Help with software question?
 

I'm getting Linux soon, (most likely SuSe) and I'm wondering if I will be able to download software off of download.com. Will most of it work, or do I need Linux specific software?


Also if you can, suggest a distro. I mainly use my computer to:

-Do image editing, and logo creating.

-Listen to music.

-Browse the internet, for information (mainly on wikipedia)

-Use the internet to watch porn.

-Download different software to try it out (mainly from cnet.com)

Windows software won't run natively under Linux (I still don't get why people think it will :/). You'll have to find a Linux equivalent (if the software you want to use hasn't been ported to Linux), or perhaps try WINE which allows you to run Windows programs under Linux. Not sure how well it works, as I've never used it.

Pretty much any distro will be fine--I always tell newcomers to start with any of the free ones---Ubuntu, Fedora, OpenSUSE, etc.

There are MANY applications now that are "cross-platform"--ie they run on Windows and Linux and usually MAC. Examples include the browsers (Firefox e.g.), OpenOffice.org, GIMP, etc. In general if you go to a Winodws download site and grab something, it is NOT going to work on Linux---But there will very likely be a Linux equivalent.

No one here is going to help you with the porn part---and if it comes up again, it may get you banned.

Is it against the rules? i haven't noticed it but depending on the porn, it's going to be in various formats, is it any worse than all the advice to those wanting to mount their VCD images or watch the xvids of their movies they obtained illegaly? :P

*EDIT*
i guess it could be covered under that...

Probably best to phrase it as videos (pictures will work, OS regardless, unless the site is a nasty IE cesspit, in which case you're better off without).

Gimp is available for image editing, you cna get it on windows if you want a preliminary look. Music there are tons of players, open suse won't play MP3s out of the box but search these forums for the answer.

Browsing the internet isn't very OS specific...

Unless the software on Cnet is compiled for Linux/source code i doubt it will work. You could turn your attention to sourceforge, same sort of thing.

As mentioned, I probably would not mention porn or the act of acquiring it. It is posted in the forums. I am not the cyber cop but I am just lending a friendly alert before it get's you banned.

As far as software from cnet. I would have to say that www.icewalkers.com would be the equivalent to cnet in respect to software. I go their and find some useful programs. and what I can't find I search google for it's equivalent in linux.

As said there is Gimp which does image editing, or inkscape which does vector graphics. Also Blender is a 3d object creator.

In regards to the 'adult material' if its legally obtained from one of the sites that sells such videos then you may have a problem. I am guessing that such sites sell the videos in wmv format with drm on them. In which case you will not be able to play them. If they are in mpeg format or avi then you should not have a problem with them.