XP or Linux

Wardad · #1 January 4th, 2005, 12:57 PM

Thanks everyone, it took a while to read through all of the Posts.

XP seems like the only reasonble choice for a gamer, in the near future.

Actually - being able to play old Favorites like MOO 1 is a requirement.

Why XP pro over XP home? I thought that pro just had some remote admin hooks in it.

What about dual boot Linux and XP? Which installs first? Are different drive (formats) needed?

Fyron · #2 January 4th, 2005, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Wardad said:
XP seems like the only reasonble choice for a gamer, in the near future.

Not at all. 2k plays modern games and a lot of older games without issue, 98 plays all older games without issue. XP costs you a lot of money and won't be able to play all older games anyways.

Quote:

Wardad said:
Actually - being able to play old Favorites like MOO 1 is a requirement.

Games like that you can likely get working in Wine or Cedega (with a bit of work). A lot of DOS games run under 2k, but others don't. It is hit and miss. No guarantee that it will run under XP either. 98 is the only way to be safe for old DOS games. With 2k or XP, DosBox is a good (and free) DOS emulator for those old DOS games, and assuming you have a computer with more than a few hundred megahertz CPU, it will work just fine.

Quote:

Wardad said:
Why XP pro over XP home? I thought that pro just had some remote admin hooks in it.

Home is terrible. Try to avoid it. I don't remember all of the specific reasons, but a quick google search should turn up plenty of sites about the differences.

Quote:

Wardad said:
What about dual boot Linux and XP? Which installs first? Are different drive (formats) needed?

Not a bad option. Different drives formatted with different methods are certainly needed. Install XP first, as Linux is fine recognizing XP as another OS, but XP doesn't like Linux... Of course, there is no need to get XP just for games. Just set up 98 as the other OS for your games.

Quote:

tesco samoa said:
as for linux package. suse mandrake etc... are good distro's

Nah. Debian all the way. Start coming by #SpaceEmpires again and you will know why.

Wardad · #3 January 4th, 2005, 04:21 PM

Fyron said:
"...Of course, there is no need to get XP just for games. Just set up 98 as the other OS for your games."

Aiken said:
"OS Ready status, according to independent research conducted by AIII (Aiken's Imho International Incorporated)
Linux:
DVD video: 99% (-1% because of DRM and other closed stuff, which rarely used)
Web: 99% (-1% because of ActiveX, doesn't matter unless you go for bank services Online)
Games: 10% (directX support is pathetic, but some games go multiplatform these days, ie Doom3, UT 200x).

WELL, I have got to admit that not feeding MS has a certain appeal. I own Red Hat stock

SO, providing I can find hardware drivers... Linux would be better for DVD video/audio, and be more secure for web surfing too.
WIN98SE can run the current games, but may not be supported in the furure.

Just how would I get started on the dual op system?
My Win98 drive is 27GB partioned C

p and D

ograms.
I have norton internet security + anti virus on it.
I could buy a larger drive for Linux/DVD.

What do I use for firewall security and antivirus on Linux?

Thermodyne · #4 January 4th, 2005, 04:30 PM

Or............XP pro for base OS with 98 running on a virtual PC install...

Fyron · #5 January 4th, 2005, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Wardad said:
What do I use for firewall security and antivirus on Linux?

Linux.

Most routers with NAT and/or firewalls in them out there are running a modified Version of Linux (or some other *nix). It is a far more secure OS and is not vulnerable to script kiddie attacks. It is very challenging to get infected by a virus and far more difficult to be hacked into than Windows. As long as you are not running a server for a huge corporation or a bank or something like that, you don't have too much to worry about. Windows viruses can't affect Linux computers, and there are far, far fewer Linux-targeted viruses out there. This is not to say that Linux is free from vulnerabilities, just that they are far more difficult to exploit and they are not done so quite as often, due to the massive difference in market share compared to Windows.

Quote:

Thermodyne said:
Or............XP pro for base OS with 98 running on a virtual PC install...

Not a good idea for any gaming beyond really old DOS games... Emulators eat up a ton of system resources.

parabolize · #6 January 4th, 2005, 05:19 PM

"Just how would I get started on the dual op system?"
If you are going to use a lot of HD space with the games and media get another drive. Otherwise whatever linux distro you install will resize your drive for you. When your ready to do it backup, defragment and scandisk your windows HD.

"What do I use for firewall security and antivirus on Linux?"
The installer for your distro will walk you through your firewall. AV isn't a problem.

tesco samoa · #7 January 5th, 2005, 01:37 PM

Debian is a little older and needs less configuration to get up and going than say gentoo. Download the distro for Debian and then when you install it just pick one of each optional software packages. You do not need 8 editors which is what will happen if you install everything.

I have used Debian as a workstation at work. It is quite stable on a sun workstation. Has lots of support but the support forums are a little unfriendly.

Gentoo is another package worth looking at. Its a newer distro on the linux world. I am using this at home now , running a custom build of it with mythtv on it as my htpc.

I have another box at home with suse on it which i use as honeypot and then a old box running mandrade on it as my firewall and printserver.

Picking a distro can be tricky as it is your first time it could make you hate linux as you have to learn to change Users to install stuff and do stuff. Do not give your regular user root access.

I recommend you look at the distro's i mentioned and then look at the hardware you have and then see which one supports all the hardware and go with that one at first. Since it will be a desktop station with some add on server apps you have many distro's to choose from to play with. They are all good. I do not know why Fyron is all over Debian.

http://www.ibiblio.org/
http://www.linuxiso.org/
http://www.linux.org/
http://www.justlinux.com/

some links for you... here you will find info, distro, apps

So go read and try...

Wardad · #8 January 5th, 2005, 03:22 PM

UBUNTU looked friendly to use. Just one CD download with most of the applications I will need. I downloaded it Last night.

The real question is the driver support. Should a linux driver work with most stable Distro? Is there an easy way to make sense of it?

The store still doesn't have the mother board I wanted, MSI K8N2.
I guess I could mess with the computer as is, but with a dead primary IDE port,I am limited to one hard drive, and one DVD/CD combo.

Arkcon · #9 January 4th, 2005, 07:32 PM

Wardad said:
What do I use for firewall security and antivirus on Linux?

My firewall currently is iptables, which is built into Linux, unlike XP's SP2 firewall, which is just a bandaid slapped unto a sucking chest wound.

O.K. that's a little unfair. But iptables is so easy to setup, and never slows down the system. To think of all the crap I endured trying to get Zone Alarm Pro to work, only to have it slow down my system ... . You see why I really enjoy Linux.

Wardad · #10 January 4th, 2005, 08:28 PM

The discussions are interesting.

I just found this on dual booting: http://www.aboutdebian.com/dualboot.htm

I'm considering Debian Linux.
I guess I will just download the CDs. Some many utilities!!!
Which Web Browser and Mail Server to use?

What about DVD software? Photoshop?
I use 601 instead of MS Orifice, what's good in Linux?

If it gets to be too much trouble I can just can it all and try XP Pro at $100 to $200 and renew Norton at $30.