Complete Switch to *NIX and Linux: May 17, 2015

[simplezz]

You simply cannot get a comparable Photoshop app on Linux.

GIMP/Inkscape. GIMP also has a wealth of plugins available.

I'm sure there are other examples like Visual Studio

Eclipse, Anjuta, Geany, Lazarus, Code:Blocks, Emacs / Vim (Can be IDE's with the right plugins), and a ton of other language/platform specific IDE's.

Pretty much most of the ones listed on the wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_integrated_development_environments

Personally, I prefer a streamlined Vim terminal environment and the Automake/GCC/GDB tools.

I won't argue Office because for what 95% of people use it for there are alternatives but sometimes you just cannot move away from Windows.

Libre Office/Gnome Office/KOffice/Google Docs/ usually do the trick. And if you must use MS Office, there's always the free online version.

[Gotenks98]

This is an interesting topic, I am looking to do the same. However its just too tough. I am currently running ubuntu 15.04 in Parallels Desktop 10 on my mac and 14.04 in VmWare Player on my PC. Its tough because there are too many windows apps I can't live without. Office 2013 is a must due to work because of Skype for Business and OneNote and OneDrive. Also I play elder scrolls online, rift, terra, Aion, SWTOR. All of which I can't give up. I have tried Wine for some of these and the results have been disastrous.

[Joshie]

That's simply not true. I don't do much customisation on a regular basis (now that it's setup to my liking), but that's not a reason to abandon it. The software/package management, configurability, variety (distros, WM's/DE's), productivity, community, and security are what make GNU/Linux a great OS. Windows is like a child's toy in comparison.

 

Sounds like you don't appreciate the advantages of being able to fully customise the user experience of your OS. The rest of us however, do. Perhaps you're better off sticking to Windows.

 

Your first line says that not caring about customization isn't a reason to just stick to Windows.

 

Your second line says that if I don't care about customization, I should just stick to Windows.

 

Mary, Mary, quite contrary.

[TDT]

This is an interesting topic, I am looking to do the same. However its just too tough. I am currently running ubuntu 15.04 in Parallels Desktop 10 on my mac and 14.04 in VmWare Player on my PC. Its tough because there are too many windows apps I can't live without. Office 2013 is a must due to work because of Skype for Business and OneNote and OneDrive. Also I play elder scrolls online, rift, terra, Aion, SWTOR. All of which I can't give up. I have tried Wine for some of these and the results have been disastrous.

Like I said before, don't just use Wine, because it's a pain to deal with everything, configs, winetricks, etc. Almost all of these games are supported by PlayOnLinux, take a look at their games list. The only one that is not on the list is elder scrolls, but it seems it's working in Crossover (https://www.codeweavers.com/compatibility/crossover/the-elder-scrolls-online).

Office 2013 will not work, only 2010.

I once thought the same as you, since I had many apps that didn't work on Linux (mostly audio software, like Sound Forge, Ableton, etc.). Now SF works perfect in Linux, also Ableton, FL Studio, Photoshop CS4, etc.

[simplezz]

Mary, Mary, quite contrary.

Not at all. The point being, once you setup a GNU/Linux distro to your liking (a degree to which Windows would never permit), playing around with further customisations isn't the be-all and end-all. If that's all you see when you look GNU/Linux, then you're missing out on most of its advantages.

[simplezz]

This is an interesting topic, I am looking to do the same. However its just too tough. I am currently running ubuntu 15.04 in Parallels Desktop 10 on my mac and 14.04 in VmWare Player on my PC. Its tough because there are too many windows apps I can't live without. Office 2013 is a must due to work because of Skype for Business and OneNote and OneDrive. Also I play elder scrolls online, rift, terra, Aion, SWTOR. All of which I can't give up. I have tried Wine for some of these and the results have been disastrous.

Sounds like you're heavily invested in the Microsoft/Windows software ecosystem. It's not right for everyone. However, the majority of people do adapt to GNU/Linux quite easily. A lot of important software is already cross platform FOSS such as LibreOffice, Firefox/Chrome, GIMP, Eclipse, etc. Don't forget, you can always run a Windows VM inside Linux if you need direct access to Windows only apps that won't run in WINE.

[f0rk_b0mb]

how was it getting ubuntu onto your mac, been looking at install ubuntu onto my rMBP and moving to Linux.

 

Very easy.

