linux desktop

Atown

Atown

Christian Gamers Alliance Amazon Store Manager
Staff member
ok so a few weeks ago i heard about beryl and decided to try it. after a few days i gaveup then found it was outdated and unsupported so i should do compiz, which im up at 2am to try and make work. discuss: what are the good and bad things about linux desktops. and i do not want to hear anything about M$ in this thread or anything compared to M$
 
Atown said:
ok so a few weeks ago i heard about beryl and decided to try it. after a few days i gaveup then found it was outdated and unsupported so i should do compiz, which im up at 2am to try and make work. discuss: what are the good and bad things about linux desktops. and i do not want to hear anything about M$ in this thread or anything compared to M$
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its now 4 something......... and after reading bout 13 different guides i finally got it working. i have my cube, water, fire, wobble, and everything else.... now im installing screenlets >.> . sooooooooooooo was it worth a total of 8-10 hours over the last 2 weeks since i heard about it?? .... not really sure....
 
I have compiz on Fedora, I keep it enabled 24/7 because it has the nifty window selector like OSX and some usability tweaks. It was installed by default and only took like 3 lines in xorg to enable it :P

I love my Linux install:

1) Gnome VFS allows you to easily hook up SFTP/SSH, NFS, FTP, SMB, etc as if they were a hard disk. This is invaluable to people doing remote development.
2) You are virtually virus free. Unless you do something really stupid nothing can infect you
3) The platform takes alot more before it seems slow. I reguarly keep firefox, secondlife, ajunta, rhythmbox and some other accessories open and experience no slow downs and everything is snappy.
4) You can beackup incredibly easily, weather you choose to just tar it up or use rsync it doesn't require expensive tools to do.
5) Development is alot better on linux IMO. Even when I had to fix bugs in VS before turning in an assignment I would always program in Linux.
6) Services are clearly represented, no more guess that service when trying to eliminate bottlenecks.
7) Package management, nothing like being able to sit back every few days and run 1 command vs getting spammed with update dialogs.
8) Free, there is no price to upgrade when the time comes. Microsoft's top version costs 500+ and doesn't do half the stuff.
9) Gaming actually is pretty good, Get Quake4 installed and you will notice that the linux version owns the windows version in level load times and sometimes FPS (note that linux drivers are rarely ever tweaked like the mainstream windows ones)

10) time to take my shower :P
 
What is a good flavor of linux to run? I've used Fedora or Redhat for the most part. Is there something better?
 
I use fedora or CentOS (for servers). CentOS is basically a repackage of RHEL. Fedora is more geared to a desktop then server. I tend to avoid debian based OSs because their community tends to be pretty snobby. I have ran mandrake and suse linux before and never will again.
 
I have just completed installing Ubuntu CE on my desktop and have dual boot going XP Pro and Unbuntu so far so good. I am in the process of installing Linux on a flash drive and so far have tried SLAX, DSL and Knoppix 5.1 to use on my laptop so far they have all worked for me. First time I have ever looked at any Linux products and I think I like it.
 
Maddmedic said:
I have just completed installing Ubuntu CE on my desktop and have dual boot going XP Pro and Unbuntu so far so good. I am in the process of installing Linux on a flash drive and so far have tried SLAX, DSL and Knoppix 5.1 to use on my laptop so far they have all worked for me. First time I have ever looked at any Linux products and I think I like it.
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id like to take a minute and recognize maddmedic as the anti-spam of the forums, i mean look at that post count since 2002
 
hahaha.

I would like to add that:
1) linux isn't windows so you can't expect it to be like windows
2) Note that it will take time to learn a different OS. Consider how much time you spent with your current OS and don't complain when you need to learn something.
3) Not everyone will beable to do everything so take it in steps and don't get depressed if something blows up in your face

Just a few things to consider when trying out linux and/or switching. I have seen dozens of people complain that x doesn't work or y doesn't act like windows. I get sorta sick of hearing it after awhile. It is important to consider that most of the tools made were either geared toward professionals or how the programmer wanted to do it. Take bender and gimp for example, horrible interfaces compared to maya/3dmax and photoshop according to some people but I love the layout in gimp and will be saddened when they finally get around to making it more user friendly.
 
Hescominsoon said:
i'll place my recommendation for pclinuxos as a good stater distro for the desktop.
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I second that. PCLinuxOS is ranked #2 at www.distrowatch.com Great distro, excellent support and updates.

Desktop:
Ubuntu
PCLinuxOS
openSuse
Mandriva
MEPIS
Arch
Debian

A good Windows to Linux Desktop transition OS with the look and feel of Windows XP:
Xandros - small cost$$$, but you can find older versions for free.
Freespire

Server:
CentOS
Fedora
RedHat
Slackware
 
Atown said:
id like to take a minute and recognize maddmedic as the anti-spam of the forums, i mean look at that post count since 2002
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Heh, I may not post much, but I go waayy back with Tek and Jammer, back to 7Seals and TOJ...Days of exclusive Starcraft BW and Saturdays mornings...that was a lot of fun...:)
 
haha ya i know, thats what makez u pro liek that
 
Maddmedic said:
Heh, I may not post much, but I go waayy back with Tek and Jammer, back to 7Seals and TOJ...Days of exclusive Starcraft BW and Saturdays mornings...that was a lot of fun...:)
Click to expand...
Now that I'm older and tend not to sleep in as late on Saturdays, I wish we could bring back Early Bird Starcraft Saturdays. I didn't attend when I was younger, but it would be a blast nowadays.

</offtopic>

I've played with and liked Knoppix and Ubuntu. I would recommend either for a PC desktop OS.
 
Ok now that I have my tc1000 tablet running Ubuntu and have my wireless connection working(finally) I need to figure out a few things, like getting the tablet portion working(not a big deal as I did not use it with XP tablet before it crashed) the jog button and a few other items. I was looking for some Linux resources particularly any magazines or other print media I could find. Websites are good too, but I still like "printed material!" A bit old fashioned that way I guess.
 
The only problem I ever had with Linux was the resolution. I used Ubuntu and the resolution just killed me. Everything was just so... big...
 
tjguitarz said:
The only problem I ever had with Linux was the resolution. I used Ubuntu and the resolution just killed me. Everything was just so... big...
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You did set the resolution right? :P

The DPI of linux is a bit lower then windows but it usually isn't that great of a difference. I really like OSX because the DPI is really high. You can adjust the DPI in linux of course. Look up DPI for more information, I think wikipedia has a pretty nice article on it.

here is what my desktop looks like.
 
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