Linux

[Heresson]

Is Linux free?
Is Linux easy to use?
It is a big deal installing it, chosing windows menager or whatever?
Is it very different from Windows?
Do computer games like Civ, EU, HOMM etc work on Linux?
What does not?
Does Microsoft office (word!) work on linux?

Can I install Linux aside from my Windows and use once Linux, once windows?

thank You

[Kirnwaffen]

Well, I'm no Linux expert, but, for a few of your questions:

1) There are many free versions of linux that are downloadable from various sites. There are also versions of Linux that must be paid for, and usually include some form of technical support and/or applications to go along with it.

2) Whether or not Linux is easy to use depends on version and your familiarity with computers in general. Personally, I run a Fedora Core laptop that I use for coding purposes. Usually, it isn't a whole lot different from Windows, but some things (installing programs and drivers, for instance) are completely different, and I would say more difficult. I've heard that Ubuntu is much more user friendly, but I haven't had the opportunity to try it.

3) Installation was pretty straightforward, but some things (like installing a wireless driver) required a fair amount of pain and suffering to accomplish (this is from the perspective of a first time user)

4) In general use, I would say Linux (at least Fedora Core 9) seems very similar to Windows. You'll really start to see the differences once you start getting into things like device management, security, and the terminal.

5) Generally, computer games do not work on a Linux machine, though I've heard programs like Wine can be used to run some of them. Unfortunately, Wine support seems to be pretty hit or miss. Check out www.winehq.com for an application database.

6) You might be able to run Office using wine, though I couldn't tell you for sure. Alternatively, OpenOffice seems to be pretty similar and supports office type documents.

7) Yes, you can create a dual boot system, though I couldn't tell you how to do it.

[Q Classic]

Re: Linux

Originally posted by Heresson
Is Linux free?
Is Linux easy to use?
It is a big deal installing it, chosing windows menager or whatever?
Is it very different from Windows?
Do computer games like Civ, EU, HOMM etc work on Linux?
What does not?
Does Microsoft office (word!) work on linux?

Can I install Linux aside from my Windows and use once Linux, once windows?

thank You

You sound like such a goddamn noob who hasn't bothered to do any research. But that's okay, actually-there's a lot of murkiness around this, because of bad information on the webternets.

Linux can be free. Generally, for home users, it is; Ubuntu, for instance, can easily be downloaded and installed at no charge, and is quite easy to set up. Fedora, Debian, Arch, Gentoo, and Slackware are all also free, with an approximate increasing difficulty.

As far as ease of use, it can be. The guis have gotten to the point that for most straightforward things, it's not that hard to learn; however, since it's designed differently that Windows or OS X, you have to get used to all the differences, which can be a stumbling block. Ubuntu's good for the learner; Kubuntu is part of the same project, just with a different desktop environment.

Because the first few I mentioned were in some ways designed for ease of use for the newcomer, you won't have to agonize over KDE, Gnome, XFCE, Fluxbox, and so on; if you just want to start out, Ubuntu. Talk to Alinestra Covelia if you want a non-techie review.

As far as different from Windows. It's not, at all, in fact, it's just the same. It about as similar to it as OS X is, or as similar as an artichoke is to an orange. If you want a less snarky answer, you're going to have to ask a less vague question.

Games and Apps are somewhat of a gamble. While you can get software that allows you to run Windows apps, compatibility is not 100%. You'll also have to do some tweaking of free Wine, or pay Cedega or Codeweaver's Crossover apps. That said, with the applications like Microsoft Office, there are freeware alternatives, though they may not be as polished or pleasant, such as OpenOffice or AbiWord. (I heart Office 2007, and nothing really compares.) There's also the alternative of using a virtual machine or dual booting, the former being better for non-processor-intensive apps, and the latter for gaming.

Dual booting is what I think you're asking about with the last question. It's relatively easy to do, but to minimize hassle, make sure you install Windows first.

[Wraith]

--"Is Linux free?"

Yes. You can pay for it if you want, to get a support contract or boxed media or so on, but you don't have to.

