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I'm going to try and install Linux via Apple's Bootcamp onto my MacBook. I know little about Linux's compatibility with Mac hardware, so I have come to these tech-savvy forums appealing for tips, advice, and stories. Is what I'm going to try to do recommended? What Linux GUI should I use? Ubuntu? Or something else? Is there a different program that I should use instead of Bootcampt? What are some things that Linux excels at? I know that at least a few Linux users dwell among these crazed woods, please, come out and talk!1!1!1!!!`~`!~!~!1`11`1~~11`


Thanks a bunch.

Hmm, I don't know too much about Linux, not a regular user. I only have a Linux partition for the occasional testing, some c++ programming for university and remote network access because I couldn't bring myself to do that in Windows.

But I have some advice for you: Get the terminlogy right. You asked for GUI's and mentioned Ubuntu, Ubuntu is not a GUI. Ubuntu is a only the distribution. Linux distributions like Gentoo linux, Ubuntu, Arch linux, Red hat, Suse are linux derivations. They are all Linux, but differ in inner architecture, for example how and where configuration files are saved. And that has an influence on how to install programs. Also they offer different pre-configurations. For all I know Ubuntu is a good choice for beginners, but let's hear some more oppinions on that.
Now Gui or User interfaces are a different thing. In Linux those are usually not dependent on a particular distribution, meaning in theory you can use one of the many different GUIs on any distribution. The two most known and widely used GUIs would be KDE and Gnome. For the beginning I would recommend to just pick one of these.

I guess the easiest way you could go would be to use Kubuntu (Ubuntu distribution, preconfigured for KDE use)

Hmm, most likely I just told you a bunch of half true things. Let's wait for the real linux cracks to unmask my halfknowledge .

I'm afraid I don't know much about Mac hardware

Ubuntu is certainly the best distro for beginners - very simple, similar to Windows Vista (minus the crapness) or MacOS. The "normal" Ubuntu uses the GNOME Desktop environment, which is like Kate (KDE) only not. I prefer Kate to be honest, but I reckon if you're just starting it's probably a better idea to go with Ubuntu "Vanilla" = GNOME.

The best thing about Linux is that it's Free on top of being free. That's Free as in "Free Speech". The good thing about this is that you never have to wait in phone-line queues to get tech-support for a handful of snarky IT professionals, since there are hundreds of people out there fiddling with the inner working of the Operating System. A lot more people understand how the system works and can help you with your problem, and overall you get a sense of belonging to a community that's in it for love rather than for money. Ubuntu especially have a very active and friendly community.

Just about any software you're used to using (Office, iTunes, Acrobat) has an Open Source equivalent, and in some cases you already use it (ex: Firefox, Blender, Code::blocks...). The only thing that Linux is not so good for is games, not because it's "weaker" than Windows or Mac but simply because no commercial developers to speak of can be bothered porting their games for 5% of PC users. Indeed, compared with WindowsXP and Vista I find Ubuntu runs a LOT faster and smoother, and Ubuntu is one of the heaviest there is.


Best of all though, you can enjoy the feeling of sticking it the the MAN

Stephen Fry on GNU

Thanks Wilbefast and Tokage. And excuse my lack of knowledge in the matter. Hehe, not looking for a gaming computer, I'm waaaaaaay too addicted to the few pathetic Mac games that are out there already. (Excluding Lugaru as pathetic, of course).

Just want to learn about more OS's and maybe learn more about programming computers.

Personally, if you're completely new, I'd go straight for Ubuntu.

I've been using Linux exclusively for about 5 years. I personally run Kubuntu, which I feel has a better interface and more flexibility (flame on! ), however Ubuntu is what gets most of the development and has about 5 users for every user of Kubuntu, so it tends to get more fixes faster and thus is less likely to have you needing to learn a whole bunch of Linuxese to fix stuff. If you do need to fix stuff, you're likely to get more help on the forums, too.

There are a bunch of other very nice versions of Linux (distro's) out there, but none imho, as newbie friendly as Ubuntu. If you don't like the interface though (the "Desktop Environment") you may want to look at Kubuntu, which is basically Ubuntu with a different (slightly more Windows 7-ish) interface. (MAJOR flame on! )

I now sit back and prepare for the roasting that shall surely come...

Lol - Ubuntu 9.10 pwns Windows 7?

*Bof* I prefer Kate because it's more of a "programmer's" suite than Gnome, but I use Ubuntu these days for the reasons you mentioned - there's a bigger community, more updates, etc, etc. Obviously Kate >> Gedit though, no question.
Most important thing about Linux: while there aren't as many users, there are a lot more developers. For Windows and Mac the only people who understand the inner working are the paid employees and they're in a tiny minority. Meanwhile since Linux is open source anyone can open it up and have a look at the inside, so a lot more people have - well - inside knowledge and thus it's a hell of a lot easier (yes, that's easier) to get tech support than if you're using Windows or Mac: Things don't always work but you get them fixed in 5 minutes on the IRC.

@Untadaike: always happy to help

The only thing keeping me from switching to linux is the program support. While you can run many Windows programs through Wine, most programs that I use don't have native support.

Once Linux gets more support for programs like Flash, and Video Games, I'd probably switch.

I got VMware Fusion, a really nice application, used that to partition my disk, and installed Ubuntu. It's pretty "sweet".

TheBigCheese wrote:The only thing keeping me from switching to linux is the program support. While you can run many Windows programs through Wine, most programs that I use don't have native support.

Once Linux gets more support for programs like Flash, and Video Games, I'd probably switch.

Linux already has plenty of support for Flash - I can play any flash games, youtube videos, and anything I like with no problem whatsoever.
Seriously though - stop trying to run Windows programs through WINE and just get the Linux equivalents. There are Open Source equivalents for just about any program you can think of, and they'll work better than anything you care to put through WINE. Also they're free and Open Source so don't ransom your work and blackmail you into continuing to use them (like Word, PowerPoint, etc).

Games for Linux are non-profit so don't get any marketing. I'm rather disgusted to realise that the coverage a game gets on sites like IGN and Gamespot depends almost entirely on how much the makers are prepared to bribe the editor. In the end people think there are no Linux games because they don't get any coverage.
And then on the other hand it's a bit of a vicious cycle: developers don't port their games because there's not much of a market, and there's not much of a market because developers don't port their games. Of course, that's commercial game's - I'd say a good 40% of indie games work on Linux, and maybe 60% of the others will run over WINE because they use Free libraries. In other words you get all the interesting avant-guard games and you loose or the generic, mass produced AAAs with brown-ey greys and space marines. I don't regret my decision.

William

Wilbefast wrote:Linux already has plenty of support for Flash - I can play any flash games, youtube videos, and anything I like with no problem whatsoever.
Seriously though - stop trying to run Windows programs through WINE and just get the Linux equivalents. There are Open Source equivalents for just about any program you can think of, and they'll work better than anything you care to put through WINE. Also they're free and Open Source so don't ransom your work and blackmail you into continuing to use them (like Word, PowerPoint, etc).

Not Flash Player, Flash CS4 and the like. There isn't to my knowledge an equivalent program (FlashDevelop isn't up to par) that allows you to create Flash applications.

I actually do use mostly Open Source programs on my Windows computer. I use Open Office, Gimp, and Blender, rather than the closed source alternatives.

TheBigCheese wrote:Not Flash Player, Flash CS4 and the like. There isn't to my knowledge an equivalent program (FlashDevelop isn't up to par) that allows you to create Flash applications.

Hmm - true, my bad. Hadn't thought of the development side...