Why can't I stick with linux?

**glasdave** · 04-23-2005, 04:19 AM

Been using linux since mandrake 6.1...And I like it a lot. Also have noticed that win XP pro has a kinda NT / linux look feel going on. Maybe It's getting better!

**WhiteKnight** · 04-23-2005, 06:10 AM

hmm.. having the same problems...
im dual booting.. winXP is there for games mainly...
however, i sometimes run things in the background while playing.. thus my work is kindof splited up... some in windows and some in linux...

happy with linux, yes... but cant get windows games to run well inside... only hope more publishers will go the NWN, doom3, UT way.. cross platform

**Sgood1971** · 04-23-2005, 07:43 AM

I dual boot on my main desktop (For games and my USB video capture device.) All of my other machines dual boot too, but they don't have Windows on them. My problem is not sticking with Linux, it is sticking with one distro. I always have to download every distro that looks interesting.

**tlyons** · 04-23-2005, 09:25 AM

Originally posted by CyberCat
Linux is a great operating system. Why can't I stick with it? I find that I install Linux with Windows on the HDD and I happily use linux for a few days- weeks... but I always stip back.

CyberCat
Junior Grasshopper

Registered: Apr 2003
Location: Redmond, WA
Posts: 26

(1.) There's either something funny in their air out there in Redmond (does the M$ campus have a smokestack /incinerator anywhere on it?), or,

(2.) There's something about living under the watchful eye of Evil Bill, every minute of every day.

I think all the advice so far has been good. If you think you need a Windows computer, get a second computer. I run XP on a 400 MHz Celeron with 256MB RAM. The only time I use it is to print directions from Mapquest (XP works nicely with my laser printer -- Linux is flaky with printing in some of my apps).

Anyway, I do all of my web/internet stuff in Linux, and haven't missed Photoshop for graphics as much as I thought I would (GIMP is great). I'm on this box about 98% of the time. So figure out what Windows apps are essential to you and install their equivalents in Linux.

http://linuxshop.ru/linuxbegin/win-l...en/table.shtml (kinda dated).

Google for "linux equivalents".

- T.

P.S. I noticed you haven't installed Debian yet. Get Sarge (link below). Updating software is absolutely effortless.

**thedreampolice** · 04-23-2005, 12:05 PM

Adobe is what kills me. I use Photoshop, Indesign, After effects, Premiere pro, and Illustrator. They all work so well together. If Scribus, Gimp and Cinerella all got together and could work with each other that would be the first step.

**CyberCat** · 04-23-2005, 12:46 PM

(1.) There's either something funny in their air out there in Redmond (does the M$ campus have a smokestack /incinerator anywhere on it?), or,

(2.) There's something about living under the watchful eye of Evil Bill, every minute of every day.

Yeah, it does suck. Only about a ten-minute drive to the M$ campus. I've been their a couple of times... notexactly a happy place to visit. Surprisingly they do have Macs...

I think that part of the problem that Linux has, is that unlike Windows, if you want to install something (and installing isn't terribly straight forward either) you've got dependacy hell! I think these two things make switching to Linux much harder.

**enshum** · 04-23-2005, 01:20 PM

" is that unlike Windows, if you want to install something (and installing isn't terribly straight forward either) you've got dependacy hell!" Which is quite the opposite of Windows that usually left you in dependacy hell on uninstall. However this is much less an issue today then it was a year ago or two for that matter. After sampling Autopackage a few times I think this is the best answer to install/uninstallshield for the Linux distro. They are doing good work at autopackage now its up to us and the packagers to support them.

ed

**CyberCat** · 04-23-2005, 01:35 PM

After sampling Autopackage a few times I think this is the best answer to install/uninstallshield for the Linux distro

This is what Linux needs. A unfivied cross-distrobution single-click installation system, it would make switching sooo much easier.

**Parcival** · 04-23-2005, 02:41 PM

Originally posted by CyberCat
This is what Linux needs. A unfivied cross-distrobution single-click installation system, it would make switching sooo much easier.

Well, we probably won't see this happen because diversity is one of the strengths of Linux. However, some distributions come close to it, maybe you just haven't found your distro yet?

**enshum** · 04-23-2005, 05:44 PM

"Well, we probably won't see this happen because diversity is one of the strengths of Linux" And exactly how would this package kill diversity. It would seem to expand it.

ed

**CyberCat** · 04-23-2005, 07:05 PM

However, some distributions come close to it, maybe you just haven't found your distro yet?

Yes this is definitely true. Package managment has come a long was since I first tried linux. The Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) certainly eases the process of installing software, but it still has dependancy problems. That's one reason I like the new "pkg_add" system in FreeBSD. When combined with the -r option (get and install missing packages from remote server) you're pretty much free of dependancy troubles. Linux needs a feature like that.

**Tjoh311** · 04-23-2005, 11:41 PM

I lost my Win disks, and don't feel like looking for new ones. To tell you the truth every windows setup I had came from "borrowed" cds. So I feel much more honest now that I've been win-free for the last year and a half. I've been playing with Libranet 2.8.1 lately and it works wonderful. Synaptic is the pakage management messiah and savior!

**nuttron** · 04-23-2005, 11:43 PM

I never feel i need to go back to windows , got 2 machines ,this here 700mgz celeron-slackware 9.0 , and the wife's ,amd sempron 1.5g -winxp and slack 10.1 on another drive.

Linux feels my needs ,i feel safer browsing the net with the pingouin.....i am not a gamer nor do any video stuff....i like the philosophy of linux and it is getting better all the time.

If i use windows ,that's o.k too ,i paid for it....but my first choice is linux....if i was alone on the comp...it would be only linux anyways..my two cents

**Parcival** · 04-24-2005, 05:59 AM

Originally posted by enshum
And exactly how would this package kill diversity. It would seem to expand it.

You misinterpreted what I was trying to say. I didn't say it would kill diversity. I'm neither trying to say there should be no standards as any OS needs standards, of course.

CyberCat was talking about

A unfivied cross-distrobution single-click installation system

which wouldn't kill diversity if implemented, but not every distro would implement it either. A unified cross-distribution package manager may be desirable by the enduser, but from Linus' perspective it doesn't matter; it's not low-level enough to call for a Linux-wide standard.

Furthermore, we are observing de facto standards when we look at successful examples like Debian's apt and how it's being copied by other distributions. With a grain of salt I am tempted to say that package managers in Linux are a wonderful case study for any evolutionist and/or capitalist.

**WhiteKnight** · 04-24-2005, 09:56 AM

easy install? try gentoo
emerge/portage is great. it resolves dependencies and dl them accordingly. USE flags are great too, compiles it according to watever u need.

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