How do I get offa windows and learn something else?

[SeanB]

You basically have 2 major Linux "flavours", based on either Debian or Fedora, so basically try each one and see how you like them. Only real difference is how they update the system.

Or you could try Slackware, but that is a whole other kettle of fish, and generally is for more advanced users, as it is not forgiving, but very flexible ( really really flexible such that no 2 installs are the same after a while as they get customised) and quite fast.

Easiest is to install in a VM, as they almost all will work perfectly in any semi decent VM and perform well.

You also have a choice of older stable or the latest stuff, that might break on occasion, but which always has the edge on newer hardware, until it becomes stable enough to be part of the main streams.

[Lightages]

I find it interesting that most of the comments are related to learning Linux. This says something. It says that Linux is a end in itself more than a tool to do something else. That was my experience and it appears to still be quite a bit the same.

So I was wondering if anybody had an answer to my earlier post about what distro can handle all the requirements I listed.

[Monkeh]

I find it interesting that most of the comments are related to learning Linux. This says something. It says that Linux is a end in itself more than a tool to do something else. That was my experience and it appears to still be quite a bit the same.

No, it says that you need to learn to use the tool.

So I was wondering if anybody had an answer to my earlier post about what distro can handle all the requirements I listed.

You mean these?

If anyone has a handle on a distro that will handle 32+bit image editing, video editing in the same league as Adobe Premier or Sony Vegas, sound editing in 5.1 or 7.1, will handle all hardware W7 does, will manage Nvidia Optimus, CUDA, OCL....... and oh yes, gaming, I would like to know.

Absolutely any of them. You provide the software.

[liquibyte]

I find it interesting that most of the comments are related to learning Linux. This says something. It says that Linux is a end in itself more than a tool to do something else. That was my experience and it appears to still be quite a bit the same.

So I was wondering if anybody had an answer to my earlier post about what distro can handle all the requirements I listed.

Gentoo optimized for your hardware.  Steep assed learning curve but then again Linux doesn't hold your hand like windows does.  Their forums are some of the best when it comes to problem solving and I regularly use it in addition to the Arch forums to figure out what to do when things go wonky and I can't work it out on my own.  I've been using Linux since around 1998 full time though so it seems like second nature to me.  Archlinux is what I run to keep at the bleeding edge without running into dependency problems and having to compile everything I run.  Not to say that I don't compile, it's just that I don't want to have to compile my entire system.

[os40la]

  New opertunities.....I'm liking it. Anyone with PLC experience help me with the twisted, deranged, whys of this crap? I can make something do something at least 5 different ways... How do you  teach someone how to program when you have 100 different programs (exaduratration).

I have worked with them when I was working at Harley Davidson. 12+ years ago. They used Allen Bradley PLC and Rockwell software. I hear ya. The OS's were a PIA. Been out of that for some time now. I would have thought it got better. However they were fun to work with (taking the OS issues out of the picture). Ladder Logic is a interesting programming environment.

[Biff383]

  I really appreciate all the feedback. You have all given me a lot to think about. I don't mind learning a new system, I just really hate a large company forcing me to change.  I'll give Linux a shot.....hell I learned android. ...sorta.
  Sometimes I wish it was the way it was when I started, punch cards were easy.

[Phaedrus]

Until you dropped a stack of them on the floor...

[dr.diesel]

Note that you don't have to blast your current install to poke around in Linux, there are many live CDs out there.  You can just boot the CD and play around without installing to check it out.  CD read and access rate are painfully slow, but you'll get the idea and it may help you pick which desktop environment that fits before you install.

If you can't decide you can actually install many DEs, then just pick one when you log-in.

[Biff383]

  Yup plc's can be interesting, and a pain all at the same time.

[nctnico]

Note that you don't have to blast your current install to poke around in Linux, there are many live CDs out there.  You can just boot the CD and play around without installing to check it out.  CD read and access rate are painfully slow, but you'll get the idea and it may help you pick which desktop environment that fits before you install.

If you can't decide you can actually install many DEs, then just pick one when you log-in.

What is a CD? Many distro's work/install from a bootable USB stick.

[Monkeh]

What is a CD?

Kids these days. Tsk.

[Lightages]

Wow, just like the answers I always get from Linux lovers. I used Linux as exclusively as I could for a year, a complete entire year. I am no Windows baby whiner trying to do everything like Windows. I researched, tried, tried again, and reinstalled, and reinstalled again. I asked about a distro that could do the things I listed because in the end what you want to do depends on the distro you picked.

