Desktop Linux For The Windows Power User

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@aerospark:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

Everything you need is here. Mind you there are two ways to interpret what you are saying:

a) Install onto a removable drive as if it were the main drive and select to boot from it when you need Linux,

b) Install it through a virtual machine onto the removable drive and use any Windows PC to run your virtual installation.

Solutions for both of these options exist on PendriveLinux.com with detailed walkthroughs on how to achieve them for a multitude of distros.

Have fun!
 
Didn't read all the comments there's too many, but I want to add my two cents anyway.

My biggest problem with Ubuntu when I used it on an old machine for a HTPC was that it didn't come with multimedia codecs. I didn't like that at all, but it was super easy to connect to pull files off of my windows machines.

Linux does do some games very well, those are the ones using opengl though. So they are more likely to get a linux client. The bad part is opengl is being used less and less nowadays.

Also, ATI drivers are pretty much worthless for using and 3d applications in linux in my experience. Nvidia drivers I didn't have a problem with (once I figured out how to install them using the command line).

All in all, I'd probably use some distro of linux if I didn't have/play so many games.
 
[citation][nom]aerospark[/nom]thanks for the help. do you know a way to install linux without putting it on a disk and onto a portable hardrive?[/citation]

Your question reminded me that I purposefully left space on my 250GB external HDD with this in mind. I tried using this laptop with the usb live install to the external HDD but the install failed on the last stage, writing grub to the external. I checked the disk and the linux has been installed! I just have to figure out how to write grub to the boot sector of the external HDD. I w3ish I had found these articles first!

http://ubuntufriends.wordpress.com/2007/03/05/install-ubuntu-on-external-usb-hard-disk/

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/installing-ubuntu-to-a-usb-hard-drive/

I guess I should try again using a desktop and unplugging the internal HDD first. Give me half an hour and I'll get back to you.
 
[citation][nom]San Pedro[/nom]My biggest problem with Ubuntu when I used it on an old machine for a HTPC was that it didn't come with multimedia codecs. I didn't like that at all, but it was super easy to connect to pull files off of my windows machines.[/citation]
Well you picked an OS that has a philosophy against having them installed by default, which is not an inherent problem with Ubuntu. Linux Mint has them already, which is nice.
 
[citation][nom]knightmike[/nom]If I could game on Linux, I would be on Linux. I'm on STEAM most of the time. The only Linux version game I have played is Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. That was fun![/citation]

I have put some much time into that game, it isn't funny. If I would have put that time into studying I would have had a much higher GPA in college (not that mine was low). And it does work great with linux.
 
I have four kids. I have four old laptops that I've basically rebuilt from spare parts around my office or ordering over the internet. I put ubuntu 9.04 on all of them. All of them worked out of the box. Not a single hardware issue. My kids play opensource games and gcompris all day long. I installed all the restricted extras. There's a couple online games they have issues with otherwise all the major free flash game sites work fine. I don't have to worry about any of them being infected by a virus. They can't sudo so they can't touch the system. Anything they need done I have to log in to do. So I know they aren't mucking up anything.

I have a Dell percision m6400 mobile workstation. I added 16gb of ram. This thing is a beast. Intel Core2 Duo 2.8ghz, Nvidia Quadro FX 2700M with 512mb ddr3, 1920x1200 19in display. This all in a laptop. I run ubuntu 9.04. I had to run on a wired network connection for the 5 minutes it took to install the proprietary broadcom wireless drive. I need XP for my office VPN and outlook so I run VirtualBox in seemless mode. I can play quite a few windows games right on my linux desktop. In fact I can run them on a dedicated virtual desktop. I've used crossover office and cedega to play WOW and many other games. I've gotten out of gaming these days though.

With ubuntu (any flavor of linux really) I can run four different virtual desktops each with a seemless windows virtual machine (I've actually had 3 at once done for testing purposes). I can update my entire operating system and all of the applications with a single command. I can change any aspect of the UI, from the boot splash to any part of the desktop.

Try this with windows. Take an old crap computer. Stick it in a closet with no monitor, mouse or keyboard. Now make it your router or smtp server. Shove a bunch of crap IDE drives in it and make it a windows file server or a NAS. Try doing much of anything on it. Unless you pre-installed and configured some sort of remote desktop application there's not much you can do. That's minus XP desktop assistant because XP can't run on your old crap pentium. Try having multiple remote desktop instances running without something like terminal services. I can do any of these on linux. I can do them all without an actual GUI running locally. Best of all I can do them all for free. Why would I want to use any other OS?

