Now my 13 year old daughter wants Linux too...

[Steerpike]

She's got Vista on her machine, which has been working well for her but is a resource hog.

She likes fancy graphics effects and all that. I think I'm going to install SUSE and use some of the 3D desktop effects for her. I'll set it up as dual boot, because she's got things in Windows (like Guitar Hero and Sims) that she likes.

Seems to me that SUSE should be a pretty good distro for her to have on her machine. When she's not playing games, I expect she might use SUSE as her OS of choice because she really likes it on my laptop.

I tried SUSE a number of versions ago, and it has been vastly improved since then. I recommend anyone download the 11.1 LiveCD and take a look.

EDIT:

For anyone looking, you can also download SUSE onto DVD, but the download is much larger. I recommend the LiveCD. It doesn't come with as much software installed, but that's not a bad thing because you can then add the packages you want and eliminate the ones you don't.

I have installed OpenSUSE 11.1 twice now, and both times I let it automatically set up GRUB, which is what allows dual boot into Windows. Both times it worked as it should. With a prior version of SUSE I had to go in and configure the menu.list file for GRUB to get Windows to boot again.

If you try SUSE and can't get Windows to boot, don't panic. Windows is still there (unless you did something dumb like install over your windows partition) and it is just a matter of getting GRUB to point to it. I might be able to help.

 

[Anguille]

I Have learned it is not possible to have thread on this board about 13 year old girls without someone sooner or later being accused of being a child molester.

 

[Diuretic]

I got a DVD of OpenSuse 11.0 when I purchased a Linux magazine so that saved me a horrendous download. Installed it and ran it for a day. It is very, very good but it's not for me. I have found with OpenSuse that it's reluctant to let me tinker with it (which is wise considering the results of my tinkering - ahem, check my signature line). But I would recommend it to anyone migrating from Windows. It goes like a rocket and it looks brilliant and it has everything you would want on it in terms of an os with many, many packages.

I recently upgraded to Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex with only one problem. Pulse Audio. I could not get the damn thing to work. In Hardy I simply removed PA and replaced it with ALSA completely, even using the handy module assistant thing to get a completely new ALSA fitout and that worked fine. Problem with Intrepid is that if you remove PA then you bugger it up for updates, so removing it was out. Eventually I worked out what was happening. I have SBLive as the default card (that is set as default by the software) but PA was only looking at the CMOS-defined onboard sound card which is VIA and AC97 being the controller. I found the controller in the CMOS and disabled it so it would disappear from PA's options on the next boot and bingo, it worked and PA is booming along now. So I'm very pleased with Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex.

Sorry to bang on about this but if anyone else is having sound problem with Intrepid then that might be a clue.

No, I didn't have this problem with OpenSuse 11.0, sound worked out of the box.

 

[Shogun]

I Have learned it is not possible to have thread on this board about 13 year old girls without someone sooner or later being accused of being a child molester.

dude.

 

[Diuretic]

Forgot this - re "Guitar Hero" and the like.

Frets On Fire

Frets on Fire.

 

[Mr. President]

You are too nice I had windows 95 until I bought my own computer. Nothing like a stimulating game of minesweeper

 

[glockmail]

She's got Vista on her machine, which has been working well for her but is a resource hog......

I'd advise you to get a router level filter, like the iBoss, to keep out the crap from the internet from arriving on her desktop.

I used to have windows- based filters installed on my kids machines but I could not keep up with their OS rebuilds and such.

 

[AllieBaba]

I Have learned it is not possible to have thread on this board about 13 year old girls without someone sooner or later being accused of being a child molester.

Not if you're talking about having sex with them.

 

[KittenKoder]

Linux just rules now ... and is evolving faster than Windoze now as well.

Though I must say, the newest Ubuntu (Intrepid) is not set up well yet, they really need to work out the video driver setups so I don't recommend it for anyone not familiar with Linux. But Ubuntu Hardy is a good one was well.

 

[Diuretic]

Linux just rules now ... and is evolving faster than Windoze now as well.

Though I must say, the newest Ubuntu (Intrepid) is not set up well yet, they really need to work out the video driver setups so I don't recommend it for anyone not familiar with Linux. But Ubuntu Hardy is a good one was well.

Firstly, great avatar.

