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A doubter's confession...
For years I've been struggling with the decision to run only Linux or only Windows on my main pc. I've been a fan of Linux since Suse 9.0. I love the idea about open concepts and a community supporting eachother and together working on software.On the other hand, Microsoft is the market leader with their operating systems so if I want to work with certain commercial products, I have to buy and install Windows. I have nothing personal against Windows or Microsoft, just with some of their policies and monopolistic behaviour in the software industry.
Don't get me wrong, I actually think some Microsoft products are good products. I'm MCSE 2003 certified, it's hard to get the motivation to get that certification if you hold a grudge against their products... So I do have a little place in my heart for Microsoft... I admit...
So now I run a dual-boot, Windows Xp x64 for games and Ubuntu x64 for everything else, totally in harmony. Just not in peace with myself... I feel like I'm betraying my good friends in the opensource community... Going behind their backs, installing Windows on a seperate disk... not mentioning I edited my Grub bootlist late at night when nobody's around...
Yet it fills my heart with joy everytime the Ubuntu bootscreen shows.... Loading the kernel, showing his login screen... After logging in, playing with the CompizFusion cubes for a couple of minutes... (yes, it does bring the inner child in me out... admit it, you like it too!!!!). Friends and family who are totally surprised by the power and graphical stuff Linux can bring... It's addictive...
My heart says I should stay with Ubuntu... My gaming addiction is repulsed by the idea alone... So I'm forced to hover between two worlds... *sigh* I wish I knew more people with this issue so we could start a supportgroup and talk about our sins...
Doubters Anoynmous... every monday and thursday... sharing stories while staring at a Grub loading screen deciding which boot-entry should be default...
 11-'08
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Give one... Get one... or get a better one? |
 10-'08
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Adobe, why is it so hard? |
Comments
By
Pinata,
Friday 24 October 2008 10:33
Use your OS as a tool, not as religion. 
By
Adion,
Friday 24 October 2008 10:38
If you only use windows for your games anymore, have you ever tried Crossover Games
I use it on Mac OS X, and if the games you play are supported it works pretty well, and it allows you to run other windows programs as well.
It's based on Wine, but somehow it integrates all possible steps better it seems without having to do much research and trying out yourself.
I use it on Mac OS X, and if the games you play are supported it works pretty well, and it allows you to run other windows programs as well.
It's based on Wine, but somehow it integrates all possible steps better it seems without having to do much research and trying out yourself.
By
H!GHGuY,
Friday 24 October 2008 10:44
I also have dual boot (vista x64/gentoo), but it usually results in not using linux at all.
One of the main issues of dual boot is the reboot aspect. When I have a day off (like today, *cheers*) I tend to free-roam around many applications. Some of them have worthy replacements on linux, but others (esp. games) can hardly be run on Linux.
I did get CS 1.6 to play nice with Wine with acceptable performance, but CSS is a no-go performance wise. The PC itself is not to blame, it's a Q6600 @ 3GHz with 2GB of RAM and a GF8800GTS640. Other games like Cabal online cannot be run on Wine because of the nProtect anti-hackers tool.
On a regular usage pattern this would mean plenty of reboots at 3-5 minutes each which is just a plain no-go if one moment you want to do X and before the app has properly started you choose to do Y. All this jumping over the fence or the resulting sitting-on-the-fence-not-knowing-what-to-pick is tiresome.
I did find the holy grale though: run Gentoo in a VM on top of windows.
But then I ask myself: why run linux in a VM if (nearly) all applications you want to run are available natively on windows?
So I stick with Satan. (Although in my opinion Vista is really not as bad as people say. Eat that from an embedded linux engineer!)
One of the main issues of dual boot is the reboot aspect. When I have a day off (like today, *cheers*) I tend to free-roam around many applications. Some of them have worthy replacements on linux, but others (esp. games) can hardly be run on Linux.
I did get CS 1.6 to play nice with Wine with acceptable performance, but CSS is a no-go performance wise. The PC itself is not to blame, it's a Q6600 @ 3GHz with 2GB of RAM and a GF8800GTS640. Other games like Cabal online cannot be run on Wine because of the nProtect anti-hackers tool.
On a regular usage pattern this would mean plenty of reboots at 3-5 minutes each which is just a plain no-go if one moment you want to do X and before the app has properly started you choose to do Y. All this jumping over the fence or the resulting sitting-on-the-fence-not-knowing-what-to-pick is tiresome.
I did find the holy grale though: run Gentoo in a VM on top of windows.
But then I ask myself: why run linux in a VM if (nearly) all applications you want to run are available natively on windows?
