Making the move.

[BlackFox]

okay, ive tried doing this before and i went back, so i think im going to try again. i want to get away from windows. last time i tried going to mandrake, and i kept one drive formatted to ntfs with all of my music and whatnot on it. well im considering buying a spindly of dvds, backing everything up and trying ubuntu. ive heard nothing but great things about it. im actually in the live distribution right now and im already loving it (always did like gnome over kde)
theres only a few things i use windows for that i would even call a legitimate excuse to keep it. i play final fantasy XI and im an gaming emulation whore. now final fantasy is like crack and i need to get off of it anyways. this will help me there, but as far as all of my emulation software. im really worried about how i will replace it and how hard it will be to set it back up.
along with that, i do have a mame machine, (hopefully someone here is familiar with this in the slightest.) and if im gonna switch one computer, im gonna switch all of them (desktop, laptop, arcade) now i do know mythtv is a good frontend for arcade and hometheater pc's but im still a little worried, do you think i should just stick to windows on that one?
to be quite honest the only things that have kept me stuck to windows are; trillian, winamp, sigx, and my emulation. and i know the replacements for the first 3 (gaim, xmms, and cron-scripts) does anyone know of a good linux emulation site?

oh and also, im wondering how packages with with ubuntu. i was never too good with tar.gz stuff and compiling source code, probably because i never knew what it meant or how it worked. in mandrake there was some sort of package database my friend setup for me, was really nice, kind of like gentoo's portage system.

one more thing i just remembered that i had trouble finding last time i tried switching, i couldnt find a matrix-style screensaver. its just one of those little things ive always liked (i mean the xfire or whatever its called, screensavers are awesome.) ive just always had one. the one for windows im using is called vmatrix so if anyone has any suggestions there, that would be cool.

if i think of anything else, ill post it, but for now i think im just going to start getting my plans in motion for the move.

[Dapper Dan]

I recommend you dual boot with Windows on all your machines. In other words, keep Windows and just add Ubuntu. That way you can go between the two. It's going to take you a while to get into Linux, so keep Windows for the apps you think you'll need. As you get familiar with Linux and it's alternative apps, you'll slowly grow into it. I wouldn't suggest dumping Windows and going all out Linux just yet. One thing I think you'll find true as I and others have: The more you get into Linux and working with it, the less dependent you become on Windows games and other diversions. The fun and challenge of learning Linux becomes more fun!

[aviedw]

Its best to keep a dual boot like the last post said. I've been using fedora core 4 for a few months now and im getting better at it. I actually love the command line now. It actually easier than the GUI when doing certain things. Like upgrading my system, all i have to type while root is yum update, and it will show all the updates that that are out for my system. Wine can usually emulate windows programs if you configure it. Now the only reason i go to windows now is to use itunes and to use my educational software.

[multios]

I have too many linux distros to even mention, but if you keep the windows system, then please download the PCLinuxOS livecd and try it (single cd). It is a complete linux desktop distro (don't need to use terminal commands) that includes java, flash, and the win32 codecs (all installed!). That in itself is nice since you don't have plugin trouble with your browser of choice.
Upgrading is simple with root password. No packages in the repositories that lead to dependency problems.
To install to hd is one click and then follow the screens.
If there isn't a package that you need, just ask Texstar if it can be made available.
I have found nothing that comes close to what PCLOS has to offer from a single cd.
Then, you can save files on your windows partition and have access to them from either os

http://www.pclinuxos.com

[BlackFox]

alright well, ive got ubuntu up and running on my system. my cousin suggested it to me a while back when he and i were at a wedding. and wow, this has to be one of the best disto's ive found so far. ive got almost everything setup, but theres still a few things that im wondering how to do.

right now i just have it installed on my laptop, my desktop is still running xp, this way im kind of doing a dual boot but not really. one problem im having with the laptop is when i close the lid. the screen shuts off, okay thats a nice feature but how can i change it to where the system is suspended or anything else.

im new to firefox and ive found it to be alot better than slimbrowser was to me on windows, but theres still a few little features that slimbrowser had that i want to see if there are plugins for. like i want the tab bar to ALWAYS be open, not just when theres more than one tab. also how can i get close to how slimbrowsers autologin and groups functions worked. im sure someone here knows of some plugins.

i really like xmms, but i dont like it that you cant resize the main window on it, lol. im debating on finding another audio player or getting used to xmms's flaws again (could always wine winamp ^_^)

skins; i really like dark skins, but all the ones i found mess with EVERYTHING, even openoffice writer is inverted lol. not really of a problem in that area, just looking for suggestions.

sound themes. how the hell do you install those, i have one called borealis that i want to try out, just to get rid of the ubuntu bongos.

gdm splash screens. ive tried changing mine, but i guess i didnt find the right option.

im still missing having a customizable matrix screensaver, lol. i know it sounds to dumb but ive had one for the past 5 years or so its just one of those little things i like to have. ><

thanks for all of the help so far, luckily i know the basics of what im doing so i dont have to ask so many questions, but i am glad for everyone whos read the post, even if they havent responded about the emulators, lol.

[jjr2527]

Try the screensaver named glMatrix, it's a customizable 3d matrix screen saver just like in the movie. It's my fav.

[techieMoe]

im new to firefox and ive found it to be alot better than slimbrowser was to me on windows, but theres still a few little features that slimbrowser had that i want to see if there are plugins for. like i want the tab bar to ALWAYS be open, not just when theres more than one tab.

This is a very simple fix in Firefox. Go to Tools->Options->Tabs and uncheck "Hide tab bar when only one tab is open". No plugins necessary.

also how can i get close to how slimbrowsers autologin and groups functions worked. im sure someone here knows of some plugins.

Not sure what "groups" functions are, but you can get Firefox to save your passwords and logins under Tools->Options->Privacy->Passwords.

i really like xmms, but i dont like it that you cant resize the main window on it, lol. im debating on finding another audio player or getting used to xmms's flaws again (could always wine winamp ^_^)

If you prefer a more iTunes-like setup there's always AmaroK or JuK. They're both designed for KDE however, so I'm not sure how well they'll perform on Ubuntu (since it's GNOME-based).