- What are the best features of Linux?
- If I switch, what will I miss from windows?
- Can I still game?
- Is it compatible with new hardware?
- What should my level of computer expertise be? I'm typically a graphical interface sort of person, and it seems like Linux would be hard on people like me.

Thank you for your time

Welcome to LQ

Take a look at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...dows_and_Linux
http://www.michaelhorowitz.com/Linux.vs.Windows.html
and
http://www.google.be/search?q=linux+...ient=firefox-a


Kind regards

Trust me, I googled it already :P I was unable to find resources that are newer than a year old. Is this older information still current?

First, I'd recommend you read this.

My personal opinion is that the best feature of linux is its flexibility. It runs on every type of computer imaginable, from handheld phone to desktop to laptop to supercomputers. There's a huge number of choices of software for any given application.

What you'll miss depends on what you do with it. At work, I can't get away from it because of our CAD package is Windows only. So I'd struggle getting my job done and working with the rest of my team. But at home, I'm a typical web browsing, email, photos, home videos, etc guy (though I've also setup a Mythtv PVR on that box). I don't game a lot, but play a few games every so often. The latest and greatest Windows games may not play on the machine, but some others work well in Wine or Cedega, though you'll probably have to get your hands dirty a bit getting them to run. There's also a lot of great open source games available.

Hardware depends. Out of the box, linux supports a much wider array of hardware than windows. But if vendors don't release specs for drivers to be written, then you'll struggle. Things like wireless cards can be fickle, though they're improving. Software modems are usually a non-starter. But most video cards and sound cards and whatnot work out of the box.

Several linux distribution are tailored for people who like graphical tools. Mandriva, PCLinuxOS, Mint, Ubuntu are some off the top of my head. When you ask for help in forums like this, expect most people to answer in command line fixes because that's usually the easiest and most common way to fix something across any distribution. So even if I don't use the same distribution as you, I can still help you most of the time.

Linux is not for everyone, but I've yet to meet someone who couldn't use it if they had wanted to. Depending on your particular hardware and software needs, it may be more difficult for you than on someone with different needs, but that's really no different than Windows or Mac - it's just people are more aware of it on linux because the command line is trotted out a lot more as a solution when you're trying to fix something. But I like having the command line available because usually I can fix something.

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Yes
Why don't you download a live CD and see for yourself.
Only you can decide if you like it or not.

Kind regards

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I second the download a live CD and try it out method. I should have added that to my post above. First it will let you try out linux without affecting your current setup. Second, it'll let you see whether your hardware mostly works with linux.

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I don't think anyone (but you) can tell you why you should switch to linux.

Before you install linux you might want to read the following
http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

If you expect linux to be a free version of windows, you'd be better off staying
with windows. Linux is so much different. Having said that, you don't need
to be a geek to use it. Using it is as easy/hard as using windows, but it's different
so you might have to forget about your "windows ways" of doing things. Things are done
differently on different operating systems. The Microsoft way is not the only way, and
very often not the most optimal way.

I don't know what you're going to miss from windows. It's hard to know if we don't
know what you do on windows.

Linux is compatible with new hardware. Sometimes it's linux that supports something first before
other platforms. I *think* it was the case with USB 3.0. The only problem MIGHT be some wireless
chipsets. It's not to say that they will not work, but they may require some tinkering.

Game producers release games for a particular platform. 90% of them are for Windows.
There are good games on linux but they are few and far between. You can use WINE to
run a lot of Windows games on linux, though.
http://www.winehq.org/

HTH

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that depends on what you do with windows to begin with, but most everything that can be done with windows can be done with linux, sometimes even better in linux
depends on the types of games but there are a large number of games that can be run on linux either natively or with WINE
depends on A, what kind of hardware and B, how new the hardware
some hardware are generic enough that even bleeding edge devices will work, some you might have to wait a bit on, and then there are some that are so proprietary that they will likely NEVER work in linux (winmodems being one example)
depends on the distribution you chose, some distributions are geared more around the average duffer and some distributions you would be totally lost unless you were a geek with experience using linux
anytime, hope i answered your questions

Why not? About the only good thing I can see about Windows is to play games, because most games are written for windows only. Anything other than that, there is no use for Windows. I can get things done easier and faster on Linux. And actually enjoy it too. Best of all, for free!

