MidnightDistortions Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 Despite Linux not gaining a foothold i'm pushing towards it. It has mostly everything i already need and in order to get more attention, more people need to use it, otherwise it'll continue to be in a dark corner never to see the light. It won't suddenly be the best OS just because people want to use it but won't use it because it doesn't suit their needs. I have 2 desktops and one laptop, it's easy to have the laptop running Linux while the other 2 uses Windows or better yet having it dual booted. That way i can access Linux or Windows any time. I still have Xp on 2 machines, i plan on keeping them but i just won't use them.. ill just install Linux along side of them! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain_death Posted April 11, 2014 Share Posted April 11, 2014 I tried Wine when I first started using Linux seriously, about four years ago maybe? I had dabbled for a couple of years beforehand and read up even more prior to this point, so I thought great, I'll make the switch to Linux and can run all my Windows programs just the same in Wine, a bit like in a virtual machine.But how dumb was I! Instead using all the latest Wine everything including I think Winetricks, I was presented with an interface that looked like a bad imitation of Windows 95 and the two programs that I tried to get working for a loooong while failed miserably, one on account of a driver install issue and the other because of bitmap fonts.Nowadays I use Linux when I can and Windows when I can't, either because there is no program equivalent or when this is a very clunky and poor imitation. I would like to use Linux more and have found all the struggles and catastrophes I've had dealing with it invaluable, in terms of how to run my server well for instance.Linux is not Windows and that's the whole point, so you shouldn't try to turn a house into a boat or eat fake bacon when you're a vegetarian. You just have to accept being a noob for a while again instead of shining like an M$ guru...People forget how crap Windows 98 was when eleven years later we had Windows 7. If I was starting again I would definitely stay open source; I know everybody pirates here but how can you charge for knowledge and the kind of know-how that runs the world these days? Should one or two companies be in control of that? :protest: But wine doesn't come with an interface, you should just be able to run the installer and the windows program will be installed and shortcuts will be created. Sometimes you need to change some settings and wine does have a small gui for this but normally you shouldn't need to use thatWinetricks is not installed by default, it is made by a third party, you need to download and run it yourself, it will download and install some core fonts as well to make apps look better...Lol. I downloaded and compiled the latest Wine beta from source and as I understand it, Winetricks adds in runtime libraries rather than fixing issues with incompatible drivers or fonts. I take your point though, I probably do mean the GUI rather than the interface, so here's a rough approximation below for your delectation.Strangely four years ago, I remember it was far more unfriendly and uncompromising than this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffi Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 (edited) Lol. I downloaded and compiled the latest Wine beta from source and as I understand it, Winetricks adds in runtime libraries rather than fixing issues with incompatible drivers or fonts. I take your point though, I probably do mean the GUI rather than the interface, so here's a rough approximation below for your delectation. Strangely four years ago, I remember it was far more unfriendly and uncompromising than this... I haven't used linux for a while, iirc there were some packages which downloads and installs the windows core fonts which can't be redistributd, which you need, the package might be distro depended. That's wineconfig, you normally don't really need to dabble in that unless it is to fix specific problems Why do you compile from source, most distro will have update to date distro specific packages, which work much better? Edited April 12, 2014 by ffi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain_death Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I haven't used linux for a while, iirc there were some packages which downloads and installs the windows core fonts which can't be redistributd, which you need, the package might be distro depended.Thanks for your help but the M$ core fonts are not the issue. It was bitmap fonts that caused the problem and these were needed by the specialist application I was trying to install.I have since seen a couple of proposed fixes online, but haven't had the opportunity to try these out, since I don't use Wine any more. Maybe this will inspire me to give it a go!That's wineconfig, you normally don't really need to dabble in that unless it is to fix specific problemsWhy do you compile from source, most distro will have update to date distro specific packages, which work much better?Well, I was trying to fix a specific problem and the packages offered by the distro I was using didn't work, so I guess that answers both of those. Tell me, why aren't you running Linux and Wine if it is such a winning combination? :eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffi Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 Thanks for your help but the M$ core fonts are not the issue. It was bitmap fonts that caused the problem and these were needed by the specialist application I was trying to install. You could try installing Office, it comes with many fonts, or alternative just rip them from a windows install, I know Mandriva can do that. Tell me, why aren't you running Linux and Wine if it is such a winning combination? When I bought my new laptop with windows7 I at first wanted to keep it stock and not repartition it but I have grown to really like windows again first 7 and now 8.1u1 (with startisback of course). I was also growing tired of distros continously reinventing the wheel: hal, udev then devkit, kde4, gnome3, diverse soundsystems, menu structures and ways to configure them. Every new release used to mean 1 step forward, one step back and one step sideways, every time hoping piece of hardware x would finally start working (which sometimes it did) but than something else broke again...But mainly I hated KDE4 and Gnome3 and Unity and Ubuntu's crap notification system and no real way to avoid Ubuntu.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain_death Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 (edited) No real way to avoid Ubuntu? I use Arch Linux with Xfce and I'm loving it. You add in only what you want to use, instead of disabling everything like on Windows. Plus it's a rolling release from the bleeding edge, so no need to reformat every six months... :win: Edited April 12, 2014 by brain_death Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffi Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 No real way to avoid Ubuntu? I use Arch Linux with Xfce and I'm loving it. You add in only what you want to use, instead of disabling everything like on Windows... :win: But if you want to use 3rd party apps they often only come in debs and are linked to ubuntu versions of libraries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brain_death Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I've not had that experience so far. Everything I have needed, bar certain Windows applications as I've mentioned, has either been available directly via pacman or from the Arch User Repository (AUR). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dMog Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 trying linux mint on my crappy little xp net bookright now it is is installing and i have internet already....if it works good i will install on my old toshiba note book Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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