Microsoft Windows alternative. Linux anyone?

[zordon]

After M$ decided that everyone needs their tablet interface for everything, I started thinking about some alternatives for the PC.....

Busy looking into Linux at the moment. Seems very interesting. Lots of different variations of Linux to choose from (Mint, Mageia, Ubuntu, Fedora, amongst others) and it's free / supported by the global community.

As far as I can tell, Linux Mint seems very popular, but even then there's more decisions to make - which desktop interface do I want (KDE, Mate, Cinnamon or Xfce). I checked some videos showing the different interfaces and thought the KDE interface was a bit too flashy, and Xfce aimed more at lower spec'd machines. More people seemed to like Mate over Cinnamon - perhaps because it kept things simple (like Win XP) and didn't try to over complicate the interface with too many bells and whistles. Mageia 2 looks good and Mageia 3 is currently in beta (wouldn't mind checking that out either).

Win 7 had the right balance though, not that I needed Flip-3D but pinning icons to the taskbar was a stroke of genius and made it much more powerful than the conventional Alt-Tab task switching. I wonder if Linux has that.

I've also read you can try the live CD out which means you can run the operating system from a DVD without actually installing it on your hard-drive (although this would be slower than a hard drive install).

[ffi]

I have long been a mandriva fan, so I would suggest mageia. It has an excellent control center which let's you configure your computer the way you want without having to manually edit config files. Also it is relatively easy to build rpm packages, far easier than deb, and especially easy on Mandriva and magaeia due to the many build macros.

But I grew tired of linux because limux is much more into the touch interface than even win8 and there are always things not working.

[zordon]

hI FFI,

The Linux move towards touch technology you're referring too, is that Gnome 3?

If so, I'll definitely try and avoid that.

[ASIO]

Ubuntu ...

[shajt]

I'll give you my take on it.

I tried Linux in the past numerous times and it just wasn't quite there for some reason, mainly due to some hardware problems.

But it matured a lot since then.

I'm a big multimedia guy, and by hardware problems I mean 5.1 surround sound wasn't quite good as it was on Windows, but then I learned few tricks which are quite easy actually.

Pulse-audio system is the main problem for me (and many more people) , so I disabled it and using only Alsa.

Sound is way better than in windows now.

Next issue was XBMC (media center) , had some problems with MCE remote, but that works like a charm now.

Anyway, for the first time in my life I'm ready to fully switch to Linux right now ( I still dual-boot at the moment) but I rarely boot into Windows.

It's been like that for 3 months now.

Maybe jumped into windows 3 or 4 times just to do something quickly , mainly to copy something from the virtual machines I had there.

But never mind that, it's not that important for your question.

I'm on openSUSE 12.2 using KDE as desktop environment.

Very very stable, not a single problem in 3 months with 24/7 usage.

KDE is awesome, you can customize every aspect of it and it just looks great.

If that's too much flashy for you then you can disable anything you want, effects etc.

Don't know really what more I could say at this point, pretty happy that Steam is now on Linux, I even bought several games and they are working great without any issues.

To be honest, I can finally go away from that ugly, dumb, big spying on you Windows and I'm pretty happy about it :)

[smallhagrid]

(This is going to be a messy bunch of info because I can't think of any way to neaten it up...sorry !!)

I'm also getting ready to migrate completely to Linux after keeping watch on it's development for a long time.

A confession: My favourite OS (ever !!) was win2k pro with it's nice, calm, plain classic desktop.

Also I am NOT touchscreen-friendly due to having messed-up hands.

Where I finally ended up is with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with LXDE ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LXDE ) which is close enough to my preferences in a DE and as a bonus it is also quite fast compared to others IMO.

Along the way (by using a spare HDD) I've tried so many distros that I cannot remember them all - but most were disappointing.

Ubuntu had always disappointed me before because of it's extreme brown-ness and how it was kind of useless unless one uses their launcher gadget ('dash' ??) which I really disliked using.

There were a few distros aimed at migrating from windows originating from other countries - but most had only partially english versions and right when you really needed to get at some function=> they would come up in some other language - yuck.

(One of the worst examples of this was YLMF which is now called StartOS and is still quite Asian-leaning...)

None of those I found were english-friendly and/or well translated.

I heard about the ZorinOS and coincidentally right at that same time an elderly (80+) friend confessed to me how he was really sick of win-doze and ready to try Linux - so we put ZorinOS 5 Ultimate on his PC.

