OT: Windows Optimization? - Page 3

Fyron · #21 October 29th, 2004, 10:50 PM

Quote:

So it just occured to me, why am I keeping the OS around?

Precisely because you can't play most games under Linux... Wine and Winex (or whatever they changed the name to) are good as far as they go, but they are a long, long way from being a workable solution to the game issue...

Suicide Junkie · #22 October 29th, 2004, 11:16 PM

Just grab a $50 PC from the local used/parts shop. They're up to about P2-400's now, fully accessorized, which is plenty good for most games.

Then you can have your Games and Linux too.

Fyron · #23 October 29th, 2004, 11:32 PM

That defeats the purpose...

parabolize · #24 October 29th, 2004, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Imperator Fyron said:

Quote:

So it just occured to me, why am I keeping the OS around?

Precisely because you can't play most games under Linux... Wine and Winex (or whatever they changed the name to) are good as far as they go, but they are a long, long way from being a workable solution to the game issue...

Wine is still Wine. Winex is made from Wine by Transgaming. No games on Linux? Linux games list
edit: Wait are you talking about Cedega, that's just the name they made for Version 4.*. It will change again when they go to 5.

Will · #25 October 29th, 2004, 11:39 PM

As long as you can play SE and DOOM, does it matter?

But as for the look of Linux, Knoppix is a good way to try it out. It just boots straight off the CD, no need to install anything at all. IIRC, it uses KDE as it's desktop environment, but with just about every *NIX variant out there, the graphical interface is X11 with different stuff on top. Most Linux distros use either KDE or GNOME on top, some offer both, and some let you use just X11 (I know Fedora does this). Try it out, and see if you like it.

Reasons not to switch... the biggest one is Windows-only applications. For a lot of people who might be inclined to switch, these applications are usually confined to games, like Fyron and Arkcon have said. But sometimes its because certain alternatives to the major Windows applications are found to be lacking in some way. Personally, the only things keeping me from switching over are Photoshop and Trillian (and I think iTunes is OSX/Windows only, so now that I have an iPod, that's holding me back too). There are alternatives to both Photoshop (the GIMP) and Trillian (gAim, Miranda), but I'm not as familiar with them. Maybe over next summer if I play around with them and find all the features I use in the Windows software in the Linux software (and find a way to get iTunes/iPod to work in Linux), I'll switch. But for now, I get W2KPro for free from school, and things are working for me, so no need to switch.

And about your explorer crash problems... if you get dumped to a no-interface blank screen, hit Ctrl-Alt-Del, and open up the task manager. Go to the Applications tab, and hit the New Task... button. Type in 'explorer' and hit enter, and voila, you should have the interface back.

And if you don't want to go through re-installing everything because of explorer crashes, try experimenting with an alternate shell. I used LiteStep for a while (before UPS mangled my computer... long story). Only reason I didn't install it again is because I didn't back up all the tweaks I made to the skin I was using, and I didn't want to have to re-create everything. Plus it confused the hell out of a lot of friends who get upset when they don't see the friendly 'e' Internet Exploder icon

It will completely go around explorer, so if that is the root cause of all the problems, you can just kill it completely and use the new shell. Google for information on getting/setting it up, and ask for help here if you need it.

Fyron · #26 October 30th, 2004, 12:13 AM

Quote:

parabolize said:
Wine is still Wine. Winex is made from Wine by Transgaming. No games on Linux? Linux games list
edit: Wait are you talking about Cedega, that's just the name they made for Version 4.*. It will change again when they go to 5.

Yes there are some cheap crappy games, and a few big companies have made games with native Linux builds, but the vast majority of games don't work in Linux, or run poorly in Wine and Winex (SE4 has problems from what I hear)... That list just proves my point.

parabolize · #27 October 30th, 2004, 12:16 AM

Fyron do you play anything but se4?

Fyron · #28 October 30th, 2004, 12:22 AM

Yes. And practically nothing else I play is on that list. Also, the problems with SE4 under Wine that Sivran is having (from IRC channel) really ruin it... no alt-tabbing, combat replays suck, mod launcher doesn't work, and so on... Everyone I have spoken to that uses Linux boots into Windows for games... Having to reboot all the time is definitely not a viable solution.

And it is not just games. There are a lot of programs I use that do not work under Linux, and the alternatives are junk...

parabolize · #29 October 30th, 2004, 12:53 AM

They work for me.

Take a look at the attachment.

AgentZero · #30 October 30th, 2004, 09:27 AM

Quote:

And it is not just games. There are a lot of programs I use that do not work under Linux, and the alternatives are junk..

Even if they aren't junk, I don't really feel like learning how to use an new 3D rendering program because my current one won't work with Linux. It does work on Mac, but of course I can't have dual-boot system running Win and Mac. Correct me if I'm wrong but even if one formatted the HD and tried to install MacOS it wouldn't work because of fundamental differences in the hardware. Right?

Just a side note from someone who admittedly failed first-year computer science, but if it's possible to make Windows-compatible applications, should it not be possible to make a Windows-compatible operating system?