My Next OS Will Be Linux

ID:44856
 
Jul 3 2008, 6:01 am
Keywords: linux, opensourced
As most of you know, XP is no longer being sold. This is an attempt to push people to Vista, which is pretty standard tactics, so I'm not blaming Microsoft. However, I'm not moving to Vista. Once XP becomes too decrepit for me to use, I'm moving to Linux on my desktop.

I've been toying with it lately, and I'm really impressed with where Linux stands. I've been running Linux as the only OS on my laptop for about two years now, but I've never been able to move to it for my desktop. This is because I know XP like the back of my hand. It does everything I need it to, and most of what I want it to. I know there will be a time when I can no longer use XP, but I'm actually hoping to move before then. One of the biggest barriers I've ran into is that most video games don't work with WINE, but WINE has made great strives in the past few months, and they are working fast to add a lot of support, so it might be less than a year before it is a great alternative to Windows.

I have no plan on learning Vista any more than my job requires. I figure that if I'm going to have to learn something, it might as well be Linux. And I've picked up on a lot having my laptop running Linux for the past few years. I recommend you all take a good look at Linux when you decide XP is not enough for you anymore.
Jul 3 2008, 6:50 am
Either that, or maybe by some miracle Windows will come out with a less crappy alternative to Vista by the time XP becomes ancient.

Of course, I wouldn't object to finding a third party version of XP lying around, since I'm still using good ol' Windows ME.
Jul 3 2008, 7:13 am
Foomer wrote:
Either that, or maybe by some miracle Windows will come out with a less crappy alternative to Vista by the time XP becomes ancient.

Early versions of the next windows have already leaked on to torrents. I'm not impressed though, it looks exactly like Vista and because its an early version there's no functionality.

Of course, I wouldn't object to finding a third party version of XP lying around, since I'm still using good ol' Windows ME.

You may want to take a look at TinyXP, especially if you're using ME. It runs using only about 60-70MB of RAM after restarting, compared to 200MB or so my standard XP Pro uses on my laptop.
Jul 3 2008, 7:52 am
Don't depend on WINE, just run a virtualbox like I do within your native linux system.
Jul 3 2008, 9:23 am
VirtualBox works for BYOND, but it doesn't work for TF2. WINE, however, does.
Jul 3 2008, 10:09 am
Airjoe wrote:
You may want to take a look at TinyXP, especially if you're using ME. It runs using only about 60-70MB of RAM after restarting, compared to 200MB or so my standard XP Pro uses on my laptop.

I'm a little leery of the "its illegal" part.

Jul 3 2008, 10:11 am
Danial.Beta wrote:
VirtualBox works for BYOND, but it doesn't work for TF2. WINE, however, does.

Unless you put a hack in place to disable the debugger. :D
Jul 3 2008, 10:11 am
If you own a copy of XP Pro SP2, than you can use these copies with your key, making them only slightly illegal. The big problem with them is that they gut out important parts of the OS. I found in one case where I wasn't able to play LAN games because of parts of the networking were yanked.
Jul 3 2008, 10:14 am
The problem isn't some debugger, it's the lack of graphics acceleration. If I could run VirtualBox with XP and be able to play games at full framerate, I would, but that isn't possible.
Jul 3 2008, 7:03 pm
It might be time to look at what you're getting from PC gaming you're not getting from console gaming and whether it's worth the trouble. You could be better off just taking that PS3 and putting it where your computer is now. The keyboard/mouse/speakers/screen should attach easily enough, and although gimped (from what I hear) the Linux OS for it should handle your day to day computer needs.

You wont get as complete a gaming experience as if you were to do consoles+PCs but you'd be saving yourself a big headache.
Jul 3 2008, 7:30 pm
I own a PS3 and a Wii, but neither have good FPS or RTS. So without those two, I will never be able to drop my PC as a gaming platform. No consoles function as well as a PC on FPS and RTS. And that's the way it is. Also, PC gaming will never die so long as it is free to develop for it. Consoles exclude most indie developers because of the high cost of development, even with things like the PSN and WiiWare. PC, on the other hand, is completely free and unregulated, just the way I like my media.