Disadvantages of Linux

[SuxoR]

Hey guys I have a laptop and am currently running Vista Basic :/
Since there isn't really anything special about it I'm thinking about running a version of Linux.

Can anyone tell me what's bad about the jump? Will everything on here still work? I know there are lots of articles but I wanted to ask for first hand experience


Thanks guys

 

[Russel1]

Try downloading a Knoppix or Ubuntu live disk. You can boot off of the disk and try it for yourself without changing your current system or installing anything to your hard disk.

 

[vampist]

Windows .exe's will not run on linux with out the help of a program called wine. If you have not used linux before I would suggest trying a live cd or dual booting at first. Try Ubuntu 9.04, this is a distrobution of linux that resembles the windows layout closely. But is still. Linux.

 

[SuxoR]

Yeah I have used Red Hat and Unbuntu before but never like for my own personal use

I mainly use Ventrilo, run roms, music, stuff like that

I would most likely go with a dual boot config so I can always fall back to this

 

[Joel~]

I don't know what Ventrilo is, but if by 'roms' you mean old games that you run in emulators, there are plenty of those around for Linux. Similarly, there are plenty of media players about. Whilst you could not just run .exe files, most modern distributions have an easy to use package managing tool where you can search for applications, click a check-box and then install them. For a basic user with no specific requirements, there is no reason why a Linux installation should not work for them.

As stated already, a live CD would give you a feel for how the operating system is (but please don't make judgements based on speed in a live environment - you're reading most things from a CD and so obviously it won't be as fast as an installed system). It can also give you an idea of whether or not all your hardware will work with the system or not. Back in the day, this was particularly important for things like wireless, but that seems to be a rare issue these days - a lot of the mainstream distributions (Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva, openSUSE etc.) recognise and select the appropriate driver for most wireless adapters these days

 

[hemp]

Since this thread was called disadvantages of Linux, you can't run java on it. For some people that's not a problem but for my friends and I it just makes Linux a poor choice of OS to choose from. Luckily from years ago I still have my windows xp sp1 disc. How ancient but I always install that and upgrade to sp3 and that runs perfect. Low requiremnts compared to vista and from what I have experienced very little errors.

 

[GibsonSGKing]

Yeah I have used Red Hat and Unbuntu before but never like for my own personal use

I mainly use Ventrilo, run roms, music, stuff like that

I would most likely go with a dual boot config so I can always fall back to this

Well, you know how to install stuff in linux right? Because if not, you will just get irritated. also, drivers are a major pain.

 

[LukaszR1]

you could always use wine to run .exe programs on linux. altho don't be surprised if it crashes...cause its not fully stable.

but always dual booting is a good idea, incase u need winodws for whatever reason.

 

[Joel~]

Since this thread was called disadvantages of Linux, you can't run java on it. For some people that's not a problem but for my friends and I it just makes Linux a poor choice of OS to choose from. Luckily from years ago I still have my windows xp sp1 disc. How ancient but I always install that and upgrade to sp3 and that runs perfect. Low requiremnts compared to vista and from what I have experienced very little errors.

The Java Runtime Environment is available for Linux and works very well for me.

 

[hemp]

hmmm last time i checked which wasn't very recently linux wouldn't run java without an add on/plugin