or a couple other Internet dependent programs to work), and there are not so free emulators for those few times you may need one of them.

WIndohs is getting harder and harder to pirate. It's also getting bloated with each new version since win2000. Even high end game developers are speaking out about how M$ is trying to force people to upgrade by making directX10 a Vista exclusive. They're even pointing out the lack of need for it.

Last edited by madthumbs on Fri Mar 09, 2007 7:13 pm; edited 1 time in total

Posts: 8221

WINE (free):
If you can run a program in this; it's probably your best choice! It doesn't require a Windows cd or serial number. It runs some windows programs as if they're Linux programs without tying up a specified piece of your HDD. Because it doesn't emulate the whole OS; it's the most efficient, and even runs some programs better than Windows itself.

Virtualbox (free)
You'll need a Windows disk to use this. Get Virtualbox from the website rather than from Synaptic, as they are different versions with a limitation on the one in Synaptic. You should be able to run nearly everything from Windows but 3-d apps and games with this. It has many options such as window mode, full screen, and seamless integration

Win4Lin (not free):
This runs windows in a window. It's highly configurable but when I tried it, it was very unstable. The thing I like about this is that you can back up the img file and replace it over and over (better than system restore) I can access my NTFS partitions and install programs directly from them with this.

VMware (free):
Like Virtualbox, but requires you to register for a S/N. There are comparisons on performance which seem negligible. I prefer the flexibility and ease of virtualbox.

Cedega:
Cedega is a modified commercial version of WINE. Currently this seems a waste of money. WINE is improving drastically lately, and can even run directX 9c : DirectX on WINE. I'm currently enjoying Trackmania United, and Flat Out 2 using this.

"TransGaming's flagship Linux portability product, allows Windows games to run on Linux seamlessly and transparently, right out of the box. With Cedega installed on your computer running Linux, you can simply insert your favorite Windows game CD, install and then play that game just as you would on a Windows system." - http://www.transgaming.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=2&meid=-1

Codeweaver's Cross-Over Office
Install Microsoft Office and use it as if you're on a Windows machine. *Doesn't currently work with Frontpage 2003, and some other components. Crossover office also supports installation of some games and other Windows programs like Adobe Photoshop and World of Warcraft. - Another possible waste of money as Photoshop now runs in WINE, as well as WOW.

QEmu and KQEmu (free)
I haven't tried these yet as they're not as straight-forward to install.

Last edited by madthumbs on Wed Apr 02, 2008 7:26 am; edited 6 times in total

Posts: 258

i remember trying to read the stuff about linux on hufschmid's site.
didnt understand it then, and i dont think i ever will.

Posts: 1737

I converted 3 years ago

knoppix
also us Mac which is debian

knoppix dvd has a whole bunch of preinstalled goodies

Posts: 8221

I tried Knoppix live cd years ago and it wasn't as n00b friendly as Ubuntu. Things may have changed though.

Posts: 181

	madthumbs wrote:
	Windows emulation: WINE (free): I Win4Lin (not free): T VMware (free): Cedega:

well, there all "Free" (search the net) unless you want to purchase a licence for them, all except WINE, which is truly free.

Tripled

Posts: 2

	postcardsfrompalestine wrote:
	I converted 3 years ago knoppix also us Mac which is debian knoppix dvd has a whole bunch of preinstalled goodies

I converted in July 2004 with Linspire. Then I moved to Xandros. Now I'm an Ubuntu Guru. (Version 6.10 Edgy Eft with Automatix2, K3b, and Amarok 1.43)

Posts: 419

It simply depends. If you mostly use your computer to browse the web, and send emails, then Linux will be a very suitable alternative to Micro$loth's bloatware. On the other hand, if you are a serious gamer, then you simply can't compare the number of titles available on M$loths's XP with what's available on Linux.

Posts: 8221

It's not just about games. I've found out why I'm getting corrupt files from usenet. I simply can't find an good nzb client or news client for gnome. I tried installing KDE as an alternate, but the installer wasn't able to create all the files it needed, I couldn't log into it without using root, and when I uninstalled it; it left a lot of garbage behind. Now as a work around I have Win2k installed with VMware. I can use Newsleecher on that, and use networking (SAMBA) to get the files into Linux (no sound on VMware Win2k) to play. I was happy to discover that Quickpar runs under Wine. I'm contemplating installing Kubuntu alone because I've read good things about Klibido on KDE. I hate thinking of the downtime to play around with another maybe.

One issue the Windows emulators can't get around is video conversion. I can convert some flv files into mpeg with ffmpeg, but not all (missing codec). Win2k on VMware tells me I need to install flash (which is covered in VMware tools), and Win4Lin just crashes the program I try using. I love how easy it is to back up a Windows installation with Win4Lin, but it crashes multiple times daily. VMware is nice and stable.

I'd use Win2k over XP to compare to Linux btw. XP is bloated, but it's a bit less hassle to install than 2k.

I've also wanted to do some better video editing than just cutting, and joining. I tried installing Cinelerra, but that didn't go over well either. Anyone know of a program like Jasc's Animation Shop? I know GIMP has a plugin, but it's very awkward to use.

Posts: 8221

Pan (usenet client) got an unstable update recently. -Very impressive so far, and seemingly more stable than the stable release.

