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What Operating System Do You Use?

yamfox

By yamfox
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yamfox

yamfox

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For Ryujiki:

 

* I want a home Windows replacement.

 

For these folks, I have an additional question: "Do you want just the software basics, or do you want to shop around for other open-source software?"

 

If they just want the basics, I recommend Xandros Inc.'s eponymous Xandros 3 Desktop. The Xandros line has been meant from the start to persuade Windows users to give Linux a try.

 

In my experience, Xandros is the closest to Windows XP you're going to get with a Linux system. Now, for some of you, I know that's the last thing you want, but for someone who knows Windows well, it may be exactly what they want and need.

 

On the other hand, Xandros doesn't have a lot of ready-to-use software outside of the basic package. If your friend really wants to try out a lot of Linux software but couldn't tell apt-get from an RPM, then Linspire Inc.'s Linspire Five-0 is the Linux for you.

 

I know it's fashionable in some Linux purist circles to make fun of Linspire, but it's well past time to get over that nonsense. Linspire is a good, solid Debian-based Linux, and like Xandros, it goes out of its way to be new-user friendly.

 

Linspire also far out-does Xandros with its easy-to-use CNR (click and run) new software installation system. With CNR, even your grandma can install Linux programs.

 

If your friend wants more than just something that looks like XP, but looks like a particular Windows set up, they should also check out the combination of Versora's Progression Desktop and Win4Lin's Win4Lin Pro.

 

Progression Desktop migrates Windows and Windows programs' settings and data from Windows to many Linuxes, including Xandros and Linspire. For example, you can use it to transfer Outlook on Windows messages to Thunderbird on Linux. Win4Lin enables you to run Windows 2000 or XP as a virtual machine in Linux. The companies have bundled these together to make a single package.

 

While I haven't had a chance to really review this combo, I have tried it out with Xandros and an XP set up, and it does seem to deliver the goods. Look for a real review of the pairing soon, here at DesktopLinux.com.

 

* I want Linux, but I also want my Windows games.

 

This is a tricky one. I have yet to meet a great solution for this. You can use Win4Lin, but I've run into trouble from time to time with it and games that require Internet connectivity.

 

TransGaming Technologies Inc.'s Cedega 5.0 claims to run Windows games "out of the box." Well, no.

 

By using WineX technology, you can run many Windows games -- such as World of Warcraft -- but installing each new game can be a cranky process. Still, with some patience and the right combination of software and hardware, it can work.

 

My best advice here is for you, or someone else who knows Linux well, to actually do the initial Cedega and game installations for your Windows buddy. With a two-week free trial of Cedega, you'll soon know if their favorite games are going to work.

 

* I want a replacement for my Windows work desktop.

 

You can, of course, use Xandros' Xandros Business Desktop, but, as much as I like Xandros, it is a small company, and most businesses prefer dealing with a large, well-established vendor.

 

For these situations, I recommend either Novell Inc.'s OpenSUSE 10 or one of Red Hat Inc.'s offerings -- Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS, or Red Hat Desktop.

 

You may notice that OpenSUSE is Novell's community distribution. That's right, but support is widely available for the entire SUSE line, and it is very solid. It's my own business desktop of choice.

 

The Red Hat pair are also good. Still, Red Hat CEO Matt Szulik has never been very bullish on the Linux desktop. For Red Hat, the server, and not the desktop, is where the real action is.

 

Novell does offer a business desktop, the Novell Linux Desktop 9, but it's really a thin-client rather than a full-featured desktop. If the question of the day were: "What's a good thin-client desktop," then I'd recommend it.

 

* I want to make a living from Linux.

 

If you want to learn about Linux, and then get a job working with it, Red Hat's community distribution, Fedora is the desktop, not to mention server, for you.

 

Red Hat Linux is, without question, the single most important business Linux. As fond as I am of some of the other distributions, if I had to make a living working on Linux tomorrow, I'd be working toward my RHCE (Red Hat Certified Engineer) certification as soon as possible.

 

* I want to run Linux on an older machine.

 

There are many great lightweight distributions, but I keep coming back to MEPIS's MEPISLite. Weighing in at about 640 MB, MEPISLite will run on systems that were slow when Windows 98 was new.