XP is dying, Vista is dead, Windows 7 looks like it will be the XP predecessor vista should have been. I'm running it now in a seemless VM and on two laptops in my lab for testing. I've had hardware issues on the two laptops. I'm chalking it up to the RC status of Windows and I'm sure it will be resolved in the future. I'm also having an issue with our VPN client which is proprietary crap so I can't blame windows. Windows will remain to have it's place amongst the gamers and more novice of users as well as the corporate desktop. Microsoft did and does develop one of the most extensive office suites available. I wish they opted to completely open their standards or completely support open standards from early on but you can't knock the application. Exchange is a comprehensive groupware suite. It's pretty solid. It has some design flaws and I wish they would completely open the mapi protocol but you can't knock the product. So windows will remain for now. Linux will continue to gain market share. It will take time but once linux has gained enough market share the rest of the world will start to see what it was missing all along. Games will be developed for linux and openGL as well as windows and directX and people will eventually start to switch. Unfortunately the best OS isn't at the top right now. Windows is crap and will eventually lose out to better products. It's starting to slip now as OSX and Linux gain market share. Vista was a bust and if 7 doesn't pan out they are going to be hurting big time.
 
The answer for Linux is out there.
Just go and stringle the MAC - OS out of Steve Jobbs.
So mac-OS is for all PC hardware.. then
Windows?? what is that? ohh yeahh..
I remember that.. that was a dos thing right?>
 
[citation][nom]aerospark[/nom]thanks for the help. do you know a way to install linux without putting it on a disk and onto a portable hardrive?[/citation]
Done! I tried to use my desktop and just fix grub but, no joy after a while I gave up and re-installed following the instructions in the two links I posted earlier. I am posting this using my laptop, running off my external HDD!

The weird thing is that the desktop I used to install it wont boot from any of the USB devices I've tried so far but I think it's probably a problem with the MB
 
It's fun to play around with (and I have for the past year or so, Beryl/Compiz Fusion is lots of fun), but Vista is still my main, and I for one have loved it since RC1. Media Center, Adobe Production Premium, gaming, and lots of other stuff that only work well on Windows (Wine still doesn't provide quite the same compatibility and stability with some programs)
 
"Give back to Ceasar what is Cesar’s and to God what is God’s."

Ubuntu is Free. Windows is not. Ubuntu runs (some) Windows apps and games out of the box. Windows can run Linux apps, but is really difficult (really!) to make it happen. I can run Crysis, Fallout 3 or other high end games on my Ubuntu 9.04 64 bit, but then again I own a decent NVIDIA card and a Core 2 Duo with 4 GB ram. The games run very good (I get more than 125 fps in some), but then again I have been working with Linux on my desktop for more than 7 years and I know some tweaks. I also know tweaks for Windows, for FreeBSD, etc.

A few days ago I finally switched my wife's computer from Windows XP to Ubuntu 9.04 and she is happy. She does exactly the same things she was used to on Windows: browse the internet, talk on Skype, check her mail, etc. If you are that type of user you are safe to go the Ubuntu way.

My mom bough a Dell laptop that came with Ubuntu pre-installed. She is browsing safely her bank accounts and doesn't bother me about viruses or spyware anymore.

If you want to run Windows games, buy Windows. If you want to work with your computer safely, and do the rest of the stuff you can do in Windows but FREE, get Ubuntu. No more virus, no more spyware etc. Is like getting a Mac, but cheaper :)

Oh yeah I'm a power user, I know Windows in all the flavors, Mac OS 9/X, all Linux flavors (one of my favs is Gentoo), FreeBSD, SCO Unix and Novell Netware. I like testing stuff. But you know what I like of Ubuntu? It's EASY. I just like to sit on my home PC and I like that IT JUST WORKS. No more registry editing or installing antivirus, antispyware, or stuff like that to protect me. No more buying software for Office, photo, audio or video editing (that I also use) because it all free of charge. Install it and be productive right away. Be FREE! If you want to pay for use your computer, please buy Windows, buy Office, buy all you need to have your computer protected from virus and spyware. Oh yeah I know there is free stuff for Windows too, but you and I know is not the same as the paid versions. Go to pay so you can work to pay more :)
 
