Considering Linux

[gekko]

Major games tend to have a linux binary, or whatever they call it.

Other programs, tend to be a search to find the one you want. Stop reading here Dyne: Macs also don't have the same software as Windows, but Apple tends to cover a lot of them with their own, and major software usually has a Mac version. Not sure how many exist for Linux, but to my knowledge Adobe does not support Linux.

FTP is a built in function to Unix, if I remember right. If you can't find one with a GUI you like.

[Xantar]

I hear there's a very good Windows emulator for Linux. Now, I use a Mac and although I can stumble my way around a Unix or Linuk machine, it's not my primary choice. Therefore, take what I'm saying with a grain of salt. Also, the Windows emulator might only emulate pre-XP which would be a big disadvantage. In any case, though, give it a try. I know a few people who have tried it, and they say the performance and emulation is nearly perfect.

[gekko]

You referring to WINE? Haven't used it, but someone mentioned it earlier in the thread.

[bobcat]

i have windows xpp and have had no problems at all with it.

I'm quite happy with it. Running very smoothly it is.

[Seven7]

Originally Posted by Dyne

So I decided to try out a Live CD version of Ubuntu Linux and I actually quite like it. Now, I've never seen anything wrong with Windows, but I have some questions about switching:

1-Can I use Photoshop on Linux somehow? I have Photoshop 7, but is there a converter I can run? I'd sorely miss it, and GIMP isn't quite good enough.
2-Likewise, is there a good Windows Messenger 7 build that can run on Linux? The all-in-one program was kind of lame.
3-What about Media. I have a lot of music and I use Windows Media Player every night to listen to music. Is there a good linux alternative?
4-I do a lot of programming. Is Java any good on Linux?
5-How would I upload something to an FTP in linux.
6-What about fonts. If I went to download from dafont.com, am I not able to? Or can linux use the windows fonts?

Also, is there things I can do on Windows but not Linux?

Thanks guys.

1) Wine perhaps will work, but it may be slow, so if your dual booting and want to do a lot of work in PS7, do it in Windows. Use FAT32. Linux systems can read several different file systems, whereas M$ OSs can only read their own. Do not use NTFS, because it mounts as read only on Linux

2) Gaim?

3) If one was using SuSE 9.3/9.2/9.1 I would suggest getting the media players from say http://packman.links2linux.org/ as the SuSE supplied ones is disabled if you want say play DVD movies.

There is Mplayer, xine-ui, gxine, kaffeine or totem. I prefer xine-ui, kaffeine and Mplayer, though Mplayer does not have that great controls compared to the Xine frontends, it can easier to install than xine.

5)There is command line and a small number of gui FTP options. There are a few ok gui FTP clients like gFTP. I often try the Nightly FileZilla3 builds for Linux, though there is some ways to go.

6) fonts are pretty easy to setup in Linux and you can get "MS True Type core fonts" (msttcorefonts) if you want.

Originally Posted by gekko

Major games tend to have a linux binary, or whatever they call it.

Not sure how many exist for Linux, but to my knowledge Adobe does not support Linux.

FTP is a built in function to Unix, if I remember right. If you can't find one with a GUI you like.

Yeah there are a few like Doom3 and others, but the headache I have is getting Ati drivers (Ati 9800 Pro) to work right so I have 3D, I tried the new Ati installer and it did not get 3D working with the route of install I took earler today.

There are tons of software for Linux, just how availabe they can be depends on things like how you prefer to install them depending on the distro your using, like RPM's for example, or dependacies. There is a Adobe Reader 7.0 for Linux that is rather easy to install. While there is Macromedia Flash Player, there is no shockwave.


If you need help with plugins on Linux with Mozilla or Firefox, http://plugindoc.mozdev.org/linux.html


Right now I am using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8b2) Gecko/20050630 Firefox/1.0+ ID:2005063005 on SuSE 9.3 Pro and GNOME 2.10, Xfce 4.2.2

The complete version of SuSE 9.3 Pro is now available for download as either DVD or 5 CD's .. http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=02749#0

I was going to try Fedora Core 4 when it came out, but decided not to as there were issues with installer and MBR possible problems if one dual boots.


Oh you use a laptop right? that can be a issue as it can be harder to support everything, especially wireless, though distros like SuSE has fair bit of support for wireless.