Should i switch

C

chronic2005

Geek Trainee
Hi
Im running windows xp on all my system's at the moment and to be honest, im getting really annoyed with the slow speeds probally caused by spyware or the ram used by the colourful little interface xp uses.

So, imthinking of changing to linux. What are the benifits?

Thanx
 
Be prepared to put in some time and effort to get the hang of linux.

Its not that its hard to use or learn, but many people are so used to the Windows way they give up when they have to do something differently.

The benefits of linux are in a nutshell (my own small little nutshell):

  • Better security than windows. Its resistant to virii, spyware, trojans and every other piece of malware you can think of. I had the nice surprise of finding out there was no need to have antivirus, spyware or extra firewall software (built in one is secure).
  • If configured well it can be faster than windows. It can still suffer from bad configurations like windows can, but most of the time it performs well. On another note, linux is much faster tha windows with networking. AT will probably expand on this.
  • Package management is easy. With Mandriva linux, you can use urpmi to install and remove software with a single click. Theres no lengthy installation dialogs, its all done with one program. You can configure the package manager to use online software repositories which gives you access to thousands of programs, all of which are free.
  • The linux command line shell thing (excuse) is much more powerful than the windows one. You can do some pretty cool things easily using the power of the command line.
  • Linux doesn't swap unless it really has to. With windows, it automatically uses the pagefile anyway, regardless of the RAM available. With linux, it uses the swap file as a last resort, improving performance.
  • The amount of free software available for linux is huge. Mandriva comes with OpenOffice office suite included, Windows doesn't. It also comes with firefox as standard. Even without downloading extra software, KDE (K Desktop Environment) has a wide range of tools and utilities.
  • Gaming is also possible with linux. Although most games are programmed and compiled for windows, using a 3rd party tool like Cedega, you can run DirectX 9 games on linux with very good performance. Many games now are being included with linux binaries aswell. (e.g. unreal tournament games)(check tutorials section)

For your first distro, I'd recommend Mandriva 2006 only (easiest in my experience) although other distros are good. You can download the free edition form various FTP mirrors. Mandriva is easy to install, configure and use. Also check out the tutorials in the Linux forum section.
 
Hi
Thanx for the info. I think i will switch as widnows is really annoying me now. I believe soemone described it on here as a fisher price interface, which i think hit the nail on the head.

One problem however, i have lost the driver disk for my router, will this be a problem? Does linux carry programs over to their operating system from my previous windows one?

Thanx
 
chronic2005 said:
Hi
Does linux carry programs over to their operating system from my previous windows one?
Thanx
Click to expand...

No big expert here but there is no connection between windows drivers and linux.
If you want to be sure, visit the web page of the maker of your router and check that there are Linux drivers to support it. I know for a fact that AT and myself use Mandriva very happily and there is very little hardware it does not support. I think it will be worth your while to maybe use a live cd which allows you to run Linux without installing it. If you feel it is a technology you would like to embrace then you can take the next step.

Anyways, post the details of your router and maybe someone here will be able to reassure you.

One more thing. I will never advise against trying Linux but there are ways of 'fixing' windows and allowing it to run as fast as it did before (or as near to as...). If you are suspecting adware, malware or virus, scan properly first with tools like Ad-Aware, Spybot or AVG, clean your PC of any lrubbish, clean temp files, defrag and then see.

Best of luck! As for linux, you will find ample support in HF.
 
.exe files are the executable files for windows, so natively linux doesn't support it. You can run basic window programs using a program called wine. This will run some programs but doesn't guaruntee total functionality, although it does do a good job.

If you want to be using dreamweaver and only dreamweaver, then you can use [google]Crossover Office[/google] which supports a lot of windows office/studio applications including dreamweaver, photoshop and of course MS office. The best way is to simply use the included software for editing (yet another included program) because basically all dreamweaver does is write the code from the GUI commands. That is probably better if you want dreamweaver like functionality without paying for Crossover office.

As for your router, drivers are not required in a true NOS. As long as you've configured your connection to use DHCP with TCP/IP which is done by default anyway, its simply a matter of physically connecting it up and having internet access. If you need to change options in your router, you normally type in your router's ip address in your web browser and enter admin info. This isn't unique to windows so linux has complete network functionality.
 
Hey
Ok,thanx for the advice guys. Im going to try it on one of my pc's and see how i go from their but before i do, i need to know if i can use the signal sent out from my router on a windows pc and pic it up from my linux. Oh and i take it the wireless card drives, and all the other drivers for essentail program will work fine with linux?
thanx
 
And these are the programs i will be using

Limewire
Msn
Dreamweaver
adobe audition
adobe premier
empire earth
age of empires
and a few more adobe programs

Oh and one more thing (sorry), if i don't like linux can i just switch back to xp?
 
