- Nov 26, 2013
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Is Linux Good?
- Thread starter CookingMasterMan
- Start date
Solution
Linux is a free, open-source operating system based on Unix. It is good for most computing tasks due to community support, however, gaming support isn't so great. That's not to say that you can't play any games at all on Linux, just that it isn't seen as a viable gaming platform right now. That may be getting ready to change based on how Valve's SteamBox does, since SteamOS is based on Linux.
As far as performance, properly set up, it is as good as or better than Windows. However, when something goes wrong, user-friendliness goes right out the window.
If you are going to get involved with Linux, I'd suggest setting up an install either on a separate computer or in a virtual machine, or even downloading a Live CD/DVD/USB edition to play around with.
Any particular distributions that you are thinking about trying?
Casey
As far as performance, properly set up, it is as good as or better than Windows. However, when something goes wrong, user-friendliness goes right out the window.
If you are going to get involved with Linux, I'd suggest setting up an install either on a separate computer or in a virtual machine, or even downloading a Live CD/DVD/USB edition to play around with.
Any particular distributions that you are thinking about trying?
Casey
- Nov 7, 2011
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So I could still play games it just wouldn't run as smooth as windows?
By distributions do you mean different versions like Windows 8, 7, Vista, etc?
Games run just as smooth on Linux or Windows, but the problem is that there aren't very many games that will run on Linux without some sort of emulation layer, which will slow things down a bit.
The term "Linux" actually describes the kernel, which is the basic chunk of the OS. That kernel, plus any software included, is what makes up a distribution. Some popular distributions include Ubuntu and OpenSUSE. You could say its more like the differences between Windows Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, etc.
Casey
The term "Linux" actually describes the kernel, which is the basic chunk of the OS. That kernel, plus any software included, is what makes up a distribution. Some popular distributions include Ubuntu and OpenSUSE. You could say its more like the differences between Windows Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium, Professional, etc.
Casey
- Nov 26, 2013
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So basically I'll get lower frames with Linux?
Also, my school uses MicrosoftOffice 2010 but Ubuntu, which is what I'm looking at getting, uses LibreOffice. This website says that there's trouble going from Windows to Libre but does that mean there's trouble going from Libre to Microsoft? I don't want to have a presentation and then my presentation is aligned wrong or the words are the wrong size.
website: http://lifehacker.com/battle-of-the-office-suites-microsoft-office-and-libre-1147940828
Also can I download it onto a disk and put it on a computer I might build? I don't want to have the OS replacing my Windows 8 on this computer.
Is there a way I could test Ubuntu on this computer without it removing Windows 8? I want to see if I actually like it.
You might get fewer frames on Linux, you might not. It just depends on how well it supports your computer's hardware. The Crossfired 7770s on my desktop are terrible in OpenSUSE due to issues with the AMD drivers, and the open-source Radeon driver only supports 2D mode, wasting most of the cards' power.
Most distributions, Ubuntu included, have their installers on a Live CD/DVD just so you can try them out before replacing any other OS. There's also the option of setting up a dual-boot if you have extra space set up for it.
I can't really give an answer to your questions about LibreOffice. I haven't used it too much.
Casey
Most distributions, Ubuntu included, have their installers on a Live CD/DVD just so you can try them out before replacing any other OS. There's also the option of setting up a dual-boot if you have extra space set up for it.
I can't really give an answer to your questions about LibreOffice. I haven't used it too much.
Casey
Aristotelian
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- Jun 21, 2012
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Yes, you can burn a disk image of any Linux distribution onto a USB stick or DVD and boot directly into Linux. You can use the disk as either an installation disk or to run the system live without installation. This is a great way to test out different distributions until you settle on the one you want.
CKL is sooooo right when he advises to set-up Linux on separate hardware. Create totally distinct computing worlds ... one for Linux and one for Windows. Linux is a joy using ... but not a Windows kind of joy. GURUs can dual-boot OKey on one box, but normal humans suffer greatly trying.
guywitheglasses
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- Oct 6, 2012
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Hello CookingMaster!
In regards to the Office Suite stuff, have you looked into Kingsoft Office? Check it out, it's just like Microsoft Office... but free! And I've yet to have any issues with Kingsoft to Microsoft, or the other way around.
http://wps-community.org/download.html
Also, in my opinion, Linux is great and no matter how many times I switch back to Windows for the sake of normality, I can't stand it and have to go back. Now as you probably know there are a lot of different distributions, or versions. The most popular being Ubuntu. I use Elementary OS. It's an Ubuntu derivative.
