114 replies to this topic

[diezil]

Iv just registered and requested Live CD versions of ubunto and kubunto (if thats how you spell them ), ill probably keep Windows Vista as the main OS though as im also a gammer, but hey i cannot knock it untill iv tried it and since there free and they boot from CD i thought id get them sent out as a few people have been speaking highly of them (plus i already hate Vista), so are the 2 versions iv requested good examples of the Linux OS or are there others i should take a peek at?

[thilanka]

The Ubuntu is a good start for a new user for linux.
Kubuntu is the KDE version. I suggest you install Kubuntu. It has the looks of vista.
And upgrade using internet. There is a lot of support for linux users at the moment. You may have local linux user group in town. check it out too.

[<TheMachine>]

I use winbugs to mod my phone an games only

but right now i haven't installed linux, cause I made a mistake and I have to format pc, and I decided to wait till 7.10 comes

I'm programing in c.sharp, and linux doesn't have good programs to do this(as I know =( )

[BrightSpark]

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so are the 2 versions iv requested good examples of the Linux OS or are there others i should take a peek at?

you could also have a look at PCLinuxOS(this is kde based), opensuse, or fedora.

Quote

I'm programing in c.sharp, and linux doesn't have good programs to do this(as I know =( )

you could always use the Mono platform. many gnome/gtk programs are written in C# such as beagle, tomboy, banshee, etc. the IDE that you can use is called MonoDevelop


it's worth pointng out for those wanting to play games is that gamers are slowly but surely moving nto linux as more and more software houses realises that there are enough linux users to make it worthwhile. for example, valve are hiring a C++ programmer to port their windows games(eg half life etc) to linux. here is the job advert:

Quote

Employment opportunities


Senior Software Engineer

Description
Lead engineer and architect on product integration into the highly available digital distribution platform called "Steam". Utilize business/commerce background and engineering skills to drive next generation features for software developed by Valve.

Responsibilities
Develop an understanding of Valve's Internet business and player community and contribute creative web-focused design solutions to improve the experience of using Valve's products
Manage the operation of large clusters of machines running both Windows and Linux in a highly available system.
Utilize knowledge of networking technologies and their appropriate use in large scale digital distribution systems and gaming platforms.
Port Windows-based games to the Linux platform.
Test, document, and maintain large scale networking installations and their assorted protocols
oversee and implement quality assurance of applications in house and third party games distributed on Steam™

Required Qualifications
Bachelor in Systems Engineering (or equivalent).
Requires two years of experience in systems engineering designing and developing communications software and hardware solutions including resolving problems surrounding real-time and non real time PC- based systems using C++ and network programming algorithms and their interaction with physical devices.

Experience must include providing research and documentation on solutions implemented.

http://www.valvesoft...ftEngineer.html

Edited by BrightSpark, 09 October 2007 - 09:02 PM.

[scotsboyuk]

I use Ubuntu as my main OS, but I dual boot XP for games and a few Windows only apps. If I could play the games and run the apps I like without too much hassle on Ubuntu i.e. run them natively then I would probably ditch Windows completely. I know it's possible to run Windows programmes under LInux using Wine, etc, but I would prefer not to have to do that.

I think that games are probably the biggest drawback for Linux and probably keeps many people from completely switching to Linux or perhaps even trying it. It's not enough to have games ported to Linux, they have to be released for Linux alongside WIndows or even before Windows. If the majority of new games only work on WIndows then people are probably still going to prefer Windows.

[gelfen]

there is also A LOT of proprietary software and technology that only runs under windows.  nearly all the programs i need for work will not run under linux.

[Rekoil]

scotsboyuk, on 2007-10-10 08:15, said:

I use Ubuntu as my main OS, but I dual boot XP for games and a few Windows only apps. If I could play the games and run the apps I like without too much hassle on Ubuntu i.e. run them natively then I would probably ditch Windows completely. I know it's possible to run Windows programmes under LInux using Wine, etc, but I would prefer not to have to do that.

