smoketetsuo (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
smoketetsuo) wrote2006-10-08 05:50 pm
smoketetsuo) wrote2006-10-08 05:50 pm
Linux Stuff
This week I have been doing some experiments with installing linux to the hard drive on the Dell Laptop I have here. The final result? I'm reformatting that laptop right now and reinstalling Windows XP.
The two distributions of Linux I tried are the latest Mandriva and Ubuntu distributions. I tried mandriva first.
Mandriva at one time used to be called Mandrake and used to be considered the easiest Linux distribution around. The newest version features the newest 3D accelerated desktop (kind of like OS X and Vista). Which is cool and everything but it still feels pretty experimental and flakey. Most of the effects are just gimmicky and don't enhance productivity. They certainly don't make Linux better than Mac OS X.
The real issue here though is how the 3D desktop doesn't like to share the 3D card with any programs that might need 3D functions like games and you have to jump through hoops in order to get them to run (run them in a nested X11 server). The nice thing about that desktop though is that it installs and runs with good performance on a crappy intel integrated graphics chip and on a system with only 256MB where Vista won't install at all.
I was able to get programs to install using various methods, package installers and command line programs like urpmi and apt-get but if you are a person who hates how Mac became more unixey you'd hate this even more.
I installed VLC but one thing I have noticed about VLC is that depending on what platform you install it on determines what formats play best on that platform... for example. WMV won't play on OS X with VLC but it will on Windows. Quicktime won't play well on Linux... and even MKV doesn't look as good on Linux as it does on OS X.
I installed crossover, wine and cedega to try out getting a windows game or two to work... and itunes since the media players for linux can't access my shared itunes library on my Mac. I tried playing WinROTTGL but it wouldn't work with any of them even in Ubuntu which uses the regular X11 server that plays well with OpenGL. Cedega also refused to see that I had 3D drivers installed but which worked with Half Life downloaded through Steam with crossover.. which worked.. but with no sound.
iTunes worked but it installed a severely outdated version which wasn't able to see my shared iTunes library.
Usually I don't complain about default looks because I usually replace them anyway but both Ubuntu and Mandriva use an orange default color scheme which is in my opinion not a good choice for a default.. it's too in your face and I don't like it either. Speaking of themes at one time Linux used to have the best themes but now I'm sorry to say they have fallen behind Mac and Windows..... most customised Linux desktops I have seen lately look pretty kludgy\unrefined.
There are also other things that I can't remember but that's the gist of it.
Here's a screenshot from Mandriva
The two distributions of Linux I tried are the latest Mandriva and Ubuntu distributions. I tried mandriva first.
Mandriva at one time used to be called Mandrake and used to be considered the easiest Linux distribution around. The newest version features the newest 3D accelerated desktop (kind of like OS X and Vista). Which is cool and everything but it still feels pretty experimental and flakey. Most of the effects are just gimmicky and don't enhance productivity. They certainly don't make Linux better than Mac OS X.
The real issue here though is how the 3D desktop doesn't like to share the 3D card with any programs that might need 3D functions like games and you have to jump through hoops in order to get them to run (run them in a nested X11 server). The nice thing about that desktop though is that it installs and runs with good performance on a crappy intel integrated graphics chip and on a system with only 256MB where Vista won't install at all.
I was able to get programs to install using various methods, package installers and command line programs like urpmi and apt-get but if you are a person who hates how Mac became more unixey you'd hate this even more.
I installed VLC but one thing I have noticed about VLC is that depending on what platform you install it on determines what formats play best on that platform... for example. WMV won't play on OS X with VLC but it will on Windows. Quicktime won't play well on Linux... and even MKV doesn't look as good on Linux as it does on OS X.
I installed crossover, wine and cedega to try out getting a windows game or two to work... and itunes since the media players for linux can't access my shared itunes library on my Mac. I tried playing WinROTTGL but it wouldn't work with any of them even in Ubuntu which uses the regular X11 server that plays well with OpenGL. Cedega also refused to see that I had 3D drivers installed but which worked with Half Life downloaded through Steam with crossover.. which worked.. but with no sound.
iTunes worked but it installed a severely outdated version which wasn't able to see my shared iTunes library.
Usually I don't complain about default looks because I usually replace them anyway but both Ubuntu and Mandriva use an orange default color scheme which is in my opinion not a good choice for a default.. it's too in your face and I don't like it either. Speaking of themes at one time Linux used to have the best themes but now I'm sorry to say they have fallen behind Mac and Windows..... most customised Linux desktops I have seen lately look pretty kludgy\unrefined.
There are also other things that I can't remember but that's the gist of it.
Here's a screenshot from Mandriva