Ubuntu nvidia guide(explanation how to install)

[MRD]

Unless you game, there is rarely much need for a high end PC. Even the lowest end PC's of today do just fine for office work, email, websurfing, etc. It's the gaming that pushes PC's forward and requires a continuing improvement in power.

Video editing or other multimedia work can also require that, but that's far less common than gaming. I never understood why people would put money into consoles when a nice PC can do a far better job at gaming and at the same time everything else you might need to do. Consoles to me seem to be a redundant appliance that are past their time and don't have any real future.

 

[gsrcrxsi]

Isn't Cedega also helping Wine though? I mean it is a derivative of Wine and some of the implementation was from Cedega's help.

The problem with Ubuntu at the moment is software development. What would really sway me is an easy to configure MythTV, DVD playback without extensive packages, and a fully working DX9 with Wine. Wine is working on DX10 implementation would could sway some XP users who hate Vista.

MythTV is actually really easy. just install mythbuntu. done. mythtv is installed with the OS. ive never had a single issue with getting it to work this way.

 

[MRD]

When I installed MythTV for the first time 4 years ago it was brutal. A lot has changed since that time though, and it's not bad now. I think the biggest change is the improvement in ivtv drivers.

 

[jayfella]

If an emulator (if i can call it that) like wine worked, i would be all over Linux. And you know what, i bet most of us would too. No more contacting Microsoft for activation, etc... Endless customisation (not being stuck to explorer.exe) i think it would open an endless amount of possibilities. Imagine that... If a decent emulator had emerged and actually worked, and literally 70% moved to linux within a month. Oh how the tables would turn. Microsoft would be spending like crazy in the competition overload, and the leaps forward would be astonishing. A real linux vs microsoft battle! I would drool at the thought..

But you know... All i would take for that to happen is a fully functional emulator... Im not saying games are all windows is about, but for most of us, its the only reason we stay. And of course, Dreamweaver, etc... Which would also be ported as standard if linux became popular like that.

The day Microsoft loses ground in the gaming industry is the day Microsoft begins to crumble...

 

[MRD]

Well, WINE isn't an emulator. In fact, WINE is a recursive acronym for "Wine Is Not an Emulator". It's just an implementation of the Win32 api. That's why applications, when they run, can run at native speed (if the code is well written). That's never true for a real emulator. The problem is that it takes forever to implement the entire API, and I believe right now less than 10% is implemented (obviously, the most important parts are).

I think that the doom of MS won't come from Linux and MS being API compatible, but from that compatibility no longer mattering. More and more things are written cross platform and run in web browsers, and thin client approaches to computing are increasingly popular, which will continue to help Linux gain ground. For example, my uncle does his webpage using office live. He wants a new computer, but doesn't want to pay for Windows. It turns out that he can build his webpage using MS tools using office live with firefox in Linux. It's all web based, so it doesn't matter anyways. That is what will kill MS in the end.

 

[FudgeNuggets]

It pains me to say it but if anybody is to be the undoing and dethroning of Microsoft it will not be my beloved Apple, nor will it be Linux or any other open source. It will be.

GOOGLE

 

[jayfella]

It pains me to say it but if anybody is to be the undoing and dethroning of Microsoft it will not be my beloved Apple, nor will it be Linux or any other open source. It will be.

GOOGLE

Sounds reasonable, as in possible, but why would you suggest that?

 

[Firestrider]

Google's online apps

But I still think Apple will put up a pretty big front to MS with OpenCL.

 

[Stratus_ss]

It pains me to say it but if anybody is to be the undoing and dethroning of Microsoft it will not be my beloved Apple, nor will it be Linux or any other open source. It will be.

GOOGLE

Google has a long ways to go before that happens. Sure their apps will hurt M$ but until they release an OS (other then for palm pilots) they will only help to chip away at the big guy on the block not actually cause the downfall.

In reality I think it will be open source and things like google that will work interdependently to topple the current OS giant. Google without open source goes nowhere, in terms of OS killing. Sure they break a piece off but in reality people have no reason to get rid of the OS on their system just because they now use google apps instead of office.

Conversely, as we have seen, without support a free operating system takes years to develop to the point of challanging windows and even then cannot have deep penetration without other factors

 

[jayfella]

Yeah but this is what i mean. We speak the same language but differ for some reason..

Ask yourself this. If all of your games worked on linux, would you switch? I would for one. Because this is the main stranglehold Microsoft has at this moment in time.

 

[Stratus_ss]

Yeah but this is what i mean. We speak the same language but differ for some reason..

