[DarkED]

This is just a introduction to Linux and why people choose it over the alternatives. This is not an attempt to make you come to 'our side' or anything like that, it's just a glimpse into the operating system and what can and can't be done with it.

Mainly people will come here to find out if they can still sync their PSP and what apps do what and such. Well, I'm still researching all the apps myself, but I will tell you that the PSP is 100% Linux compatible. If you have USB ports and they work in Linux (very likely unless you're using an old distro) then your PSP will connect in Linux.

So... what is Linux exactly? This may shock you, but Linux is just a kernel, not an operating system. You may have noticed that Linux has been referred to as 'GNU/Linux' before. That is the correct name for it. There's a lot of history behind the 'GNU/Linux' deal but I won't get into that right now - Wikipedia can run you through that if you like. Instead, I'll tell you what the difference is between kernel and operating system. The Linux kernel is a UNIX-style operating system kernel, or core. The kernel is the lowest level of an operating system, it is the first layer above hardware. The actual apps and GUI's/Desktop Environments that run on top of the kernel are what complete the operating system, these are generally the 'GNU' part of the name. The kernel is a bridge of sorts - it passes information coming from the apps to the hardware, and vice-versa. Even though the correct name is GNU/Linux, most people just call it Linux.

What can you do with Linux? Well, pretty much everything you can do with Windows/Mac. It's more fair to ask "What CAN'T you do with Linux?" There are a couple exceptions - gaming support is less than stellar in Linux right now. Not all hardware works in Linux right now but the hardware support is actually pretty good (80% or so of all hardware will work right off the bat, 15% will need drivers installed, and 5% won't work at all.) Otherwise, Linux pretty much does everything any other OS does, and in some cases, it does more.

Why use Linux? Eh, it's a gray area. It depends on your needs and what you like in your operating system. Windows is closed source, which means you get what you get when you get it. You can't alter the code to change the way it works. For most people, that's sufficient. Linux on the other hand is open source, meaning you can change the code to do anything you want. With Linux, you can run your own operating system. You can run a system as lean or as heavy as you like (some Linux distros are under 50megs, some over 4gigs.) Linux gives the user freedom in every sense of the word. Freedom from paying for their OS. Freedom to change their operating system to suit their needs, not the needs of a majority of people. Others use Linux simply because they don't like Microsoft's business practices. And others use it because they can't afford Windows. Linux is the OS of choice in many countries where people don't have much money.

How do you get Linux? Linux comes in distributions, aka distros. A distro is the Linux kernel with a selection of applications and a select desktop environment or two. You find a distro that has the stuff you'd want to try out, you download it and install it. If you don't like a distro you can try a different one at any time - all it takes is an internet connection and a blank CD-R (and occasionally a blank DVD-R.)

Which distro is right for me? The right distro for you is the one you like the most. There really isn't a 'best distro' out there, but some are better than others. Instead of telling you which distro you need, I'll tell you about the one I like the most - Kubuntu. I love Kubuntu, out of all the distros I've tried it's the easiest to use and does the most for me. Kubuntu is fun to use, fun to mess around with, easy to install and easy to maintain. To me, it's the perfect system because I like to just use an OS and see what it can do instead of maintaining it all the time.

You didn't tell me enough! Well yeah, it'd take days of writing to cover everything, this is just meant to be an introduction to Linux. I'm a little tired right now too, so for now, this is it Google and Wikipedia are your friends when it comes to Linux stuff. Or, you can always ask me here in this thread.

EDIT: Something I forgot: With Linux you don't have to worry about viruses/spyware/trojans/hacks/exploits/backdoors/vulnerabilities. This is what made me switch, I got sick of fighting the spyware war with Windows.

[julie]

id imagine linux would be excellent on a pc that has lower preformance stats, but still needs to preform effectivly on daily tasks such as internet, music, and chat

[Sullivan]

i tried out Kubunto and didnt like it. found it plain looking.