So I stick with Satan. (Although in my opinion Vista is really not as bad as people say. Eat that from an embedded linux engineer!)
By
domi235,
Friday 24 October 2008 11:07
At some point you'll grow over the gaming stuff, problem solved 
By
TrekDude101,
Friday 24 October 2008 11:32
I installed linux (ubuntu) a while ago in a dualboot with Vista, I really enjoyed Linux but (perhaps unfortunatly) I keep booting Windows instead of Linux.
By
Dr. Horrible,
Friday 24 October 2008 12:02
I had a dual boot for a while, now it's arch64 only:) Thinking about a virtual machine with windows for some school stuff. For games i have a PS3..
By
M-Opensource,
Friday 24 October 2008 12:22
Thank you guys...! I really need the support
You guys are true friends
You guys are true friends
[Comment edited on Friday 24 October 2008 12:23]
By
X-DraGoN,
Friday 24 October 2008 12:51
I confess!!
I have the same addiction, apart from the fact that I have a dual boot system and I game in Linux!
CS:Source well playable on my mid/low range machine (Athlon 4400+/2Gb ram/Nvidia 6600GT 128mb). Steam runs like a charm.
I the beginning, when doubting to install dualboot, I never really took the effort of installing windows and I've grown to never use it, but wait, I have 2 work laptops, both running Windows XP. I get my secret fix there from
Whenever I run into a problem on Linux, I try to resolve it, try to fix it. With some, I learn to live, with some, I get angry and then try to live. Dual soundcard isn't easy, I can tell you that.
Your story sounds so familiar....
I have the same addiction, apart from the fact that I have a dual boot system and I game in Linux!
CS:Source well playable on my mid/low range machine (Athlon 4400+/2Gb ram/Nvidia 6600GT 128mb). Steam runs like a charm.
I the beginning, when doubting to install dualboot, I never really took the effort of installing windows and I've grown to never use it, but wait, I have 2 work laptops, both running Windows XP. I get my secret fix there from
Whenever I run into a problem on Linux, I try to resolve it, try to fix it. With some, I learn to live, with some, I get angry and then try to live. Dual soundcard isn't easy, I can tell you that.
Your story sounds so familiar....
By
Wezz6400,
Friday 24 October 2008 16:48
I have the same problem. I've been sick and tired of windows for years and been wanting to switch to Linux. However I'm completely locked in XP. I know every corner, every little trick and setting in there. With Linux I have to start over and rediscover a lot, it is that efford that holds me back. Ironically it is that very same reason that holds me back from Vista, although I have a dual boot now. In time I will most likely switch to Vista (and Windows 7 in the future) for playing and developing games, and do everything else in Linux.
The dual booting can be a drag however running a local server fixed a few issues I had with that, I run IRC and MSN proxies on that so I don't go offline when I reboot. An added advantage is that I can close those down when gaming.
The dual booting can be a drag however running a local server fixed a few issues I had with that, I run IRC and MSN proxies on that so I don't go offline when I reboot. An added advantage is that I can close those down when gaming.
By
froggie,
Friday 24 October 2008 19:32
I'm only a casual gamer and for that reason switched to consoles. This gives me the option to run whatever I feel comfortable with as my main OS, which used to be Linux but has been replaced by Mac OS X a little over two years ago. I feel the latter one gives me the best of both worlds as I can compile almost any Unix based piece of software I want while on the other hand I can use commercial software if I need it.
By
Hadron,
Friday 24 October 2008 20:00
Such a recognisable problem
I have to use windows for gaming, but for most other stuff I prefer linux. That was one of the reasons I loved Neverwinter nights: A nice RPG that doesn't require me to reboot. It really is a shame that bioware decided to build neverwinter nights 2 with directx, I never really got wine to work with all that stuff.
Your remark about the boot screen made me smile.. it's so recognisable. A 'feature' of windows is that, while it is booting, it doesn't tell you what it is doing, just that it's booting. For some reason it is very pleasant to know roughly what it is doing, and to be able to find out why it is doing it. Even if my box doesn't run Ubuntu but Gentoo, it's still quite recognisable
I have to use windows for gaming, but for most other stuff I prefer linux. That was one of the reasons I loved Neverwinter nights: A nice RPG that doesn't require me to reboot. It really is a shame that bioware decided to build neverwinter nights 2 with directx, I never really got wine to work with all that stuff.
Your remark about the boot screen made me smile.. it's so recognisable. A 'feature' of windows is that, while it is booting, it doesn't tell you what it is doing, just that it's booting. For some reason it is very pleasant to know roughly what it is doing, and to be able to find out why it is doing it. Even if my box doesn't run Ubuntu but Gentoo, it's still quite recognisable
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