The GNU/Linux Thread!

[DarthBrady]

Well here it is. It's great to be back, but I have to have a thread to talk about Linux. Plus, it seems a few of you show an interest in it. So here it is!

If it's about Linux, this is the place to post it!:D

Here are some great thing to get you educated on what Linux:

-Here is a renowned Documentary on how Linux came to exist, featuring the original Creator themselves. Called "Revolution OS"
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7707585592627775409

-The "Great Linux Links" page, where you will find LOADS of good Linux related links:
http://www.brunolinux.com/10-General_Info/Great_Linux_Links.html

-The age old infamous "Linux is not Windows" article:
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

[kaosdeity]

You guys have peaked my interest, so I may have some questions and such to post. I downloaded ubuntu 9.04 and tried it from the disk; obviously I couldn't do much from there but it has me curious just the same.

I guess I'll start with this: can I import the stuff I am running in xp to ubunta should I decide to switch, or am I going to need to duel boot to use my xp stuff and start ubuntu from scratch? This would kinda be a pain, but I have a 250gb external drive so I use it if need be.

[DarthBrady]

You guys have peaked my interest...

... can I import the stuff I am running in xp to ubuntu should I decide to switch, or am I going to need to duel boot to use my xp stuff and start ubuntu from scratch? This would kinda be a pain, but I have a 250gb external drive so I use it if need be.

Yes, you will be able to access all of your windows file system from Ubuntu. Ubuntu itself, even has a setting during the install that will allow you to import windows user settings, ect. (But I myself have never used it, I didn't want windows to get in the way the of my Linux experience, if that makes any sense)

So, in Ubuntu, you can point programs to look in windows folders for files such as videos, music, images, documents, ect, just like in windows. There is one difference: if the files are not stored on the Linux filesystem partition, by default the partitions/drives the files are on will not be seen at startup, you have to open them yourself, or change your settings to mount those partitions/drives on startup; and then you will have to decide what permissions they should have (read/write, ect.)

Linux, Ubuntu in particular, doesn't control its files like windows. You cant just open a file browser as a user and go editing and deleting files at your own will, Linux protects your system from this happening. (which I like) You have to tell the system that you want to operate as the 'root' user first. Only the root has those such permissions- another reason it is so secure.

Sounds like a pain, but once you get used to it, like most of us you may actually come to prefer it. Especially if you are new to the OS and are afraid of messing something up, or if there are other users of your PC and you are worried they might feel the need to go messing with files/setting you dont want them to.

The Beauty of it is,in my definition: in Linux, when you are doing something serious, that may alter the settings of your system and/or cause any loss of data, Linux is gonna make sure you know it, by either restricting you as a user and forcing you to work as root (which is as simple as entering a command) or asking you for a password, before you can. every time.

MY PC, for example has 2 HDDs. One is all windows. the other, is partitioned in half- one half for Linux, and the other half just a plain NTFS partition. on the 2nd HDD's NTFS partition, I tend to store all the files I want to access in both windows and Linux, as well as backups. (things such as music, videos, pictures- you get the idea.)

The choices are endless, and its all up to you. Like most of us, when you first get into Linux, you may find yourself changing the way you store files and how you system is installed/setup more than a few times, until you feel you have explored enough options to find something that suits YOU best.;)

[teendl]

is linux betetr than windows2000 profesional and cud i run it on a old comp. with 158mb of ram

[Demosthysias]

I was just wondering how my running ubuntu 9.04 could effect my emulations. how would i install a third-party application? because the repository has very few emulation options. haha! thanks for the help.

[TechFairy]

I was just wondering how my running ubuntu 9.04 could effect my emulations. how would i install a third-party application? because the repository has very few emulation options. haha! thanks for the help.

I would think installing Wine would help.

[DarthBrady]

is linux betetr than windows2000 profesional and cud i run it on a old comp. with 158mb of ram

For an older/slower PC, Linux will run faster than windows. Period.

I was just wondering how my running ubuntu 9.04 could effect my emulations. how would i install a third-party application? because the repository has very few emulation options. haha! thanks for the help.

It will greatly affect your emulations. Emulation is the one thing I still boot into windows to do. A barren, stripped version of windows anyway.

Emulation is different in Linux. Many Emulators exist, but things like GUIs dont. A knowledge of frontends, text inputs, and the "hardware" side of emulating is needed to get around comfortably in Linux.

On the other hand, Emulating is more "supported" in linux in terms that your can emulate things like NES, PSX, fine right out of the box, and download the emulators directly from your linux distro's repos! I dont see windows offering NES or PSX emulators from windows repos. think about it.

[randysilverwolf]

hmm, seems im a bit late in this post, well im somewhat very experienced in using emulators in linux, both though wine and natively from linux repos, if anyone wants advice or anything post your stuff

[Tecseiryu, Hacker for You]

Should Linux Be Called Linux or GNU Linux?