1. Install this on your mac: http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/

2. Boot from a ubuntu usb you created with unetbootin and install 

3. Create 4 partitions: boot,root,home,swap and let it install

4. boot in and install drivers. I had to tether my phone over bluetooth to install my wifi drivers. 

[f0rk_b0mb]

What are you tweaking? The desktop? The icons? That's not tweaking...that's playing...

 

It looks damn good to me. Maybe our definitions of tweaking OSs are different?

 

 

Oh absolutely they can use both. I have no issue with any Operating System. Whatever works for you is what works for you. But I really don't buy the "not as many polished apps" theory. Linux in one form or another has been around forever. They have viable alternatives to just about every commercial Windows software out there. I was just saying that it makes me giggle when I see someone "converting" to Linux when in reality they really haven't. 

"Down with Microsoft"! "Down with Apple"! "They overcharge"! "Big brother" !Oh, wait, I need to use photoshop...never mind

 

I'm still keeping a couple MS VM's around for various task. I'm not an activist by any means. The OS does 95% my required tasks, so I switched.  

[The_Observer]

Very easy.

1. Install this on your mac: http://sourceforge.net/projects/refind/

2. Boot from a ubuntu usb you created with unetbootin and install 

3. Create 4 partitions: boot,root,home,swap and let it install

4. boot in and install drivers. I had to tether my phone over bluetooth to install my wifi drivers. 

 

Thanks but thinking getting rid of OS X and just have Ubuntu installed. Do i still need to have this installed?

[vmlinuz]

there's really no reason not to just use Windows...

The reason I don't use Windows is because Linux is a superior gaming platform. Yes, I'm a hardcore gamer and I only use Linux for it. I have a high end desktop designed for gaming as the primary task, and Linux is the only system I use. I have over 6,000 quality native Linux games, all run better than Windows, even the "Windows games", such as a very heavily modded Skyrim runs better on Linux. There is literally no game on Windows that I either can't already play on Linux or care about. It's a myth from 1993 that... "Linux sucks for games".

[vmlinuz]

I just find it funny how most people that are using Linux need to go back into a Windows environment to accomplish something or need to use wine or whatever to use a windows based piece of software. 

I wonder how many people are TRULY committed to Linux? No Windows based anything to function every day? I'm betting not a lot.

I've been using Linux since 1998. No Windows on my system at all (not even in a VM). I *choose* to use WINE etc (could easily live without it, as I said in my previous post, I have over 6,000 native Linux games) because it allows me to play "Windows games" faster and better than Windows.

[TDT]

The reason I don't use Windows is because Linux is a superior gaming platform. Yes, I'm a hardcore gamer and I only use Linux for it. I have a high end desktop designed for gaming as the primary task, and Linux is the only system I use. I have over 6,000 quality native Linux games, all run better than Windows, even the "Windows games", such as a very heavily modded Skyrim runs better on Linux. There is literally no game on Windows that I either can't already play on Linux or care about. It's a myth from 1993 that... "Linux sucks for games".

Not sure if serious or just trolling...

[Joshie]

The reason I don't use Windows is because Linux is a superior gaming platform. Yes, I'm a hardcore gamer and I only use Linux for it. I have a high end desktop designed for gaming as the primary task, and Linux is the only system I use. I have over 6,000 quality native Linux games, all run better than Windows, even the "Windows games", such as a very heavily modded Skyrim runs better on Linux. There is literally no game on Windows that I either can't already play on Linux or care about. It's a myth from 1993 that... "Linux sucks for games".

[f0rk_b0mb]

Thanks but thinking getting rid of OS X and just have Ubuntu installed. Do i still need to have this installed?

 

I would have a tiny partition for future EFI firmware updates. You can have a linux only mac, but from what I've read it's a pain in the butt. You need to make sure you "bless the drive" Please read this documentation for more information and feel free to PM me.

 

http://askubuntu.com/questions/42711/how-to-install-ubuntu-as-the-single-os-on-a-macbook

[f0rk_b0mb]

The reason I don't use Windows is because Linux is a superior gaming platform. Yes, I'm a hardcore gamer and I only use Linux for it. I have a high end desktop designed for gaming as the primary task, and Linux is the only system I use. I have over 6,000 quality native Linux games, all run better than Windows, even the "Windows games", such as a very heavily modded Skyrim runs better on Linux. There is literally no game on Windows that I either can't already play on Linux or care about. It's a myth from 1993 that... "Linux sucks for games".

