Is Linux worth running

[gizbug]

Is it worth having a dual boot of uBUNTU / Windows XP?
I've spent the last 5 days trying to get my network card and wireless working in uBUNTU to no avail, and wondering if its more hassle than its worth to be running linux . Was going to use it for inet, movies, word processing, and everything else, and leave windows xp for just games. Now I'm having second thoughts on all this hassle. Reasons you prefer linux?

 

[benelvin]

Well, you've kinda hit on the reason I gave up on linux

Have you ever tried to use openoffice to do anything serious, if you do get all your hardware working then you're in for a shock

 

[fyleow]

..

 

[thegorx]

worth dual boot ?
probably not, I've gone back an forth having linux on my computer
I think it's best on a second server system, something built for compatibility

 

[magomago]

its a nice OS. Research before you go off and install to check for potential problems etc. I prefer Linux because I want to maintain a technical edge~ I've always known quite a bit about hardware (well on a consumer level...amazingly enough many EECS or ICS/CS stduents don't know the first thing about it) but absolutely nothing about software. Linux helped teach me quite a bit, although I'm still learning My jobs in the future will most likely use Linux for research so it is very advantagous to be able to se it.

Once you get your wireless up and running (can you tell us what model it is? Also, I'm suprised your NETWORK card [if you mean a wired card] isn't working) things should move much more smoothly. Ubuntu already has a browswer, installing codecs is as sample as "downloading a codec pack and installing it" (ie: enable extra repositories and then open up a pgram called "synaptic" where you can click and check on what you want to install), Ubuntu already comes with excellent word processing (that you dont have to buy or install), and most of what you want should be avaible. For graphics editing I'm finding Inkscape absolutely incredible and easy to use (which great results!). Oh, I also avidly play warcraft 3 all the time

I use Linux because it is more a matter of choice Windows isn't the end all be all of operating systems :0

fyleow: I would think that it is more that you are USED to Windows, therefore you know how to do everything without a problem. I'm not saying windows isn't truly better for your needs, but when people talk about how easier windows is for setting up stuff often it comes back to experience and the fact that the average Joe is trying to install Linux which he has had maybe 2 hours experience with vs six years on windows. Obviously there are big pushes to make everything as simple as possible without bogging the user down (I beleive someone said that if you need to go through more than three windows to get to what you want you have defeated the point of a GUI), and I would argue that Linux has better HW detection than Windows does.

Anyways whatever float your boat. If you have Linux problems be sure to ask...the resident gurus n0cmonkey, drag nothingman and cleverhandle will most likely be glad to help out

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Ubuntu has been spotty on my wireless card support. It [Dapper Beta 1] doesn't detect my rt2570 usb wireless ralink card while Suse 10.0 [which was released way back when] detects it fine.

Try out Kanotix as a livecd or Suse if you're looking for a hard drive install [wait for 10.1 to release this thursday!!].

 

[xtknight]

I haven't booted Windows other than for MS Office, for weeks. Linux does everything I need (quake3, Internet, chat, music, some videos) and I'm more secure meanwhile. Nobody said it was going to be easy...but once configured it works great for my purposes. I love a good challenge once in a while.

 

[pkme2]

I'm not into dual boot, tried it and had to many problems, so its back to basics.
I installed Ubuntu on a PII and it works fine. It simply better to have it on a separate rig, but that's my thing. It may not be yours.
Everything works fine, my wireless hookup too.

 

[halfadder]

Is Linux worth running?? Is Honda worth buying? Is Coca-Cola worth buying? It all depends on your tastes and needs. When I was in college I used only Linux for several of my semesters. Today I run Linux and Solaris for my servers, no Windows servers, no Mac servers. I think Linux makes a fine desktop and I think KDE and GNOME keep getting better with every new version. I personally prefer Mac OS X for the desktop along with Windows as a trusty sidekick. But I still think Linux is very worthwhile. If nothing else, burn yourself a KNOPPIX live cd and boot into the KDE environment to give it a try. And keep in mind how much Linux costs -- nothing, free, just the price of your blank CD. Shucks, these days you can even install Linux from a USB flash thumbdrive, so it doesn't even cost you a blank CD anymore.

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: fyleow
After messing with Linux I realized how much easier Windows is to use and how it's an operating system better suited for my needs.

ditto!!

 

[Nothinman]

I've been asking myself the opposite question for years. Is it worth it to run Windows? I haven't been able to come up with a reason so far.

Ubuntu has been spotty on my wireless card support. It [Dapper Beta 1] doesn't detect my rt2570 usb wireless ralink card while Suse 10.0 [which was released way back when] detects it fine.

AFAIK the RaLink drivers haven't been included in the upstream kernel yet, so SuSe probably includes a CVS build of the drivers while Ubuntu doesn't.

 

[stevem326]

I have a Windows / Xandros Linux dual boot configuration on my computer. I had a few problems when I first installed Xandros (updating Firefox and also getting system updates from Xandros Networks to work) but right now everything runs fine. The only thing I do in Linux though is surf the web, send email, and type a few papers in Open Office.

Linux is kinda fun to play around with. It reminds me of when I first got a computer with Win95 on it and I was totally new to everything. However, it definitely can have some issues with hardware detection. Maybe you could try a different version of Linux other than Ubuntu?

Despite some of the advantages that Linux has over Windows, I think if someone told me I could only use one OS it would probably be Windows. More software is written for the Windows platform and despite some of the flaws that exist in Windows if you're careful about what you download, where you surf, use anti-spyware and anti-virus software, defrag your HD, and run check disk all on a regular basis...it's a pretty solid OS. I know not everyone will agree with that assessment but that's been my own experience with XP anyway. There are definitely some things I prefer in Internet Explorer and Outlook (Windows) over Firefox and Thunderbird email (Linux).

