Linux Help
BaconTheory
Join Date: 2003-09-06 Member: 20615Members
Join Date: 2003-09-06 Member: 20615Members
OK, so heres my situation. I have a computer runnig Windows XP Home that is "unactivated" and my time is almost up (2 days left <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> ) The reason I haven't bought a new serial key is because I have no money to do so. So instead of getting a new Windows key, I want to switch to Linux. Right now I have a downloaded ISO of SUSE 9.3 (a 5-CD set). I've heard that SUSE is a good all-around distro, so I want to try it out. I have some concerns, however. I need to be able to run certain Windows software items that are not compatible with Linux. Namely, Steam and iTunes. I've heard of WINE, an emulator, but I just wanted to make sure that I could run Steam, because I still want to play my games. I'm also concerned about user-friendliness. I want to be able to operate Linux without too much hassle, because Windows is all I've ever used all of my life. Any suggestions/help?
Comments
I really suggest mepis for a new user.... Seriously.
I really suggest mepis for a new user.... Seriously. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds hard...
...Whats that one that can run on one CD? I Heard that was good for learning the basics of linux, since you dont have to install anything. (I think, i dont know)
I really suggest mepis for a new user.... Seriously. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds hard...
...Whats that one that can run on one CD? I Heard that was good for learning the basics of linux, since you dont have to install anything. (I think, i dont know) <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
You're thinking of either Knoppix or Damn Small Linux. Any help for me now? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Using Linux when you don't know how to is generally a bad idea.
Steam and HL run great in Linux with wine/cedega. By the way, wine stands for "wine is not an emulator".
iTunes really sucks compared to a lot of the other software I've used. You might take a look at Rhythmbox or AmaroK, both really good.
I wouldn't suggest Mepis for a new user, all it does is prevent you from learning how to use Linux.
Learning to customize your kernel to suit your needs, put things in that you want, take things out that you don't (DRI for ATi cards is an example if you want to use ATI's drivers, though there are some new experemental DRI drivers for Radeon 9600 and above with the newer 2.6.12.x kernels, I think.)
Yea, Linux is not a Windows replacement, ReactOS on the other hand... But that's still in its infancy.
Installing requires a lot of reading.
to dual boot to 2 HD's (as I do) just parition your drives accordingly and configure grub/lilo to boot from that drive.
On my computer, Windows RG is on my /dev/hda drive Gentoo is /dev/hdb
Chances are, that windows would be on hda so just replace the a with b in the partitioning steps in the gentoo install guide.
Get windows 2000. Everything works on it and it doesn't require activation! yaay.
If you have an ATI card, gaming will be frustrating because their linux drivers suck right now. They have apparently promised to improve them. Nvidia drivers are reportedly up to spec but I don't currently have a card so I couldn't tell you anything about them.
Mouse support also sucks. I have a mx500 and there are no easy ways of getting my buttons to work. The only buttons that work normally are left, right, scroll up and scroll down. Middle mouse does something funky and so do the back and forwards buttons (4 and 5). The "good news" is that if you are interested in mucking about in a config file, all (ten?) of the buttons can be mapped to do whatever you want, pretty much. But it will take a lot of reading and experimenting to figure out. A lot. I was suprised, based on my assumption of how popular this mouse is, at how little information there was on configuring it.
Most other things worked on my system right out of the box. But I wouldn't say that will automatically be the case on your system. I think if you install linux wanting to be up and running playing music and games in 2 days, you'll just end up in a little fetal ball on the floor, tears streaming down your angry face. Like you, I am by far not an expert, and it still takes a very knowledgable person to run linux well.