LoL*

[kaosdeity]

hmm, seems im a bit late in this post, well im somewhat very experienced in using emulators in linux, both though wine and natively from linux repos, if anyone wants advice or anything post your stuff

Brady left again, but if you know a bit about Linux and are prepared to answer some questions I see nothing wrong with reviving the thread.

[Darth Gazak]

hmm, seems im a bit late in this post, well im somewhat very experienced in using emulators in linux, both though wine and natively from linux repos, if anyone wants advice or anything post your stuff

Hey randy, nice to see another Linux user around :)

I have a question: I'm moving from Gnome to KDE with Ubuntu(experimentation); does this change anything with the repos available to me? I'm guessing no, since I'm aware that Gnome and KDE are frontend environments for the Ubuntu kernel, but i'd like to be sure.

Cheers, DG

[DarthBrady]

Should Linux Be Called Linux or GNU Linux?

LoL*

If you want to save precious seconds of your life saying or typing it = Linux.

If you want to be politically correct, and keep Richard Stallman Happy, = GNU/Linux.

Short Story: GNU operating system was a project to create open source free alterneative to the "mother" operating system, UNIX. (GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix"; a recursive acronym. lol) Richard Stallman was a MIT student and a member of this project. At the Time of it's development, A Man named Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student on the other side of the world, was also working on a similar project of his own, called "Minix". Linus has a Great Kernel he named "Linux", but lacked the rest of a good OS's features. Stallman Had a great Compiler, and many other OS features, but lacked a good Kernel.

So long story short, they combined to make the basic blueprint of a GNU/Linux OS, helping create the trend of programmers and developers worldwide collaborating and sharing their ideas for software together, instead of closing it all away and crippling the advancement of technology for a huge greedy profit that benefits nobody but bill gates and steve jobs, which is what companies like microsoft and apple do to this day.

GNU/Linux is for everyone, and anyone, and just about any piece of hardware on the planet. And as the time goes by it is proving itself to be the "right" idea in the advancement of personal computing and technology. "Linux" has grown from it's first line of code, to the Industry-Alternative Powerhouse it has become today, in a fraction of the time of any other Operating System.

[stedly]

is linux betetr than windows2000 profesional and cud i run it on a old comp. with 158mb of ram

Old computers + Linux = Soulmates.

Old Computers + Winblows = A Homosexual Pairing.

Make sense?

[stedly]

Hey randy, nice to see another Linux user around :)

I have a question: I'm moving from Gnome to KDE with Ubuntu(experimentation); does this change anything with the repos available to me? I'm guessing no, since I'm aware that Gnome and KDE are frontend environments for the Ubuntu kernel, but i'd like to be sure.

Cheers, DG

I imagine changing the repositories available to you can be done by the user itself. KDE may require different dependencies when moving over, but can be done so automatically.

If you want to make more repos available to you, you can just edit the /etc/apt/sources.list

sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list

You'll see repositories in there that have a # in front of it, you can basically 'uncomment' that out in order to utilize that repository on your next update.

I enjoy the KDE a bit better than the Gnome, it seems more natural to me. Although a lot of people have mentioned that Gnome is more user-friendly. I disagree, I rather have Xfce. But that is just an opinion.

[Aqua Hedgehog]

I have Linux installed on an old PC for evaluation purposes. I may install my distro on my new PC. Right now, my new PC's on probation - I'm just making sure it doesn't break in the next 30 days before I install DSL on that.
If it somehow malfunctions, at least I'll have a backup with a good OS.

[Darth Gazak]

It's always worth having a bootable Linux partition on your hard drive; It'll be there for you when Windows inevitably fails. Linux has some great recovery tools available, plus it's quick and functional. If you don't play games at all, then Linux is a genuine option.

[Aqua Hedgehog]

Linux CAN play games using WINE, just not anything recent. Maybe if Windows starts slowing down to a crawl, Linux will be there. Sometimes, I think Microsoft makes their hardware/software buggy as hell just for the money they get off the tech support and stuff.

[Goveynetcom]

Linux CAN play games using WINE, just not anything recent. Maybe if Windows starts slowing down to a crawl, Linux will be there. Sometimes, I think Microsoft makes their hardware/software buggy as hell just for the money they get off the tech support and stuff.
Truly wise!
I had Win7, and literally hadn't spent more then like 3 hrs online over a couple a weeks, and it would take like 5-6 min for it to boot.

With Ubuntu, boots in like 15 secs.

[Aqua Hedgehog]

I guess I'll find a way to remove my Win7 partion through Linux CD boot and install DSL to the hard drive with its own partion when Win7 starts giving me hell.

EDIT: I tried DSL on my Win7 PC and neither the mouse nor the keyboard worked. I guess it's because they're USB devices - my serial keyboard and mouse worked on DSL with my old PC. No matter, either when Win7 gives me hell or when I feel like hacking I'll have another computer to set up Linux on.

[Theoden the Mighty]

Does thou know if ye use Kubuntu? As its more flexible and visually stunning, so I do. I love the KDE packaging. The great thing about linux is its lightweight making it very portable on the go for speed.