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I can't comment from experience, because I've never had Windows, but one observation I've read is that
1. Linux has a gradual learning curve; you can go as far as you like and are able.
2. Windows divides tasks into things they expect you'll want to do, which are very easy, and other things , where you suddenly find yourself faced with the dreaded registry or a nest of DLL files.
This does make it easier for people who have odd requirements to get things the way they want them.

Another point is that some who change seem a bit overwhelmed by some of the software, which tends to be professional quality. If the average Windows user wants to edit a photo, I doubt that they are going to have Adobe Photoshop; they probably won't even have the cut-down version. With Linux, you get Gimp, which has most of Photoshop's facilities. For finance, you usually get Gnucash, which is more of a full-scale accounting package than Quicken. But if you want something simpler, you can always find it.

The command line is largely optional, but sometimes it will work wonders. If you needed to convert a dozen jpg files to gif, which would you prefer?
1. load each into an editor and save in the new format
2. type "convert *.jpg *.gif"

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Use both Linux and Windows. Either dual boot, Virtualbox or whatever. If you're like a lot of us, you'll find that over time, you spend all your time working in Linux as opposed to trying to get Windows to work.

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InTheMarket,

Yesterday my friend asked me to install some Linux distribution on his laptop and I installed Linux Mint. During that process my friend told me the story about bridge game he installed successfully in Windows XP but after update to Windows 7 he can't access it. So I installed Wine in Linux Mint, then installed that game using Wine and finally started the game with Wine. It's Windows game. It works in Linux Mint with Wine but refuses to work in Windows 7.

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Linux Pros.

1. No Virus issues. Anti-virus software for Linux is so you don't spread it.
2. Free Programs that are just as good or better than proprietary ones.Examples: Abiword ,K3b , Gwget, Openoffice ,Emacs ,GCC , VLC etc.
3.Linux has some decent games but you are not going to see them advertised because they are free.
You might be able to get all of your games to work because there are plenty of emulators available but WINE for instance is not going to run everything you try.
Dual booting is easy and reliable.Currently I would recommend Ubuntu for a first Distro and not because I'm temporarily using it now. It's an overall good Operating system with a strong beginners community.

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My thoughts...

No Nortons Anti Virus hobbling your spangly new zippo processor so you can usually get a comparable experience with a slower CPU.

I read somewhere that Linux now supports more hardware than Windows 7!!

Windows people usually try to load new programs in Linux by finding the program as a .deb, rpm, .tar file whereas Linux uses package managers and repositories not a "setup.exe" method. If you run Ubuntu you use the Ubuntu repositories and use something like Synaptic package manager (GUI based as requested) to download and install your program/application. Where the .deb, .rpm. .tar method may fail due to the dreaded "dependencies" or other inconsistencies, the package manager will invariably work as it's already been checked against the distribution. Dependencies are automatically handled.

Games? Buy an XBox or Playstation for Pete's sake!

Play Bonny!

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Only you can determine that for yourself - what features are 'best' is a matter of opinion. I find I shout at my computer a lot less since switching to Linux. What you miss from Windows depends what you did there, but Linux can do anything Windows can, just differently.
That's slightly trickier, since most games are written for Windows and Linux won't run them unless you install somwething like Wine.
Linux has traditionally suffered in this area but modern distributions have closed the gap considerably, so you shouldn't have any problems now.
No, it's not hard. The *nix Command Line Interface is a lot more powerful than the Command Prompt in Windows and you can do everything with it, but you don't have to. In modern distributions the GUI is much more powerful than it used to be, so it is now suitable for those who aren't comfortable in the command line.

Pleasue

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