A GUIDE ON CHOOSING LINUX

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Those of you looking to have grassapa answer you or update his post may want to notice that his last post on this thread was Sept. of 2003. He may not be listening. :smile:


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Better yet, just put a link right on top pointing to Distrowatch.com, since that's where the origional info was from. It's alot easier than pasting the site back here.

BTW, I noticed one of the earlier posts mentioned jumping in the deep end by starting with Slackware. While I'll admit I started with Red Hat, I found the new deep end - Linux From Scratch. This distro is distributed in book form. You can download the book or read it online, following the directions to download the sourch of each individual component and compile it yourself. They do offer a live CD, but the only purpose is a platform that will let you format the HDD, download the source, and compile it on the system your installing it on. I found it because the Dyne II distro (pre-beta - look for Dyne:Bolic) is following the book.

Jarrett
 
Better yet, just put a link right on top pointing to Distrowatch.com, since that's where the origional info was from. It's alot easier than pasting the site back here.

BTW, I noticed one of the earlier posts mentioned jumping in the deep end by starting with Slackware. While I'll admit I started with Red Hat, I found the new deep end - Linux From Scratch. This distro is distributed in book form. You can download the book or read it online, following the directions to download the sourch of each individual component and compile it yourself. They do offer a live CD, but the only purpose is a platform that will let you format the HDD, download the source, and compile it on the system your installing it on. I found it because the Dyne II distro (pre-beta - look for Dyne:Bolic) is following the book.

Jarrett


LFS and Gentoo are certainly fun but probably not for the average user :-D

We should probably update this post or put up a new one and request that it be made sticky.

Semper Fi Carry^H^H^H^H^H Linux on! :-D
 
Personally, I wouldn't be against a newbie trying Gentoo, as they'd probably learn more about Linux in 30mins with it than 3hrs with SUSE/Ubuntu. Sure, it doesn't hold your hand quite as much, but the installer on the LiveCD doesn't require that much hard thinking, and once installed I find emerge + use flags much easier and more efficient than other package management systems I've tried. Also, it has forums with people that actually help without being patronising, and a relatively comprehensive handbook + wiki.

Sure, the person may not get it right the first time, and may not be playing their music files as quickly as with SUSE etc, but I'd still tell people to go a little deeper. Because, in the end, if you want XP use XP, but if you want something different then go *different* :)

Synergy6
 
Personally, I wouldn't be against a newbie trying Gentoo, as they'd probably learn more about Linux in 30mins with it than 3hrs with SUSE/Ubuntu. Sure, it doesn't hold your hand quite as much, but the installer on the LiveCD doesn't require that much hard thinking, and once installed I find emerge + use flags much easier and more efficient than other package management systems I've tried. Also, it has forums with people that actually help without being patronising, and a relatively comprehensive handbook + wiki.

Sure, the person may not get it right the first time, and may not be playing their music files as quickly as with SUSE etc, but I'd still tell people to go a little deeper. Because, in the end, if you want XP use XP, but if you want something different then go *different* :)

Synergy6


Most people do not have the patience or the temperament to use gentoo. For those people the ready-made distros are more appropriate. Gentoo is great and a great learning tool but unfortunately most people are not willing to learn.

This is one of the main reasons people stick with M$ garbage because they are afraid to try something new.

Sad but at least partially true :-(
 
Most people do not have the patience or the temperament to use gentoo. For those people the ready-made distros are more appropriate. Gentoo is great and a great learning tool but unfortunately most people are not willing to learn.

This is one of the main reasons people stick with M$ garbage because they are afraid to try something new.

Sad but at least partially true :-(

True. But if they had no interest in Linux, why look at this thread? :) I think most people that had any interest in experimenting could do pretty well with Gentoo. And as long as they weren't ridiculously stupid with partitioning, for which Gentoo has a mode which won't delete any other partitions if free space is available, the worst case scenario is just wiping it and going back to WinXP. Nothing lost, perhaps a little knowledge gained.

Personally, I use Gentoo for IRC/msn/surfing etc, and XP for gaming and some other things. Sure, I could try cedega/wine, but I find XP itself faster and easier to use than trying to emulate it.

