Linux vs. Windows

Well.. just decided to ask everyone about their opinion about Linux. Have you tried it, did you like it, etc.

I, personally, recently switched to Linux Mandrake 9.0 completely after checking it out and being amazed at the hardware support it gave me, it's clean look and feel and that I didn't have to be concerned about viruses or Windows sending information to Microsoft. No more Product Activation and all that Microsoft bulls**t for me.

Anybody else feel the same way?

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I was about the same way. Four I was given an ubuntu disc to try, and for the most part I haven't looked back. My desktop mainly stays in linux, while I use my laptop for gaming. I do have virtual box installed when running windows is an absolute necessity.

I am a techie, and a programmer as well, so I do command line when I can because I find it enjoyable. However never once have I had to go the command line to do something that I couldn't do in the GUI. Heck, even multimonitor support is easy with the Nvidia driver.

The interface is amazing, with 3d Fusion being built into it now, and its a very snappy OS that I can leave on for huge periods of time without noticing a degradation in performance. I also really like the package manager for installing and removing applications. It's such a simple way to get new software.

There are many that say linux is still not ready for primetime, well they should speak to my technologically indept parents who I forced them to make the switch. It took them about a week to get used to it, now they will also say they would never go back.

 

You have found the magic

 

I'd use Linux exclusively if it weren't for games. I love having Ubuntu on my EEE.

 

3 years ago I tried SUSE 10, it was amazing, it was my primary OS for almost 1.5 years. Than I tried Debian, and boy, I loved it. For me it is the best OS I ever used. Later due to my work and studies I switched back to Windows to avoid some compatibility issues with software and all, but still Debian resides on my desktop.

 

I used Mandriva, Ubuntu and Kubuntu. I would only consider switching to Mandriva as an alternative to Windows because most things are already installed, I don't need to operate that 'console'.

As stated, there is very little gaming support, although someone created a program called 'Wine' which allows certain Windows games to be playable.

I will stick with Windows for now. Mandriva is not compelling enough for me yet.

 

I am in the same boat, for now; being a pretty avid PC gamer, the inability of Linux to even run older games is what holds me back from using only Linux.

 

Most steam games run great, as does the Call of Duty series. COD actually runs better in wine. I use windows for games, but sometimes I'll run them in linux. The biggest problem is getting AA working. After that it's a fairly smooth process.

 

Like what older games? I play UT, StarCraft, Diablo II, all kinds of good stuff on Linux.

 

Oh come on, Pitabred. Every time someone levels criticism at Linux, you try to jump up to the challenge. You and I know full well that Wine is not a gaming solution; it's a good attempt, but its just not there. I am referring to Steam games (Steam itself as well), Age of Empires 3, Bioshock, Chronicles of Riddick, FEAR, or Far Cry. There are still many others that I own, but they all suffer from graphical glitches, sound crashes, installation errors, or refusing even to start. They're plagued with craploads of problems; in some games, mouse cursors do not appear. In others, you can't click on buttons, and even if you have none of these problems, performance still sucks. It doesn't even make Linux a half-competent gaming platform.

 

What are you talking about? Most steam games have a gold or silver rating on the winappdb. Steam itself installs perfectly. You only need to add microsoft fonts. The gecko browser self installs.

Bioshock- Bronze rating
Chronicles of Riddick- Gold rating
Far Cry- Gold

Maybe look some things up first. If you follow the steps in the wineappdb, most of those games will run great. It may require a bit more effort, but it's easily doable.

 

While plenty of games will run fine with Wine (COD2 runs perfectly since ages), the rating system doesn't tell all though.
I've played Company of Heroes patched up to 1.71 with Gold rating but some textures would look fretty pucked.
Always the same ground textures and I've searched high and low and tinkered for God knows how long but to no avail.
Didn't keep me from playing though...
(No experience with Steam)

 

These categorical ratings mean nothing when you notice that none of these games whose ratings you mention can be run without problems. Even many of the Gold rated games *still* have many bugs. There is no question that AppDB is useful for finding bug fixes (which itself is testimony that Linux is not a viable gaming platform), but it is not useful for judging whether Wine will run it without a lot of time and effort from the user.

And trust me, I have done my research. I know exactly how to get Steam working; my point is that it is still terrible in terms of the user experience. Suddenly I have to worry about getting the Tahoma font just to get a simple application running; I would laugh if it were a joke. That aside, I have found that for most Wine games, you have to jump through a series of hoops (read: bug fixes) and adjust Wine settings that are specific to every game. Sometimes reinstalling a different version of Wine helps, but for some dumb reason you have to move *back* to an older version; so how do you explain that Linux is a decent gaming platform when the new versions continously break old compatibility fixes? Isn't it all simply absurd?

Furthermore, even *if* Wine could run all these games reliably and smoothly, it *still* wouldn't make Linux a decent gaming platform simply because it is still hit-and-miss support.

I like Linux a lot, but at least I'm willing to admit that, as a gaming platform, Linux is a crippled solution that can't even fix itself one step at a time without breaking something else. I'm not accusing anyone of fanboyism, just pointing out the way things are.

 

Yep...games keep me dual booting. My tax programs will run in a virtual machine easy.

Just view Windows as a necessary 'gaming partition' on your hard drive, and you'll be A-OK

 

I would like to get a version of Linux to work smoothly so I could compare it fairly to Windows. It seems to me that there would be a lot to like about Mint or Ubuntu if I could have the features that set them apart actually function.