I think that games are probably the biggest drawback for Linux and probably keeps many people from completely switching to Linux or perhaps even trying it. It's not enough to have games ported to Linux, they have to be released for Linux alongside WIndows or even before Windows. If the majority of new games only work on WIndows then people are probably still going to prefer Windows.

gelfen, on 2007-10-10 09:44, said:

there is also A LOT of proprietary software and technology that only runs under windows.  nearly all the programs i need for work will not run under linux.

I believe that due to Dell recently starting to sell computers with Linux, and the other major OEM's following in their steps, will make Linux much more popular not only with private users, but because of the growing popularity with the private users, companies developing proprietary software and games alike will sooner or later be forced to develop such applications for Linux as well. Besides the best games are already being developed for Linux. Unreal Tournament 3, for example, is coming out for Windows, OS X and Linux this month. Other major titles developed for Linux as well as Windows include all the other Unreal Tournament games, Doom 3 (probably earlier versions of Doom as well), Quake 3 and Quake 4 (probably 1 and 2 as well), Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Duke Nukem 3D, Alien versus Predator (old but awesome multiplayer still), Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Neverwinter Nights, Heroes of Might and Magic III (LOVE THIS GAME! ), SimCity 3000, and this is just out of my head, I'm sure there are other important ones. Theres also a fair few proper games developed open source with Linux particularly in mind. Nexuiz, for example, is a game developed in the Quake 3 engine but the source is available freely for anyone to have a crack at.

Edit: Here is a list of games developed natively for Linux http://en.wikipedia....ory:Linux_games

I know it's not a proper solution but other than this, Steam is listed in WineHQ's Gold list which is specified as "Applications that work flawlessly with some special configuration". I have myself run Wine and it's games in Linux and it's not that bad actually, apart from the fact that you are limited to OpenGL it runs surprisingly well.

Edit: Here is Wine's list of Windows applications and games that run flawlessly in Wine http://appdb.winehq.org/
Note that there are many more in each list than is displayed there, only the most popular titles are displayed there. Another good one thats not listed there is Warcraft 3. This game, after adding a single variable in regedit to enable OpenGL, runs with almost native performance! I can vouch for this myself. Look here for other applications which will run just as well as Warcraft 3 http://appdb.winehq....Rating=Platinum

Edited by Rekoil, 10 October 2007 - 01:14 AM.

[BrightSpark]

openGL has always been the superior graphics API.

also, it seems like half life is being ported to run natively on linux too.

Edited by BrightSpark, 10 October 2007 - 01:18 AM.

[Rekoil]

BrightSpark, on 2007-10-10 11:15, said:

openGL has always been the superior graphics API.

also, it seems like half life is being ported to run natively on linux too.

Well OpenGL is in many ways outdated and slow, you lose performance over Direct3D or DirectX.

The idea of Valve porting its games to Linux is an awesome one for sure

[BrightSpark]

Quote

Well OpenGL is in many ways outdated and slow, you lose performance over Direct3D or DirectX.

why doesn't that surprise me on windows? . especially on vista where it isn't even supported. they've crippled it totally because they want it to die in favour of DirectCrap. but any developer will tell you that openGL is the superior of the 2.
ask yourself this: is it in microsoft's interests that openGL performs as it should do on windows considerring that they want it to die in favour of DirectX? answer: no. they crippled it on XP, and crippled it even further on vista.

Edited by BrightSpark, 10 October 2007 - 02:09 AM.

[Rekoil]

BrightSpark, on 2007-10-10 12:00, said:

why doesn't that surprise me on windows? . especially on vista where it isn't even supported. they've crippled it totally because they want it to die in favour of DirectCrap. but any developer will tell you that openGL is the superior of the 2.

I'm not denying that, I'm just saying the language could be improved a lot more.

[scotsboyuk]

For Linux to really gain popular momentum two things need to happen in my opinion:

1.) Linux needs to be an option from computer manufacturers. Linux needs to be given away free or pre-installed on computers just as Windows currently is.

2.) There needs to be Linux versions of major games. The Linux versions need to be released at the same time or sooner than the Windows versions.

The first is happening, albeit slowly, but it's the second one that will really give it a push in this day and age.

