Q: Firstly, I have zero knowledge of Linux OS and what is available in the software? Im curious as hell to try, but I do not want to dump a ton of cash into new programs. Is there a Windows emulation software available? I saw that WineX and Lindows are two programs that might offer but I think you had to pay a monthly fee for a kind of patch programs. Is there a Linux version that will emulate Windows to run Windows software until I see if I like it and start buying Linux software? If so, I take a performance penalty. What penalty would that be? I would not care if a PIII 1000 would run as a PII 300 at Office programs, but I could see that games do not like. What are my options here? Can anyone give me idea?
Best Answer: I get some of Linux programs I like, on Mac through Macports. Though alot of times apps used on linux have a stand alone Mac version made by the project/organization too. Like Firefox and Openoffice.
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Re:You could purchase an of the shelf Xandros, Lindows, RH or Suse from your local computer store or Walmart. Walmart also have preinstall Lindows Duron @ 1.1ghz for $199.99.
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Re:You could buy CDs from LinuxISO.org
SuSE 8.1, Mandrake 9, RedHat 8 would probably be your most user-friendly choices (although there are many others that would qualify)
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Re:Thanks for all the responses. Alright, you guys sold me on trying it out. Now I need get started. Since I'm a linux bumdass, what is the most user friendly version and where can I get it. I prefer not to download (only have 56k, no high speed available here baby, I live in the sticks). From the little bit I've read, isn't all of the OS software free?? If anyone has a software suggestion, opinion, or wouldn't mind burning a copy of some beginers OS version and software, it would go appreciated (of course i would cover cdr/shipping expenses). Thanks in advance.
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Re:Wine is crap compare to a slighly better variant CodeWeavers. (no Windows license needed)
VMware is good, because it is a true emulator, but it is slow do to emulation. (Need a Win9.x/NT/2k/XP license)
The best is Win4Lin which is like a emulator, but only uses the MS dll to talk to the Linux layer below (similar to DOS + Win3.x/9.x), therefore it is only support Win9.x apps. (Need a Win9.x license)
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Re:Originally posted by: guy
Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, you can always tell you're with the linux users in a forum (that includes me
) when someone points you to an FAQ 
Andy is the FAQ man. Im not sure how much Linux experience he had before Knoppix!
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Re:Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, you can always tell you're with the linux users in a forum (that includes me
) when someone points you to an FAQ Zero Limits Maui Meditation
Re:Try to stick with native Linux apps and (if possible) games.
I've never played game under wine, but here's my Q3 scores if you're interested (win and Linux versions)
Windows, 1280×1024x32 – 64.8ftps
Linux, 1280×1024x32 – 65.1fps.
GF4-440MX-SE, 40.xx drivers on win, 3123 on Linux.
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Re:Please read the AnandTech FAQ: Can I run Windows software in Linux? (http://www.{$MySite}/guides/viewfaq.html?i=127)
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Re:Originally posted by: guy
First off, I have zero knowledge of Linux OS and what is availiable in software? I am curious as hell to try it but I don't want to dump a ton of cash into new programs. Is there any Windows software emulation available?
Yes, via Wine (http://www.winehq.org) or if you purchase a license for VMWare, you can run a virtual Windows computer inside your linux.
I saw that WineX and Lindows are two programs that might offer this but I believe that you had to pay a monthly fee for some sort of patch programs.
Perhaps lindows charges it, but WineX is simply a licensed version of Wine with some proprietary code added to aid in portability.
Is there a Linux version that will emulate Windows to run Windows software until I see if I like it and start buying Linux software??
If you're looking to just try it out, you could always look at one of the many bootable CD distributions, and/or one of the many distributions that you can boot from within your windows partitions. This would be a better way to find out if you're interested at all. Unfortunately, I can't recommend anything because I've never needed to use it. Check here (http://www.linux.org/dist/index.html) for a comprehensive list of Linux distributions.
If so, I assume there will be a performance penalty. What kind of penalty would that be?? I would not care if a PIII 1000 would run like a PII 300 on office programs, but I could see games not liking that. What are my options here?? Can anyone clue me in??
No, actually, if anything, your overall system performance will go up. Example: I have a thunderbird 1.2GHz w/768MB of ram that Windows 98SE choked on using Word97, using IRC, browsing the web, surfing usenet, and playing MP3s at the same time. Nothing overly taxing, and no server stuff, but it had a hard time with it.
Now, with Linux, I wanted to show off to a friend, so I booted up an MP3 player, a DVD player, my TV tuner, IRC, 5 web browser windows, a usenet client, StarOffice 5.2 Writer, a text editor that I opened 6 PHP scripts and 1 SQL script in, and opened KDE's file manager with thumbnailing enabled and browsed through a directory of images on my drive (screencap available of this on request). The only visible effect was that the DVD didn't play smoothly. I had an MP3 Player playing, a TV Tuner tuned into a channel and watching a basketball game, a DVD player playing X-Men, as well as a bunch of text-oriented stuff running at the same time, and my buddy was blown away. Granted, nobody will ever want to watch a DVD, watch TV, AND listen to MP3s at the same time, but it was more of a 'hah, look what my system can do'.
In addition to this, I have installed the Unreal Tournament 2003 Demo. Using the same graphics settings, I get a 10-15 frames per second INCREASE on Linux over Windows. The only real reason I have my system setup to dual boot to Windows is because I play some games that do not have a Linux version (ie: Master of Orion 3, Warcraft III, Diablo II), or the Linux version doesn't give me the same speed as the Windows version does (Unreal Tournament (Original), Quake III).
From this you can draw a few conclusions, but the four most likely to be drawn are:
1. All the software I had was better written than its windows counterparts, and that includes the driver interface for my ATI Radeon 64MB DDR (graphics card in it at the time).
2. Linux is simply superior to Windows 9x at memory and process management, even in Media content which is traditionally (and possibly falsely) regarded as being far superior on Windows platforms.
3. A combination of the two.
4. I'm outright lying.
In my experience, it's number 3. If you need a screencap of this in action, let me know, and I'd be happy to provide you with it. 
Gaming on linux is another issue that is slowly being addressed. Note that most Quake/Unreal engine games can easily port to Linux due to their rather efficient modular design. It's a matter of the game creator deciding whether or not to release a Linux binary.
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Re:Originally posted by: guy
First off, I have zero knowledge of Linux OS and what is availiable in software?
freshmeat.net
I am curious as hell to try it but I don't want to dump a ton of cash into new programs.
Why would you?
Is there any Windows software emulation available?
No. But you can use VMware to emulate another machine. WINE is available to run some Windows programs.
I saw that WineX and Lindows are two programs that might offer this but I believe that you had to pay a monthly fee for some sort of patch programs. Is there a Linux version that will emulate Windows to run Windows software until I see if I like it and start buying Linux software??
Just run any Linux and forget Windows software.
If so, I assume there will be a performance penalty. What kind of penalty would that be?? I would not care if a PIII 1000 would run like a PII 300 on office programs, but I could see games not liking that. What are my options here?? Can anyone clue me in??
Some games run natively under Linux, but thats not really a stength of the OS.
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