Yes the distro does not do video editing nor audio nor gaming, I know that. If you want to do video editing then you pick a distro where the repositories have all the correct dependencies that don't make a mess of the installation. If you want to do CAd then you need to pick a distro that has no conflicts again. If you want to do printing to a specific printer then maybe you need to pick another different distro. If you want to use an NVIDIA video card and do video editing and use that printer and do gaming and do audio and music production and do image editing and and and and, good fucking luck.

That is why I asked if anyone knew of a distro that could "do" all of the thing I listed. It was rather a rhetorical question because I believe nothing still exists in one distro. And thus my statement that learning to use Linux is bascially and end in itself. If you want to use one computer and one installation/boot image to do most of what I might want to do then Linux would be my last choice. I want to use my computer to do things, not use my computer to make Linux work for me.

And before anyone calls me a noob or a Windows zombie....
I started computing in 1981. I built my own memory expansion card from my own design for a Sinclair ZX81. I programmed in assembly for the MC6801, MC6809, MC68705 and others. I did systems integration and automation using MSDOS, Desqview, and others. I have worked in Linux on servers and databases.


I hate MS, and I really wish there was a REAL alternative that wasn't some other BS super rich dictator of a company. Unfortunately there isn't a real solution except to run 2 or 3 or more separate installations or boot images in Linux to do what I want. Windows isn't perfect neither but I have yet to need to boot into another OS to do what I need to do in Windows.

Like I said, many people have a great time with Linux, and I am glad for them. But try to do something different than the normal in Linux and forget getting work done, it will be all your time trying to get the Linux to do what you want instead.

    If anyone has a handle on a distro that will handle 32+bit image editing, video editing in the same league as Adobe Premier or Sony Vegas, sound editing in 5.1 or 7.1, will handle all hardware W7 does, will manage Nvidia Optimus, CUDA, OCL....... and oh yes, gaming, I would like to know.


Absolutely any of them. You provide the software.

So I can pick any distro I want RIGHT NOW, and make all of the programs and hardware work that I have listed? Really?

[Phaedrus]

I'm just barely old enough to remember putting homework on a 3.5" floppy in middle school. Like, four times in 6th grade. Then I got a 1GB flash drive and haven't touched a floppy since.

[Monkeh]

Yes the distro does not do video editing nor audio nor gaming, I know that. If you want to do video editing then you pick a distro where the repositories have all the correct dependencies that don't make a mess of the installation. If you want to do CAd then you need to pick a distro that has no conflicts again. If you want to do printing to a specific printer then maybe you need to pick another different distro. If you want to use an NVIDIA video card and do video editing and use that printer and do gaming and do audio and music production and do image editing and and and and, good fucking luck.

Windows has the same problems. Worse, in many cases, as you don't have the option of trying to fix it. Although sometimes you lack that option on Linux too. Blame proprietary software devs not knowing what they're doing. You probably want to update your experiences, too, because people have stumbled across this newfangled idea of package management. It works fairly well so long as you don't pick something intentionally desperately out of date (Debian...).

I want to use my computer to do things, not use my computer to make Linux work for me.

Give you a guess how I feel working around the limitations of Windows. I won't get started on trying to deal with OS X, because that's a vicious argument (the only more rabid fanboys than Linux fanboys are Mac fanboys) and an unwinnable fight.

Unfortunately there isn't a real solution except to run 2 or 3 or more separate installations or boot images in Linux to do what I want. Windows isn't perfect neither but I have yet to need to boot into another OS to do what I need to do in Windows.

That's because people don't develop tools just for Linux. That development model more or less doesn't exist outside the world of Windows and OS X. Which is why you're still stuck using Windows.

I use Linux day to day because, frankly, every primary tool I use works on it fine, and every other aspect of the OS is faster and more flexible to work with, if you put the effort into learning how.

But try to do something different than the normal in Linux and forget getting work done, it will be all your time trying to get the Linux to do what you want instead.

Once again, how is this any different to Windows or OS X? Try and get a mouse to work properly (NO. FUCKING. ACCELERATION. FUCK.) under OS X. Have fun with that.

So I can pick any distro I want RIGHT NOW, and make all of the programs and hardware work that I have listed? Really?

Any distro can run software to do what you described. Whether that software exists and isn't broken by 'design' is another issue entirely, and not the fault of the platform.

Normal hardware compatibility more or less ceased to be a concern years ago, btw. Graphics cards? Check. Input devices? Check(some fancy tablets may be a problem). Printers? As a rule they work better than on Windows and don't involve 150MiB+ install packages and 45 minutes of your life to install a semi-functional proprietary tool to perform simple tasks. Sound cards? Mostly good, although Takashi is an imbecile, and one of these days I'm going to introduce him to my Thinkpad, at significant velocity.