He also prefers the plain (classic) windows style desktop and the Ultimate version comes with an ability to make it look/work like that, mostly.

(That version was based on Ubuntu 11.04 which is now officially unsupported.)

With the advent of ZorinOS 6, they went to Gnome3 and some other nasty stuff - and I tried it - and dumped it soon after.

Given that the ZorinOS is the brainchild of 2 teenage brothers, it does not surprise me a'tall that since then they've sort of wandered off and their project seems to be stagnating badly.

Their only real source of support is a forum which is now really depending upon one middle-aged man who voluntarily provides any support as he is able to: http://zoringroup.com/forum/

Realizing that my goals were to go to Linux whilst still being more-or-less a windows user I finally figured out what to do.

Here's my current setup:

1. Installed Ubuntu 12.04 and immediately removed some of it's excess as well as installing the codecs and stuff it lacks.

2. Installed LXDE and switched to it (I didn't get Lubuntu because I did want most of the full Ubuntu which Lubuntu is not.)

3. Installed VMWare Player.

4. Did a P2V of my very tweaked XP and copied the resulting ready to use VM into Linux.

5. Use Linux as the host and also run XP via the VM and allow each OS to have a single CPU core full-time.

So now I've got my cake and eat it too !!!

Mageiadoes look enticing:

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

And maybe I'll try it at some point, but I really think I found how to get what I want already.

[ROMANTICGUY50]

Ubuntu ...

My wife has Ubuntu on her computer and likes it very much

[brain_death]

For what I do, the only reason to keep using Windows these days is the Adobe Creative Suite and maybe any specialist apps you use that won't run under Linux without a rubbish emulator, if at all.

Ubuntu always used to be your best starting point, although I'm not sure if this still applies after Unity and changes to their main interface. Mint is also a good introduction; I haven't tried Cinnamon or MATE but before Gnome 3 I always loved Gnome 2 and now feel the same about Xfce, even on newer and more powerful computers. KDE looks like a poor imitation of Windows if you ask me and LXDE is too rough. Otherwise, why use more memory than is necessary, right?

These days I run Arch because it is so customizable, but I wouldn't recommend this if you're just starting out. On one machine, recent issues with the Nouveau (open-source Nvidia) drivers and the latest Linux kernels bumped me back on to Trisquel 5.5, a very user-friendly distro based on Ubuntu that has never let me down on my clunky old desktop, but that proved totally useless on a newer laptop due to non-free wireless drivers. Plus it is recommended by the Free Software Foundation...

http://www.gnu.org/distros/free-distros.html

Good luck. Be ready for a steep learning curve but once you've started, eventually you'll want to finish...

:showoff:

[insnclwn Guilty]

linux moving forwards. aahahahaha nice joke. first linux n macos based on pretty old tech call it bsd. open source dosent meant it will have no cost. free sw like linux mint is much better, also requested donations to keep project running, nothing in this world is free. linux is only "free" for non commercial use or educational. also neither is free because education is the most xpensive thing in this world. also like all os based in monolithic kernel design have it problems. linux system file also sucks. also linux based os, isnt designed for pro use like video/audio production or high definition.

[JessicaLeigh]

I'm also strongly pursuing Linux as I feel I've been suddenly pushed off the Windows platform by Microsoft themselves. I'm going to want to make whatever L- distro I decide on, look and feel as much like W7 as possible, so this thread will prove such a wonderful help to me... and so I will say in advance: THANK YOU GUYS! Please by all means, if you have any other distro suggestions, I'd love to hear (read) them. :)

[smallhagrid]

Jessica - have a look at the downloads here:

http://31-flavors.yaskulka.org/

Descriptions here:

http://www.webpath.net/31-flavors-of-fun-releases.html

Homepage here:

http://www.webpath.net/index.html

What it's about:

During the month of August, 2012, I performed an experiment to demonstrate the advantages of open source (shared knowledge) solutions in real-world situations. This experiment compared open source development speed, costs, and required manpower to the proprietary Microsoft® Windows® development of their Windows 7 operating system releases.

Might be helpful in reaching your goal...?

[rach]

Actually I'm not really sure, but seems Ubuntu has more support than the others. but for the first try, I think it's better to go with LinuxMint.

for KDE, OpenSUSE is the best so far from my point of view. and don't forget about BackTrack too, it's so interesting :tehe:

[dcs18]

Have tried Linux various times - in all permutations & combinations and have always returned to Windows.