I have tried the live installation of Ubuntu 9.04 a few times, but never made it to the actual installation screen. I guess Ubuntu doesn't like my three monitor setup. 🙁
 
@planetacancun
that's pretty much what i want to say. i'm quite annoyed with the malware getting to Windows machines, i had my sister's pc installed with Win7 since it keeps on getting malware on XP and Vista 32bit. like you, i don't like installing software against viruses and spyware since it gets defeated most of the time especially by malware.

anyways, nice article. i have installed ubuntu a few times but only now i've learned a lot about how it handles partitions, folders, and file systems. i definitely would choose linux ubuntu for a file and media server.
 
its amazing i see so many complaining about ubuntu not working when what I have found is it works really really well. I am a long time windows / dos user and I have tried ubuntu in the past started at 7 and tried 8 and neither made me stick around. Version 9.04 has me though I have been using it as my primary since the official release of 9.04. One major step has been the usability of wine as I am able to get most if not all my apps/games to work in ubuntu. Especially World of Warcraft.

Perfomance is very good the only problem wine has is the translation of some of the direct x calls into opengl which can be seen in the issue of high detail shadows in wow. however if you have opengl support on the game turn it on as it makes it a one to one call. Sam & Max play perfect as well and I can play steam games just have to figure out which setting is causing the huge video emulation which slows it down.

All in all with nvidia GT 285 and a gig of ram the OS really does a great job. At this point there isnt really alot holding back ubuntu.

Tip on wine dont just install it from the add/remove panel go to www.winehq.com and follow the process to update the security settings then install the application.
 
Some 'hardcore gamers' I know say that a PC+Windows is better than a dedicated console. I wouldnt know as I dont play games. However using the 'linux is no good for games - so its no good' style argument is completely and utterly missing the point entirely and shows lack of knowledge of the overall picture - or should I say panorama of applications that GNU software is successful in providing real and reliable solutions without holding anyone to ransom of license fees. Suggest you start by checking out how many webhosts are using Apache and Linux and Mysql and Open Sources CMS. Most Linux debates now seem to be to do with the desktop, I think that is a good sign of how successful its been in servers space and how suceesful GNU/FOSS has been overall (embeded / phones etc) and that its now at a stage whereby its 'good enough' for the majority of people (who dont want to run the latest windows games) who just need to surf the web and write letters and do some spreadsheets and also dont want to pay more for an OS than the hardware to run it on!
 
if you really pay for the games and other software not available on linux,why not complain to their respective software makers to have a linux version???!!!
 
[citation][nom]tygreen101[/nom]Yes, it would always be nice to have your OS install all the drivers for all your hardware "out of the box" but, ATI has supported Linux for far longer than Nvidia has for compatibility with Linux. because of this fact, your problem intrigued me. So I went to their web site and clicked on "support&drivers" and navigated my way to the correct drivers. Have you tried to install the drivers from the ATI site? I know when I upgraded my video card using openSUSE 10.2 (like may/june 2008) on my dell computer that I had to do a little work to ensure that the hardware I wanted to use worked. Actually, I needed to install the drivers AND a kernel patch, but the openSUSE forums walked me through this very quickly and easily and I was able to do all this in about 15 minutes. After you try this, I would be very willing to help you with any other problems you have. I am by no means an expert, but I will always try to help others.[/citation]
Dude you would be my hero if you could help me getting this work on a current distro. Tried the drivers from ATI (9.4) and no go. Followed the instructions as best I could. If you looked in the Fedora, Ubuntu, Rage 3d forums I have posts all over the place and no one ever told me a way that worked..
I really would like to get Fedora working as the new one looks slick. Fedora 11 is due out in like 8 days but I have the preview release.
 
The Million Dollar question is: How do you run Ubuntu using Nvidia Drivers on a dual core laptop with 4GB of RAM? Linux 32 bit and 64bit cannot address more that 3GB of RAM and so you have to patch the kernel using a bunch of steps that doesn't always work. I'm got this smokin laptop with an Nvidia gforce 9500+m that I cant use with linux.
 
Thank You!!!! have been a windows user since DOS.would never dream of going to a mac. but as of late too many virus related issues.been wanting to go to ubuntu for a while now. your article is helpful and informative. no arrogance or os loyalty...just the facts.relating ubuntu to windows finally set off the light bulb in my brain. Like it or not, efficient or not, windows is king of software and for most users having to use anything else requires having to abandon 10+ years of habit. I think i'm ready now. Once more, thanks Adam!!!
 