Synergy6
 
Most people do not have the patience or the temperament to use gentoo. For those people the ready-made distros are more appropriate. Gentoo is great and a great learning tool but unfortunately most people are not willing to learn.

This is one of the main reasons people stick with M$ garbage because they are afraid to try something new.

Sad but at least partially true :-(

True. But if they had no interest in Linux, why look at this thread? :) I think most people that had any interest in experimenting could do pretty well with Gentoo. And as long as they weren't ridiculously stupid with partitioning, for which Gentoo has a mode which won't delete any other partitions if free space is available, the worst case scenario is just wiping it and going back to WinXP. Nothing lost, perhaps a little knowledge gained.

Personally, I use Gentoo for IRC/msn/surfing etc, and XP for gaming and some other things. Sure, I could try cedega/wine, but I find XP itself faster and easier to use than trying to emulate it.

Synergy6


WINE = WINE IS NOT AN EMULATOR

Any distro is fine :-D
 
WINE = WINE IS NOT AN EMULATOR

Any distro is fine :-D

LoL, awesome, I've been berated for saying that before. Anyway, the point stands. I still find it easier to use XP for some things, such as gaming.
Synergy6
 
WINE = WINE IS NOT AN EMULATOR

Any distro is fine :-D

LoL, awesome, I've been berated for saying that before. Anyway, the point stands. I still find it easier to use XP for some things, such as gaming.
Synergy6


[code:1:e7e4d98452]
package Main::AWESOME;open(I,"<$ARGV[0]");sub AWESOME{while(1){while(<I>){@a=$_;}print @a;}}$Linux=$Linus_Torvalds=AWESOME();
[/code:1:e7e4d98452]


XP is better for running XP games that's about it.

Some native Linux games run very well indeed it varies from game to game.
 
XP is better for running XP games that's about it.

"It" in this case being the vast majority of videogames. Sure there are exceptions, like ET, AA, D3 etc, but they are exceptions nonetheless. AA in this case being an interesting example, as it is likely being discontinued, and is already behind schedule by months. If you take a game like Oblivion, by far the easiest and most efficient way to run it in all it's glory is on XP.
Synergy6
 
XP is better for running XP games that's about it.

"It" in this case being the vast majority of videogames. Sure there are exceptions, like ET, AA, D3 etc, but they are exceptions nonetheless. AA in this case being an interesting example, as it is likely being discontinued, and is already behind schedule by months. If you take a game like Oblivion, by far the easiest and most efficient way to run it in all it's glory is on XP.
Synergy6


It is a chicken and egg problem.

My point is Linux and BSD CAN be a great platform for games if developers start supporting them.
 
My progression is
Slackware 2.0
Slackware 3.0
Redhat 5.0
RedHat 5.1
RedHat 5.2
RedHat 6.0
Mandrake 6.1
RedHat 6.2
RedHat 7.0
RedHat 7.1
RedHat 7.2
RedHat 7.3
RedHat 8 <- for a very short time
Gentoo Linux <- my current and favorite distro.

Am I the only person here who started on Redhat and later switched to Slackware ? 🙁
 
The Problem is that GNU and UNIX based operating systems lack the market share.

I ask this hypothitcal question:

Say you are a game developer, are you going to take the time and MONEY to compile, optimize, extra codeing BS to get a game to work natively with Linux?

I doubt you would as a game developer. Becasue the majority of the time your cost goes up and profit goes down, and if your working to get the game complet ahead of secule and under budget to get you bounse, thats one more hoop to go though to get that extra CASH.

Now maybe I'm just being cynical about this, but its just the way I feel about it. Granted I'm new to the Open Source World, but I dont think I'll be going back to M$ except for gameing, and maybe some thing that requires MicroSucks compatibility.

Just my 2 cents.
 
My point is Linux and BSD CAN be a great platform for games if developers start supporting them.

Oh, very true. But when it comes to a guide on choosing Linux, I generally stay in the realm of the present/near future, not the overly futuristic, probably fantasy land where Linux has better overall videogame support than Windows.
 
