Will you still use Linux after KSP 1.1?

[Badsector]

After 8 years with linux is hard go back to windows, i have a partition with win 10 only for use some space of the HD

[Pecan]

My name is Pecan and I'm a Windowsholic.
Windows 10 came installed on my new computer, so I'm finally convinced to make the break for freedom.
(By god Win10 is awful!)

 

[Stone Blue]

I will be keeping my triple-boot, but since playing KSP on Linux, I've been using Linux more for everything else too.
The only real thing keeping me from using Linux exclusively, is that $#$@@ Adobe Flash!!...

In Linux, 80% of the news sites I browse, I cant watch the video clips... I also cant stream TV shows or movies...
I've gotten every Windows version since 95, but after using Win8.1 for the past couple years, theres NO way I will be touching Win10, and likely nothing after that either... With what they pulled for Xbox One, I wont ever be going with an MS console again either..
So hopefully I can cut Microsoft products completely out of my life soon...

 

As to more specificly if I'll play KSP on Linux vs Windows with 1.1:

Most likely Linux... I only have 6GB RAM (hopefully upgrading to 8GB soon)... Win8.1 uses 1.3~1.5GB at idle... That leaves me 4.2~4.5GB for KSP... but my Lubuntu uses only 250~300MB at idle... So that will leave me 5~5.5GB for KSP...
So yes between that, and less crap running in the background using the CPU as well, still an advantage to Linux for KSP, for me, for those reasons alone

 

[Waxing_Kibbous]

4 hours ago, Stone Blue said:

I will be keeping my triple-boot, but since playing KSP on Linux, I've been using Linux more for everything else too.
The only real thing keeping me from using Linux exclusively, is that $#$@@ Adobe Flash!!...

In Linux, 80% of the news sites I browse, I cant watch the video clips... I also cant stream TV shows or movies...
I've gotten every Windows version since 95, but after using Win8.1 for the past couple years, theres NO way I will be touching Win10, and likely nothing after that either... With what they pulled for Xbox One, I wont ever be going with an MS console again either..
So hopefully I can cut Microsoft products completely out of my life soon...

I've never had an issue with video/web games in Ubuntu- I do have Flash and the Ubuntu Extras package installed. Thanks to Chrome I can watch Netflix with no extra cruft too!

[Stone Blue]

Hmmm... Looks like Restricted Extras are illegal in some countries due to copyright/patents?

Also, what version of Flash does it install?... Last I heard Adobe quit supporting Flash for Linux awhile ago...

[cantab]

browser-plugin-freshplayer-pepperflash is a package in Debian, Ubuntu, and their derivatives that lets you use the official and still-supported Chrome flash player in Firefox/Iceweasel and related browsers. Works fine for me on Debian stable.

[ezequielandrush]

I use linux since '97. I only used Windows when I had no choice.

 

Now, Steam let me play Civ 5, Cities Skylines and Kerbal in Linux.

I will never go back! I love the penguin

On 11/9/2015 at 0:54 PM, steve_v said:

BSD is awesome, In some cases It's "better" than Linux, but that's really just a matter of taste. Also the BSDs tend to be even more server-centric than Linux is - so available software for desktop/gaming purposes can be a mite limited.

9 of 10 daemons prefer BSD.. I know.. you are right.

[Renegrade]

On 2015-08-27 at 2:24 AM, Alshain said:

Of course, just not for KSP. I mean DirectX wins every time to OpenGL.

While Unity's support is sometimes lacking, and the drivers from the Big Two are also sometimes lacking, OpenGL is an open-er, free-er, more correct, faster, lighter, more portable and more extensible API than DirectX (each new edition of DirectX is literally a completely new API, making it one of the bloatiest parts of windows outside of the Suck-by-Suck Assembly System (note that SxS and DirectX have a bloat-synergy happening which is one of the (many) reasons why the SxS directory can easily exceed 20 gigs on a system that's more than a few months old)).  OpenGL is also less moronic and less LPHURTSMYHEAD in design (mind you, the bar for that is set _{really low} by DirectX).

Most of the slow/problems in OpenGL under Unity is because Unity.   Unity: literally the lowest bidder (although I've heard some of the better engines now have much more favorable licensing options).

On 2015-08-27 at 4:53 PM, Dr Farnsworth said:

I am becoming worried about the new windows 10, so I may actually be switching over to Linux in the near future. Eventually Bill Gates will force everyone to migrate to the new program. I don't think I want to comply.

Windows 7 is the last version of Windows I'll ever use.  My trials for 8 and 10 (what happened to 9?) were journeys into the related lands of "WHYYY!?!?!?" and "what the FOXTROT were they thinking?".  I haven't kept my critical files under Windows since the very early 95 era (Linux fileserver been keepin' my files safe for the last 20-odd years), and when Microsoft does their planned obsolescence BS and retires 7, I will retire Windows for good.

