Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: DREDIOCK on June 12, 2007, 09:08:26 PM
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Anyone heard of it?
How is it?
http://www.ubuntu.com/ (http://www.ubuntu.com/)
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I had it installed until I rebuilt PC a few days ago. I think it's getting closer and closer to being usable for a broader range of people. Browsing, email, music and video are all easy to do with it and that's all many people do anyway. There are a ton of Linux applications out there.
Give it a try, it won't bite you. During installation, it will prompt you to partition the disk for it. You'll have a screen to choose which OS to boot every time you turn on your PC after that. If you're a curious and open-minded type, you might find it interesting. If you think it has to look and work just like Windows, you probably won't like it... because it's not Windows. :D
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Gonna be getting another Hard drive pretty soon. This one is getting near as full as I want to let it get and just looking for something different to explore and tinker with.
I've messed with enough operating systems over the years to know they all work differently and somehing new that doesnt work like windows doesnt bother me.
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Sounds like you'll enjoy it, then.
Cheers
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I recently installed Ubuntu Dapper Drake and I have to say it's very interesting. Everything is smooth as silk as long as you stick to the standard apps you can find but gets demanding when you try to do something more advanced.
Had to download 30 libraries separately to install a function..
But I have to say that if gaming on pc wouldn't exist I'd use Ubuntu as my everyday desktop.
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Another good Linux distro to check out is PCLinux 2007. You can run it either as a live cd or do a complete install.
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Xandros!
http://www.xandros.com/
Over the years I have tried a number of unix and linux variants.
Xandros was the first one that:
A installed correctly where I asked it too off a single cd/dvd.
B Correctly polled hardware and installed drivers for Video, Sound, and Network the first time with no glitches.
C Looked, and ran enough like windows that I was actually comfortable using it within minutes.
I'm not running it at the moment, as I gave my old test bed computer away to a new home. But, sometime in the next 3 months I will be reformating and installing. When I do instead of a Win98 partition I'll be putting Xandros on.
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Xandros just signed a deal with Microsoft last week. Many heretofore loyal users have already jumped ship with most seemingly going to PCLinux. Others say they're going to some flavor of Ubuntu and some various other distros.
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I have Aces High 2 running on a PcLinuxOs machine, and I've seen it running on the Ubuntu machine owned by my son-in-law. You must add "Cedega" or a highly tweaked version of "wine" to support AH2, but it works if you have a graphics card that's fully supported.
-Peabody-
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Ok the deal that Xandros signed was just to keep them out of legal hot water on possible patent infringment lawsuits coming down the line. I don't blame them for that, its like trying to get out of the way of an avalanche.
More on that story here.
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS4862361523.html
However while investigating I ran across another Gem.
Mepis, is an umbutu core, uses the umbutu packages for software.
Can test drive it by simply booting from the install CD.
http://www.mepis.org/
I'm just finishing repartitioning and reinstalling XP and will be installing this soon. Like xandros it comes with Firefox & Thunderbird along with a nice selection of tools and apps.
Little harder to navigate your way back to a windows drive to move files, but certainly doable. Perhaps not quite as windows user friendly, but the price is right.
Like Xandros it got the hardware right, so I was surfing right off the bat.
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I'm not trying to promote one distro over another, but PCLinux also autodetected all my hardware on my desktop machine and offered good Nvidia drivers right out of their default repository. Their 3D desktop is kinda neat.
On my laptop it also autodetected everything INCLUDING the wireless card - something that often causes a lot of heartache.
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I've had ubantu 7.02 and it runs very well. Auto loaded everything. Just thrashing thru what ever is wromg with my XP setup. If you have the space and inclination linux is getting close to being ready for primetime. You can do all the basic stuff including picture and music editing. There actually is no need for anything else for "basic" computing.
Most have excellent guided installation. If you know you want to install a linux system and leave an open area it will install to that area. Most of them use grub or similiar bootloader but there are options to use a 3rd party bootloader. Grub is not easy to use unless you grew up in a command line enviornment.....
At the rate I'm going with this current junk i'll be flying AH on linux soon:)
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Ubuntu is slower than Mepis for some reason even though Mepis is like 70% of Ubuntu from what I understand. Either of these 'should' auto detect EVERYTHING on your computer at least to the functional ability and have you up and running with a full install in less than 30 mins . :O
I do this stuff or a living but shunned the 'nix community for the longest time because it just wasn't a viable option. The sheer glut of information I need to know is overwhelming enough.
BUT I broke down and started tinkering with different linux builds. I was into FreeBSD4.5 pretty hard for awhile mostly for server operations and because I HAD to know it at the time..
Linux is ...ok...
NOT for gaming. Sorry. Whoever believes so is just fooling themselves.
