Linux; Advisable?

[Audioslave]

So I'm getting pretty fucking tired of Windows. Just the entire userface has begun to aggravate me over the course of about 10 years.

I am thinking about switching to Linux or another free, open source software; should I?

1. Would it make my computer run faster, or more efficiently?
2. Are most things compatible with Linux?
3. Will I need to backup everything before I install it?

And in case you were wondering, my computer is a ~5 year old Toshiba Satellite and I've got ~3% space on my harddrive free.

[Idioteque]

I do not personally have Linux but I have heard good things. Most things are not compatibility, but for utilities you can find most replacements for free. AIM/MSN=Pidgen etc.
For game-playing, my friends created a partition with Windows seperate from Linux, seeing as Linux isn't compatible with almost all games. This has caused some problems for him though, so unless you really want to game I wouldn't do that.

[opn4bzns]

In my experience it's not really worth it. It's a decent OS, albeit one trying really hard to be Windows, but when something messed up, I always had to jump through loops with bash commands and other unintuitive stuff to fix it. Download a Ubuntu LiveCD and give it a go, a lot of people love it, but I wouldn't really recommend it.

As for program compatibility, almost all open source stuff is compatible, but a lot of more corporate stuff isn't.

[GrapefruitMovin]

I've been using linux 2 months now and its not bad to use at all... i would suggest using Ubuntu because it is the most common distro of linux. there is plenty of information on how to do stuff on linux it just takes some time to do each thing... also ubuntu is designed to run on not so stellar systems so yeah your 5 year old toshiba will do just fine runing linux. oh yeah you will need to back up stuff thats always going to be the case when changing operating systems

[hzac]

Can someone tell me the advantages of going to Linux? Like specifics. If I have always used windows like Audioslave.. what features/ perks does linux have that you could convince me to change to it?

[Pingu]

This article seems to explain a fair bit about linux and its advantages over other OS:
http://www.pcmech.com/article/why-use-linux/

One of the main reasons that is the cost. Linux and a huge range of applications to run on it are absolutely free.
Also its much more secure as there are very few viruses written for linux, mainly because so few use it.

[lostos]

Well, I strongly recommend not installing linux if you have an ATI graphics processor unit (I 'd say GPU but I could get banned, so...). ATI GPUs are not compatible with 3d acceleration when in linux. If you have nVidia though it is 100% compatible.:facts:

So, now you have decided you have nVidia -or have bought one- you have to decide on what distribution of Linux you will use. Since you've been working on Windows, Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download) is by far the best option for you.:facts:

Now, once you have Ubuntu, check some tutorials on how to enhance your installation or make your desktop look better (and believe me it is way better than windows vista).:facts:

I'll probably write a basic tutorial on Ubuntu in a couple of days.

[BlackHood]

Definitely try out a few types using LiveCDs, but I wouldn't commit yourself to anything. You have to know your way around OS's and Programming languages to be able to master Linux/Unix, whereas Windows is fairly easy. If you know your stuff, and can get the best out of it then they're great, but there's a reason that they're not used by everyone: they're not as easy for a normal person to handle!

[Beefynick]

Personally I have Ubuntu and Vista dual booted to my computer. I love Ubuntu, it takes a little getting used to but is worth it. I have very little problems with Ubuntu. For instance if I am having a problem with windows such as it crashing or it is horribly slow, I just boot up to Ubuntu and run from that until I get the time to fin Windows.

Ubuntu is much faster and gives better battery life (at least for me). In Vista I get about 2-2.5 hours battery life and in Ubuntu I get anywhere from 3-4.5 hours of battery life.

I have a Toshiba Satellite as well and the only problem I have found with some Linux distributions is that some hardware is not compatible out of the box (I had to configure my sound card to work in Ubuntu), but most things can be configured and there are many tutorials online how to do such things.

[azunder]

http://www.winehq.org/

This rather brilliant program allows one to run most games on the Linux operating system. Its thought that they've actually programmed it better than Microdick, so eventually your games will perform better on Linux, than on Windows.

The only problem i've found with Linux is that to set things up properly you either need to be a bit of a techie, or have plenty of patience and the motivation to browse wiki pages.

[Beefynick]

A word of warning on wine, it can be a little picky sometimes. By that I mean that it sometimes has compatibility issues with programs. I know of instances of it not being able to open word processor documents that were saved in Microsoft Word even though it should be able to. It can sometimes be a resource hog too.

[Audioslave]

This duel booting thing;

I assume you'll need enough space on your harddrive to run Windows (I have XP) and Linux, right? How many gigs would this take up?

[Beefynick]

For me I gave Ubuntu 5 GB and the rest I use for Vista. That is a pretty good way to do it as Linux does not require too much space. I should also mention my hard drive is 80GB. I have done a Linux partition with with 3GB of space and it can be done but you may run out of space. It all depends on the distribution of Linux you want to use.

[Bernardo]

I have ubuntu 7.10 and windows in my pc.
the 7.10 has nice graphics, 3d desktop and window effects which make it look very pretty but if you don't want that you can just turn it off.
Thing with dual boot (if you don't know what that is) is that every time you start you PC it'll ask you which you want to use (if you don't choose any, it'll choose the default after some seconds).
The main thing about linux is: If there's a problem, you can probably fix it, if you have patience to go through foruns, in windows, you live with it.
There's some problems with compatibility, yes, that's the only reason I still have Windows. Play games (never tried wine before) mostly.
For almost every major tool you use in Windows, there's an opensource one in linux.

Last month I tried to format a hard drive on windows and he simply couldn't. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong, he would simply not format. So I booted in linux and formated it, no problems.

power saving is a fact. Windows vista is a battery leech.


edit: forgot to say...


Also its much more secure as there are very few viruses written for linux, mainly because so few use it.

Also because linux security is much tighter than window's.

linux's programs are usually VERY small to download cause you can download the source code and compile on your PC. so instead of downloading a 1GB program, you donwload a few MB source code. Before you think "I don't know how to compile a source code" there are tools that make that automatic for you.. Whenever I need a program in ubuntu, I go to synaptic and type the program's name, he finds it for me and installs it.

[fcon]

I'm tempted to switch to Linux as well. Thinking of just doing a partition, if I do partition the hard drive will I have to back up my files before this. Any chance of losing everything saved in Windows?

[MisterP]

I've got my win data erased at all, so I switched to Ubuntu 7.10.

I suggest you to pass to Ubuntu too, it's a SO 100X better than any windows.
No viruses/crashes/freezes, and it gots a wonderful graphic ( a lot better than vista one, check this video (http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=YKEcz_OTTBk)). If you got an issue, there are bunch of forums/blogs that may help you. Plus, to install a program, you just have to to click on Add/Remove button, search for the program, and automatically Ubuntu will download and install it by his own. And when I need to use Xp, I use Vmware, which runs a virtual machine, xp in my case.

Regarding the partition issue, use Acronis, you need to burn it into a cd , insert it , reboot , and it will works on the boot.

[opn4bzns]

I'm tempted to switch to Linux as well. Thinking of just doing a partition, if I do partition the hard drive will I have to back up my files before this. Any chance of losing everything saved in Windows?

Yeah, but you'd have to be either stupid or unlucky for it to happen. You'll probably be fine unless you've got hard drives on the verge of failing anyway. Give them a defrag beforehand to decrease the chances of the proverbial shit hitting the proverbial fan.