• Help me facepunch, tell me the advantages of Linux over Windows XP.
    26 replies, posted
I don't do much gaming on my PC now-a-days, and honestly XP is outdated as fuck, and I've always been curious about Linux. I don't want to rush in to this not knowing what I'm doing and end up fucking it up and wishing I had XP back, so I'd just like some of the (dis)advantages and maybe which distro I should start with if I go through with it.
[QUOTE=Big Ben;27600044]I don't do much gaming on my PC now-a-days, and honestly XP is outdated as fuck, and I've always been curious about Linux. I don't want to rush in to this not knowing what I'm doing and end up fucking it up and wishing I had XP back, so I'd just like some of the (dis)advantages and maybe which distro I should start with if I go through with it.[/QUOTE] dual boot, use whichever one you want whenever you want ubuntu automatically partitions it and sets it up so unless you're [del]retarded[/del] fatfatfatty, you won't be able to fuck it up
[QUOTE=ProWaffle;27600062]dual boot, use whichever one you want whenever you want ubuntu automatically partitions it and sets it up so unless you're [del]retarded[/del] fatfatfatty, you won't be able to fuck it up[/QUOTE] Does that hog a lot of resources? I've never dual-booted before, and my computer is pretty old. [editline]22nd January 2011[/editline] Well I'm currently downloading Ubuntu, will dual-boot it tomorrow when it's done.
[QUOTE=Big Ben;27600092]Does that hog a lot of resources? I've never dual-booted before, and my computer is pretty old. [editline]22nd January 2011[/editline] Well I'm currently downloading Ubuntu, will dual-boot it tomorrow when it's done.[/QUOTE] It'll take up the hard drive space of two OSes but Ubuntu isn't [b]that[/b] big. As long as you don't have an incredibly tiny HDD.
[QUOTE=ProWaffle;27600553]It'll take up the hard drive space of two OSes but Ubuntu isn't [b]that[/b] big. As long as you don't have an incredibly tiny HDD.[/QUOTE] I have about 250 gigs left, so I think I'll be okay. Should I start with Ubuntu? [editline]22nd January 2011[/editline] Actually, I have 2 harddrives. One is a 60 gig with Windows on it, and another is a 500 gig that I use to store everything. Does this change the way I'm gonna need to do this?
[QUOTE=Big Ben;27600661]I have about 250 gigs left, so I think I'll be okay. Should I start with Ubuntu? [editline]22nd January 2011[/editline] Actually, I have 2 harddrives. One is a 60 gig with Windows on it, and another is a 500 gig that I use to store everything. Does this change the way I'm gonna need to do this?[/QUOTE] What most people do is start with Ubuntu, then when they're knowledgable enough they'll choose a distro according to their needs.
When installing Ubuntu for practical, serious use, make sure you make like a ~20GB partition for / and the rest of the disk for the Home partition. If you have 3 to 4GB RAM, there's no need for a swap partition, but it's still a good idea with 2GB or less to make a swap partition equal to, (or greater than) your system RAM.
[QUOTE=Zellezra;27602766]equal to, (or greater than) your system RAM.[/QUOTE] half [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] everyone says 1.5-2 times system ram but you get better performance with half actually with more than 4 GB you want to totally disable swap [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] unless of course you use suspend to disk, in which case you should have total system ram plus 1 MB [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] that's called hibernation now, it's hard to keep up your newfangled terms for oldfangled things
[QUOTE=ButtsexV2;27602866]half [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] everyone says 1.5-2 times system ram but you get better performance with half actually with more than 4 GB you want to totally disable swap [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] unless of course you use suspend to disk, in which case you should have total system ram plus 1 MB [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] that's called hibernation now, it's hard to keep up your newfangled terms for oldfangled things[/QUOTE] Yeah, I did have hibernation in mind. I personally use Sleep instead, but that's just me. I've had nothing but rotten luck having my system "Resume" the OS upon turning the laptop back on, it always hangs and needs rebooted with editing the grub line. But sleep just puts it into a low-power state and works every time, so I just use it instead.
You might want to try the thing out in virtual box or something. If you like it you can install it. I have to tell you that a vanilla Ubuntu install will be fatter than a vanilla XP installed. Generally speaking GNOME is fatter than XP's shell. There are other alternatives in terms of distributions. (Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, Fedora, Open Suse, etc.) Ubuntu usually goes well because there is a lot of documentation. Make sure you don't install with Wubi. When you install you'll have to boot from CD and not just run the CD in windows and hit install. You might also get some complications because of driver issues. Usually Ubuntu handles them well, but there are some cases where drivers are simply no where to be found. When you look at a linux distro they will often offer you a desktop environment. They're all a bit different and don't work the same. Here's the most common ones (from fattest to lightest) KDE, GNOME, XFCE, LXDE. Long story short: try it out in a virtual machine and then start messing with your hard drive.