Tried Kubuntu. Very frustrating to use for a n00b, and after the kernal update, it didn't reboot successfully or even provide the boot choices.

Posts: 8221

Pan as a usenet client to get the files
Newshosting is a great usenet server if you need one (get unlimited account for less than $15/mo)
Quickpar works through WINE for recovery and repair of damaged files or: Pypar2 - A front End for Par2 command line
hdtv2mpeg2 works with WINE also (use it to combine *.ts files)
VLC media player for playback *for mkv / h264 files: try updating ffmpeg, and use mplayer. VLC and Totem won't play 720p / 1080p smoothly even on fast systems currently.

*See NZB post below which automates much of this.

Last edited by madthumbs on Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:56 am; edited 4 times in total

Posts: 8221

There isn't anything quite like this on Windows that I know of. It takes all the tedious work out of downloading,compiling, repairing, and unpacking from Usenet! The instructions are dated so version numbers and such will have to be corrected in the tutorial.

From:
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/nzb-par-and-unrar-all-in-one-using-hellanzb.html

Edited:

hellanzb is a Python application designed for *nix environments that retrieves nzb files and fully processes them. The goal being to make getting files from Usenet (e.g.: Giganews Newsgroups) as hands-free as possible. Once fully installed, all thats required is moving an nzb file to the queue directory. The rest; fetching, par-checking, un-raring, etc. is taken care of by hellanzb.

Optional

mac — Monkey Audio decoding

flac — Free Lossless Audio Codec decoding

Install Hellanzb in Ubuntu

Preparing Your System

Open a terminal

Install the following packages

	Code:
	sudo apt-get install python-dev python-twisted unrar par2

	Code:
	sudo wget http://www.hellanzb.com/distfiles/hellanzb-0.13.tar.gz

	Code:
	sudo tar -xzvf hellanzb-0.13.tar.gz

Change the directory with the following command

	Code:
	cd hellanzb-0.13

Run the install script using the following command

	Code:
	sudo python setup.py install

Copy the sample configuration file using the following command

	Code:
	sudo cp /usr/etc/hellanzb.conf.sample /usr/etc/hellanzb.conf

Configure Hellanzb settings

	Code:
	sudo gedit /usr/etc/hellanzb.conf

Look for defineServer and change the account settings to your usenet account settings.Change the PREFIX dir to:

/home/your-user-name/

You can change the other directories to your preference but it is not needed. There are also a lot of other options in the config file, change if needed.

If you want to Run the program use the following command

hellanzb.py

Download a NZB file and place it in

/home/your-user-dir/nzb/daemon.queue/

or whatever directory you choose in the config file.

Finished files will be in

/home/your-user-dir/usenet/

Last edited by madthumbs on Wed Apr 02, 2008 6:57 am; edited 14 times in total

Posts: 8221

I've tried the ffmpeg command line. It wouldn't convert many flv files, and only converted to mpeg.

Here's what seems to work through WINE:
http://mediacoder.sourceforge.net/

Other than that, there's VLC, but that only worked for the flv files that FFMpeg Worked for, and since I wrote a script for ffmpeg; ffmpeg is actually more convenient.

mediacoder seems to work with all flv files.

Last edited by madthumbs on Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

Posts: 8221

From:
http://forums.fedoraforum.org/archive/index.php/t-44883.html

Quote:

Short howto:
If you want to open pipelines on your ATI card, is very simple:

I tested with both version of driver:
fglrx64_6_8_0-8.10.19-1.x86_64.rpm
fglrx64_6_8_0-8.8.25-1.x86_64.rpm

Only you must do is add this line to /etc/X11/xorg.conf in your device section
and change device to 4e48 or 4e44 in BusID line
for ATI 9800se -> ATI 9800
#ADD
ChipID 0x4E48
#CHANGE
BusID "PCI:1:0:0" # vendor=1002, device=4e48

for ATI 9500 -> ATI 9700
#ADD
ChipID 0x4E44
#CHANGE
BusID "PCI:1:0:0" # vendor=1002, device=4e44

9800se -> 9800pro result? Very Happy

before softmod
[neph@localhost ~]$ glxgears
17337 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3467.400 FPS <=window opened
17344 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3468.800 FPS
17339 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3467.800 FPS
21747 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4349.400 FPS <=window minimized
22420 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4484.000 FPS
22417 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4483.400 FPS

after softmod
[neph@localhost ~]$ glxgears
22664 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4532.800 FPS <=window opened
22663 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4532.600 FPS
22721 frames in 5.0 seconds = 4544.200 FPS
40830 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8166.000 FPS <=window minimized
40829 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8165.800 FPS
40828 frames in 5.0 seconds = 8165.600 FPS

Last edited by madthumbs on Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:25 pm; edited 1 time in total

Posts: 8221

http://www.gimp.org/

Video Tutorials:
http://www.opposingdigits.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5096

Versions of Photoshop work through Cross-Over Office:

http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxoffice/

Some older versions of Paint Shop Pro allegedly work through WINE. I prefer to learn The GIMP which works in Windows and Mac.

Last edited by madthumbs on Sun Mar 04, 2007 5:26 pm; edited 1 time in total