• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

GNU Linux

A

Anteaus

Platinum Member
I'm curious as to whether it is realistically possible to actually stay pure GNU and still accomplish everything you need to do on a day to day basis. It's one thing to preach GNU, but it seems to me that completely avoiding non-free software is akin to practicing abstinence. Easier said than done. Drivers seem to be the biggest hurdle, since its necessary to avoid the non-free drivers commonly used in distros like Ubuntu and Debian.

I know gaming will necessarily be impacted, but what about multimedia capabilities? H.264 is not GNU therefore I would need to find an alternative.

I'm not likely to go pure GNU just like I'm not going to turn vegan, but I'm very interested if there are any people who actually walk the line and keep a straight face while admitting it.
 
I run /mostly/ libre systems, and could run fully libre without too much aggravation. Most of what I'd miss is a couple games. I'm not at my computer right now, but from memory, vrms reports <1% non-free/contrib packages installed.

Edit:
I also have non-free codecs from years of accumulation. If I rip something now, it's to vorbis. I don't fool with video much.
 
Last edited:
Essence_of_War said:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X264



I haven't given up gaming yet, so I have to run this horrible malware wrapper around the closed-source d3D API called "window" or something like that 😛
Click to expand...

I hear you. I've been running Windows on my gaming PC with Linux running in VirtualBox. My laptops run Linux. Honestly, I never really had a problem using Windows, but Microsoft appears to be changing to the Apple style of doing things where the OS is viewed less as an independent OS and more like a distribution center for pushing content.

The irony is that I'm considering moving to a pure closed source gaming situation (console only) in order to move to ditch windows and move to a pure GNU environment. I simply don't want to operate in the center of a giant advertising platform.

I've always felt that Stallman was a bit too paranoid in regards to privacy and control, but unfortunately some of his rants are coming into fruition.

I don't mind working in a partial "non-free" environment. I just wish Valve would get away from preferring Ubuntu. I hate Ubuntu.
 
I find it takes lot of sacrifices. You have to use the proprietary drivers for video, and even those can be unstable. (dealing with a sudden new issue with my system as of yesterday and almost guarantee it's driver related, all weird issues end up being drivers). There are programs such as Photoshop that are just hard to beat. Gimp is annoying to use at best, lot of stuff is just so tedious compared to photoshop. If I want to just do a simple photoshop for like a meme or something it's 10x faster in photoshop. Little things like that.

In the end though it's nice to know you are not relying on proprietary and/or pirated software or paying lot of money to stay legal. I find the positives outweight the negatives.

For gaming I just have a separate machine with Windows. Downside is KVM switches are all garbage these days, I have yet to find one that works reliably, so every time I want to switch between machines it's a struggle. Come to think of it, I should just connect my gaming machine to my TV... Don't know if I want to make the big hole required to run the cables though.
 
Last edited:
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top