The Mana World Forums

For techies:

Hello...
My computer is currently dead --I'm using another for the moment, but I'm wondering, when I get my computer running or get a new one, what distro of Linux I should use.

I like Linux, and I am a gamer second only to a music enthusiast. I have most experience with Fedora, which is what I'm likely to use again (or maybe Arch) if I don't get any persuasive suggestions.

You could try Sabayon, or else, theres always using BSD rather than nasty Linux

--
trapdoor

What's wrong with linux? And... well, I don't know much about BSD. 'Tis so good about it?

BSD is the operating system family for true non-conformist who even consider Linux and MacOS too mainstream.

Well, I don't conform well, but I don't necessarily try to stick out like a sore thumb. (ehem...)

When my computer is working again, I'll surely check it out, but... what's so special about it? It can't be just another name put on a Unix variant....

Well, it could, but I wouldn't care so much for it.

I'd recommend checking out Ubuntu Studio. It has all the latest free music and video production software, and the low latency kernel is good for gaming. There is a lot of hype around Ubuntu, so if you want to stand out it may not be great, but if you want a well supported and rapidly developing free OS check it out.
-Cosmostrator

I've tried Ubuntu before --didn't like it much. Too restricting, or automatic, or something... I just didn't like it much. I like to be able to accidently screw things up, and Ubuntu only lets you purpusefully screw things up. I... I just didn't like it much. Sorry.

I like to be able to accidently screw things up

In that case I would recommend Windows ME, all you have to do is look at it funny and something gets screwed up.
But seriously, if you haven't tried Ubuntu in a while it might be worth checking out. A lot of development has happened recently that makes it much more useful than in the past. There is still ready access to console and all of that if you want to really mess something up.
-Cosmostrator

lol --I want to screw it up --not it screw itself up. I'm pretty Anti-Microsoft due to... circumstances. Actually, my life goal is to buy 51% stock and force it to go open-source.

Anyways, I tried the newest Ubuntu (Feisty Fawn), and that, aside from some long-ago expreience that I can't rely upon, is all expreience that I've had. It wasn't so much the technical things that bothers me with it --I just didn't like it much.

Sorry --I'm weird.

Weird is a strange word.....

Fedora is an excellent Linux distro, by far the best that i have used. If it was not for Fedora i would never have found The Mana World!

heh; same here (about finding it --and I suppose it's probably the best I've used, too --considering I've used virtually nothing but it). I can't get it to upgrade to TMW ..23, though....

Ryo Kimball wrote:what's so special about it? It can't be just another name put on a Unix variant....

BSD is what UNIX as we know it came from. It started as a software distribution by Berkeley University on top of AT&Ts UNIX. It then developed into a full blown Operating System.

BSD gave us virtual memory, TCP/IP, and much more.

FreeBSD is currently the most common BSD still developed, but if you see http://uptime.netcraft.com you can see that BSD4.4 is still in use by large enterprises.

PC-BSD is a desktop friendly version of FreeBSD and gives you a fancy installer and a KDE desktop after installation, whereas FreeBSD by default doesn't even install crap like X11.

FreeBSD has linux emulation so 99% of your linux apps still work, plus it has a collection of 16,000 native apps, all easily installable (and their dependencies). The Mana World latest version is available from ports.

--
trapdoor

Now THAT is how you make something sound interesting....

Now, what I've gathered is that BSD is "Unix-based." So, is this wrong, or has BSD, at least at some point, become so popular a development-project that it actually surpassed it's parent? And the fact that concepts like virtual memory and such are quite important (well, I guess that's a duh), and I will surely check it out at the very least to know more about where they came from.

But what about the functionailty? I mean, I like GUIs. I could live in a text-based world again, but not by choice. Is it (with X11 installed, that is) Unix/Linux like? Is it a whole new concept as far as interaction or file storage? These are just curiousity questions --and will be answered at least when I check it out myself, but that may yet still be a while. And it won't scare me to try something new: I like new. (I'm here, aren't I?)

Hmm... what other operating systems are there? I've heard of one... I can't recall the brand, but they made their own OS to go with their motherboards --and they stopped making the MBs, but still upgrade the OS (which I thought was awkward). When I was told about it, they were saying that it would reboot in less than 10 seconds and open apps even more quickly (er... quicker.... stupid English) --All this with an "old" motherboard and stuff, since they stopped making them (I'd say) at least 10 years ago. That's one I'd go out and get if I had a chance, too... but what about Sun systems and some other less-talked about OSs?

Ryo Kimball wrote: But what about the functionailty? I mean, I like GUIs. I could live in a text-based world again, but not by choice. Is it (with X11 installed, that is) Unix/Linux like? Is it a whole new concept as far as interaction or file storage? These are just curiousity questions --and will be answered at least when I check it out myself, but that may yet still be a while. And it won't scare me to try something new: I like new. (I'm here, aren't I?)

With X11, its pretty identical to Linux, only behind the scenes the mechanics are different, better threading system, better memory management, and better security.

BSD's are much better used as a server than as a desktop. If you want a desktop, try Mac OSX, its based on FreeBSD, and has a Mach kernel.

Ryo Kimball wrote: Hmm... what other operating systems are there? I've heard of one... I can't recall the brand, but they made their own OS to go with their motherboards --and they stopped making the MBs, but still upgrade the OS (which I thought was awkward). When I was told about it, they were saying that it would reboot in less than 10 seconds and open apps even more quickly (er... quicker.... stupid English) --All this with an "old" motherboard and stuff, since they stopped making them (I'd say) at least 10 years ago. That's one I'd go out and get if I had a chance, too... but what about Sun systems and some other less-talked about OSs?

Solaris gained a lot of popularity after opensolaris was released, but its still pretty much only used by big enterprises and universities from what I have seen. I have a solaris 9 box at work that no-one knows how to get it to work (root password was lost many years ago, and cant seem to be able to boot from CD drive).

SkyOS is looking like it has a lot of potential, although only done by one man, the guy is a machine, and works at a phenomenal pace. Hundreds of bugs are fixed every week, and tons of new features every month. I am currently porting The Mana World to SkyOS. It has a very nice GUI, and a POSIX base.

eyeOS is an online OS, so it requires an existing OS already on the box, but allows for remote working, you can access the same desktop and files from any machine in the world.

I am hoping Google will one day release their own OS, obviously it would be free and open source, and have a better windowing system than X! (*sigh*)

--
trapdoor

http://archlinux.org/ could be what you're looking for if you want ease of usage and the ability to go under the hood easily.