 

I can confirm. Wine is hit or miss, but when it works, it runs games on par or better than natively on Windows. Running Linux has been nothing but fun thus far. 

[vmlinuz]

Not sure if serious or just trolling...

Serious. I've far better things to do than troll boards. I'll leave that up to the teenagers / 20-something year olds.

 

I use openSUSE point release (currently 13.2) and Tumbleweed (rolling) on the same maching. But I've also done many other distros - Debian / many Debian based, Arch and Gentoo - the GCC Screensaver.As well as many others. I also keep a local copy of ALL the repos for each distro I use (I have 42 TB of space).

[simplezz]

Not sure if serious or just trolling...

He's correct actually. In some instances, Games running on Wine outperform the same on Windows. Valve noticed that too when it was porting its engine. It won't apply in all games, but I've seen it first hand myself. The fact that GNU/Linux can be lighter on resources in general might have an impact as well.

[vmlinuz]

He's correct actually. In some instances, Games running on Wine outperform the same on Windows. Valve noticed that too when it was porting its engine. It won't apply in all games, but I've seen it first hand myself. The fact that GNU/Linux can be lighter on resources in general might have an impact as well.

Yup - you can customize and tune Linux to any degree you wish. From custom kernels (I have my own custom high performance kernel patches and others I use), to the desktop - you name it, you can tune it and tweak it in Linux! All this means great felxibility for peformance, but for all things, not just games. However, Linux is generally a better OS all round - better memory management, better kernel, much better file systems etc. And, unlike Windows, you actually have a choice in what you want - from the file system to kernel to the desktop - choose what's right for you and what will achieve the best performance (or whatever your goal is). None of this can be done in Windows.

[f0rk_b0mb]

As well as many others. I also keep a local copy of ALL the repos for each distro I use (I have 42 TB of space).

 

Holy crap! Pictures of the server and the files if you've got free time, please? How the hell do you store that? Damn, are you serious?

[TDT]

He's correct actually. In some instances, Games running on Wine outperform the same on Windows. Valve noticed that too when it was porting its engine. It won't apply in all games, but I've seen it first hand myself. The fact that GNU/Linux can be lighter on resources in general might have an impact as well.

You can't say that because an app  emulates SOME Windows games better than Windows means that the OS is better. Also, I was referring more to that line about "6000 native Linux games". Unless he's referring to solitaire and backgammon, I would love to see those 6000 games list.

I tried, for example, Counterstrike 1.6 on Windows and Linux, and it's much better in Windows, no matter what I do. So does this mean Windows is a much better gaming environment than Linux? 

[vmlinuz]

You can't say that because an app  emulates SOME Windows games better than Windows means that the OS is better. Also, I was referring more to that line about "6000 native Linux games". Unless he's referring to solitaire and backgammon, I would love to see those 6000 games list.

I tried, for example, Counterstrike 1.6 on Windows and Linux, and it's much better in Windows, no matter what I do. So does this mean Windows is a much better gaming environment than Linux? 

Not "some games", ALL games (everything I have thrown at it - A LOT). If you know how to tweak and tune it, you can get them to run better on Linux, even if it's a Windows binary.

[dlf]

Highly doubt it . . . but could WINE Skyrim be modded?

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Not "some games", ALL games (everything I have thrown at it - A LOT). If you know how to tweak and tune it, you can get them to run better on Linux, even if it's a Windows binary.

 

Define "all" games. Look at the WineHQ, several windows games and apps aren't working. I never got StarCraft 2 working, explain that one. Try getting LoL to work too..

[simplezz]

Highly doubt it . . . but could WINE Skyrim be modded?

Skyrim data files are OS independent, so yes.

Define "all" games. Look at the WineHQ, several windows games and apps aren't working. I never got StarCraft 2 working, explain that one. Try getting LoL to work too..

Gold, Platinum, and Silver listed Games/Apps usually run without problems. Most of the ones I've tried work. I play Diablo 2 a fair bit at the start of a new ladder through it. As for SC2, according to WineHQ, it's platinum rated. So it should work fine. What exactly are you having a problem with?

[kozukumi]

One of the best things about Linux personally is font tuning. Windows has seriously awful font rendering these days. OS X is really good but you can tweak everything with Linux and get beautiful fonts on ~100DPI screens easily. For example