--"Is Linux easy to use?"

This is a very big depends. Distro choice influences this (Ubuntu vs. Gentoo, for instance), and it depends on exactly what you want to do. Power Users will find many linux distros more easy to use eventually, but there is a learning curve. Basic users will find them simple to use if they pick an appropriate disto, like Ubuntu, and have compatible hardware.

--"It is a big deal installing it, chosing windows menager or whatever?"

Outside of laptops, usually no. There is some hardware you have to be careful of (usually wireless or the these-days fairly rare winmodems), but for most desktops it isn't a problem. Most linux distros have live CDs you can boot from to test compatibility without installing.

--"Is it very different from Windows?"

Yes. You can get distros that have similar enough UIs to Windows to not really be an issue, but the underlying OS is quite different. The more advanced a user you are the bigger the difference will be for you.

--"Do computer games like Civ, EU, HOMM etc work on Linux?"

Depends on the game. You can assume most won't. Many do have equivalents (like FreeCiv) or can run under Wine, but most games, especially recent ones, won't work. You'll pretty much have to check on a case-by-case basis.

Personally, I mostly play Neverwinter Nights these days (1, not 2), and it runs fine under Linux.

--"Does Microsoft office (word!) work on linux?"

I believe it does under Wine, but Open Office is free and close enough for most things that it probably won't be an issue. Unless you've got a lot of very complex Excel macros or are a hard-core PowerPoint user, it probably isn't worth the trouble of actually installing MS Office.

--"Can I install Linux aside from my Windows and use once Linux, once windows?"

You can set up a dual-boot to use both, but I won't promise you can do it without having to reinstall Windows. Too many variables involved, and pre-installed Windows usually isn't configured to be dual-boot friendly.

If you're interested in linux, the best thing to do is check out a few different distributions via live CDs, then pick the one you're most comfortable with. To get an idea of the various differences, K/Ubuntu, Fedora, and OpenSuse will cover the major differences.

Ubuntu is probably best if you're after install-and-go. If you're really into computers and will be doing a lot of fiddling, you might want Gentoo.

Wraith
"There are two major products that come out of Berkeley: LSD and UNIX.
We don't believe this to be a coincidence."
-- Jeremy S. Anderson

[Asher]

For the TLDR crowd:

Linux:
On desktops? No.
On servers? Yes.

[KrazyHorse]

For physicists (on laptops, desktops and servers)? Yes.

[KrazyHorse]

Otherwise I'm stuck sshing into my department's network using putty and editing stuff using terminal emacs.

Which is admittedly what I'm doing right now because I'm too lazy to boot into linux.

[Ramo]

Terminal emacs? Why not use X-Win 32?

[Asher]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
Otherwise I'm stuck sshing into my department's network using putty and editing stuff using terminal emacs.

Which is admittedly what I'm doing right now because I'm too lazy to boot into linux.

You don't need to. Back in school I just set up an XWin server on my home Windows box (IIRC, Cygwin works just fine). I remote desktoped into the local Unix boxes, got Gnome and everything.

[Solver]

Yup, do some research first, you Pole

You don't want to be thinking of "Linux" in general, you want a specific distribution. Because there are thousands of versions, and a couple dozen major ones, that are all very different. So...

Free? Basically, yes. As said, commercial support exists and commercial distributions exist but most distros are free and you'd want a free one.

Easy to use? In my opinion, once you get past the initial learning curve, yes. It's bound to be a bit confusing in the beginning but, if you're okay with computers, you'll get used to it quickly.

Installation is quick and makes most of the choices for you on most user-oriented distributions, you don't have to choose if you don't want to.

As for differences from Windows, it's very different on a technical level. If you're just a user and not doing advanced stuff, it will depend on the distribution and the desktop environment. For example, KDE looks and feels quite a lot like Windows by default. It's also distribution-dependent, Xandros for example is similar to Windows.

For games, start by assuming that they won't work. As Wraith says, you can use Wine but you need to check on a case-by-case basis. Civ4 works fine for me.

