Ubuntu

[Oneeyedvic]

I am just about to reformat my harddrive for a variety of reasons - is it worth having a dual boot pc with Ubuntu and XP?

I need to have XP as various programs I use will not run on Linux.

If I am just wordprocessing or browsing the internet, are there any advantages to running Ubuntu?

[Ethel]

Just out of interest and curiosity I created a virtual pc on my desktop and run Ubuntu from it. I like it. :)

I'm not sure what the practical advantages would be for you but it helps me try out different software and so on.

It is possible to run Ubuntu from a dvd or flash drive if you don't fancy the dual boot or virtual pc option.

On balance I'd say try it. What is there to lose?

[rojash]

Ubuntu is luverly. Unless you have some pretty unusual requirements, you should find that pretty much all the software you are now running (except games) can be replaced with top quality equivalents for free under Ubuntu.

[Oneeyedvic]

Nothing to lose (except time and hassle setting it up), but wanting to know if there is anything to gain?

[Oneeyedvic]

Hi Rojash,

There are quite a few things I run which only have Windows drivers, so will always need to run XP.

[rojash]

Oneeyedvic, not that I'm disputing it, just curious, but what for example?

[fo3nix]

Check out Wine (comes with Ubuntu), which runs apps like Photoshop CS2 very well. Other games too, like WoW and HL2 are apparently very stable on it.

Gains from Ubuntu:
1) No worries about spyare/adware/viruses. (Yet, anyway.) So that also means no background processes slowing your system down.

Truthfully, for an end user, that's about it. But it's great to know that you're in turn supporting a community and have the chance to get free upgrades, and learn more about GNU/Linux so you might be able to recommend it to a friend.

One possible issues: Flash has always been a bit iffy on GNU/Linux systems. The latest version being developed is much better, but not without some issues (including 64bit support!).

[Oneeyedvic]

rojash - I use camtasia (http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp) a piece of software to capture screen images which only works under XP/Vista.

I also have a Pinnacle Showcentre (used for streaming video / music from my pc to my tv) which again requires Windows.

Those were the first two I checked and going on to both sites saw that neither supported Linux.

[Oneeyedvic]

Thanks fo3nix - don't actually play games on my pc (apart from Spider Solitaire) though useful to know.

I already use Open Office so am happy to use these kind of products, but being honest - don't see much point if I am only gaining a bit of extra processor power - could always buy one of those new USB sticks with a processor built in

[fo3nix]

Regarding recording your screen:

There are lots of apps available, just not the same exact one. But most do the same job.

http://showmedo.com/videos/video?name=1820000& fromSeriesID=182

The app is called 'recordmydesktop'.

It's a different system, so it won't be exactly the same as windows. But it's not necessarily harder to accomplish things, just different. Switching to a Mac would be the same.

That's a decent tutorial explaining how to do it. (See the other videos there for some other good tips if you're new to GNU/Linux. They seem to focus almost exclusively for Ubuntu.)