Secondly, video no problem here - I've got a low-ranking video card NVIDIA Ge-Force FX5200 - running Intrepid. It worked immediately but I did have to fiddle with the restricted drivers thing but it seems to be okay. I don't enable many effects using Compiz because I find I usually stuff it up so I can't do spinning cubes and all the rest of it. I've got the repos organised so I get the proposed Intrepid packages when they put them in the repos so I'm not that chickenshit when it comes to taking a chance - I might not be bleeding edge, let's call it slightly grazed elbow edge

I think I'd advise someone to start with Gutsy, it's solid and no sound problems and works immediately, Hardy had PulseAudio issues which drove some folks up the wall.

What I like about Linux (apart from "everything") is the dynamic community around the world of developers (not me, I'm a leeching user) who are able to - as you point out - continuously keep it evolving. That's what will happen when it's open source involved, all those very talented people working on it for the love of it. No closed, proprietary system can keep up with that. FOSS is the Footure

 

[Steerpike]

"RULES" might be a bit strong. It has come a long way. Still has a way to go.

Most people I know like to play DVDs on their computer, for example, and that's still a pain in the ass with Linux distros due to CSS. The distros tend not to come with the codec because of the licensing issues and all that, and while you can get third party software for XINE, Mplayer, and the like, I've had to go into the terminal to mess with it to get it working.

No matter how good my linux distro is, I still have to go into the terminal occasionally to do things like install programs I can't install with the package manager. So long as the ordinary non-technical computer user is faced with the prospect of having to go into the terminal, I'd say there is room for improvement.

 

[Shogun]

NVIDIA Ge-Force FX5200

i had one of those last year. It was a good card that lasted for quite some time until finally giving out.

 

[Diuretic]

I'm not one for games which need super hardware so this card works well for me, had it for a couple of years and never given me a problem.

 

[KittenKoder]

I don't have an Nvidia card though, that's the problem. I am using an old Rage 128 ATI card, so as I said, for legacy hardware it sucks, they didn't write the auto-config for them. I haven't tried Gutsy yet, but my Hardy works fine for now, until they get a better config utility for the Xorg. I use OpenGL a lot and need it active, not for games or fancy desktop (Compiz) stuff but for development.

One reason it's over complicated to set up the monitor drivers is because the Xorg developers got rid of the "Screen and Graphics Resolution" control center that Hardy came with. So now you have to edit the configuration by hand, which is a pain in the arse, for 'non-standard' cards.

 

[Diuretic]

I'm on Debian Etch now, thought stuff it, change over in the New Year. I like it but it's hard work for a non-geek like me. It does feel a bit faster though, I've got a P4 (old one) but it moves pretty well with Etch running the show. However I have had a poke around and I can see I am about to have monster problems with Nvidia. Unlike Ubuntu you can't just turn on the restricted drivers thing, this requires a whole lot of mucking around all by itself. I have no doubt I'll stuff it up

 

[KittenKoder]

I'm on Debian Etch now, thought stuff it, change over in the New Year. I like it but it's hard work for a non-geek like me. It does feel a bit faster though, I've got a P4 (old one) but it moves pretty well with Etch running the show. However I have had a poke around and I can see I am about to have monster problems with Nvidia. Unlike Ubuntu you can't just turn on the restricted drivers thing, this requires a whole lot of mucking around all by itself. I have no doubt I'll stuff it up

Linux currently runs much faster than Windoze because it only loads what's needed and when it's needed, while Windoze has to load a lot of excess drivers and programs to run properly. It's one of the reasons I switched to Linux. If I don't need it I don't want it wasting memory and CPU space because then it slows down compilers for no reason. I'm a geek but I hate mucking with some drivers, like multimedia drivers (annoying to me). Many drivers I love to tweak and fine tune just for kicks (and practice). The newest Nvidia drivers suck big time, you have to tweak them, and since they are core drivers (they are needed at boot time) you have to reboot everytime you adjust them. I can't for the life of me get the new Xorg to work right on my computer (using an old Dell M782 monitor with Rag 128) and the OpenGL never loads when I do get it working right, so I gave up (again I don't like dealing with things that make me have to reboot to test) and went back to Ubuntu Hardy. I like Ubuntu because it's easier to get the 'non-free' or restricted drivers. I am interested to know if anyone has run Linux on a Mac yet and if there is much of a speed difference.