The Problem is that GNU and UNIX based operating systems lack the market share.

I ask this hypothitcal question:

Say you are a game developer, are you going to take the time and MONEY to compile, optimize, extra codeing BS to get a game to work natively with Linux?

I doubt you would as a game developer. Becasue the majority of the time your cost goes up and profit goes down, and if your working to get the game complet ahead of secule and under budget to get you bounse, thats one more hoop to go though to get that extra CASH.

Now maybe I'm just being cynical about this, but its just the way I feel about it. Granted I'm new to the Open Source World, but I dont think I'll be going back to M$ except for gameing, and maybe some thing that requires MicroSucks compatibility.

Just my 2 cents.



But here's the thing, if you write good working portable / cross-platform code recompiling your game ( s ) for any platform can actually be reasonably easy.


With the proliferation of so many different game consoles, etc if you want a commercially successful title you have to make sure it works on at least 2 or 3 different platforms.

Sony may ship the new playstation with Linux already on it :-D

Would be kewl :-D
 
GT4 seemed to do pretty well on only one console. MGS2/3 spent 6+ months PS2 only, actually sold quite well. Same with GTA3, GTA:VC, GTA:SA. The Sims sold pretty well too, it was PC only for quite a while.
Etc.
 
GT4 seemed to do pretty well on only one console. MGS2/3 spent 6+ months PS2 only, actually sold quite well. Same with GTA3, GTA:VC, GTA:SA. The Sims sold pretty well too, it was PC only for quite a while.
Etc.


I'm not a console person at all, but if the consoles get game developers to write better more portable code I'm all for it.

The PS3 may kick some serious tail with Linux :-D
 
But here's the thing, if you write good working portable / cross-platform code recompiling your game ( s ) for any platform can actually be reasonably easy.


With the proliferation of so many different game consoles, etc if you want a commercially successful title you have to make sure it works on at least 2 or 3 different platforms.

Sony may ship the new playstation with Linux already on it :-D

Would be kewl :-D

As I said befor, NIX style systems don't have enough of the desktop/consumer market share. So for the game/aplication developers, what is the point in haveing your programs take the time writeing in the extra code to make it cross platform campatible? But I'm probley just being a little to cynical for my age.

As for PS3 with Linux preinstalled, that would be truely bad ass.
 
But here's the thing, if you write good working portable / cross-platform code recompiling your game ( s ) for any platform can actually be reasonably easy.


With the proliferation of so many different game consoles, etc if you want a commercially successful title you have to make sure it works on at least 2 or 3 different platforms.

Sony may ship the new playstation with Linux already on it :-D

Would be kewl :-D

As I said befor, NIX style systems don't have enough of the desktop/consumer market share. So for the game/aplication developers, what is the point in haveing your programs take the time writeing in the extra code to make it cross platform campatible? But I'm probley just being a little to cynical for my age.

As for PS3 with Linux preinstalled, that would be truely bad ass.



My point is, well written portable code does not need to be re-written from scratch every time you need to make it work on another platform.

There are many Unix programs which work just fine on just about any Unix platform including, Linux and BSD and some even work on windoze as well.

If the developers know what they are doing they should be able to write portable code without spending a lot of extra time or $ doing so.
 
Slackware junkie, here.

Started in late '97 with Slackware '96, as it was oft referred to. Official name was 3.2. I've tried numerous distros, but it's like driving an automatic after driving a stick for so long...

I hop in front of the keyboard, power up, and smash my foot against the floor where I would expect the clutch.

It's just nice to have such a level of control over your operating system. Also a really good way to learn the innards of Linux, if you don't mind headaches.

Cheers,
 
Slackware junkie, here.

Started in late '97 with Slackware '96, as it was oft referred to. Official name was 3.2. I've tried numerous distros, but it's like driving an automatic after driving a stick for so long...

I hop in front of the keyboard, power up, and smash my foot against the floor where I would expect the clutch.

It's just nice to have such a level of control over your operating system. Also a really good way to learn the innards of Linux, if you don't mind headaches.

Cheers,



Hehe :-D

A temporary headache is worth it tho because you are rewarded in the end :-D