However, if you are doing any graphics work there is a program that runs (on windows also) called GIMP that is Open Source and comes with most of these builds. It's not too shaby. It's not Photoshop (which many proclaim is a better than Photoshop, but it just doesn't have the support and the uber mods), BUT if you get used to it there is no reason why you couldn't do everything under the sun with it...AND IT'S FREEEEEEEEEEE! (as long as you don't use it for commercial purposes where the distribution of your work could be consider a 'redistrubtion') or whatever..
Many of these linux builds eventually will be as streamlined and user friendly as Windows. When they are, they will cost the same or close to it, and will run just as slow. Then the hackers will come in and it will have it's own vuns to worry about (as it does already).
Bottom line, check em out. If you have an old box laying around and want to put an OS on it, and are a boyscout sticking to the letter of the law and not copying windows to make that happen.....then install Linux.
Some suggestions:
Ubuntu - Download and burn the iso to cd. Pop it in your current computer and run it. In minutes you'll be at a desktop able to piddle around and it's ALL RUNNING FROM CD. Pretty sweet eh? Test drive without installing.
There is an option on the desktop to install the OS. If you already have windows installed, and have a free partition on your harddrive, it will install o nthere an allow you to dual boot (which lets you pick your OS when you first start your computer)
However, ubuntu is slow like I said, and I really am not a huge fan of the desktop environment like the one that is on Mepis.
Mepis - bit faster than Ubuntu with supposedly a better package installed. Bit harder for me to get my printer up and running but the difference was 2 minutes for ubuntu to 5 minutes for Mepis (only because mepis didn't have my exact driver and the one I picked didn't look right)
I still haven't had success of either build being able to use my video card for 3d...I'd LIKE TO download some of the half decent games on there.
BUT it serves as a machine for email, internet etc while I'm flying a bomber to a location etc. :)
Mepis is also a 'live cd' whereas you can test drive it prior to installing it. :)
Good luck installing drivers or updating (you dont have to is the answer you will get most of the time)
on a final note, I've managed to crash both builds horribly. Quick most clicking and running too many operations at once...
I finally figured out that if you hit, I believe CTRL-ALT-ESC you get these little crossbones which you can use to click on any 'hung' app to terminate it like windoze 'end process/task'.
Pretty sweet!
GL!
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Thing that really impressed me about Mepis over Xandros was that USB worked.
Plugged in a usb flash drive for kicks and dang if Mepis didn't not only see it, and recognise it. (Which Xandros didn't 6 months ago) But it also popped an icon up on my desktop so I could get to it easily.
However I'm having a much harder time setting up windows apps/games in mepis than in Xandros. I havn't been able to find a version of wine that works.
And I just can't afford Cedega just to see if I can get AH running on it.
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It's not clear to me how much Cedega costs. They seem to have a "subscription" model. But if you cancel your subscription, can't you keep using whatever version of Cedega you have at that point? And with the minimum subscription being 3 months at $5/mo doesn't that mean if you want the current version it's only $15? If you cancel your subscription does that mean your current Cedega stops working or isn't "legal"?
Also, I think I'd like to add a second HDD and install Ubuntu on it. Is there a way to dual boot to either the primary drive with WinXP or the second with Ubuntu? Or do you have to just mod the boot priority in the BIOS settings each time? It would be even cooler to have a switch on the front panel labeled Windows or Linux, but I guess that's not possible is it?
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Originally posted by 715
It's not clear to me how much Cedega costs. They seem to have a "subscription" model. But if you cancel your subscription, can't you keep using whatever version of Cedega you have at that point? And with the minimum subscription being 3 months at $5/mo doesn't that mean if you want the current version it's only $15? If you cancel your subscription does that mean your current Cedega stops working or isn't "legal"?
You just will not be able to get updates and support.
Originally posted by 715
Also, I think I'd like to add a second HDD and install Ubuntu on it. Is there a way to dual boot to either the primary drive with WinXP or the second with Ubuntu? Or do you have to just mod the boot priority in the BIOS settings each time? It would be even cooler to have a switch on the front panel labeled Windows or Linux, but I guess that's not possible is it?
You do not need separate HDD to install linux on it. Just a separate partitions (not important primary/secondary) . You should be very careful on the stage of HDD partitioning in order to be sure you not accidentally remove windows or destroy important data (not next>next>next).
Linux usually installs boot loader Grub (or lilo) that allows you to choose the OS on the boot.
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Thanks. However, I wanted to put it on a separate drive. I didn't want to repartition my current drive and possibly lose everything thats on it.
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715 I repartitioned mine with XP & loads of stuff loaded on it with the tool included in the Mepis CD.
Really was not hard, and didn't take that long.
However I was did have a couple of small fat32 partitions there for it to work with.
But if you have a decent sized HD (200 gig or so) with a sizeable chunk free to work with. I really don't think you'd have much of a problem.
Or of course you can always put in an old 5 - 30 gig drive from an old machine for you linux side.
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Does it slow down games having a dual boot setup? I would guess not, but I wouldn't like to compromise the performance of games under xp by dualbooting with Ubuntu.
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No, dual booting does not slow down games.