OK lets get one thing straight. Linux isn't Windows, it never has been. Unless you want to buy Crossover Office (check it supports the apps you want) then most likely it won't run on linux. This isn't a problem with linux, its just that most developers program for Windows. Its also the same with drivers. Don't expect to put your drivers disk in and install your device for linux. Linux is totally different. It may take some tweaking, but Mandriva has excellent hardware detection. You should be able to automatically use your wireless adapter without having to install additional drivers.

You're question for the router/windows/linux combo isn't too clear. You would connect to the wireless network and have internet access. The data doesn't route through the windows PC if you use a router, instead it should go directly to the Linux computer.

Limewire uses the Gnutella network I believe, there should be a linux client which can also connect to the Gnutella network.

I'm pretty sure MSN won't run on linux, unless it is specifically supported by an emulation program. Instead, I use the free GAIM client. It can connect to a wide variety of IM networks including MSN. You might have to fiddle around with its settings to get most of the functionality of basic messenger. At the moment I have gaim to notify me with mails from hotmail with Firefox as my default browser.

Dreamweaver is supported by Crossover Office, but you will have to buy it. However Crossover won't support the other Adobe applications, only Photoshop is apparantly supported.

Empire Earth can be run with Cedega, which is worth the small fee. Cedega will run a wide range of games, so you'll be able to play different games without any hassle.

At the moment, some programs in Windows aren't yet available for linux, so I have a dual boot. To dual boot, you simply install linux on top of Windows (use a partition manager to create an empty partition or leave it as not partitioned to install Linux on), and every time you boot your computer you'll get a menu to choose which OS to load. Therefore if I do need to use windows, I can do.

As I said before, Linux is an entirely different OS, based on the framework of Unix. So drivers and devices are handled differently to Windows. Whats happened is that Windows is so widely used that it has become the default paradigm for an OS to some.
 
chronic2005 said:
Hi
One problem however, i have lost the driver disk for my router, will this be a problem? Does linux carry programs over to their operating system from my previous windows one?

Thanx
Click to expand...

I'm running Mandriva 2005, and my Belkin router ran fine straight away after installing. Same when I ran Ubuntu 5.10. The driver disk would likely be worthless anyways, since it probably only includes Windows drivers.
 
chronic2005 said:
And these are the programs i will be using

Limewire
Msn
Dreamweaver
adobe audition
adobe premier
empire earth
age of empires
and a few more adobe programs

Oh and one more thing (sorry), if i don't like linux can i just switch back to xp?
Click to expand...


Limewire won't work in Linux, but there are alternatives. I think eMule will work with linux.

MSN- not sure what you mean by that, but if you mean MSN messenger, GAIM will replace it.

Dreamweaver will work in Crossover office.

Not sure about the Adobe programs. The games will likely run with WineX.

If you want to switch back and forth between Windows and Linux, I recommend setting up dual partitions. That way you can go back and forth between them. I do this right now. It's good for while you get a feel for Linux. Mandriva will work out the partitions for you during install, but make sure your Windows documents are backed up.

I think you may be missing the idea that Linux is a totally separate OS, sort of like Addis said. It may seem simple, but it is actually a tough concept to grasp. It's not meant to compliment Windows, be a better Windows, or even act like Windows. It's different, and it will take some getting used to.
 
Hi
Sorry for all the questions guy's. I really appriciate it. Im going to install it with the partition thing you guys were on about but first where do i get linux from? It is a free Os right? I don't mind paying i just thought it was free.

Thanx
 
You get many different distributions of linux as the source code is free. This means that there are many different distros of linux for different tasks. For general purpose/media then Mandriva linux is my recommendation. Unfortunately with all the software available there are 3 cds. Download it from Mandriva. Once you've burned the isos to cds, put disc 1 when you boot.

Linux is open source, so the code is freely available for anyone to see and use. However you can pay for extra features (such as closed source 3rd party software). E.g. Mandriva club gives you tech support and more software packages to choose from not normally available. But I still use the free community edition and haven't had any problems with it.
 
You guys did a really good job of covering the major points, mucho props to everyone who contributed to this thead. :good: We do have a Linux General FAQ, which touches on many of these points.

As for the router questions, that is a standard router and requires no no drivers or special configuration. If the PC is close to the router, I would use a hard connection (aka Cat5) rather than wireless. Hard connections are faster, lower latency, more reliable and requires zero configuration.

As for your Adobe web development software, I cannot verify its functionality first-hand, as I use open-source development tools native to Linux (I can't afford Macromedia software, and I prefer to develop in a standards-compliant manner anyway). This being said, I understand that Macromedia has been engineering their dev tools to unofficially support Linux. That is, they are compiled for Windows but in a manner that works well in WINE, which is free. How well it works in WINE Vs. CrossOver Office, which is not free, I cannot say. But that is the situation as I understand it.

All the best,
-AT
 
Thanx for all the advice guy's. Im just downloading the version you recommended now. I'll let you guy's know what i think.

Thanx again

p.s.

Happy 2006
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top