[DarkED]

Originally Posted by julie

id imagine linux would be excellent on a pc that has lower preformance stats, but still needs to preform effectivly on daily tasks such as internet, music, and chat

Linux is excellent on a PC with pretty much any performance stats but it's also perfect for low-end PC's. It can also do those other things you mentioned really well. Gaming is a weak point for Linux right now - everything else is pretty much a strong point. Besides gaming, if Windows/Mac does it, Linux will do it just as well. Many of the apps are cross-platform anyways, they pretty much all work the same in Windows/Mac/Linux. Like, if you've used OpenOffice or GIMP in Windows, it's gonna be exactly the same in Linux.

Originally Posted by chinese people

i tried out Kubunto and didnt like it. found it plain looking.

Well yeah, if you never bother to try changing the default theme it's gonna be plain looking. KDE is, by definition, a 'Windows-like environment." It's built to sort of feel like you're using WindowsXP. WindowsXP looks pretty plain with the default theme too. And I guess you probably didn't try Beryl, it's anything but plain.

[the.doctor]

Originally Posted by DarkED

Linux is excellent on a PC with pretty much any performance stats but it's also perfect for low-end PC's. It can also do those other things you mentioned really well. Gaming is a weak point for Linux right now - everything else is pretty much a strong point. Besides gaming, if Windows/Mac does it, Linux will do it just as well. Many of the apps are cross-platform anyways, they pretty much all work the same in Windows/Mac/Linux. Like, if you've used OpenOffice or GIMP in Windows, it's gonna be exactly the same in Linux.

I dont agree at all, im afraid. Between proprietary drivers from ATi and nVidia supporting all of their graphics cards, the ALSA sound card drivers being damn good, and projects like Wine and Transgaming's Cedega - the compatability between Windows and Linux games is excellent.

And thats not to say that there isnt a Linux gaming community in itself, games like BZFlag, Cube (aka Sauerbraten), and the Unreal Tournament series just to name a few, Linux support is getting better every day .

Side Note: While you do have to pay for a license to use Cedega, compare that to what you would pay for a Windows XP license :P its not so unreasonable.

Well yeah, if you never bother to try changing the default theme it's gonna be plain looking. KDE is, by definition, a 'Windows-like environment." It's built to sort of feel like you're using WindowsXP. WindowsXP looks pretty plain with the default theme too. And I guess you probably didn't try Beryl, it's anything but plain.

I dislike KDE, but I swear by AmaroK and Kopete ;.;. Its seems like as a windowmanager it tries to do too much. Bloated, in a word.

I prefer the simplicity of GNOME


But by a long shot KDE or GNOME is more asthetically pleasing than that BEAST of a GUI Windoze uses. And if you have a more modest system, you can use a minimal GUI like XFCE or IceWM and have excellent performance. I'm considering switching to XFCE at the moment.

</tl;dr>

[n8thegr8]

I finally got beryl working now that I had to swap my vid card (I had an ati x600 pro, and ati support in linux is a pain in the ass compared to the nvidia I just got, never could get beryl working on it) and it does look MUCH better than the default window managers, but I still find something off about it. It still has a sort plain feel to it, no matter which theme or animations I try, I just can't find one I really like, and often find aero more asthetically pleasing. I know that sounds wrong, but I can't help it, lol.

[whitelamp]

-Secure
-Stable
-Organized
-Customizable
-Productivity+

Pretty much sums why I use GNU/Linux. The only exception to the productivity rule is if you screw something up and make the whole OS crash, but that can be fixed if you undo the change that caused the crash via a livecd or safe/rescue mode.

[nigeluno]

Linux is never the same to any linux user, I

I dislike KDE, but I swear by AmaroK and Kopete ;.;. Its seems like as a windowmanager it tries to do too much. Bloated, in a word.

That is true, I for one have tried almost not all of the Ubunto variations out there and found most to be, how can I put this, FLAT but like I said every linux user sees linux differently, I am running PCLinuxOS 2007 and it the easiest to use by far, if you haven't tried it, you like Kubunto, You might like this one better, but that's just one linux user to another Oh yeah and you are right doctor KDE is bloated abut I like the interface so I just sort it out to fit me, Gnome scary, me no like scary things

[Vip3rousmango]

I have Ubuntu 7.04 running on my laptop since I screwed my windows way to hard. I've got an HP pav. dv1000 and when XP was installed it was slow. Thanks to linux my laptop runs much smoother, is a lot more stable, and Linux is just soo much cooler than Windows with its ability to be fully customizable.