The reason; in one sentence - Linux is pretty much unintuitive, just like Windows 8 (out of the box.) Hated the fact that most programs & applications are developed keeping Windows in mind.

My verdict is quite bleak . . . . . . for Linux - having said that; every person should try it at least once, persevering with the OS for nothing less than 25 consecutive days before forming a decision based on sheer personal experience (and not on what others think and prescribe.)

[xpmule]

Depends what you want to do..

I do a lot of cracking and coding for windows app's so like it or not i'm chained to them.

besides i find i like the windows versions of apps better most of the time and have never found a linux replacement.

Such as Visual Studio..

I've used them all going way back.. like before Connectix bought Mandrake ;)

So i've been there and done that.. and i have to say I Like KDE

Most recently used for me is Backtrack because of the tools it comes with.

My point is you should figure out what you hope to accomplish and tailor your choice to that.

There is Distro web sites like http://distrowatch.com/ that can help..

Until the majority comes over to linux i'm stuck with windows or what ever is popular.

And over all i'm not complaining windows after i hack it up works great for me lol

I hope to see Linux be a real contender one day but if we have to go through retarded lengths

using consoles and building source code etc then i can't see that happening..

i have spent WAY too much time pissing around trying to fix bugs on basic things

and that means console hell lol ..not very user friendly

[Tarik]

There is no alternative for Microsoft Windows

[johndoe]

dcs18 used the right word - unintuitive. linux makes the end user jump through hoops to accomplish even the most basic of tasks. sure there's the command line and you can do pretty much anything with that and although i'm not really a n00b to the command line either (i started out in the days of DOS 3.3), BUT, if a point and click OS is available wherein you can pretty much do anything / everything by simply pointing and clicking, why the F go back to the doing things the hard way i.e., the command line...

[ande]

Linux is everywhere, mobile devices, atm machines, server machines, google, power machines, etc.

Main reason why Linux isn't so popular on desktop is because it doesn't come preinstalled.

Only truly multi-platform OS, MS with W8 wanna sell that story, but everyone knows it's bullshit.

[smallhagrid]

Recently many Linux distros have gotten alot more windows-like...they finally found a CLUE !!!

I seldom use terminal very much, but when I do I just easily copy/paste into it mostly now.

Sure, some stuff is a bit hidden - but alot of stuff is hidden in EVERY kind of OS - no biggie IMO.

Besides that I use a full XP within Linux anyhow, so I've lost nothing, but gained the stability which comes with Linux.

[dcs18]

Linux is everywhere, mobile devices, atm machines, server machines, google, power machines, etc.

Yes everywhere - it's nothing else but Linux, the fault lies with the people and the burqas shrouding their eyes (they just can't seem to see it - it's raining Linux.) :dunno:

BTW people, everybody - freeze, right now!!! Look closely at the screen in front of you - what OS are you using to read what I just typed??? :naughty:

Main reason why Linux isn't so popular on desktop is because it doesn't come preinstalled.

What stops them from being preinstalled - if they had done a great job (as Windows continues to do,) systems Manufacturers, Developers & Builders would've shafted Microsoft, long ago. I have to use the OS of a Dictator whom I hate - because Linux failed in their deliverables . . . . . . . . miserably. The Linux Foundation would never have to be lamenting about the UEFI implementation that Microsoft dictated to all OS Developers - they would not have been forced to deep-throat the slimy Microsoft d!ck (it took a courageous Linus Torvalds to salvage the situation - albeit too late in the day.)

Now, the bad news (this comes to you from someone who has personally hacked the UEFI) is that UEFI is going to commit a balatkar on Linux, in broad daylight - mark my words.)

Only truly multi-platform OS, MS with W8 wanna sell that story, but everyone knows it's bullshit.

The Buddha whom you kill with words in your signature had (BTW, he's already a stiff) this doctrine - utter sweet words, ande, you never know when you might have to eat your bullshit (oops, I meant words.)