As far as gaming goes, I use Steam. If you've ever checked out an Humble Bundle, you'll know that there's actually a ton of games that support Linux. I've had a lot of fun playing games I bought from the bundles. Plus, Steam has been able to get their games to run faster on Linux than they do on Windows.
I really recommend you stick Elementary OS or Ubuntu on a flash drive and try it out. Dual boot it with windows to start if you want to try it out full time. It takes time getting used to, but after about a week you'll realize how great it is. Open Source is the best thing since sliced bread, right? Haha.
Good Luck in trying it out, if you do.
~Ritchie
EDIT: Forgot to mention, Kingsoft office is still in Beta and may not be 100% complete. They plan to finish it soon.
In regards to the Office Suite stuff, have you looked into Kingsoft Office? Check it out, it's just like Microsoft Office... but free! And I've yet to have any issues with Kingsoft to Microsoft, or the other way around.
http://wps-community.org/download.html
Also, in my opinion, Linux is great and no matter how many times I switch back to Windows for the sake of normality, I can't stand it and have to go back. Now as you probably know there are a lot of different distributions, or versions. The most popular being Ubuntu. I use Elementary OS. It's an Ubuntu derivative.
As far as gaming goes, I use Steam. If you've ever checked out an Humble Bundle, you'll know that there's actually a ton of games that support Linux. I've had a lot of fun playing games I bought from the bundles. Plus, Steam has been able to get their games to run faster on Linux than they do on Windows.
I really recommend you stick Elementary OS or Ubuntu on a flash drive and try it out. Dual boot it with windows to start if you want to try it out full time. It takes time getting used to, but after about a week you'll realize how great it is. Open Source is the best thing since sliced bread, right? Haha.
Good Luck in trying it out, if you do.
~Ritchie
EDIT: Forgot to mention, Kingsoft office is still in Beta and may not be 100% complete. They plan to finish it soon.
- Nov 26, 2013
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guywitheglasses :
Hello CookingMaster!
In regards to the Office Suite stuff, have you looked into Kingsoft Office? Check it out, it's just like Microsoft Office... but free! And I've yet to have any issues with Kingsoft to Microsoft, or the other way around.
http://wps-community.org/download.html
Also, in my opinion, Linux is great and no matter how many times I switch back to Windows for the sake of normality, I can't stand it and have to go back. Now as you probably know there are a lot of different distributions, or versions. The most popular being Ubuntu. I use Elementary OS. It's an Ubuntu derivative.
As far as gaming goes, I use Steam. If you've ever checked out an Humble Bundle, you'll know that there's actually a ton of games that support Linux. I've had a lot of fun playing games I bought from the bundles. Plus, Steam has been able to get their games to run faster on Linux than they do on Windows.
I really recommend you stick Elementary OS or Ubuntu on a flash drive and try it out. Dual boot it with windows to start if you want to try it out full time. It takes time getting used to, but after about a week you'll realize how great it is. Open Source is the best thing since sliced bread, right? Haha.
Good Luck in trying it out, if you do.
~Ritchie
EDIT: Forgot to mention, Kingsoft office is still in Beta and may not be 100% complete. They plan to finish it soon.
In regards to the Office Suite stuff, have you looked into Kingsoft Office? Check it out, it's just like Microsoft Office... but free! And I've yet to have any issues with Kingsoft to Microsoft, or the other way around.
http://wps-community.org/download.html
Also, in my opinion, Linux is great and no matter how many times I switch back to Windows for the sake of normality, I can't stand it and have to go back. Now as you probably know there are a lot of different distributions, or versions. The most popular being Ubuntu. I use Elementary OS. It's an Ubuntu derivative.
As far as gaming goes, I use Steam. If you've ever checked out an Humble Bundle, you'll know that there's actually a ton of games that support Linux. I've had a lot of fun playing games I bought from the bundles. Plus, Steam has been able to get their games to run faster on Linux than they do on Windows.
I really recommend you stick Elementary OS or Ubuntu on a flash drive and try it out. Dual boot it with windows to start if you want to try it out full time. It takes time getting used to, but after about a week you'll realize how great it is. Open Source is the best thing since sliced bread, right? Haha.
Good Luck in trying it out, if you do.
~Ritchie
EDIT: Forgot to mention, Kingsoft office is still in Beta and may not be 100% complete. They plan to finish it soon.
Is Origin compatible with Linux?
Currently, Origin doesn't support Linux. You may be able to get it to run using WINE, but everything I have read on the topic says that it doesn't run well.