I was also surprised that Ubuntu automatically recognizes the PSP once you place it into USB mode, but it keeps wanting to call it a music player and brings up the music player. I've also looked high and low for a linux alternative for PSP Video 9 but havn't found a good one yet.

[admin]

Originally Posted by julie

id imagine linux would be excellent on a pc that has lower preformance stats, but still needs to preform effectivly on daily tasks such as internet, music, and chat

i wont go technical on you, but I work in a computer department, and with old PCs we take off windows and install Linux

[DarkED]

Originally Posted by the.doctor

I dont agree at all, im afraid. Between proprietary drivers from ATi and nVidia supporting all of their graphics cards, the ALSA sound card drivers being damn good, and projects like Wine and Transgaming's Cedega - the compatability between Windows and Linux games is excellent.

And thats not to say that there isnt a Linux gaming community in itself, games like BZFlag, Cube (aka Sauerbraten), and the Unreal Tournament series just to name a few, Linux support is getting better every day .

I hate to disagree with you, but the truth is that right now gaming on Linux could be better. Sure, I can run UT/UT2004 natively. I can run Quake/Doom series games natively. Cube is great if you get into the mods. Deus Ex runs 100% perfectly in Wine. But other than that, I'm stuck using Cedega. Cedega is kind of a spotted pony. For me, I'm addicted to GTA San Andreas, I've gone through the game about 20 times and I still like to play it all the time. It RUNS in Cedega, but it ain't pretty (lots of graphical glitches) and I get about 1/4th the framerate I would on Windows, which makes it unplayable to me. Yes, Linux support for games is pretty good right now, but until it supports EVERY game natively it's going to be a problem.

Also I feel like I should say that ATi has pretty poor Linux drivers, if anyone is building a system for Linux you should go with nVidia 100%. Their drivers are still a little crappy but much better than ATi's. I'm not an nVidia fanboi by any means - I had an ATi Radeon 9600pro in my laptop and it was a great card, getting it working good in Linux was a nightmare though.

EDIT: I'm not sure why, but playing UT2004 in Linux is so much more fun than it was in Windows. I'm not sure what changed but I'm having one hell of a time playing this game all of a sudden.

Originally Posted by the.doctor

I dislike KDE, but I swear by AmaroK and Kopete ;.;. Its seems like as a windowmanager it tries to do too much. Bloated, in a word.

Yeah, it's just what you like I guess. That's the greatest thing about Linux, you choose what you like. I like KDE (Qt) applications and the interface doesn't bother me so I use KDE. I usually run Beryl anyways so it doesn't make much difference. I don't hate GNOME or anything, I used it for a few years, just got tired of it I guess

[whitelamp]

Holy crap, I just decided to ditch gnome and try out kubuntu for awhile, and damn, the whole experience just feels "smooth". Sure, there are a ton of features in KDE that I'm going to have to learn, but I've just been converted from gnome. Now a hardcore KDE user, lol. >.<

Bottom line: Kubuntu is freakin' awesome.

[DarkED]

I used to like Ubuntu (GNOME) better, that was back in the 5.04-6.04 days. Then 6.10 came out and everyone was talking about how much better Kubuntu was that time around, so I switched and I've been using Kubuntu since. Before I switched to Ubuntu I used RedHat 9 which uses GNOME by default, and before that, Slackware and Mandrake, where GNOME was what I chose because it was smaller. I didn't really have much experience with KDE before switching to Kubuntu.

KDE is kind of a spotted pony. In some distros (like Kubuntu) it's just excellent. In other distros (like Fedora Core) it's just kinda crap. GNOME at least has the whole unification thing going for it, KDE doesn't seem to have that luxury yet.

[Kha0sK1d]

I've found that using Windows and Linux dual-boot works the best. XP for Windows and GNOME/KDE/XFCE (change on the fly with sessions), combined with an Amiga server to access files from Windows. Some things I love working with in Windows--like programming--and other things in Linux--overall speed and user-customization.

[Chris3d]

um....alot of people program in Linux....like me. It does COME WITH an IDE, and a compiler for just about any language you can think of....