[pr-man]

ok I am not crapping on Linux because I have no used it yet other than some live cd of various distros I have played with. I have a question though that I believe a lot of windows users would ask if someone suggested that they switch. I was just wondering. for a person who mainly plays games, surfs the internet and watches dvds and does some word processing etc what would be the appeal of linux?

[egorgry]

This may not be apopular answer but... No appeal at all from the gaming aspect. I use linux for everything you mentioned except gaming and I love it. I've been using it for about 5 years I love hacking at it and writing custom scripts all the oss is great there is always something new and exciteing to learn. I love compiling new kernels and I love the control I have over my enviornment. My wife, who never used a computer until she meet me prefers to use the linux box.

That being said games still are not as good as they are on windows. You get teh games sonner and tehy run a hell of alot better on windows. Better stability and better frames per second. If you are a hardcore gamer I'd keep a windows box around for gaming

[Dapper Dan]

Except for the gaming, you can do all of those things in Linux with ease. At the risk of sounding offensive, which I certainly don't intend, for me, it's not just about using Linux, it's about NOT having to use Windows!

I started using Linux because I could never sleep at night worrying about the computers at my radio station getting infected with viruses. A friend suggested I should check into Linux. I did, the road was rough at times, but now I use it in business, get to sleep at night, and don't worry about viruses.

The added advantages are, no disk checks, defragging, illegal operations, crashes and reboots, (although I realize Windows is far better about this than it used to be), no Trojan horses, worms, browser hijackings, paying for Norton and McCaffee, (which may or may not save your system from getting hosed), and no other expensive software I must constantly upgrade. Most importantly, Bill and Steve can no longer lay claim to my bank account every two to three years, allowing me to feel liberated and free.

In the process I get a highly configurable operating system that is flexible, (and fixable) enough to do almost anything I can imagine.

I play Team Fortress on line, Half-Life and its mods, and they work just as well as under Windows. I perhaps think better. I get blistering pings in Linux that I never got with Windows on this same box. Other games I play that run satisfactorily are Starcraft, Trespasser and a few others.

Egorgry makes excellent points about the Geek/hobbiest aspect. Once I got over the learning curve, (which is only difficult if you come from a Windows frame of mind), I became, and still am, utterly fascinated with Linux. I love pushing the outside of the envelope and finding out what else this magical, stable, kick ass operating system can do!

It's just plain challenging and fun!

If anybody had suggested that in three years time, I'd be a Linux computer Geek, I'd have laughed. I'm not a Linux Geek because Linux is so difficult, I'm one because I love making it work for me at home and in my businesses.

[pr-man]

hmm okwell ever since i gave away my beloved appe IIc I have been using windows systems so I will have to fight that experience i guess. I have toyed with Fedora Core 2, Unbutu, Mepis and Suse Linux 9.2 but I find myself getting annoyed very quickly at the lack of ease that I manuver within the OS (feel like im traversing an alien landscape) and I am spoiled with the evil but convenient automatedness of almost everything in winxp. I need some suggestions.

[SoulNothing]

all right i have to say i have xp on my box just for gaming any office work i use linux, and i have tried alot of distros for this and have stuck with fedora core for hacking i go debian or gentoo,
but one of the things is the enviroment is different alot different from windows, windows boxes you in and gets you used to certain methods of doing things, with linux your desktop enviroment is endlessly customizable i mean you get to choose your enviroment and on that note id recommend this
http://www.xpde.com/
youll get the enviroment of xp and be able to use linux and you can go ahead and play around with other enviroments it may seem a bit hard at first but once you learn the pros youll never want to go back
so check that out

[pr-man]

Soul that looks like just what I need. Thx

[Dapper Dan]

pr-man, think about it this way. Remember how confusing and difficult it was when you first sat in front of a computer? You're essentially starting over again if you decide to use Linux, so for a while at least, it's going to be confusing and difficult.

[egorgry]

Good point DapperDan. This goes back to the learning curve argument. Like I said my wife chooses linux because she never had any experience with any OS so giving the choice of XP and Gnome she chooses Gnome and this is after giving both desktops a chance with my dual boot system. I was so proud I almost cried, what a lady.

[Dapper Dan]

Yes, there is something charming about a woman who prefers Gnome! My wife used Gnome when I had Morphix-Gnome 4.1 on her laptop. Right now she uses KDE with Mepis, but I'm thinking seriously about getting her back into Gnome with Ubuntu! 8)

[clutch]

However, unlearning something you are used to can be more difficult than learning something you have never used. For a clean and simple Linux, I usually recommend something Debian-based, such as Xandros, Knoppix, Libranet, or even Debian itself (surprise). Getting Debian installed takes a little bit of work upfront, but maintaining is is so much easier. Another thing that can help would be using VMWare on your XP box and using Linux within that. Then, over time, you might run Linux as the host and have VMWare running XP within it.

[SoulNothing]

the points about unlearning stuff is a valid point i know that was one of my biggest challenges i faced when switching to linux and now that i have used it i dont look back

after trying that id recommend gnome and or kde as starting points i find kde too be flashy, so i stick with gnome easy to use customizable, its just not as flashy

now pr-man i havent tried that just something i found but im looking into it and the documention seems pretty well done

also what distro are you using if any at this time

[SoulNothing]

what might be easier than installing a whole new window manager or desktop enviroment is a theme for kde

http://www.kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=1499