Very Computer

by **Sverre Mo** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

What can I gain with use of Linux instead of Windows, even it is
more stable. What more can I gain by using Linux

by **Michae** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

> What can I gain with use of Linux instead of Windows, even it is
> more stable. What more can I gain by using Linux

Depends what you WANT to gain.

As you say, it is more stable, which is a big point.

Do you need it for home or commercial use? Gameplaying or software development?

Lets address them all

Gameplaying first, as its the hardest.

Linux IS lacking in games support compared to doze. If you install WINE,
however, the game support, although not as good, is at least comparable to
Windows. Linux versions of several big games (such as quake) exist natively.
Under WINE, games like Unreal, Starcraft, work moderately happily.
Your advantage here is that with Linux, you know the OS isnt going to just fall
over half way through a game.

Now, for software development, you have many reasons.
gcc
Do I need to say more?
OK, gcc is IMHO the best C compiler out there. Its faster than Micro$ofts, its
a hell of a lot more useful and friendly, and allows porting to many more
platforms.
Im not going to go into a list of other development tools, but they are all
there.

Office
You have all the major databases and office packages either ported natively to
Linux, or runing under WINE.
Advantage: Lots of them are cheaper, or free, and again, you know the OS wont
crash half way through.

What it comes down to, is that stability IS the main reason for using Linux,
that and the ability to fix things when they break (OSS).

Asking why to use Linux but dont mention the stability is like asking a car
maker to tell you why his car is better, but dont mention anything about the
engine. Its a bit of a poor question, as a car IS the engine, just as the core
of any operating system is its stability.

I think a better question is, why use Windoze. Bar games, I cannot think of a
single reason, and as soon as WINE comes a bit further on, its time to mkfs on
that partition for good {:-)

by **Matt & Debbie Smit** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Hiya,

I'm reasonably new to the Linux thing, and like many people like the idea of having
an alternative to Windows. For me, it is fine, I can play around to my hearts
content with Linux. My wife and kids also use the puters, and I think they'd find
getting to grips with Linux a bit of a puzzle. Given plenty of time and effort, I
could probably customize the Linux system sufficiently to make it 'idiot-proof',
and user-friendly for them.
My other concern, is availability of software for Linux. Though I would like to
get away from Micro$oft software, I am used to the Office suite, and have to rely
on it. What software has been ported? Can you recommend any sites that have this
software. I do like my games and would be interested to know what games have been
ported also.

Please tell me more about this WINE thing, that's the first I've heard about it.

Cheers,
Matt.

> > What can I gain with use of Linux instead of Windows, even it is
> > more stable. What more can I gain by using Linux

> Depends what you WANT to gain.

> As you say, it is more stable, which is a big point.

> Do you need it for home or commercial use? Gameplaying or software development?

> Lets address them all

> Gameplaying first, as its the hardest.

> Linux IS lacking in games support compared to doze. If you install WINE,
> however, the game support, although not as good, is at least comparable to
> Windows. Linux versions of several big games (such as quake) exist natively.
> Under WINE, games like Unreal, Starcraft, work moderately happily.
> Your advantage here is that with Linux, you know the OS isnt going to just fall
> over half way through a game.

> Now, for software development, you have many reasons.
> gcc
> Do I need to say more?
> OK, gcc is IMHO the best C compiler out there. Its faster than Micro$ofts, its
> a hell of a lot more useful and friendly, and allows porting to many more
> platforms.
> Im not going to go into a list of other development tools, but they are all
> there.

> Office
> You have all the major databases and office packages either ported natively to
> Linux, or runing under WINE.
> Advantage: Lots of them are cheaper, or free, and again, you know the OS wont
> crash half way through.

> What it comes down to, is that stability IS the main reason for using Linux,
> that and the ability to fix things when they break (OSS).

> Asking why to use Linux but dont mention the stability is like asking a car
> maker to tell you why his car is better, but dont mention anything about the
> engine. Its a bit of a poor question, as a car IS the engine, just as the core
> of any operating system is its stability.