@ all Linux Aspirants

Linux is great as a fashion statement, granting full bragging rights - but, as in work-flow it's all fart and no sh!t, a POS [that I continue to maintain] everybody must eat at least for a protracted period of 25 days (all the very best - happy feast.) :pope:

[Zex]

I'm dual booting Windows 7 and Lubuntu (http://lubuntu.net/). Previously I had Ubuntu but found that Lubuntu is super-fast and its looks better :showoff:

[JessicaLeigh]

Jessica - have a look at the downloads here:

http://31-flavors.yaskulka.org/

Descriptions here:

http://www.webpath.net/31-flavors-of-fun-releases.html

Homepage here:

http://www.webpath.net/index.html

What it's about:

During the month of August, 2012, I performed an experiment to demonstrate the advantages of open source (shared knowledge) solutions in real-world situations. This experiment compared open source development speed, costs, and required manpower to the proprietary Microsoft® Windows® development of their Windows 7 operating system releases.

Might be helpful in reaching your goal...?

This is a great help - thank you!

[ande]

Linux is everywhere, mobile devices, atm machines, server machines, google, power machines, etc.

Yes everywhere - it's nothing else but Linux, the fault lies with the people and the burqas shrouding their eyes (they just can't seem to see it - it's raining Linux.) :dunno:

BTW people, everybody - freeze, right now!!! Look closely at the screen in front of you - what OS are you using to read what I just typed??? :naughty:

But it is, I bet nsane is hosted on Linux servers. ^_^

Main reason why Linux isn't so popular on desktop is because it doesn't come preinstalled.

What stops them from being preinstalled - if they had done a great job (as Windows continues to do,) systems Manufacturers, Developers & Builders would've shafted Microsoft, long ago. I have to use the OS of a Dictator whom I hate - because Linux failed in their deliverables . . . . . . . . miserably. The Linux Foundation would never have to be lamenting about the UEFI implementation that Microsoft dictated to all OS Developers - they would not have been forced to deep-throat the slimy Microsoft d!ck (it took a courageous Linus Torvalds to salvage the situation - albeit too late in the day.)

Now, the bad news (this comes to you from someone who has personally hacked the UEFI) is that UEFI is going to commit a balatkar on Linux, in broad daylight - mark my words.)

I think you are wise enough to know why.

And to eat my shit, I mean words, it does come preinstalled, in a very small scale - Dell.

With Valve Game Industry is seeing Linux as serious candidate, and gamers are good portion of the pie.

And you know what that implies - better hardware support, better software support, increased % of preinstalled machines, and with % you get attention of companies such as Adobe, who knows maybe even Microsoft offers Office on Linux although that is some futuristic view.

Only truly multi-platform OS, MS with W8 wanna sell that story, but everyone knows it's bullshit.

The Buddha whom you kill with words in your signature had (BTW, he's already a stiff) this doctrine - utter sweet words, ande, you never know when you might have to eat your bullshit (oops, I meant words.)

It is very simple, use best of both, don't be bond with Microsoft or Linux, Chrome or Firefox, Adobe or Corel, Kaspersky or Norton to simplify it on application level, not what it is - but what I choose it is.

Peace out yo.

[dcs18]

Linux is everywhere, mobile devices, atm machines, server machines, google, power machines, etc.

Yes everywhere - it's nothing else but Linux, the fault lies with the people and the burqas shrouding their eyes (they just can't seem to see it - it's raining Linux.) :dunno:

BTW people, everybody - freeze, right now!!! Look closely at the screen in front of you - what OS are you using to read what I just typed??? :naughty

But it is, I bet nsane is hosted on Linux servers. ^_^

Congratulations - so, you finally managed to guess just one Linux unconfirmed implementation, that too based on a gamble (I thought you mentioned everywhere.) This is pathetic . . . . . . for Linux wannabes - I sincerely hope that nSane is really hosted on Linux servers (don't want this to be a complete wash-out for you.)

Main reason why Linux isn't so popular on desktop is because it doesn't come preinstalled.

What stops them from being preinstalled - if they had done a great job (as Windows continues to do,) systems Manufacturers, Developers & Builders would've shafted Microsoft, long ago. I have to use the OS of a Dictator whom I hate - because Linux failed in their deliverables . . . . . . . . miserably. The Linux Foundation would never have to be lamenting about the UEFI implementation that Microsoft dictated to all OS Developers - they would not have been forced to deep-throat the slimy Microsoft d!ck (it took a courageous Linus Torvalds to salvage the situation - albeit too late in the day.)

Now, the bad news (this comes to you from someone who has personally hacked the UEFI) is that UEFI is going to commit a balatkar on Linux, in broad daylight - mark my words.)

I think you are wise enough to know why.

