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Lare Kikkeli

By Lare Kikkeli
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Lare Kikkeli

Lare Kikkeli

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Alright, now with windows 7 out and the support for XP soon over, I decided to switch over to Linux for good. I know most of the stuff I use my computer for (music software & listening, watching dvds, internet) is available and often better than on Windows. Now my only problem is, which distro to use. I don't really know anything about Linux other than the basics, so I'm looking for an easy to install, easy to update yet lightweight distro. The more accessable the better.

 

Also feel free to recommend me free or cheap programs that make using Linux easier or more enjoyable. Games, too.

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Humodour

Humodour

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Ubuntu.

 

If you go with anything other than Ubuntu you'll start suffering problems - if only due to the low install base.

 

Ubuntu is the most widely used Linux distribution. It's well-known for:

- Being user friendly

- Being easy to use

- Being simple

- Having everything out of the box (and working)

- Having the best update system of any operating system

 

Coincidentally, Ubuntu 9.10 just came out. Grab it while it's hot. You can request a free live CD from Canonical (the company that builds Ubuntu) anywhere in the world. Use this to install Ubuntu. You can use the CD to either dual-boot Windows and Linux, or reformat and install Ubuntu from scratch.

 

I recommend the KDE desktop environment over the default Gnome version. The KDE version is prettier, flashier, and more powerful, IMHO - more like Windows while Gnome is more like OS X, roughly speaking. Linux users have little flame wars about which desktop environment is better. Canonical offers both.

 

Things to install once you've set up Ubuntu:

Amarok if you go with KDE

VLC (for those movies which nothing else plays)

Media codecs (to play wma, mp3, mpg, avi, etc - interestingly you'd need this for a new Windows install, too)

nVidia graphics drivers - they're proprietary, but at the moment they're superior to the community's open source ones which are installed by default (note: if you use ATI, you might try theirs, but the community's ones might actually be better from memory)

 

That's just off the top of my head. Others can fill in the gaps.

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Lare Kikkeli

Lare Kikkeli

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I have ATI, HD 4870 if I remember correctly. It's about a year old so there should be drivers for it, right? I also looked into WINE and both TF2 and L4D, only two games I play at the moment are supported and run well, so I don't have any need for XP really. Photoshop CS2 is supported, too, which is a big plus. Don't know about the rest of CS, have to look into that.

 

Is it possible to download the latest Ubuntu? I'd rather waste bandwidth than plane fuel :) And if I do download it, do I have to burn it onto a CD or is it possible to install it from a thumb drive?

 

Also I've got two internal harddrives, a 640 gb one and that I have partitioned into 4 different drives and a 200 gb one. Can I just format the Windows partition and install Ubuntu on it with no extra hassle or do I need to format and partition the whole thing again? I've got a lot of important stuff on that those other partitions and can't really afford to buy a new backup external right now.

Edited by Lare Kikkeli
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Humodour

Humodour

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Good Linux games:

 

Free:

Wormux (worms clone)

Heroes of Wesnoth (Civ 3 clone? Something like that. Never played Civ or this but apparently both are good)

Lots of the games listed under games in the add/remove programs bit are fun to pass the time. There's a Mario clone which is well-made if you're into that. Also a few racing car games.

 

Buy:

Heroes of Newerth (DotA clone but way better and with a Linux client).

Quake 1 to 4 - all run on Linux.

Lots of ports to Linux, such as Jagged Alliance 2. But you'd need to buy them again even if you had Windows versions. Shame.

 

You'll want to install WINE so that you can try playing some of your Windows games. For example, Divine Divinity works perfectly under WINE.

 

Check the WINE db for tips playing a game under WINE (google: wine <game name here>)

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Humodour

Humodour

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I have ATI, HD 4870 if I remember correctly. It's about a year old so there should be drivers for it, right?

 

Yep, ATI drivers are up to date.

 

I also looked into WINE and both TF2 and L4D, only two games I play at the moment are supported and run well, so I don't have any need for XP really. Photoshop CS2 is supported, too, which is a big plus. Don't know about the rest of CS, have to look into that.

 

Excellent, I didn't know that. Cheers!

 

Is it possible to download the latest Ubuntu? I'd rather waste bandwidth than plane fuel :) And if I do download it, do I have to burn it onto a CD or is it possible to install it from a thumb drive?

 

Yes. Please torrent it if you can, as bandwidth is not free and Canonical gets pounded every month with Ubuntu download requests that would be free if people transferred it P2P. This bill adds up, since Canonical makes money by selling services to businesses, not by selling Ubuntu. So yeah, enough lecturing, here is the link:

 

http://www.kubuntu.org/getkubuntu/download

 

Note: that's the KDE version.

 

Regarding installing to a thumb drive: it did have an option to do that. I'll look up a guide.

 

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

 

Also I've got two internal harddrives, a 640 gb one and that I have partitioned into 4 different drives and a 200 gb one. Can I just format the Windows partition and install Ubuntu on it with no extra hassle or do I need to format and partition the whole thing again? I've got a lot of important stuff on that those other partitions and can't really afford to buy a new backup external right now.

 

Sheesh. Um, the answer is: I think so. Pretty sure, in fact. Ubuntu has an excellent partition manager which will lead you through it anyway.

