Ubuntu: Best for switching windows user?

[unknownman_007]

Hello,

I've been a windows XP and a OSX user for many years and am pretty computer savy. However, I've tried Vista and I'm NOT excited. I'm really thinking about switching to Ubuntu.

Would you think that Ubuntu would be the best distro to go with? I'll still be wanting to use a lot of windows emulation, run windows apps, and play windows games. Is Ubuntu the best distro for this?

Or do you think another distro is better for windows users?

Let me know what you think,

Thanks!

[devils casper]

All distros are same in one or other way. Ubuntu is one the top 5. go fot it.
here is a list of windows alternative applications in Linux.
Ubuntu or any other Linux distro is not good for Games. you can use Wine or Cedega for games.




casper

[bojo]

Hello,

I'd say the best distro for windows users, is umm windows!.

You can try wine etc, for basic programs (keep in mind you'll still need to have windows directories and dlls in using it), but its tragic for games.

WineX (cedega) is meant to be better, but from what i hear its still pretty sketchy.

As far as i see it all, Wine is more of an option for dual-booters, that don't want to reboot the pc to quickly use a windows app.

If you want to use windows stuff, keep your windows install, that way everything is guranteed to work.

Seeing as you are asking about which distro to choose, i'd choose ubuntu for you. Your computer savy as you say, so you know stuff will F&^% up randomly, but you don't know much about linux. Hence go with ubuntu, it should install pretty easily (6 or so clicks from a live environment, can't complain there). Even if you do get errors (like my black screen one with 6.10) i can help you out through most of it.

So go ubuntu, go the dual boot with windows xp.

Btw whats wrong with XP? just because they are bringing out vista (which is going to require newish pc's anyway) doesn't mean you have to use it. XP will still be usable for quite a few years after vista. It's name is one reason it already sounds horrible! "Vista" Ughh

Anyway,

Dual boot, ubuntu and windows xp on your machine (you sound like you would know the intracies of this anyway).

Then go get yourself some wine (the app not the drink, or maybe both for the headaches you might get) and try out what games and programs work for you.

I'm not trying to scare you away btw, once you get into ubuntu and its repositories, you may start wondering why you needed windows apps in the first place. It's very very nice inside this little world .

[burntfuse]

Ubuntu is a great distro for new Linux users. I can understand wanting to run Windows games in Linux (although there *are* a lot of good Linux games, just not the huge number of commercial ones for Windows), but what Windows apps would you want to use? I'm sure that for just about anything else you use, you could find a Linux app (probably included with your distro, too). For office software, there's OpenOffice, KOffice, or GNOME Office. There's Firefox for web browsing, Thunderbird for e-mail, GAIM for just about every IM protocol in existence, audio and video-editing software, even a couple RDP clients.

[Zelmo]

I think Bojo's right on the money. You can keep Windows XP and dual-boot with Ubuntu. A little warning, though: Ubuntu, like Debian, does its best to put only free software on its default install. That's great for idealism, but you'll be missing useful stuff like MP3 codecs and high-performance video drivers, which are proprietary and will need to be installed separately. It's not a big deal (there's a lot less stuff needed to "complete" the post-install for Ubuntu than there is for Windows), but people doing it for the first time might get frustrated because they don't know exactly what they need and how/where to get it. That's what message boards like this are for. Ubuntu has a huge, helpful community of people who have gone through a lot of the same stuff, so ask around whenever you need to know something.

[deanlinkous]

I'll still be wanting to use a lot of windows emulation, run windows apps, and play windows games. Is Ubuntu the best distro for this?

best distro for windows stuff is windows IMO

Or do you think another distro is better for windows users?

The best distro for windows users is windows and when you want to become a linux user then try a whole bunch of distros and decide for yourself. The issue is a complicated one and depends a lot on whether you "just do not want windows" or if you "do not want anything that is proprietary" and so forth.

Head to distrowatch.com and check them all out!

The only distros I recommend are free ones and they would be
gNewSense http://www.gnewsense.org/
Fedora http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/
Debian http://www.us.debian.org/

Let me know what you think,

Done!

[Farmer Mike]

It's pretty easy to try out distributions to see which one(s) you like. Between the Live CDs now and the cost of Linux (free, just the cost of the media or the cost of the magazine the CDs or DVD came with), you can try many different distros without installation and it won't cost you near what one copy of Windows will.
(When you boot from a Live CD, Linux runs in memory and doesn't change the hard drive.)

I sent off to a company listed on DistroWatch and ordered about 18 different distros to test, got them for about $45 US. Many of them were 'light' distros to keep older systems going, but I can have fun trying them out.

[unknownman_007]

Wow! I appreciate the tips guys!

I'm going to give Ubuntu a try and see what I think.

Additionally, are there any good 3D interfaces for Ubuntu? Or would you recommend other distros for that? Any 3D movement that helps me navigate my desktop would be handy if I have a lot of windows open.

[ImNeat]

Check out xgl.

Not sure if it's out of beta tho...

[unknownman_007]

Do you know of a good guide that will help me install XGL with the latest version of Ubuntu?

Also, know of a good place to get drivers for a nVidia 7800 Go GTX?

Thanks!