Posted by Silverfuel:

Posted by fishmike:

cmon... Linux sucks for PCs.

Dude, run any of the Fedora Core that are current right now. My preference is the FC5 which I run on my 2.0 Ghz, 2.8 Ghz desktops and a 2.2 Ghz laptop. There is absolutely nothing you cannot do on it. Its still a bit rough around the edges but man, Linux has come a long way and its gaining momentum, fast. Also, the new "yum" (add/remove software type utility) makes it retarded simple to use. Windows is really fugly and costs $$$ for every little thing. Also, they leaves tons of holes open in the name of compatibility and you never know when they are calling home cause none of the source is released.

Solace: KDE or Gnome? I personally run XFCE4 on my FC5 boxes. Its the most lightweight and the most customizable. I think the 2.19 kernel was released yesterday. I dont wanna compile for source without knowing someone thats done it. I'll IM you about this or you IM me when you are online.

I definitely prefer Gnome at this point. I think it's a little more stable (at least it was a few years ago, may be about equal now). But I have used KDE and am fond of KDE also. I haven't used XFCE yet, but when I get a chance (might be a little while), I could try it on my second Linux box, before I wipe that system. That one is a 2.53 Ghz running Fedora Core 1. Not sure what I'll put on it when I wipe it (hmmm...).

Posted by Solace:

Posted by martin:

How about this. Linux sucks for the average home user. Mom and Dad. For super geek techie, it may be fine.

Fair. That's why I winked right after I suggested it.

In fairness, though, Linux is *getting* more user friendly. It has a ways to go, but... plug and play works a lot better under Fedora now. For example, you can plug in a digital camera under KDE or Gnome, and up pops the associated application. Very windows-like. It's getting there.

You beat me to it. Linux is so user friendly now and its rapidly improving martin. The problem was that Linux was missing the GUI designers and end user input. Also, windows was really dominant. Now its changing because China, Brazil, India and most of Europe don't want to pay an American company (MS or Apple) to use their PCs. 50% of the user friendly stuff will be done overseas in that market before we start importing it here. But Linux is lot more user friendly now than ever before. Anyone that uses Ubuntu and says its not user friendly will say that to any OS.

Personally, from what I'm told (I don't use it), for the technically clueless (80% of the population), the best solution would be a Mac. Also, now that they hacked Mac OSX, you can run Mac OS on a PC that has particular hardware that is supported by Mac OS X. Might make it worthwhile to try eventually.

Its really not. Macs suck! They have the same problems that PCs do. Macs are good for importing pics and videos from your camcorder but you dont want to pay $1000 for web browsing when you can do it for $300.

downloading music
ripping CDs
playing some games
photos
storage
playing DVDs
internet
email
school stuff (writing papers, presentations)
remote access for work
media storage
day trading

You cant tell me Linux makes more sense than a Windoze or Mac system for all of the above.

I've been meaning to try installing Linux on one of my old machines- this might inspire me to try.

fishmike: I'm not telling anyone what to do here. I'm not saying to use Linux or anything. I'm very much into most Windows platforms and other than Vista's TCP stack, they apparently have a pretty sweet OS. But what the Chinese are saying is true too. Why pay when you can do it for free?

IMO, from your list, Linux makes more sense for:
downloading music - no spyware threat
ripping CDs - similar performance
photo's - GIMP and GIMPSHOP!! are the same as Photoshop
storage - amazing NAS utilities let you index and search at high speeds
internet - firefox works just as fast if not faster
email - thunderbird works just as fast if not faster
school stuff - Open Office, Live office, Writley, google spreasheets
media storage - works just fine and easy to setup

Here is the thing. All that stuff is available for free and most of its is already installed.

remote access - VPN works (tought to setup) remote desktop and VNC work
day trading - I'm guessing you are right because I dunno what is required to day trade
GAMES - THATS THE KILLER!!

[Edited by - Silverfuel on 11-30-2006 09:16 AM]

here's the thing...
Its not just that games is a dealbreaker. I dont play a lot. I have two kids and I need to keep the Mrs. satisfied else she gets a pool boy. I know you can *do* all that stuff w/ Linux, but everything is more work. I'm an IT guy for 10 hours a day at a bank. I dont want to come home and have to work on my PC. I just want to plug and pray. Also open office and google doesnt sniff excel. Its also about a 1/5 the time to get stuff to work on windows. Download, install, run.

Linux is great for all server apps, hosting DBs, that kind of stuff. Using Linux at home is like getting the KNicks to defend. I suppose its possible but is the result worth the effort?

I can only image the headache it would have been to install the dual screen graphics card I have. I had a Linux box at home I sued for hosting. Granted, it was 2 years ago and I acknowledge much can change, but messing around with the GUI apps gave me headaches. Windoze is cheap, refurbed PCs are cheap. You cant even sell me on the economics of it. Its not even close to being ready for prime time.

Thats just me

On a side note, Briggs... never use anything new from Microsoft. Always wait a year for a holes to be plugged.

I run Safari out of the cig lighter in my Buick

this is the geekiest thread this board has ever seen.

Posted by djsunyc:

this is the geekiest thread this board has ever seen.

I knew this was coming but I expected it to be coming from guns...<sarcasm>You have to try Linux man! I'll get you a Live CD. I'll send everyone Live CDs!</sarcasm>

Posted by NYKBocker:

Do you guys use RedHat or SLES?

After the deal Novell made recently completely selling out GPL, I dont think I'll ever use them. I run FC5 on my boxes. What are you running? whats your choice of Xwindows?

[Edited by - Silverfuel on 11-30-2006 1:08 PM]

Posted by NYKBocker:

Posted by fishmike:

downloading music
ripping CDs
playing some games
photos
storage
playing DVDs
internet
email
school stuff (writing papers, presentations)
remote access for work
media storage
day trading

You cant tell me Linux makes more sense than a Windoze or Mac system for all of the above.

Other than playing games in the internet (some internet games require IE) and playing some games..you can do everything else in Linux.

Do you guys use RedHat or SLES?

Fedora Core 5, same as Silver. I've also used SuSe, Slackware, Redhat (before it become Fedora), and some other various *nix flavors. So far, I like FC5 the best, but I haven't used Ubuntu yet, though I hear good things about it.