Ubuntu or other Linux OS

paradisiac

paradisiac

paradisiac

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can these OS's be used successfully on pcs that are used for gaming or are they pretty much for home/office use?
what i really mean is, can a free Linux OS (dont really know which ones do what) replace windows completly?
 
I haven't tried in quite a while now but I don't think you can seriously use a Linux machine for gaming. Indie devs are getting very good at supporting Linux but for your mainstream AAA titles you can probably forget it. There's a good database for Wine here that lists people's attempts at getting all sorts of Windows software working via Wine. Also there's a program called Crossover that you have to pay to use; it's built on Wine and apparently supports a fair number of Windows games but I haven't tried it myself.

Personally I dual-boot. Gaming is the only reason I have a Windows partition at all; it's just easier that way.
 
Huw said:
I haven't tried in quite a while now but I don't think you can seriously use a Linux machine for gaming. Indie devs are getting very good at supporting Linux but for your mainstream AAA titles you can probably forget it. There's a good database for Wine here that lists people's attempts at getting all sorts of Windows software working via Wine. Also there's a program called Crossover that you have to pay to use; it's built on Wine and apparently supports a fair number of Windows games but I haven't tried it myself.

Personally I dual-boot. Gaming is the only reason I have a Windows partition at all; it's just easier that way.
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ok thanks. im just looking at the possibility of knocking out some cheap pcs to make some extra cash, and one of the biggest cots is windows. so i want something thats user friendly and supports as much as possible. if it means sticking to only knocking out office/student type pcs then thats kool. just want to know in advance than getting complaints.
what about things like HTPC usage, does Linux offer a system that is good for this and supports most filetypes, or do apps like VLC work well on Linux?
 
You're gonna see more and more game support on linux as indie studios get more and more popular, linux can easily replace anything windows can do in any other regard.

There are games that run native, and they run great, the problem with linux lies with lazy developers not targeting multiplatform correctly and there's not a lot we can do about it until the market is too big for their money grubbing to ignore.
 
There are slot of media center software available on Linux including xbmc

I prefer mythtv and does my freeview as well

There is also a native version of vlc for Linux which usually comes preinstalled with most distros

Its only games that struggle on Linux but a lot do work ok via wine
 
Look into Mythbuntu for all your HTPC needs, and as Hairybudda says, there are other distros built around the premise.

Frankly, and this may attract some flak from Windows users but I don't care, there isn't a great deal Windows can do that Linux can't. Besides the fact that games devs tend to rely on DirectX, the only other advantage Windows has that I'm aware of is hardware support. Some hardware manufacturers blatantly target Windows only and refuse to provide Linux drivers. However in a huge number of cases even that isn't an issue, because the Linux community just write drivers of their own. :)

If I permanently stopped gaming my Windows install would be nuked immediately. ;)
 
Huw said:
Look into Mythbuntu for all your HTPC needs, and as Hairybudda says, there are other distros built around the premise.

Frankly, and this may attract some flak from Windows users but I don't care, there isn't a great deal Windows can do that Linux can't. Besides the fact that games devs tend to rely on DirectX, the only other advantage Windows has that I'm aware of is hardware support. Some hardware manufacturers blatantly target Windows only and refuse to provide Linux drivers. However in a huge number of cases even that isn't an issue, because the Linux community just write drivers of their own. :)

If I permanently stopped gaming my Windows install would be nuked immediately. ;)
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thanks, will look into Mythbuntu :)
 
how easy are these OS's to setup and are there any brands that have better compatibilty (Gigabyte, ASRock, AMD....) or do most companies generally offer support/drivers?
also does Linux suffer from viruses, if so, what do people use?
 
It depends on the distribution you're installing and your familiarity with linux, can range from being incredibly easy (ubuntu) to tough (LFS). Big name companies generally do release drivers yeah, smalelr companies tend to neglect linux more.

Technically speaking you can get a virus on linux, although pretty unlikely because the market share is so small and there are so many architectures that run a linux variant makes it very hard for people releasing malware/viruses to reliably infect a machine, also because most distributions release software from their own managed repositories AND because the security model is rock solid too. I don't run a virus scanner, have never needed to and probably never will.
 
Hairybudda said:
It depends on the distribution you're installing and your familiarity with linux, can range from being incredibly easy (ubuntu) to tough (LFS). Big name companies generally do release drivers yeah, smalelr companies tend to neglect linux more.
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i have never used Linux, so will be a first for me. what is the main difference between the versions? ubuntu seems to be the one most people talk about, so is this the easiest and most flexible/user friendly version?
 
I'd argue that Linux Mint is easier to get into than Ubuntu. (Mint is based off of Ubuntu but with arguably better changes)

Give Mint a try.

:)
 
paradisiac said:
i have never used Linux, so will be a first for me. what is the main difference between the versions? ubuntu seems to be the one most people talk about, so is this the easiest and most flexible/user friendly version?
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Aesthetically (which your users will probably be more interested in) they 3 big desktop environments in major distributions are Gnome, KDE and XFCE.

The main difference between common distributions are their release cycle (ubuntu for example releases a new version every 6 months I believe), their software management, kernel version and their 'out of the box' hardware support.

Ubuntu is probably the most common desktop version around right now, originally it was based on Debian before it took off on its own direction. Linux Mint is another good starter distro I gather, started off based on Ubuntu and migrated to a Debian base.

Personally I like using Arch & Gentoo but they're probably too 'enthusiast' to be putting on machines you're planning on punting.
 
Hairybudda said:
Aesthetically (which your users will probably be more interested in) they 3 big desktop environments in major distributions are Gnome, KDE and XFCE.

The main difference between common distributions are their release cycle (ubuntu for example releases a new version every 6 months I believe), their software management, kernel version and their 'out of the box' hardware support.

Ubuntu is probably the most common desktop version around right now, originally it was based on Debian before it took off on its own direction. Linux Mint is another good starter distro I gather, started off based on Ubuntu and migrated to a Debian base.

Personally I like using Arch & Gentoo but they're probably too 'enthusiast' to be putting on machines you're planning on punting.
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ok thanks for that. downloading ubuntu, Linux Mint and Mythbuntu now. will try to find an old pc to stick them on and have a play :)
 
also, is there anyway to streamline programs like you can with a windows install so you can make recovery discs? or a good program that will make a bootable clone cd?
 
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