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Lare Kikkeli

Lare Kikkeli

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Alright, reading some side-by-side comparisons of Ubuntu and Kubuntu I think that KDE is def the one for me. I really dislike the lack of options and the seeming simplicity of OS X so the more complicated the better. I also read that you can install Ubuntu on top of Kubuntu and just choose which one to use on startup. If I do this, will they share installed programs so only the UI is different or would it be more like having two different OS's?

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Humodour

Humodour

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Uh, don't bother. I tried installing two versions of Ubuntu once and they both installed, but in the boot loader, only the most recently installed one was functional.

 

On another note, I tried to install KDE after I'd installed Ubuntu (with Gnome) once and it made the system unstable.

 

So yeah I don't recommend it. Choose one and stick with it until you've got some Linux tinkering experience under your belt.

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Lare Kikkeli

Lare Kikkeli

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The biggest thing is that you need 64bit drivers and getting Linux drivers is hard enough as it is...

 

Do you know that they're harder to get or are you just talking generally? Krezak said earlier that the driver support for Kubuntu is pretty good, I'm just wondering which version he's talking about.

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Lare Kikkeli

Lare Kikkeli

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Why would you want to switch to Linux? Too much of a hassle finding the right software/drivers, not to mention you can't play most of the games on it.

 

Windows 7 is awesome.

 

Because Microsoft sucks, I can't afford/don't want to pay for Windows 7 and open source rules.

 

 

 

Damn, I just realised something: my creative Zen drivers/software might not work with WINE. That might be a good enough reason not to switch :p I'll have to find out.

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Purkake

Purkake

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Why would you want to switch to Linux? Too much of a hassle finding the right software/drivers, not to mention you can't play most of the games on it.

 

Windows 7 is awesome.

Damn, I just realised something: my creative Zen drivers/software might not work with WINE. That might be a good enough reason not to switch :p I'll have to find out.

 

:lol:

 

Also, you can get W7 for pretty cheap if not free if you are a student or better an IT student.

 

As for drivers, I was speaking generally, but it would be a good idea to see if all the drivers you're going to need are available for 64 bit or at all, for that matter.

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Lare Kikkeli

Lare Kikkeli

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Why would you want to switch to Linux? Too much of a hassle finding the right software/drivers, not to mention you can't play most of the games on it.

 

Windows 7 is awesome.

Damn, I just realised something: my creative Zen drivers/software might not work with WINE. That might be a good enough reason not to switch :p I'll have to find out.

 

:lol:

 

Also, you can get W7 for pretty cheap if not free if you are a student or better an IT student.

 

As for drivers, I was speaking generally, but it would be a good idea to see if all the drivers you're going to need are available for 64 bit or at all, for that matter.

 

I'm not a student, and I'm not really interested in spending 100+

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Purkake

Purkake

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If you managed to find every driver you need in 64bit for Kubuntu, more power to you. I was nowhere near that lucky even with 32bit, damn billions of different wireless cards.

 

Also, I don't have any hate for Linux, if you can get it to run and actually get stuff done on it, awesome, but from my experience it requires quite a bit of fidgeting and I really hope you love the terminal.

 

Why not try a Mac? The OS is free with the computer and it's super special awesome(or so I hear).

Edited by Purkake
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Lare Kikkeli

Lare Kikkeli

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You're going to need drivers for everything from the network adapter to the DVD-drive to the sound card, not to mention stuff like extra buttons on a mouse.

 

Network adapter and sound card are mobo integrated so the same drivers should work. Mouse is a 2-button logitech piece of **** that I'm sure has support off the box. DVD-drive is as generic as they come so probably no issues there. As I said, my rig is pretty barebones.

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Humodour

Humodour

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I decided to install it inside windows first and try it and learn how to use it before uninstalling XP. Probably the smartest thing to do.

 

Is that Wubi? I couldn't get Wubi to work but I seem to be the odd one out. I'd much more recommend defragmenting your windows partition and then resizing it into two separate partitions with the user-friendly Ubuntu installer. That enables you to install Ubuntu to the newly created partition and dual-boot. Wubi cops about a 20% performance penalty because it runs on the ****ty Windows filesystem (which lacks so many things it's sad) and so has to emulate a Linux one. You probably won't notice the performance hit on the rig you have.

 

Peronsally though I'd ignore the Purkake and co trying to scare you off Ubuntu. I found it more ****ing user-friendly than Windows for christ's sake, and I had never used a command line before (1 line in DOS doesn't count) nor have I really had to use one since.

 

I'd be leaning towards 32-bit because I can guarantee that the drivers on it all work well in almost all cases. 64-bit should be really well supported by now but I don't want you to try it and have a bum experience. I use 32-bit still.

 

You're going to need drivers for everything from the network adapter to the DVD-drive to the sound card, not to mention stuff like extra buttons on a mouse.

 

I challenge you to install Ubuntu 9.10 and XP on the same machine. Come back and tell me which one can't find the drivers.

 

Hint: XP does not support ethernet, sound, or video drivers out of the box. Ubuntu does, and Ubuntu supports a larger number of devices than XP because Microsoft and hardware manufcaturers tend to be horrid at supporting things older than a couple of years.

Edited by Krezack
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