OK here goes...

Games: Counter-Strike: Source
Battlefield 2
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.
WH40K Dawn of War

Apps: Microsoft Office
Sony Vegas
Windows Media Player
Xfire
Ventrilo
Steam

Hmm... Ok, off the top of my head, I'll answer these ones:

Counterstrike source - I got it completely working on Wine.
Battlefield 2 - don't think it works, but I'll double check
Stalker - no idea, will check Wine DB
WH40K - no idea either, will check Wine DB

Microsoft Office - There is an equivalent, if not better, Open Office, it can read MS files, save as MS office files, and even has it's own types of files that you can use, if you wish.

Sony Vegas - Don't know what that is

Windows Media Player - Guarantee you will like a program called "amarok" far better... It's amazing, I swear. If not, theres various others too...

Xfire - There's only gaim as far as I know, which supports MSN protocol, ICQ protocol, IRC protocol, Jabber protocol, Yahoo, etc... and a bunch of others, however, It does not support Xfire, but you might be able to get that to work in Wine.

Ventrilo - if they have a Linux version, then OK, if not, maybe in wine, otherwise, dunno... i'll check wine DB

Steam - Works perfectly on Wine. The only thing that doesn't work is the friends/community, and the mic, as well as Hammer... as far as I know. CSS works fine, HL works fine, etc...

Other than that, there's a package manager you can use. It has access to thousands of free software you can download right at your Linux desktop... There is also a special-effects desktop thing called "compiz-fusion", which has graphical effects for Linux as Aero has graphical effects for Windows... I think compiz-fusion is better than Aero however. Judge for yourself:

It's still in a beta sort of thing, but it has a LOT of plugins... you can look at the videos yourself

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_quer...n&search=Search

Lots of them are really old though... so it has really advanced in the last few months.

EDIT: oh, and compiz-fusion doesn't need a super-computer to run... I believe it can run on a 1.5 ghz celeron, and some entry-level graphics card. Btw, do you have an nVidia card?

EDIT: heh, and one last thing... how fast IS your internet?

This post has been edited by bacon333 on September 29, 2007 12:36 am

Thanks for your research - I won't make the switch yet, but I may do in future when the time comes again to reformat the hard drive in about 4-5 months time

The only problem is that I know a lot of people who can't get Battlfield 2 or Sony Vegas to work on Linux. As I do a lot of video editing, Vegas is pretty much essential to me, as it's the best of the lot for high quality editing.

Also what is confusing to me is the fact that there are only 2 versions of XP, but hundreds of Linux versions - Is there one that is better than the rest?


**Internet***
Internet used to be 1meg, then 2 meg. Really solid and pefect <60ms google.com ping any time of day.

Virign changed to the Virgin Media group, and I was upgraded to 8meg ADSL MAX service free of charge.

Since then, speed is around 150kpbs download (BITS not BYTES), 348kpbs upload, and google.com ping is always around 270ms, apart from 2:30am to 4:am - then I get full speed and <20ms ping.

you don't need a total switch, as bacon said, do what a lot of us say, dual boot, when u start your pc you get the option to start win xp or linux : )

Yeah... well, Linux isn't actually a full OS, as Windows XP is... It's a kernel, written by Linus torvalds in 1990 (I think? :/)... it has since been updated. A lot.

Here's a very technical description of linux:

-====================================-

There are many different linux versions, however, only of the Linux kernel... I use the 2.6.22-r5 (latest kernel version) on my gentoo box. However, there are many different Distributions, which can be downloaded and used... See, Linux is very different from Windows (if you think of it as a full OS), as there are many different types of certain components to it.

First off, you have the core of the OS. The kernel. There is only one, and it's updated frequently.

Then there's the X server... X.org is the main one... theres some other ones such as Xvesa (sp?), but it's not used as much anymore

Then there's the Desktop environment... There's KDE, Gnome, and xfce, which are as far as I know, the main ones... I like KDE the best, and second xfce (which is very lightweight).

If I am correct, this is basically the main components of a full, working, linux operating system:

-Linux Kernel
-X.org (or Xvesa(sp?))
-KDE (or gnome, or xfce)

There are also other components, such as the package manager, like gentoo's portage... etc...

-=================================-

Now, different Linux distributions are served for different purposes. I like Ubuntu best, for people who are more or less "new" to linux, as It's very easy to use, and still a powerful operating system. You can even request free CDs from them, and they will pay the shipping and all.

www.ubuntu.com

Other distros can be harder to use, harder to install... Some have proprietary versions (such as Novel's SuSe, and RedHat Linux, even though they offer free OS's as well, OpenSuSe, and Fedora)

For example, as I consider myself a "advanced" linux user, I have Gentoo installed on my pentium 3. I have to do everything, from compiling the kernel, to setting up Xorg myself, to KDE/xfce as well... However, you can optimize it so it runs faster on your computer. Ubuntu is a little slower than Gentoo, as it uses a generic kernel, which is pre-compiled (binaries).

Ubuntu uses gnome, however, there's the Kubuntu (KDE derivative) and the Xubuntu (xfce derivative).

Here are screenshots:

Kubuntu:

http://www.seopher.com/images/kubuntu/menu.png

Ubuntu:

http://www.dsl.sk/images/articles/2007-05-06-ubuntu-13.png

Xubuntu:

http://lunapark6.com/wp-content/uploads/20...ntu-desktop.jpg

Those are basically the defaults... you can configure it to do such things such as transparency.. and install compiz-fusion if you wish, to make a "3d" desktop of sorts...

I'm using Kubuntu right now. Here is a screenshot of my desktop:

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/7927/snapshot1qy0.png

When you install it, you run off of a "LiveCD". It essentially allows you to run the entire OS, weather it be Kubuntu, Ubuntu, or (not sure) xubuntu, off of the disc, and in your ram. I did this several times before I installed it on my computer as a dual boot with Windows and Linux.

(k),(x)ubuntu has a new version released every 6 months. KDE 4 is coming out in December (afaik) and the OS is updated, almost every day. (compared to Microsoft update which updates once a month.

Anyway, I hope I explained everything you need to know, and much, much more

EDIT: Ubuntu, for me, took about 20 minutes to install. I was able to browse the web while doing so. Please note that when you do things on the liveCD, it is not saved. (unless you install, that is )

This post has been edited by bacon333 on September 29, 2007 07:55 pm

Bacon, you have convinced me, sir.

I shall go forth and install and dual-boot Linux! *dramatic stance*

can you reccomend a version for someone who knows windows xp more or less inside out but has no clue about Linux?

Kubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn... A new version is coming out October 30th or so, so you would have to upgrade (not hard at all, just run the install wizard again, and overwrite the files...)

However, do you have any unpartitioned hdd space?

I have about 50GB free at the moment. Do I need to create a new partition to install Linux into?

*edit* Could you post/pm sites from where to download the Kernel, the mysterious X.org and Kubuntu please?

This post has been edited by SDWBOSS on September 30, 2007 12:08 pm

Hahahha... nah, you don't need to partition anything. You just need some unpartitioned space (space that hasn't been partitioned by windows or anything... just raw space).

EDIT: nvm, got your hotmail address... next time you're online, I'll tell you everything you need to know

This post has been edited by bacon333 on September 30, 2007 03:52 pm