My advice would be to try another version of Linux...maybe SUSE, Xandros, or Mandrake. Those versions might be more capable of detecting your hardware.

 

[Nothinman]

More software is written for the Windows platform

Most software is also crap. Being able to choose from more available crap is a very debatable benefit.

and despite some of the flaws that exist in Windows if you're careful about what you download, where you surf, use anti-spyware and anti-virus software, defrag your HD, and run check disk all on a regular basis...it's a pretty solid OS

And you don't have to do any of that with Linux or OS X. Of course downloading and running random things isn't going to be good on any system, but all you need is a little common sense to get around that one.

 

[nweaver]

is linux worth running....yes


is it woth dual booting windows...No, ditch windows

Use Ubuntu 5.10, dapper is still in beta, so there shouldn't be complaints, only detailed bug reports

 

[xeemzor]

Of course linux is worth using. Without it, it would be much hard to admin my servers and they wouldn't run as well as they do on their limited hardware. If I was forced to run a gui on the sever machines, I would lose ~120 mb of ram that could be used for server tasks, rather than just wasted. It has been my experiance that linux and *nix in general is just a much better OS to run a server on.

 

[Childs]

Depends on how much your time is worth. If you're just starting out every little thing will take a long time to figure out.

 

[R3MF]

yes of course.

the only reason I run windows is gaming.

*very happy SUSE 10.0 user about to upgrade to 10.1*

 

[unmerited]

Very worth using. Secure, stable, can do everything I need it to. All the programs I need and want are available. Wife and children also use it and are very happy with it.
We are using Suse Linux version 9.3 and 10.0.


unmerited

 

[Brazen]

I find it hard to believe the OP has had trouble getting his network card (assuming he is meaning a wired card in addition to his wireless card). One thing linux does especially well (much better than Windows, for sure) is wired NICs just work, right out of the box.

Personally, I use Fedora Core. I just do a standard install on the desktop and follow the instructions on fedorafaq.org. It's amazing how much easier it is to get stuff done in linux than windows once you get the hang of it. Even my wife likes it. For now, I'm only keeping Windows around because I can't get the Halo demo to play on wine, and I can't get UT2004 to run. (edit: make that the UT2004 demo, I've heard it runs on older kernels, and a patch to the retail version will get it running on new kernels).

 

[n0cmonkey]

I'm not a big linux fan, but I say it is for me.

For wireless I'd have to go with OpenBSD, it's got better support.

 

[nyker96]

I installed Fedora 3 months ago for fun, never used it more than 3x. If you not gonna use it might as well skip it, and leave that space for DL or install more games for play is prpbably better use.

 

[Blades]

I like linux for "oldish" computers.. New hardware almost always seems to have problems. The old stuff runs well and has all the problems weeded out. It runs great on my Dual P-III with 1 gig of ram but every distro I tried had a problem with my AMD Ath-64 w/ ati vid card. It was Fedora 5s hardware probe, named umm.. I forgoet.. I was running GNOME tho.. which was sweet. I should try it again..

When you go to install linux you really have to have a purpose. For instance, a music server, file server, DNS server.. etc. Its great for everyday browsing too, as I setup that P3 for my parents.. You know, they are the type that checks their email, prints their email, and then sends to email.

I have a good idea for you, download the KNOPPIX DVD. Its amazing!! Linux on a bootable DVD with TONS of tools. Works great and mounts your file systems as read only so you don't have any "boo boos".

 

[SDPlissken]

Brazen if what you say is true about wired NICs just working, right out of the box. then why is it this Chip VITESSE vsc8201RX which is included on this board MSI K8NGM2-FID has no support out of box. so far from what i have read the user needs to compile support for it.

To the OP yeslinux is worht running,and using.just takes time to get used the way it works just like any other os that someone has never used.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: SDPlissken
Brazen if what you say is true about wired NICs just working, right out of the box. then why is it this Chip VITESSE vsc8201RX which is included on this board MSI K8NGM2-FID has no support out of box. so far from what i have read the user needs to compile support for it.

If something is brandnew then the distro won't support it if it didn't exist before the distro was released.

Also it's a NVIDIA setup and NVIDIA tends to have poor Linux support for their hardware due to their bad attitudes when it comes to 'IP' (something that companies like Intel, AMD, and Via don't have) so their stuff takes more work for the kernel developers, and hence more time.

I don't know much about your chipset or whatnot. I did a quick google and other people claim that it works right out of the box. So I don't know.

Most wired stuff does work right out of the box. As does SATA controllers (and not just in PATA-compatability mode) as well as AGP support. Also video drivers that have free software support work right out of the box. Nvidia and ATI 2-d acceleration works right out of the box. Intel stuff has 3d and 2d working right out of the box up to the 945g chipsets (were it's still a bit spotty).

In another 6-8 months when the next round of distros get released most (probably 80-90%) Wifi stuff should just work right out of the box also. There have been substantial improvements in wireless card support in the past few months, but it takes a while before that stuff stablises and trickles down to the individual distributions.

 

[SleepWalkerX]

Originally posted by: SDPlissken
Brazen if what you say is true about wired NICs just working, right out of the box. then why is it this Chip VITESSE vsc8201RX which is included on this board MSI K8NGM2-FID has no support out of box. so far from what i have read the user needs to compile support for it.

To the OP yeslinux is worht running,and using.just takes time to get used the way it works just like any other os that someone has never used.

It runs fine. I've read forum users of this board who report that Suse 10.0 works great. Try it out for yourself. (Or wait until 10.1 comes out this Thursday!!)