[citation][nom]add2700[/nom]The Million Dollar question is: How do you run Ubuntu using Nvidia Drivers on a dual core laptop with 4GB of RAM? Linux 32 bit and 64bit cannot address more that 3GB of RAM and so you have to patch the kernel using a bunch of steps that doesn't always work. I'm got this smokin laptop with an Nvidia gforce 9500+m that I cant use with linux.[/citation]

linux 64 bit cannot address more than 3 GB of ram? if so then also WinXP x64, Vista 64x and Win7 64.
dude, I don't know where did you got that info but no only that 64 bit linux can handle, but linux users have enjoyed that option well before windows users have.
don't believe me? here: http://boinc.bio.wzw.tum.de/boincsimap/show_host_detail.php?hostid=104868 check this dude which runs boinc on a linux box, 8 cores xeon and 8 gigs of ram...
 
[citation][nom]drumcat[/nom]Excuse me, toolboxes... the points about being able to run Windows apps... OSX has a solid solution for working WITH windows apps, and its market share took off. Maybe if a linux distribution had a simple way of running windows apps, Linux would take off!See Fusion, Parallels on OSX.[/citation]
And what solution would that be? Virtualization? You have that for Linux too. You have that for just about any OS.
Boot Camp? It's just a fancy dancy name for dual-booting.
MS writing programs like Office specifically to run on a Mac?

[citation][nom]add2700[/nom]The Million Dollar question is: How do you run Ubuntu using Nvidia Drivers on a dual core laptop with 4GB of RAM? Linux 32 bit and 64bit cannot address more that 3GB of RAM ...[/citation]
Um, 64bit operating systems can theoretically address 16 exabytes of RAM. That goes for Windows and Linux. To put that in perspective, monthly internet traffic for the entire world was only 5-8 exabytes during the last part of 2008.
 
[citation][nom]Shadow703793[/nom]Why is it always UBUNTU? EVERY reviewer who "runs" Linux runs Ubuntu! Why don't some one try Fedora or SUSE?[/citation]
Go to extremetech, they regularly review different OSes/flavors all the time.
 
Linux community should understand something. When a normal computer user(per example a old quadriplegic grandma) wants to use her exploitation system, she doesn't want to type 'apt [program name which usually makes no sense with what it actually does because a geek is having a mental masturbation scene while thinking about Final Fantasy XII]' with her tongue. Please, we have the mouse, I'm not looking for productivity when I'm home, I'm chilling...so I don't need the fancy terminal jargon, I want a nice everyday easy to use simple interface. Thank god...windows kinda managed to do this O.K. maybe not as slick as MAC but...easy. And .deb packages, .tar, .whatever extension specific to one branch of the thousands of linux distros...is it possible to have only ONE or maybe TWO packages that are recognized across all the distros??? I'm always passing hours to check every darn applications out there to replace my old windows slippers, having to find the proper package or even compiling it...seriously...give me a break on that...
My two cents from a power windows/linux user.
 
[citation][nom]lbarriau[/nom]Linux community should understand something. When a normal computer user(per example a old quadriplegic grandma) wants to use her exploitation system, she doesn't want to type 'apt [program name which usually makes no sense with what it actually does because a geek is having a mental masturbation scene while thinking about Final Fantasy XII]' with her tongue. Please, we have the mouse, I'm not looking for productivity when I'm home, I'm chilling...so I don't need the fancy terminal jargon, I want a nice everyday easy to use simple interface. Thank god...windows kinda managed to do this O.K. maybe not as slick as MAC but...easy. And .deb packages, .tar, .whatever extension specific to one branch of the thousands of linux distros...is it possible to have only ONE or maybe TWO packages that are recognized across all the distros??? I'm always passing hours to check every darn applications out there to replace my old windows slippers, having to find the proper package or even compiling it...seriously...give me a break on that...My two cents from a power windows/linux user.[/citation]


1) .tar is an archive file extension just like .rar and .zip (so is .tar.gz)
2) there are two .exe-like (in terms ease) file extensions .deb and .rpm
3) There are a number of accessibility options available for the elderly and people with disabilities (including compiz fusion, there are 4 different types of zoom features)
4) It may be a pain to set up, but once it's done Granny won't be able to install mal-ware, have to spend hours doing system maintenance or even backup regularly (all of which can be a PITA using your tongue)
 
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