Ask yourself this. If all of your games worked on linux, would you switch? I would for one. Because this is the main stranglehold Microsoft has at this moment in time.

I already have switched, and I switched my fiance, and one of my parents computers. I still have a long windows partition (out of 5 computers) for that one specialized program for the University and the odd game I cant get to work in linux

But ya you are saying what i was saying two years ago. I just wonder how long people will continue to write in DX instead of something like openGL. As far as i know one is not more technically superior to the other

 

[FudgeNuggets]

Yeah but this is what i mean. We speak the same language but differ for some reason..

Ask yourself this. If all of your games worked on linux, would you switch? I would for one. Because this is the main stranglehold Microsoft has at this moment in time.

NO NO NO NO IT ISN'T!!!!

I'm not picking on you or singling you out but since you said it.....

I HATE and ABHOR the games argument.

GAMES are INSIGNIFICANT and paltry in comparison to the the tens of thousands of servers and workstations and laptops in the business world.

MS could discontinue games support today and still dominate.

The whole reason computers became popular at home is because you could do the same things the same way with the same programs at home as you could in the office or at school.

Nobody or very few people had computers at home back when they ran on 10 different versions of basic. The Windows standardization brought the computer home from the workplace.

The internet is changing this but a lot of people aren't savvy enough to know they can use OpenOffice on Linux or OSX to view their Word and Excel docs. They know they have Windows at work and know how to use it reasonably and that is what they have at home. Games are not a factor for the majority of the market.

I honestly wish they'd just eliminate PC games and set it in stone that the PC is for productivity and the consoles are for games.

Want to surf the web, play games, write e-mails, watch youtube? The Ps3 does that just fine. Want to create a CD with studio-like quality using real instruments use a Mac and Garageband. Want to develop a relational database interfaced with your website, use your Windows, OSX or LINUX machine.

 

[jayfella]

I agree. And i say that because while i wrote that, i had similar thoughts running through my head.

But I dont agree that if you game you should buy a console. Consoles SUCK at games. They SUCK. I cant stand consoles. Why would i spend over £300 on something that can barely do what it was designed to do? GTAIV slows down to like 15fps in any event of "mania" in a game. Clearly unable. And they bring out keyboards and mice! Why not just buy a PC ffs!

 

[Stratus_ss]

I think gaming on linux would make a difference. Sure that most of the money comes from companies. But those companies often turn around and try to support what the market demands.

Companies get their money (generally speaking) from producing a product that people want to buy. Games go to linux along with the gaming crowd for example, and you will have more companies making the switch in order to support that migration.

Granted not on a large scale that will kill microsoft and it will be gradual, but you will see it happen, just as you see the driver support catching up with linux. Thats because the enthusiasts who drive the hardware market are demanding linux support and thus you see a shift towards better video, lan, wifi, you-name-it support

 

[FudgeNuggets]

I agree. And i say that because while i wrote that, i had similar thoughts running through my head.

But I dont agree that if you game you should buy a console. Consoles SUCK at games. They SUCK. I cant stand consoles. Why would i spend over £300 on something that can barely do what it was designed to do? GTAIV slows down to like 15fps in any event of "mania" in a game. Clearly unable. And they bring out keyboards and mice! Why not just buy a PC ffs!

Only time I ever had any issues in GTA4 was when 12 or more people were playing multiplayer and the screen was FILLED with cars and cops.

 

[jayfella]

It happens quite a lot for me. I have all the updates. God knows every time i turn that darn PS3 on, it has another update to go through.

 

[FudgeNuggets]

It happens quite a lot for me. I have all the updates. God knows every time i turn that darn PS3 on, it has another update to go through.

hmmmm Interesting. Maybe your unit is running hot? Mine is a 1st gen 60GB and does fine.

 

[jayfella]

mine was one of the first ones out, so i guess 1st gen. He even got a james bond blu-ray disc for being one of the first customers.. Its my father-in-law's - not mine, but he lets me borrow it for months at a time - he doesnt really bother with it unless there is a new football or boxing game out.

 

[Firestrider]

Funny how there's a lot of great free and open software for Linux until it comes to games... why is this?

I can see Fudge's point though. It's a lot faster and easier for software developers to program applications and games on closed hardware (Macs and consoles) and the code can be highly optimized for it.

 

[Enablingwolf]

There is a crap load of games that are for Linux. Just the big dev houses mostly ignore Mac and Linux.

Not the end all list of games for Linux.. But still there is a lot.
http://www.linuxappfinder.com/games
I have found a number of them rather enjoyable and entertaining time wasters.