[ssmit132]

If I got a new desktop computer now (and I'd probably build it myself) I'd be very tempted to use a Linux OS, since there are only a few programs I'd want to use that require Windows and I could always use a virtual machine or WINE for that (at the moment I could get free copies of Windows from MSDNAA). In fact I tried having a dual-boot on my current desktop though I couldn't get it (I tried a few variants of Ubuntu) to use my USB wireless adapter properly, and I haven't got around to getting rid of it. I use Linux Mint on my netbook most of the time now as it runs faster than 7 Starter.

I wouldn't mind having a go at putting some form of Linux on my older (from 2003) desktop if I could get a cheap monitor for it.

[jr2]

Hmm, there is supposed to be a wrapper you can use so that Windows drivers will work with Linux, it's called NDIS wrapper, I believe.

[LHN91]

NDISwrapper, IIRC, is meant for wireless adapters only, and in all honesty I've never had it work. However, that was mostly with Broadcom wireless cards, which seems to be on of the worst when it comes to linux compatibility.

[Nuke]

i got it to work once, but i had to reboot the whole machine every time it disconnected from the router. and it did that frequently. its harder to use a usb wifi dongle though, because linux does things with usb that interfere with it. instead get an add in wifi card with good linux drivers, it will work better.

[Spicious]

It kind of does seem like we're at a point right now where you can afford to throw gobs of RAM in just for the hell of it, regardless of how much memory anything you're running would actually make use of.  Is there really any application under the sun that would push 8 GB's worth to the limit?

Chrome.

[jr2]

IE?

[Ghostavo]

Board game engines.

[Polpolion]

its harder to use a usb wifi dongle though, because linux does things with usb that interfere with it. instead get an add in wifi card with good linux drivers, it will work better.

I've had reasonable luck with OpenSUSE and my usb wifi dongle; hardest part was realizing that the OS just wasn't starting the network manager, not that it didn't have the right drivers. Too scared to try it on any other distros though, definitely wouldn't want to deal with it during a Gentoo installation.

Personally I'm of the opinion that for power/normal computer users linux systems are great if you've got plenty of free time or you know exactly what you'll get out of using it. Even once you've gotten everything set up the way you want it, I find there are usually more gotchas that'll harass you much more often than in windows. None are really computer breakers, but they'll take a little time to look up and fix. I started off with Arch on a spare computer second semester senior year of high school and it wound up doing nothing but sitting next to my windows computer running irssi all the time. The following summer I installed Debian on my primary desktop and IMHO it was a great move. Familiarity with linux systems definitely payed off at uni both for classes and work. I currently dual boot with windows 7 for games and media usage. Even my netbook dual boots, but that's just because I need software for lab work that only runs reliably in windows and I have Debian because it's nice to have an OS that my hardware meets the minimum requirements.

But if you're a casual user (ie all you do is surf the web, word processing, etc) Linux could be good. If you can get someone to set it up properly for you, 90% of the time you won't really be able to grasp the differences from windows/OSX. I've found the single worst thing about linux for this purpose is how Open/Libre office handle conversions from MS Office power point presentations; it's always just really damn garbled. There are probably other issues, but they aren't big enough for me to have noticed yet.

[Ghostavo]

Gentoo isn't as complicated as people think. What it is, is probably the most heavily documented distro, so most problems you might have can be solved by looking at the documentation.

[Polpolion]

Yep. Unfortunately during the school year reading linux distro documentation isn't very high on my list of things I'd like to spend my free time doing, and depending on what assignments/projects are currently open spending a weekend trying to get my computer working can potentially be very hazardous to my sleep schedule.

[jr2]

^
 |
 |
This.

[Nuke]

yes but how boring is the documentation? i find most linux man pages completely unreadable because they drone on endlessly and after 3 hours of reading your still not sure what youre supposed to do. i read the entire dos manual when i was 13 and it was a better read than anything i saw in a linux man page.

[jr2]

Yes.  Precisely.  Linux man page authors need to learn how to KISS, summarize, and provide examples of usage that actually illustrate clearly how the basic command normally would be used.. and then confine the Encyclopedia Britannica of what other awesome things a command can do to after the important stuff, such as the simple summary.

[Ghostavo]

Here are some examples.

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/list.xml?desc=1

[jr2]

So, if I want to enable NTFS write access in my Gentoo install... where to?

[Ghostavo]

http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/NTFS-3G

[jr2]

Hmph.  It took me days of searching (in my spare time) to find that for Ubuntu ... 7 I think it was.  Back when I first was playing around with Linux.  Very frustrating.  And even then, I didn't end up doing it cause back then it wasn't as reliable and I didn't want to toast  my Windows install.

[Polpolion]

So, if I want to enable NTFS write access in my Gentoo install... where to?

Most problems of this sort can actually be solved by just searching for a keyword in the repo; searching for "ntfs" here or even through emerge should bring you to ntfs-3g. But for the record, back in the days of Ubuntu 7 NTFS-3G was pretty new so I'd bet it was a headache no matter where you were coming from.

But all in all I agree with you Nuke and jr2, the problem with most major linux distributions (and packages) isn't lack of documentation.

[übermetroid]

I also have a few versions of linux that I keep on USB sticks, SD cards, and microSD cards, for when I need to jack a public computer for a little while. They're good enough to get MC working if the hardware is willing, which is good enough for me.

Can you point me in the direction to set this up?  I want to do this as well.

Thanks!

[KyadCK]

I also have a few versions of linux that I keep on USB sticks, SD cards, and microSD cards, for when I need to jack a public computer for a little while. They're good enough to get MC working if the hardware is willing, which is good enough for me.

Can you point me in the direction to set this up?  I want to do this as well.

Thanks!

-Plug in USB stick
-Boot from LiveDisk
-Install to USB stick
-Boot from USB stick

All done.

Unlike Windows, Linux has no problems treating USB sticks and SD cards as harddrives.