MS Office runs pretty well under Wine, even Office 2007 runs on the recent versions. Go with OpenOffice if you use only the basic stuff from a version of MS Office before 2007, if you use Office 2007 or do advanced stuff, install it under Wine.

Word of caution: at the moment, a lot depends on how Linux will detect your hardware. If you get lucky and have compatible hardware, it will detect all of it out of the box, then it's great and you'll enjoy the system. Maybe it will detect most but not all hardware, wireless cards are a common failing point. Then you can usually get it working by reading online forums. Or, if you're really unlucky, it will fail to detect multiple pieces of hardware, if so, you should try a different distribution or forget about Linux.

You have to choose your distribution. If you're just looking to try Linux and see how it is, go with Ubuntu (I use that), OpenSUSE, Mandriva or Fedora Core, I guess.

[Thue]

Originally posted by Kirnwaffen
2) Whether or not Linux is easy to use depends on version and your familiarity with computers in general. Personally, I run a Fedora Core laptop that I use for coding purposes. Usually, it isn't a whole lot different from Windows, but some things (installing programs and drivers, for instance) are completely different, and I would say more difficult. I've heard that Ubuntu is much more user friendly, but I haven't had the opportunity to try it.

IMO, installing programs is way easier to do on Linux than on Windows, as long as the program has been packaged for your distribution.

I am using Debian right now, and it has untold gigabytes of programs available ready to use. And all collected in a central repository, with a simple search interface. And I am fairly confident that the programs are not virus-infected, unlike trawling the net for windows utilities.

And the quality of the packaging is so that I know the programs will cleanly install, and uninstall (unlike windows programs...). The packages are made so that they will not each try to monopolize your desktop by taking over your system startup, browser toolbars, etc.

And once installed, the global update functionality will automatically download security updates and bugfixes for all programs.

The Windows free-for-all way feels really dated compared to the ease of use of Linux .

[Asher]

Originally posted by Thue
IMO, installing programs is way easier to do on Linux than on Windows, as long as the program has been packaged for your distribution.

This is an absolute lie or at best deceptive.

That assumption is a big one, it's a huge pain in the ass to find many programs packaged for your distro. Frequently with Debian in particular I've found it packaged for my distro, but prior versions of it. Then apt-get has to download a ****load of other dependencies just to get it to work, and frequently it just wouldn't (with cryptic errors, suggesting I force install, etc).

apt-get and equivalent systems are ever so slightly easier to use in a small subset of cases: the program you're looking for is popular enough that it is regularly maintained in the repositories and you don't mind either browsing through terribly designed install package GUIs or you know the exact name of the package through the apt-get command line.

It's a nightmare to work with in the long term, especially as your system gets to be a few years old. Some programs ***** that they need GTK 2.2, some GTK 2.4...some need Qt installed at a specific version, some need gcc 3.0 some need gcc 2.4. It's dependency hell even thought apt-get tries to hide that it is, it's still incredibly convoluted and any such system will break, and when it does good luck trying to fix it unless you're a masochist or Linux geek.

It is far easier for the vast majority of users to simply run an installer .exe/.msi and have that be done, or in the case of many apps simply run the .exe you download from the web.

Linux apps are simply far too messy with dependencies for anyone to even try to pretend they are easier.

[Whoha]

Re: Linux

Originally posted by Heresson
Is Linux free?
Is Linux easy to use?
It is a big deal installing it, chosing windows menager or whatever?
Is it very different from Windows?
Do computer games like Civ, EU, HOMM etc work on Linux?
What does not?
Does Microsoft office (word!) work on linux?

Can I install Linux aside from my Windows and use once Linux, once windows?

thank You

yes,no,dual boots are possible,depends,only if said game is ported to linux/you can get it to work in wine(windows emulator),games that aren't,open office does everything Microsoft office does and is free,and dual boots again are possible.

[Asher]

Open Office does not do everything MS Office does. Not even close.

If you wanted to rephrase that Open Office does what most home users use Office for, then I can agree.

[Whoha]

for home use then.