Linux as a Stand alone OS?

[bdf24]

Is this recommended or should you have a second OS like windows for other needs. The main reason I'm asking is for gaming. Will linux run 3D games like windows? If so I'd be interested in switching over. I know nothing about linux. I've never even inquired about it before. So this would be all new to me. But If it were to take a lot of tinkering and tweaking to get it to work, thats fine. That's what I love to do more then anything anyway. PC's just are'nt any fun when there no problems to solve. Or maybe I've just been running Microsoft products to long! :)

[Ebola]

For what I do I have to have winblows. I grade assignments that are done in microsoft office. Word, Access, Excel stuff. Some programs that I use for graphics are not available in linux either. It all depends what your doing.

for linux gaming check out http://www.lokigames.com/

[bdf24]

Thanks for the quick reply ebola. I'll check that link out.

[bdf24]

So it seems you need to buy games that are built to run on Linux systems. I thought maybe you could download patch's to possibly run the games. I think dual boot may be better for me then.

[Vryce]

you might have some luck with WINE, the windows emulator
I don't know if It'll let you run all / any of your games, but it could be worth a shot

If you're completely new to *nix, I think dual booting would be a good choice, it's always nice to have something familiar to fall back on if trouble arises

[sockmonkey]

Originally posted by Ebola
For what I do I have to have winblows. I grade assignments that are done in microsoft office. Word, Access, Excel stuff.
Can't you use staroffice to convert those?

[Ebola]

i dont think so because they arent plain spread sheets, they use macros and stuff. And when you have 100+ assignments to grade, it becomes a hassle.

[dcarrera]

I use Linux as a stand-alone OS. However, for most people I certainly recommend dual-booting.

I think that Linux has most things that regular users expect to have from Windows (ICQ, office suites,games, etc). I believe that if you grab a regular Windows user, and sit him in front of a Linux computer, he'll be able to do most things that he used to do on Windows with little effort. As way of example, my 10 and 12 year-old brothers run Linux.

The reason why I run Linux is because it offers me a million things that Windows doesn't.

Start with a dual-boot, and you might find yourself using Windows less each time.

[klosters64a]

StarOffice will convert Word .docs to a format(.swd) that it can handle without ill effect, AFAIK. Excel and such may be asking too much. Sorry, I don't remember if StarOffice can convert .swd files back to .doc form!

StarOffice's "Word"-like prog is mighty short on the eye candy, if that's important.

Using Linux only requires a serious commitment to learning Linux. As in twelve to sixteen hours per day for a loong time. I had to throw in the towel after two months of this.

Nevertheless, learning enough about Linux to surf, use StarOffice and play Linux-compatible games isn't all that difficult.
You'll learn a LOT of what goes on "under the hood!"

[sfa ok]

Personally, I think StarOffice is a wee bit bloated for word processing, I use Abiword, which is a great program.

[dcarrera]

Star Office can most certainly convert .swd files back into .doc form. However, forget about any eye-candy. Even something as simple as bullets might come out "weird".

Star Office certainly tries to read Excel files, but I'm not sure if it does a good job. You could ask people to save Excel files as "csv" files which are standard and Star Office can read fine.

In all, I think that Star Office is a perfectly good substitution for MS Office. My whole family uses it.

Using Linux only requires a serious commitment to learning Linux. As in twelve to sixteen hours per day for a loong time. I had to throw in the towel after two months of this.

I'm not sure I agree. If you really want to make the most out of Linux you do need to put in some work. But that is not a compromise. Allow me to elaborate:

In order to use Linux the same way, and to do the same things you do on Windows, you don't need almost any work at all - my girlfriend doesn't know or care much about computers, she uses Linux, she doesn't try to understand it, and she agrees with me that it's just as easy.

Nearly all the medium to difficult things about Linux entail doing things that Windows wouldn't let you do anyways. This includes your ability to "tweak" the system, the powerful development platform it is, and the like. Since these are things that Windows simply doesn't offer, it being hard on Linux does not represent a loss.

My suggestion to the new user would be:
Start using Linux just as you do Windows. Try to learn about the things that Linux offers that Windows doesn't, but do so at your leasure and don't feel compelled to do it.

[XWRed1]

The only games that you can go buy a Windows cd and download the binaries to play in Linux are UT, Q3, and Wolfenstein.

The games on Lokigames.com are full blown ports, done under contract by Loki, who is a porting house. Its similar to the idea of Mac ports or console ports.

You can't go out and buy a console game, and just get free binaries to play it in Windows, can you?

If you were to buy a Loki game, you'd get a full boxed copy with an install cd and instruction manuals for Linux.

I don't see why not being able to get your games for free will make you want to keep to Windows. If you were running just Linux, why would you be out buying Windows games to begin with?

I do all my stuff in Linux, including gaming. I get higher fps in Q3 under Linux than I do in WinXP, and WinXP has Det4 based drivers vs. Det3 in Linux.