Gaming planning on installing a linux os system

[genuisgeek]

before i go on to installing ubuntu i want to know the downsides to a linux system
i havent realy used them before and im not really a computer techy
im a windows XP user who has like a cheap budget computer so yea

but i hear ubuntu/linux is great but i also heard its bad if ur not a programmer
i want to have the basic neccesties such as: media, word processing, internetbrowsing, etc.

so can u guys tell me the "need-to-know" downsides of linux

also i want to know if i dload any programs will it be compatible most of the time?
thanks

 

[fischju]

Not having used them before is a downside, you will be completely lost

 

[BiscuitBee]

I dabbled with ubuntu a bit before on my laptop. The tricky part is getting all of your hardware working if the OS doesn't detect it. I had a great battle with my wireless card until I got that working. And it didn't initially detect my video card...

By the end, when everything was working, I figured I could easily run a lesser version of Windows and have all the same basic features + the ability to play certain games.

It's fun to try out and learn, though.

 

[xalphax]

i want to have the basic neccesties such as: media, word processing, internetbrowsing, etc.

all those things are preinstalled if you chose a fullinstall.
plus ubuntu is quite userfriendly compared to some other distros.

 

[Renegade_R]

Obvious downsides of Linux: driver compatibility is going to be a major issue, lack of major commercial programs.

If you can overlook those, you get a very flexible system which is stable and generally secure.

 

[genuisgeek]

darn stupid drivers cant they ever make them part of the bios/motherboard?
how come some drivers wont work w/ unix systems?

i.e. i dload the AC 97' Audio Codec Driver from the site does that mean its for sure 100% compatible

 

[Mewgia]

darn stupid drivers cant they ever make them part of the bios/motherboard?
how come some drivers wont work w/ unix systems?

i.e. i dload the AC 97' Audio Codec Driver from the site does that mean its for sure 100% compatible

Erm no there are too many possible devices to have everything in the motherboard. Plus there are updates ect.


Some drivers won't work with linux because they weren't written for linux, they were written for Windows. Its a completely different operating system and therefor everything must be written for it differently.

 

[Diablo1123]

Yea its an ass looking for the drivers for linux, besides that its pretty awesome.

 

[Jiggah]

Having more information on the computer would be nice. The only real difficult drivers to find are usually all additional things like a tv tuner or a graphics card.

The downside of a Linux system. When you're tweaking things, if you screw up it can be extremely messy to fix.

 

[notnarb]

download the ubuntu cd and try it out. You can run it off the cd before you install it so that you can easily see if the built in drivers are compatible.

 

[NightKry]

Yeah, ubuntu was what i was going to suggest.

I had it dual boot with my vista.

If you DO decide to use it though, you should go full ubuntu... dual booting caused a ton of pain for me. Then i decided to remove it, and had to fix the partitioning i did to my hard drive.. O.o unfortunately i have an hp laptop, so i had to dl a vista install cd to fix my boot up.

 

[Jiggah]

Yeah, ubuntu was what i was going to suggest.

I had it dual boot with my vista.

If you DO decide to use it though, you should go full ubuntu... dual booting caused a ton of pain for me. Then i decided to remove it, and had to fix the partitioning i did to my hard drive.. O.o unfortunately i have an hp laptop, so i had to dl a vista install cd to fix my boot up.

You could have done the Wubi install. Linux inside Windows.

http://wubi-installer.org/

 

[jy2]

I've recently switched to Ubuntu full time on my desktop. Only driver I had to install was the ATI Graphics, which Ubuntu prompted me to do (and downloaded, and installed it too!)

Granted, wifi cards can be a pain but otherwise its great! I do have a Windows VM for my iPhone though

 

[matriculated]

You can see how well your system works with Ubuntu just by downloading it. The disc is a live CD so when you boot it, it loads and runs Ubuntu and you can try it out and see if your system is fully compatible. I've been running Ubuntu for 3 or 4 months now and while I don't love it, it's a good alternative to Windows. Networking with my Macbook is still a pain the ass but I think the problem may lie with OSX/Leopard.

 

[laminaatplaat]

Yeah, ubuntu was what i was going to suggest.

I had it dual boot with my vista.

If you DO decide to use it though, you should go full ubuntu... dual booting caused a ton of pain for me. Then i decided to remove it, and had to fix the partitioning i did to my hard drive.. O.o unfortunately i have an hp laptop, so i had to dl a vista install cd to fix my boot up.

You could have done the Wubi install. Linux inside Windows.

http://wubi-installer.org/

I second that, it is a great way to get to know ubuntu without any changes to your system as it is now, and after the mounting of the harddrives while starting up it runs as smooth as the real deal, so nothing like the live cd!

And read a "what to do after install of ubuntu" FAQ to see what you need to download to get good media support etc. !

good luck it is fun to play around with ubuntu

even without the command line.

 

[genuisgeek]

hmm.... i think drivers are a real pain, most drivers ive installed are usually are graphics and audio
how to u install wifi cards? can they work in linux w/o them?

how dooes ubuntu prompt you for a driver?do they system check for you?

 

[Mewgia]

hmm.... i think drivers are a real pain, most drivers ive installed are usually are graphics and audio
how to u install wifi cards? can they work in linux w/o them?

how dooes ubuntu prompt you for a driver?do they system check for you?

Maybe you shouldn't use Linux after all...