[diezil]

BrightSpark, on 2007-10-09 21:57, said:

you could also have a look at PCLinuxOS(this is kde based), opensuse, or fedora.

Thanks ill have a look around for them leter.

[Rekoil]

@diezil,

I think you should use either Debian or Ubuntu. They have the most packages available (Debian) and best support (Ubuntu). Since Ubuntu is based on Debian, you can use Debian packages with it and it's support forum and wiki (ubuntuguide.org) apply to Debian. Either way you can't go wrong but I prefer Debian, lighter than Ubuntu and more packages available in the proper repositories.

Also if anyone is looking for a C++ IDE for Linux, Code::Blocks is a good one.

[CyberWolf]

Hy.

Sorry if my post sounded "negative", it wasn't my intention as i do love linux (even if sometimes i hate how hard is it to do some simple stuff).

Anyways, i wanted to point out that for games under linux you can use CEDEGA, it's an advanced Wine which supports DirectX games too. The only drawback is that you have to pay a monthly fee to use Cedega, but other than that it's great. Btw, it runs most of the newly released games too. Some might say it's stupid to pay for Cedega, but don't forget, you get Linux for free, so the (tons of) money you would have spent for windows you can now spend on a very nice program

P.S. no, i don't work for Cedega, and i don't get anything out of advertising them, i just tought it was worth mentioning.

I'm considering starting dual booting again and maybe even ditching Win$lows, but i'd like to know what linux distro would be the "nicest" to have, i don't mind having to learn a few new things, after all, as i said i am running linux server so i know the basics of using linux.
For now i have Ubuntu and Kubuntu, but i tought i'd try some other distro, i'm interested mostly in the office/games part of the distribution.

[Rekoil]

verszipo, on 2007-10-10 18:41, said:

Anyways, i wanted to point out that for games under linux you can use CEDEGA, it's an advanced Wine which supports DirectX games too. The only drawback is that you have to pay a monthly fee to use Cedega, but other than that it's great. Btw, it runs most of the newly released games too. Some might say it's stupid to pay for Cedega, but don't forget, you get Linux for free, so the (tons of) money you would have spent for windows you can now spend on a very nice program

From my point of view, paying for Cedega defeats the whole purpose of running Linux. But it does the job nicely I can't deny that.

verszipo, on 2007-10-10 18:41, said:

I'm considering starting dual booting again and maybe even ditching Win$lows, but i'd like to know what linux distro would be the "nicest" to have, i don't mind having to learn a few new things, after all, as i said i am running linux server so i know the basics of using linux.
For now i have Ubuntu and Kubuntu, but i tought i'd try some other distro, i'm interested mostly in the office/games part of the distribution.

To be honest no distribution is by definition "better" than any other. It's more about what you're comfortable with. Personally I've used Debian, Fedora Core 4 - 7, Gentoo, Ubuntu, Slackware, SUSE, RHEL (se-nse server runs on RHEL), but I keep coming back to Debian, I just feel more... comfortable in Debian .

If you want convenience then use Debian unstable (or sid), it always has the latest versions out of 27k packages with plenty more being added daily. Aptitude is in my opinion the simplest package management system out there. And the latest version comes with "Super Cow Powers" as well so theres really nothing to lose

Also if by "nicest" you mean "prettiest" then any distribution that supports Compiz-fusion will do. Such as Ubuntu (7.10 is released in 7 days ).

[scotsboyuk]

I've heard of Cedega before and it sounds good although I'm not terribly keen on paying a monthly fee.

[qwerty12]

With an ATI, you won't get far with cedega anyway .

I'll probably end up installing the new ubuntu on to a partition soon.

[thilanka]

Sorry for the off topic can someone here put a voting on how many firefox users are there?
And has anybody in here watched "The Revolutionary OS" documentary film.

[Rekoil]

qwerty12, on 2007-10-11 02:45, said:

With an ATI, you won't get far with cedega anyway .

I'll probably end up installing the new ubuntu on to a partition soon.

ATI's Linux drivers are horrible But I'm sure they'd work in Cedega, although painfully slowly.