Hi Dark Well, obviously there is a bit of a learning curve involved in using Linux since some of the terminology is different, different keyboard commands, and so on, butt Linux itself is not hyper complex. Conceptually speaking, the Linux graphical environments such as Gnome, Unity, and KDE are very much like Microsoft Windows in functionality and design. You still have all the usual basic window controls such as buttons, check boxes, sliders, pull down menus, toolbars, and so forth. In a very practical sense if you can use Windows there is absolutely no reason why you couldn't use Linux with the same degree of ease of use and complexity as Windows XP.
For example, right now I'm running Ubuntu 12.04 with the Unity 2D desktop environment. When I login the Unity 2D desktop is loaded and although it is different from Microsoft Windows similar concepts apply to both. To begin with docked to the left side of the Unity desktop is the Launcher Toolbar. The Launcher Toolbar is similar in concept to the Windows Quick Launch Bar with a number of program launchers for Firefox, Thunderbird, Pidgin Instant Messenger, Totem Movie Player, etc. However, it also is similar to the Windows Taskbar as it shows all of your open applications as well. Running across the top of the desktop is the Top Panel. The Top Panel has a number of pull down menus such as Networking, Settings, User, Calendar, and so on. Inside these menus is where you go to configure your network, change desktop settings, configure your user account, download and manage updates, whatever. Finally, there is an area of the desktop called the Dash. Its similar to the Windows 7 Start Menu in that you can type in the name of an application and it will launch it, or you can click on the Applications button to bring up the Applications Menu. The Applications Menu is pretty much the Linux version of the Start Menu. Different name same concept. In short, what I'm saying is that in terms of a user interface Windows and Linux are similar, and there are things that conceptually carry over from operating system to operating system. The real difficulty someone like you may have is that you'd have to get use to different terminology for things and perhaps have to remember different keyboard commands than you are use to such as alt+f1 to go to the Launcher Toolbar, alt+f2 to open the run dialog, alt+f10 to go to the Top Panel, Windows key to open the Dash, alt+control+d to minimize all applications, and so on. Plus obviously you'd have to use different applications such as Gedit instead of Notepad, Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, Totem instead of Windows Media Player, and so on. I guess if you find that hyper complex so be it, but I personally didn't find the learning curve to be all that difficult myself. As far as cost goes it doesn't sound like you spend any more than the average college student on software, and you also don't upgrade enough to make Linux a financially feasible proposition. I myself tend to upgrade as soon as a new version of software x becomes available and if we are talking commercial products that can and does get extremely expensive. Especially, if we are talking about purchasing maintenance agreements to keep screen readers like Jaws and Window-eyes up to date wich is about $150 per year or so. Add to that the cost of Quickin, Microsoft Office, Soundforge, Visual Studio, and suddenly I'm looking at paying hundreds of dollars to stay up to date. I'm not doing that as I don't have loads of cash to throw around. However, Linux allows me to upgrade the operating system, Libre Office, the Orca screen reader, GNU Cash, Easy OCR, , and basically anything else I want for free. Not a bad deal considering all the software I get for a fraction of the cost of a similar Windows PC. That said, games are definately a big problem. There are emulators such as Dosbox, but they aren't accessible so I can't just fire up Aemon, Piledriver, or some other Dos game I want and make it accessible. There is Wine, the Windows emulator, but the same problem applies. The only games I've gotten to work on Linux are self-voicing ones, and they tend to crash often when being played through Wine for reasons I've never figured out. Although, Jim Kitchen's games seem to run just fine in Wine once Open Sapi, DirectX 8, and Visual Basic are installed. Cheers! On 9/2/12, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi tom. > > linux always seems hyper complex to me. I know for instance you explained > the compiling business, but that doesn't stop everything I read about linux > > being far beyond my technical knolidge, ---- not to mention in some ways > using language that is a little specific to linux users, eg, all this > business about "unix flavours" and such, that makes itrather difficult to > find out about. > > Also, while it might be different for developers, most of what I personally > > do on a pc is handled by free software anyway, indeed the only software I've > > bought have been games and the two avg utilities, eg, winamp for media > playing, 7zip for unzipping etc. > > I happen to need a copy of office, ---- or at least ms word, to write my > thesis on sinse it is what my university use, but once that is done I could > > probably live with just wordpad on another machine sinse for writing > gamebooks etc, it's quite sufficient to my needs and I know there is a free > > version of office with a spell check that will probably open the documents I > > already have if I needed it to. > > The biggy however is games, and not just audio games either, but things like > > dos text adventures, eamon deluxe etc, stuff I couldn't! do on linux, which > > again is the reason I'll probably stick with windows sinse I can't change > the format of wht is already there. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://mail.audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