[QUOTE=Big Ben;27600092]Does that hog a lot of resources? I've never dual-booted before, and my computer is pretty old. [editline]22nd January 2011[/editline] Well I'm currently downloading Ubuntu, will dual-boot it tomorrow when it's done.[/QUOTE] The only thing a dual boot hogs is storage (hard disk space). When you turn on a computer, a list comes up: boot Windows or Ubuntu? It's one or the other, and the other one does not run. Just make sure you have enough space on your hard drive for two OSes.
Okay, Ubuntu is downloaded and it is on my thumbdrive. I'm installing it to a harddrive that has no OS on it. What next? Reboot my computer with the thumbdrive in and install it like a regular OS?
It depends, did you just shove the iso on the thumb drive like any other file or did you use Unetbootin (or whatever it's called). If you did use unetbootin, you basically install it as any OS (assuming your motherboard support booting from USB. It'll then ask you for a few questions and where you want to install the thing, you can pick entire hard drivers so you pick the empty one. The thing is that Ubuntu will install GRUB (the bootloader) on the main HDD. (Unless you tell it not to, and I'm not sure if that can be done. For Ubuntu at least) GRUB should give you an option to either boot windows or Ubuntu. If you want to get rid of ubuntu later on you're system won't boot to windows because GRUB won't be able to find the files it needs to work which are stored on the Ubuntu partition. You can easily fix this assuming you have your XP install / repair disk. If you plan on keeping Ubuntu it's no big issue. If you tell ubuntu to install GRUB on the MBR of the drive it will use (assuming you can tell it to) you'll have to either change the boot order so that the ubuntu disk boots first or manually (every boot) go through the BIOS' boot menu and select which drive to use. That's not to worry about since GRUB will be giving you a nice menu if you let Ubuntu do it's own thing.
I decided, since it formats the USB drive you use, that I would just use a CD. So now I'm gonna burn that to a CD like it's telling me to on the 'download Ubuntu' page. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] [img]http://gyazo.com/f5aedbbcae691ca93182e04c9cfa46b4.png[/img] That's what it's supposed to look like, right? I'm being very cautious since this is my first time installing Linux and I don't want to end up looking like fatfatfatty. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] Oh, and I know it says WinRAR archive, but in the downloads for Firefox it says it's an .iso.
I recommend reading [url]http://www.overclock.net/faqs/126096-how-burn-linux-disc.html[/url] .
You burn the ISO to a CD using ImgBurn at a slow burn speed. Usually I go 4x for DVD-R, and 12x on CD-R, respectively. Then you set your PC to boot from the CD, and away you go! :D
If you haven't already installed, you could try using a virtual machine to install and use ubuntu. This will give you a chance to practise the install as well as giving you a chance to try before you make it a little more permanent.
Can't I just put the Ubuntu disk in before rebooting, and then test it straight from the CD? I'm fairly sure it said on the Ubuntu download page that was possible.
[QUOTE=Big Ben;27618813]Can't I just put the Ubuntu disk in before rebooting, and then test it straight from the CD? I'm fairly sure it said on the Ubuntu download page that was possible.[/QUOTE] Yes, in fact you should do this to make sure you actually want Ubuntu. If you decide you want it, there's a link on the desktop to start the install process.
Actually, I found everything out. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] So I was trying to get Wine so I could try out Steam, but I have a problem. When I click install it gives me an error saying "Package dependencies cannot be resolved. This error could be caused by required additional software packages which are missing or not installable. Furthermore, there could be a conflict between software packages which are not allowed to be installed at the same time." Any ideas? [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] The recommended partition size for Ubuntu is 20gbs right? [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] Also, if I install windows and Ubuntu to two seperate harddrives, I'll still be able to dual-boot them, right?
[QUOTE=Big Ben;27619323]Actually, I found everything out. [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] So I was trying to get Wine so I could try out Steam, but I have a problem. When I click install it gives me an error saying "Package dependencies cannot be resolved. This error could be caused by required additional software packages which are missing or not installable. Furthermore, there could be a conflict between software packages which are not allowed to be installed at the same time." Any ideas? [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] The recommended partition size for Ubuntu is 20gbs right? [editline]23rd January 2011[/editline] Also, if I install windows and Ubuntu to two seperate harddrives, I'll still be able to dual-boot them, right?[/QUOTE] Yes, grub should configure itself and detect your windows install. Just make sure that the hard disk with grub has greater priority than the drive with windows (you can change this in your BIOS setup).
[url]http://www.winehq.org/[/url] Get the latest.
I installed Linux before and my computer's power supply sploded... don't do it :saddowns:
I installed Linux on my car and now it runs 100kmph faster. Do install Linux on your car.
I'm waiting for PS3 CFW that brings back OtherOS to 3.55.
[QUOTE=sphinxa279;27650308]I installed Linux before and my computer's power supply sploded... don't do it :saddowns:[/QUOTE] but you're a stupid kid-fuck who wants attention
Hmm, do you have an XP install disk or something? I suggest installing XP in a VM, then trying to dual boot with Ubuntu in the VM. That way you'll know what you're doing and won't fuck it up and ruin everything.
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