You are not a registered member of Norwich Darkside yet!
Until you register, you will not be able to reply to posts, or start new topics! The Norwich Darkside forums are the best place in Norfolk to get exposure for your band, find all the latest music news and reviews, share your experiences of local gigs, and become a member of the biggest music community in East Anglia. Registration is free, quick and will also remove this annoying box!Register Now
I'm interesting in trying Linux - mainly because the computer I bought didn't have a windows CD included with it for some super shit reason, so now that it's buggered up, I can't reinstall it.
Anyway, which Linux thing would anyone recommend if I want an OS that's pretty easy to learn by someone who's only ever really used Windows?
Not the latest latest version, but latest stable. You can check Linux out without installing anything to your hard disk.
The only thing I'd say about Ubuntu is that it does some REALLY annoying things for the advanced user, but for beginners who just want it to "just work", it's your best bet really. LinuxMint is also supposed to be pretty awesome, bundled with a fair bit of stuff that Ubuntu is missing (audio/video codecs, Java plugins, Flash plugin etc)
Joined: Feb 16, 2005 Posts: 2050 Location: norwich
Premium Member
Personnally I'm an OpenSUSE fan and think it comes with an awesome 'Control Panel' style of system administration. The hardware detection is pretty good too.
What stuff do you plug into your PC and we could give you a rough idea whether it will work or not, or whether you'll be able to get it to work with a bit of techy magic.
Joined: Oct 29, 2006 Posts: 495 Location: Thetford
i tryed both the newest and the version that frog posted above.
the problem i had has ATI graphics cards. apparently ubuntu doesn't like X1k or earlier models. =/ i found some ati linux drivers wiki site that had some info.
i tryied lanching warcraft 3 in wine (Ubuntu 8.10) and it just logged me out back to the log in screen for some reason, that was with the restricted drivers. i tryied to install envy drivers, and it just told me that it was in some sort of safe-ish mode thingy i think it was because it couldn't load them, can't remeber.
in the newest version, 9.08 or something, after i installed the ati drivers, i would restart & get a currupted screen. _________________
Joined: Apr 19, 2005 Posts: 5794 Location: At the bottom of the garden, amongst the birds and the bees
I still don't get the whole Linux thing. Don't get me wrong, having a stable, secure and generally more inviting OS is great in principle - but when 90% of the software used on it is still shoddily hacked together Windows ports, where's the gain exactly? The OS is fairly unimportant in the grand scheme of things - what matters is what runs within it.
I would say that getting Windows XP stable is no more difficult than getting everything installed and working on Ubutnu anyway (from my admittedly brief but hugely infuriating experience with it), and at the end of it you have 'proper' drivers for all your hardware and you can use the software in the environment it was written for.
Unfortunately I can't bring out my normal "I never have any problem with Windows" speech, as I'm just about to reinstall XP after everything went tits up a couple of weeks ago (though this is the first time I've done a completely clean install in 8 years), but I'm still yet to hear a compelling argument for Linux.
Joined: Feb 13, 2005 Posts: 4509 Location: The Rock Boudoir
Premium Member
Pestilence wrote:
but when 90% of the software used on it is still shoddily hacked together Windows ports
Bollocks. 90% of software run on Linux machines is open source original programs. I have no idea where you get that insane figure from.
Quote:
The OS is fairly unimportant in the grand scheme of things - what matters is what runs within it.
Most hardware network devices (routers, firewalls, etc) run embedded *nix-based distributions, so the OS is very important.
If you're talking about user experience, all my linux machines work nigh on flawlessly. Sure, they have their niggles, but so do all OSs. The chances of getting core issues fixed are a darn sight higher than on Windows. The reason you were infuriated is probably because it takes a bit of effort to switch from one OS to another. Linux is *very* different from Windows, and a whole lot more complexity is immediately available to the average user, so if you expect to boot it up and have Windows but Linuxified, you're in for a whole world of pain.
I spent 99% of my time on Linux machines for work, and the rest is to play Warcraft (which I *could* do in Linux) and sound recording (which I *could* do in Linux). I just prefer to use Windows for those tasks because I'm lazy.
Security is the other massive bonus. I don't suck up CPU cycles constantly checking for viruses. I don't worry about someone hacking my PC, or getting some hidden iframe malware shit just by visiting a website. That's fucking stupid. _________________
Yes. It's good. It's got a realtime (near enough!) kernel, it detected and configured my M-Audio Delta 1010 straight away. And once you get to grips with 'Jack', you'll have the ability to route audio between applications really easily.
If you want to do recording, Ardour is quite good, although last time I checked, you had to do some hacking to get VSTs to run under it, and they weren't all reliable.
That's not a problem if you just want 'basic' plugins like compressors, gates, as there's loads of good quality free ones available in the native format. There's pretty good synths too. YOu might come unstuck if you want to use something fancy like autotune though.
Give it a try, give it a bit of patience, be willing to learn, and it'll more than likely be a very pleasant experience. I've also had Energy XT and Reaper running under it, if you want a (in my opinion) easier to use sequencer/recording package.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