 

By using KOffice, instead of OpenOffice.org, and using the optional 2.4.29 kernel, I've managed to get MEPISLite working quite nicely on a bargain-basement system with an 800MHz Via processor, 128MB of RAM, and a 20 GB hard drive.

 

You can certainly run Linux on even less-powerful systems with distributions like Damn Small Linux, Zenwalk (aka Minislack), or Puppy, but for the best combination of low system demands and features, MEPISLite, and its big brother SimplyMEPIS, is hard to beat.

 

 

* I want to use Linux in Spanish.

 

In the United States, we still tend to think everyone speaks English. Since I'm married to a wonderful Cuban woman, the ever lovely Clara, I know better. Spanish is quickly becoming America's second language.

 

For those users who are more comfortable with Spanish than English, I think the clear winner is Mandriva's Mandriva Linux 2006. Spanish-language support has long been in the distribution, and now that Mandriva has partnered up with HP to deliver pre-installed Linux on Latin American HP desktop and laptops (now if only they would do it the States!) it should only consolidate the France-based Linux distributor's lead.

 

My own Spanish is, in a word, awful. I'm told those by friends that BlogDrake is a useful site for Spanish-speaking Mandriva Linux users.

 

* I just want to mess around with Linux.

 

The distribution to recommend here depends on just how much your pal already knows about Linux or Unix. Xandros is fine for someone who's brand new to Linux; Ubuntu is a fine "play with" distribution for users with a bit more experience; and OpenSUSE is what I recommend for Linux power users.

 

Still can't decide? It's time to turn your attention to an online Linux Distribution Chooser quiz created by Daniel Eikeland, a project leader at Norwegian open-source consultancy Zegenie Studios. It's a handy little test, and I've found it surprisingly good.

 

Heck, when I took it, it picked out OpenSUSE for me, so it must have something on the ball.

 

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

 

There is no perfect Linux for everyone, but somewhere out there, once you know what you're looking for, there's a perfect Linux for you.

 

Happy hunting!

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miss capa

miss capa

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i remember the computers we had in my house before windows was really around! (my parents are nerds, so we've had PCs since the mid-80's). anyone else play computer games on the DOS system back in the day?

 

No but my old teacher had a computer that could play pacman and he said it could hold 16bytes which is like absolutely nothing compared to what computers use now.

 

This isn't really a computer but I have a 1990s Nintendo Gameboy. Possibly one of the very first to ever be released. We found it in a house we were renevating.

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ApproximatelyInfinite

ApproximatelyInfinite

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ah! gameboy pocket? the thing that's about as thick as three sandwiches stacked up on each other?! i had one of those as well. then a color, then an advance. then i didn't have time for videogames anymore.

 

my parents also had some of the earliest cell phones because they worked for the government, and they were HILARIOUSLY huge. literally the size of bricks. and they didn't even store numbers or anything! i think we've still got some of those models kicking around somewhere...

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miss capa

miss capa

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ah! gameboy pocket? the thing that's about as thick as three sandwiches stacked up on each other?! i had one of those as well. then a color, then an advance. then i didn't have time for videogames anymore.

 

my parents also had some of the earliest cell phones because they worked for the government, and they were HILARIOUSLY huge. literally the size of bricks. and they didn't even store numbers or anything! i think we've still got some of those models kicking around somewhere...

 

I think thats what it is...it just says Nintendo Game BoyTM on it...

 

My mum was telling me about those phones, I think my dad owned one. Lol, I saw this thing on a 'Behind the news' show and it was a phone in the shape of a piano and each of the keys represented a different number, it was funny because whenever you called somebody, it would play the tune of that number.

 

:laugh3:

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yamfox

yamfox

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sorry bout the double post...but does anyone play emulated N64, PS1 games on pc? I find it really fun playing all the games from 10 years ago! Mario Karts and Golden Eye still gives me a buzz!

 

I do! I have yet to find a worthwhile PS1 emulator, but Project64 works great for N64 games. I also use Kega Fusion to play all the old SEGA games. :)

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