> I think a better question is, why use Windoze. Bar games, I cannot think of a
> single reason, and as soon as WINE comes a bit further on, its time to mkfs on
> that partition for good {:-)

by **Rod Roar** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Quote:>... I am used to the [MS] Office suite, and have to rely
>on it.

I'll bite. Why?

-- Rod
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunset Systems Preconfigured Linux Computers
http://www.sunsetsystems.com/ Starting at $499
----------------------------------------------------------------------

by **J. S. Jense** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

> What can I gain with use of Linux instead of Windows, even it is more
> stable. What more can I gain by using Linux [?]

What MORE do you want to do (today) ?

--
J. S. Jensen

http://www.paramin.com

by **Charles E. Tayl** » Fri, 06 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Quote:> My other concern, is availability of software for Linux. Though I would like to
> get away from Micro$oft software, I am used to the Office suite, and have to rely
> on it. What software has been ported? Can you recommend any sites that have this
> software.

For office suites, I'd recommend looking at:
http://www.stardivision.com/ : Star Office - Free for non-commercial use.
http://www.applix.com/appware/linux/index.htm : Applixware.

Quote:> Please tell me more about this WINE thing, that's the first I've heard about it.

http://www.winehq.com/

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Charles E. "Rick" Taylor, IV | Replace "nouce" with "net" to mail

http://orangesherbert.eng.clemson.edu |--------------------------
*** We got the MRxL, and spammers got none! ***

by **Jedi Master Yo** » Sat, 07 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Quote:
>Linux IS lacking in games support compared to doze. If you install WINE,
>however, the game support, although not as good, is at least comparable to
>Windows. Linux versions of several big games (such as quake) exist natively.
>Under WINE, games like Unreal, Starcraft, work moderately happily.
>Your advantage here is that with Linux, you know the OS isnt going to just fall
>over half way through a game.

Agreed. In my experience games like Quake II, which tend to come close
to the limit of most people's RAM and graphics subsystems generally, actually run
better under Linux because of its superior virtual memory handling.

And the situation's not quite as gloomy as you make out. After all,
games are likely to be one of the least troublesome things to port from
Windows to Linux (or vice versa, for that matter). They tend not to use
any kind of OS-supplied GUI, and generally just require a screen to draw
to and a sound card to play explosions through ;]

JMY

by **Thad Phetteplac** » Sat, 07 Nov 1998 04:00:00

Quote:> And the situation's not quite as gloomy as you make out. After all,
> games are likely to be one of the least troublesome things to port from
> Windows to Linux (or vice versa, for that matter). They tend not to use
> any kind of OS-supplied GUI, and generally just require a screen to draw
> to and a sound card to play explosions through ;]

Unfortunately most of the new 3d excellerated video games use DirectX and
Direct3D. To port such a video game will first require a compatibility
layer... or a lot of messy rewriting of the Direct3D calls into OpenGL
or some such. The thing to do is convinve developers of NEW games to
use one of several platform independant abstraction layers that can sit
on top of Direct3D or OpenGL.

Thad

by **Clancy Dalebou** » Tue, 10 Nov 1998 04:00:00

>> And the situation's not quite as gloomy as you make out. After all,
>> games are likely to be one of the least troublesome things to port from
>> Windows to Linux (or vice versa, for that matter). They tend not to use
>> any kind of OS-supplied GUI, and generally just require a screen to draw
>> to and a sound card to play explosions through ;]
> Unfortunately most of the new 3d excellerated video games use DirectX and
> Direct3D. To port such a video game will first require a compatibility
> layer... or a lot of messy rewriting of the Direct3D calls into OpenGL
> or some such. The thing to do is convinve developers of NEW games to
> use one of several platform independant abstraction layers that can sit
> on top of Direct3D or OpenGL.

According to the WINE people, DirectX is not all that hard to
reverse-engineer.

Played Unreal on Linux yet? Pretty cool.
--

"With proper tactics, nuclear war need not be as destructive as it appears."
-- Henry Kissinger
"Tactical nukes? We don't need no stinkin' tactical nukes!" -- Larry Wall

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