Steam officially supports Ubuntu (and Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc) only right now, however the Steam client can be found for other distributions. I personally have it running on OpenSUSE on my desktop.
Casey
Steam officially supports Ubuntu (and Xubuntu, Kubuntu, etc) only right now, however the Steam client can be found for other distributions. I personally have it running on OpenSUSE on my desktop.
Casey
- Nov 26, 2013
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... *sigh* I wish I could save windows on a flash drive or cd and transfer it to a different computer.
guywitheglasses
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- Oct 6, 2012
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That's one of the problems with Licensed software. It's only licensed for the computer you installed it or purchased it on, and besides the disc image would be just too large.
What do you wish to do with Linux? Are you just wondering about it, or is there something in particular you'd like to use it for?
Ritchie
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guywitheglasses
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(Didnt mean to pick solution. Can I reverse that?)
I was just wondering about it.
No, I don't think so, not unless you can pick a different answer to be the solution or make the title say 'Unsolved'.
If there's anything us forum lurkers can help you with, let us know. There's no such thing as a silly question.
Ritchie
I was just wondering about it.
No, I don't think so, not unless you can pick a different answer to be the solution or make the title say 'Unsolved'.
If there's anything us forum lurkers can help you with, let us know. There's no such thing as a silly question.
Ritchie
A little note that hasn't been mentioned: libreoffice can save and read in .docx, but when saving in libre you must remember to select docx (or pptx, xlsx etc for powepoint and xcelxcel) in the drop down list. As long as you do that file transfer should work fine.
Plus, there is a little test online to help you decide what distro.
Link to the test:
Http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
P.S. If you get mandriva, select another from the list. Don't bother asking why.
Plus, there is a little test online to help you decide what distro.
Link to the test:
Http://www.zegeniestudios.net/ldc/
P.S. If you get mandriva, select another from the list. Don't bother asking why.
powerhouse32
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- Jun 3, 2012
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LibreOffice: It is mostly compatible with MS Office. In some rare cases, e.g. right-to-left languages, you may get unwanted results when opening a Microsoft document, in particular a presentation. But if you don't use those kinds of languages, then I don't see a problem. If you use Western languages, chances are you won't run into issues.
Microsoft supposedly supports rtf documents (for text), so you could always safe text files in that format. rtf is an open standard, and it's about high time Microsoft office users get used to standards. By the way, .doc or .docx are NOT standards based.
With regard to Linux:
There are different "flavors" of Linux, as others have already commented. These "flavors" are called distributions - Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, OpenSuse are different flavors. But there are many more distributions, most of which are based on the ones I mentioned.
A very popular - actually THE most popular distribution by number of new installations - is Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu. It's become so popular because it's very user friendly and provides all commonly used applications out of the box.
The best way to test a distribution without installing it is running a "life CD/DVD". Within Windows, download the ISO image of the distribution you wish to test, for example here: http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Next download Unetbootin for Windows here: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
Connect a USB flash stick, at least 1-2GB of size, and run Unetbootin. Once it started, select the "Disk image" option and point to the ISO image you downloaded. Check that you got the right USB device and let Unetbootin do it's magic.
Restart your PC and boot from USB (check the user manual of the PC or motherboard if unsure). You can then run and experiment with Linux, without actually installing it. Note that it will run a little slow from USB flash drive.
Good luck!
Microsoft supposedly supports rtf documents (for text), so you could always safe text files in that format. rtf is an open standard, and it's about high time Microsoft office users get used to standards. By the way, .doc or .docx are NOT standards based.
With regard to Linux:
There are different "flavors" of Linux, as others have already commented. These "flavors" are called distributions - Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, OpenSuse are different flavors. But there are many more distributions, most of which are based on the ones I mentioned.
A very popular - actually THE most popular distribution by number of new installations - is Linux Mint, which is based on Ubuntu. It's become so popular because it's very user friendly and provides all commonly used applications out of the box.
The best way to test a distribution without installing it is running a "life CD/DVD". Within Windows, download the ISO image of the distribution you wish to test, for example here: http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Next download Unetbootin for Windows here: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
Connect a USB flash stick, at least 1-2GB of size, and run Unetbootin. Once it started, select the "Disk image" option and point to the ISO image you downloaded. Check that you got the right USB device and let Unetbootin do it's magic.
Restart your PC and boot from USB (check the user manual of the PC or motherboard if unsure). You can then run and experiment with Linux, without actually installing it. Note that it will run a little slow from USB flash drive.
Good luck!
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