And to eat my shit, I mean words, it does come preinstalled, in a very small scale - Dell.

With Valve Game Industry is seeing Linux as serious candidate, and gamers are good portion of the pie.

And you know what that implies - better hardware support, better software support, increased % of preinstalled machines, and with % you get attention of companies such as Adobe, who knows maybe even Microsoft offers Office on Linux although that is some futuristic view.

Microsoft OS is a shareware - an exorbitantly priced one at that, yet almost everybody opts for a Microsoft driven system (even when it doesn't come pre-installed - for example; in rigs that are assembled.) Why???

Simple, Linux doesn't have what it takes to be in the top league - the facts speak for themselves (those who manufacture systems do not relish the prospect of going bankrupt by taking the risk of selling machines pre-installed with Linux which the general public refuses to use because Linux brings with it a retarded workflow for computing purposes.)

Kindly don't try to make a case for Linux based on hardware - it can barely manage to run on the latest UEFI hardware, OK (the hard reason for a select few Users being able to run Linux in an UEFI environment, today is only because they agreed to bend backwards over themselves to suck Bill Gates' rich fat d!ck.)

Software support for Linux is a big joke - one has to examine each and every program for compatibility even before the download, unlike Windows.

Linux is good (not great) for Programmers - and certainly not for the types who would only want to boast about being a Linux User.

Only truly multi-platform OS, MS with W8 wanna sell that story, but everyone knows it's bullshit.

The Buddha whom you kill with words in your signature had (BTW, he's already a stiff) this doctrine - utter sweet words, ande, you never know when you might have to eat your bullshit (oops, I meant words.)

It is very simple, use best of both, don't be bond with Microsoft or Linux, Chrome or Firefox, Adobe or Corel, Kaspersky or Norton to simplify it on application level, not what it is - but what I choose it is.

Peace out yo.

Glad to see you've finally toned down and decided to echo my thoughts at this thread. ^_^

Kindly bear in mind when you disrespect others by bullshitting the OS they're using, they're obliged to come down heavily on you plus on whatever OS you may want to propagate (not taking up the 'kill Buddha' matter further - you'd better extrapolate you words, using more discretion, where I come from he's a god for someone else.)

Peace. :)

[brain_death]

All the top Ten Supercomputers use Linux OS. (Linux OS includes Cray Linux Environment and bullx SUperCOmputer Suit)

All the top Twenty Supercomputers use Linux OS. Two of which use Linux OS bullx SUperCOmputer Suit.

Out of top 50 Supercomputers 44 run on Linux OS while 6 use OS other than Linux. 3 of which use Unix while 3 use Mixed OS. The supercomputers which employ Mixed Operating system use CNK/SLES 9.

Out of Top 100 Supercomputers 7 operate on UNIX, 1 on Windows, 5 use mixed operating system. All the rest 87 Supercomputer use Linux.

The super computer that runs on Windows ranks 96th fastest supercomputer out of 100.

Out of supercomputers ranked from 100th to 150th, 5 employ non-Linux OS 3 of which are Unix, 1 BSD-based OS and 2 run on Mixed type of OS.

Out of Supercomputers ranked between 100th to 200th, 11 use Operating system other than Linux. Of which 1 is Windows OS. The Windows Supercomputer is ranked 157th among top 200 Supercomputers.

Out of Supercomputers ranked between 200th to 300 only 4 supercomputers use OS other than Linux, 3 employ Mixed while 1 employs UNIX.

Finally out of top 500 super computers , 462 run Linux, followed by Unix with 24 Supercomputers and 11 running Mixed 2 running on Windows.

Finally there is only 1 BSD OS based supercomputer.

Supercomputers that run on Windows family OS both employ Windows HPC 2008 OS.

Source:

http://www.unixmen.com/linux-share-in-supercomputer-os/

I realize supercomputing is not the desktop, but it's a lot for a POS, right?

;)

[RadioActive]

Just for the sake of variety I'll recommend Zorin OS.

Zorin OS is an Ubuntu-based Linux distribution designed especially for newcomers to Linux. It has a Windows-like graphical user interface and many programs similar to those found in Windows. Zorin OS also comes with an application that lets users run many Windows programs. The distribution's ultimate goal is to provide a Linux alternative to Windows and let Windows users enjoy all the features of Linux without complications.

Screenshot:

Download:

http://zorin-os.com/free.html