Ethernet, storage (SATA, SAS, SCSI, FC, etc), USB, 1394, all check. Wireless generally fine, some exceptions (Hello Broadcom.).

[liquibyte]

Wow, just like the answers I always get from Linux lovers. I used Linux as exclusively as I could for a year, a complete entire year. I am no Windows baby whiner trying to do everything like Windows. I researched, tried, tried again, and reinstalled, and reinstalled again. I asked about a distro that could do the things I listed because in the end what you want to do depends on the distro you picked.

Yes the distro does not do video editing nor audio nor gaming, I know that. If you want to do video editing then you pick a distro where the repositories have all the correct dependencies that don't make a mess of the installation. If you want to do CAd then you need to pick a distro that has no conflicts again. If you want to do printing to a specific printer then maybe you need to pick another different distro. If you want to use an NVIDIA video card and do video editing and use that printer and do gaming and do audio and music production and do image editing and and and and, good fucking luck.

That is why I asked if anyone knew of a distro that could "do" all of the thing I listed. It was rather a rhetorical question because I believe nothing still exists in one distro. And thus my statement that learning to use Linux is bascially and end in itself. If you want to use one computer and one installation/boot image to do most of what I might want to do then Linux would be my last choice. I want to use my computer to do things, not use my computer to make Linux work for me.

And before anyone calls me a noob or a Windows zombie....
I started computing in 1981. I built my own memory expansion card from my own design for a Sinclair ZX81. I programmed in assembly for the MC6801, MC6809, MC68705 and others. I did systems integration and automation using MSDOS, Desqview, and others. I have worked in Linux on servers and databases.


I hate MS, and I really wish there was a REAL alternative that wasn't some other BS super rich dictator of a company. Unfortunately there isn't a real solution except to run 2 or 3 or more separate installations or boot images in Linux to do what I want. Windows isn't perfect neither but I have yet to need to boot into another OS to do what I need to do in Windows.

Like I said, many people have a great time with Linux, and I am glad for them. But try to do something different than the normal in Linux and forget getting work done, it will be all your time trying to get the Linux to do what you want instead.

    If anyone has a handle on a distro that will handle 32+bit image editing, video editing in the same league as Adobe Premier or Sony Vegas, sound editing in 5.1 or 7.1, will handle all hardware W7 does, will manage Nvidia Optimus, CUDA, OCL....... and oh yes, gaming, I would like to know.


Absolutely any of them. You provide the software.

So I can pick any distro I want RIGHT NOW, and make all of the programs and hardware work that I have listed? Really?

https://www.archlinux.org/

There's not a field of interest I've ever had that I couldn't get software running for on this OS.  CAD, audio, video, odd assed hardware.  Like I said, you'll have to put in the legwork with a distro like this.  You don't get a full desktop out of this equation, you build your own.  Sure, you can install full blown KDE or GNOME but to really get the full effect of a truly custom experience, you'll have to build it up yourself.  I run a very minimal Fluxbox install because I don't want bling, I want power.

This is the true difference between windows and Linux.  There are ways to hack windows to do what you want or look anything unlike a windows install but with Linux, you can build your own from the ground up.  Want to really learn how to put things together?  Try doing an LFS/BLFS install.  Once you learn the ins and outs of that, you'll realize that you've learned everything you ever wanted to know about managing a Linux install and will probably never go back to windows again because you'll have realized the true power that gets hidden from you via Redmond.

The biggest issue is that you are stuck in a paradigm that removes your choice and advertises that you actually have one.  Plus, Linux from 2007 is vastly different that it is today.  Sure, there are going to be programs that you just can't get to work via wine but then again, if we all started using Linux, the vendors would most likely port.  Eagle runs fine natively and if you want Altium to run in wine it will given a little research, I know, I've done it.

I was also thinking that we come here to learn how to build hardware from scratch and do it for fun.  I did the same thing with my OS and in the process learned a great deal about how it works.

[Lightages]

OK, I have heard each year that THIS year, Linux is for the desktop. I heard all the way up to when I decided to try and make it work for me. No I wasn't lazy. I did compile my own kernel once. I did compile my programs at times to try to keep the dependencies working for other programs. I di have dual boot and triple boot running to try and make it work for me. Now I can maybe believe that after 7 more years it might actually work for me now so I will try again. I am not afraid to get my hands dirty, I am just afraid to waste a whole bunch of time again.