I'll defend windows 7 for ye not know it has no known viral problems. I keep a tight nice system and update Windows myself manually.Thou cannot beat that. My costumed PC runs a ATi Radeon 9550 Dx9c card and will run all Windows 7 Ultimate 64 operations fine(speeedy too), without aid from me or linux. I boot in 15 seconds max always. I can care less aboust boot time unless it takes an whole hour approximately.

as much as thy doth not want to believe, it, W7U defied my thought too but lo and behold it runs and operates well for everything. I use kubuntu for main: programming, photo-shop, ect you name it tis done and W7U for all my games, as performance is better within a native environment always.

all shiny 3D settings are at max too... :D

the best route is always middle road usually :]

(now Windows 3.5 was terrible, twis was why they made W'95 and W'98.XP was terrible at start and there out Windows isnt nice nor pretty. WT 2000 wasn't as bad as W'3.5 ask Bill Gates!)


Edit(addon):

Wine?! doth thou drink the drink of gods? lol kidding...WINE is a Linux program that runs/emulates the Windows native environment.

I like to use Wine too for when I'm feeling lazy to boot 7'even I play with it but honestly its best to keep onto windows 7 or XP so you can grab the Dll files and put em in Wine. If done right, you can run almost any game in the Linux partition with Wine.

[Aqua Hedgehog]

I have an old computer that I could get Linux running on for hax0ring and stuff that Linux does best. Win7 will be primarily for gaming.

[Goveynetcom]

In my experience, wine is extremly buggy for games (Win95 works great, DOS still has DOSBox). I found some service designed for Linux (I think Fedora, Ubuntu, etc. (the big well known ones)) called Cedega. It's subscription based (why, why is this not free :(), but supports many modern games.

Anyways, anyone try Fedora?
I am thinking I am gonna grab KDE Fedora and play with it.

[codeman]

Anyways, anyone try Fedora?
I am thinking I am gonna grab KDE Fedora and play with it.
isn't Fedora the PS3 other OS?

[Aqua Hedgehog]

I just installed Xubuntu 9.10 on an old computer I had and I'm gonna load it up with software. As soon as I disconnect my Windows 7 PC and stash it away the Linux computer is going on my desk.

I just need an excuse to get the Win 7 computer off my back without ****ing my mom off. Yeah, Linux is more secure than Windoze because Microsoft is slow to fix security holes in it, and Linux doesn't slow down every day like Windows does (sometimes I think that they're blatantly designed like that to get money off new hardware and ****), but the new computer I have is a race winner now so it would seem as though there's no point in ridding myself of Windows. I'll just try out the Xubuntu CD I have on my Win 7 PC before I install it (I wouldn't care if the warranty was voided cause Linux is nearly immune to security threats and I don't see Linux crashing anytime soon), but my mom would be so paranoid if any OS besides Windows 7 touched my computer.

I'm still convinced Linux will be great, and this page (http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/) is actually pretty blunt about what Linux has and doesn't have over Windows without too much glaring fanboyism, but my mom would get whacked out paranoid if she saw that I put away my Windows machine and started using my old one again. I suppose I could say that there's nothing wrong with the Windows computer but I chose to simply use a different OS, but it wasn't supported by the newer hardware. Maybe when there's a version for a quad-core PC that solely relies on USB ports I'll try it on my better machine, but for now, I'll just try Linux for a month or so on an old PC while keeping my better machine at bay and see how it works before I upgrade the weaker machine I installed Xubuntu on (150 GB hard drive + 2 GB SDRAM), delete all my games and stuff from my Windows 7 computer except WoW, Firefox, and anything else my mom and dad might want to use, and stash it away until they have to return the school computer. I think I'm actually doing them a favor by saving the family money, and the only reason I'd see for using a Windows computer is if I wanted to be on WoW, but I could probably just use a cheap, but solid laptop for that task.

But I primarily play retro games and there's emulators for Linux, so Linux should be a good OS for me, since I don't have to buy a new computer every 6 years or upgrade frequently, and I can still enjoy retro gaming.

tl;dr: I'm excited about using Linux, but I need an excuse to take my powerful machine off my hands.

EDIT: Don't welcome me to the underground quite yet, this is just a trial period of about a few weeks. Starting right when I get this edit done, I'm stashing my Win7 PC away and starting my Linux adventure.

EDIT2: I couldn't bring myself to compromise my powerful rig for a lowly 2005 rig, even one using Linux. I guess the way to do this would be to use Xubuntu for a few weeks on the new PC before I remove my Windows 7 partion.

EDIT 3: SWEET, Xubuntu works on my new computer!

[Goveynetcom]

isn't Fedora the PS3 other OS?
They're is a version for PS3 along with all the 'buntus.

BTW, I hate KDE, it was so confusing, I think I am just gonna install Ubuntu over Fedora.

[Aqua Hedgehog]

Sometime tonight I'll get around to transferring my ROMs and stuff to an external and then installing my Linux CD on my new computer. I didn't get around to it because I was looking for a way to hack the DSi SD card, but sometime tonight, I'll install it.