Linux, need some advice.
Discussion
Simple question. Is Linux ready for prime time laptop usage?
I surf the net, I watch DVD's, AVI's (in weird and wild formats), HD-WMV's, play games.
The last time I tried was with Gentoo a long time ago and ACPI, suspend, hibernate were all a no-no... bit useless on a lappy
ETA: A few people have probably spotted that I do actually run several Linux servers around the house and on-line, so that side of things I know reasonably well. This would be a pure desktop build which I'm not so sure of, hence the yes/no question
I surf the net, I watch DVD's, AVI's (in weird and wild formats), HD-WMV's, play games.
The last time I tried was with Gentoo a long time ago and ACPI, suspend, hibernate were all a no-no... bit useless on a lappy
ETA: A few people have probably spotted that I do actually run several Linux servers around the house and on-line, so that side of things I know reasonably well. This would be a pure desktop build which I'm not so sure of, hence the yes/no question
Edited by ThePassenger on Thursday 21st December 01:02
Try Fedora core 6 - installed it on a few different lappys and the gfx card detection/auto config is first rate.
Multimedia support has come a long way - several different media players work fine with the gamut of diff .avi filetypes on the net these days.
oh and it's a one tickbox job to enable all the comp gl 3D desktop efx etc.
Multimedia support has come a long way - several different media players work fine with the gamut of diff .avi filetypes on the net these days.
oh and it's a one tickbox job to enable all the comp gl 3D desktop efx etc.
This is a legitimate question since Linux is still growing to be a desktop as legitimate as Windows. IMO, it's technically better already, but not for the general technophobe home user!!
I enjoy the security and freedom
for six years now, and I was never responsible for a Windows-box. although I have used them for work.
Anyway, I run a SuSE 10.0 desktop on my private laptop, MSI S260, and it doesn't have any problems with suspend to disk, hibernating or ACPI. The battery lasts for 4h; more than one train ride from Frankfurt to Munich, for which I assume that the energy management is alive and well. Since I have installed the Win32-codecs from the Guru/Packman ftp-source, I don't have problems viewing the wmv and avi(containers) from, for example, pistonheads.tv. The vids are shown in a separate player, and not embedded however. You can choose from a lot of different browsers; Firefox and Opera to name but two.
Flash has been a problem for its later versions on some websites until early December, when I installed the 9.x-beta for Linux. Although it's a beta, it is absolutely reliable for my requirements. Youtube and stuff still works with 7.x.
DVD - now I don't watch them. Call me old-fashioned, but I think I'm too geeky for this sort of entertainment. I haven't touched TV for twelve years either. Nevermind, I think the problem on Linux is the content scrambling system (CSS), which has been hacked by a Scandinavian youth. If you're geek enough, you could easily obtain the source code of his achievement and watch DVD on your Pingu-box with Xine or MPlayer. Alternaternively, you could obtain a licence from Intervideo's proprietary player for Linux, LinDVD, if this is your sort of thing and you can get hold of a one
SuSE is fairly easy for beginners and down-to-earth-people, but I recommend looking into other distributions as well; Ubuntu for a start. It's just that I can't recommend any, because of the lack of recent experience. The only application I wouldn't recommend a Linux desktop for is games. Again, I don't play them; but many titles are not published for Linux, or much later than Windows. Get an xbox-play-wii-station thingy whatev
I enjoy the security and freedom
for six years now, and I was never responsible for a Windows-box. although I have used them for work. Anyway, I run a SuSE 10.0 desktop on my private laptop, MSI S260, and it doesn't have any problems with suspend to disk, hibernating or ACPI. The battery lasts for 4h; more than one train ride from Frankfurt to Munich, for which I assume that the energy management is alive and well. Since I have installed the Win32-codecs from the Guru/Packman ftp-source, I don't have problems viewing the wmv and avi(containers) from, for example, pistonheads.tv. The vids are shown in a separate player, and not embedded however. You can choose from a lot of different browsers; Firefox and Opera to name but two.
Flash has been a problem for its later versions on some websites until early December, when I installed the 9.x-beta for Linux. Although it's a beta, it is absolutely reliable for my requirements. Youtube and stuff still works with 7.x.
DVD - now I don't watch them. Call me old-fashioned, but I think I'm too geeky for this sort of entertainment. I haven't touched TV for twelve years either. Nevermind, I think the problem on Linux is the content scrambling system (CSS), which has been hacked by a Scandinavian youth. If you're geek enough, you could easily obtain the source code of his achievement and watch DVD on your Pingu-box with Xine or MPlayer. Alternaternively, you could obtain a licence from Intervideo's proprietary player for Linux, LinDVD, if this is your sort of thing and you can get hold of a one
SuSE is fairly easy for beginners and down-to-earth-people, but I recommend looking into other distributions as well; Ubuntu for a start. It's just that I can't recommend any, because of the lack of recent experience. The only application I wouldn't recommend a Linux desktop for is games. Again, I don't play them; but many titles are not published for Linux, or much later than Windows. Get an xbox-play-wii-station thingy whatev
If you have a laptop you may find this site useful - www.linux-laptop.net - read other people's successes or gripes with installing linux on a laptop.
More often than not, you WILL get linux working on a laptop - might just take a bit of TLC sometimes!
I have Ubuntu 6.10 and it's fine. Everything worked out of the box.
More often than not, you WILL get linux working on a laptop - might just take a bit of TLC sometimes!
I have Ubuntu 6.10 and it's fine. Everything worked out of the box.
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