I'll be able to leave behind:

• Dozens of reboots after a fresh install / reboots after simple patches
• Activation and licensing issues
• Malware-infested binary blobs from sketchy sites
• Having to install dozens of Microsoft and third party packages to get a minimally working system (hello where's my compiler? a zip utility that's faster than 50kb/s?  a text editor which understands more than just DOS files and can load files bigger than a meg or two without choking? a browser that doesn't make my system into ground zero for malware?)
• Forced updates
• Spyware from the goddamn vendor
• Massive unrestrained bloat (DX, SxS, Win Update, etc)
• Stupid recovery consoles (hooray for LiveCD!)
• Legacy-infested, DOS-infected command line (written by stolen from the lowest bidder)
• The abomination which is the registry
• Having to use DISKPART.EXE at all (*shudder*)
• Being unable to schedule OS downloads separately from installation (I get free unlimited bandwidth between 2am and 8am, and I really don't want Windows Update doing anything when I'm not watching and/or force-rebooting the system at any point.  With an apt-based system (debian, Ubuntu, Mint, etc), you can apt-get update && apt-get -d upgrade --yes in a crontab to download, and then simply 'apt-get upgrade --yes' later to actually perform the updates).
• That stupid GWX nag app and it's sneaky attempts to get itself reinstalled again and again

Given that software is either leaving Windows (games), or becoming incredibly and violently obnoxious (cloud-based, CaaS software rental) and also questionable and dangerous, the reasons for putting up with all this crap are evaporating.

Besides, Win 10 will likely become some sort of CaaS rental scam in the long term anyways (and Microsoft has indicated there won't be a successor to 10, and "Windows as a Service" sounds a LOT like Computing as a Service, which is the term that your vendor uses when they mean to simply start billing you MONTHLY and require always-on internet access).

[Draco T stand-up guy]

I used Linux for my desktop for a few years a few years ago. The problem always came down to having the software that I wanted to use. It was available on Windows but not on Linux. And that, for me, is the big killer for Linux - it just doesn't have the software available for it.

[Stone Blue]

31 minutes ago, Draco T stand-up guy said:

I used Linux for my desktop for a few years a few years ago. The problem always came down to having the software that I wanted to use. It was available on Windows but not on Linux. And that, for me, is the big killer for Linux - it just doesn't have the software available for it.

You should take a look again... I agree with you... When I tried Linux years ago, I saw the same...
But now, about the only thing I cant seem to do in Linux that I can do in Windows is watch/stream video on the net...I think you will start seeing a growing migration away from MS computer products/software when Win7 hits EoS... Withthe big stink when Win8 hit, there are MANY holdouts that run 7... When 7 dies, those people (obviously) arent going to want to go with 8/8.1... Muchless, if they didnt like 8/8.1, they SURE as heck arent going to like 10 AT ALL... And with Linux seemingly getting distros that have much improved GUI/desktops, and more software supporting Linux, that will only help...
The only thing that will keep Windows alive at that point, will be commercial usage...
 

[The Great Potato]

Always used Windows for KSP x64.

I like Unix systems, but I primarily use my home computer for games and programming. Wine and/or VMs just don't suit my fancy. I finally gave up maintaining a Fedora install when I reformatted last Nov - I booted into it maybe once in the last two years.

As for Windows...I understand the trust issues with the default info gathering and p2p traffic, but most of that can be turned off. When it's off, it doesn't collect any more data than Google. Or half the programs on your computer. Or the phone in your pocket that is literally tracking your every move. Welcome to the modern internet. If you REALLY want it all off there are antivirus programs that can help you, or you can block those ports manually.

Aside from that, Win10 is largely alright. It's much lighter than the flaming garbage that was win7 and vista. It's customizable enough to satisfy me. And a well configured Cygwin gives you the unix stdlibs and bash, which tbh are the main reason I like Linux. Oh, and everything is made for it. Such as VisualStudio and C#. And Tortoise...and AraxisMerge...etc etc

Call me a fanboy if you like, but I just want to provide a different point of view. It's more a pick-your-poison kind of deal, not a clear-cut-superior-software kind of deal. I just happen to prefer Microsoft's poison for now.

As always, you do you.

[steve_v]

7 hours ago, Renegrade said:

OpenGL is an open-er, free-er, more correct, faster, lighter, more portable and more extensible API than DirectX.
...
Most of the slow/problems in OpenGL under Unity is because Unity.

Yeah, what you said. OpenGL done properly has outperformed and under aggravated (as compared to DX) since the day DX was (mostly) stolen from SGI.

7 hours ago, Renegrade said:

Windows 7 is the last version of Windows I'll ever use...

A simple 'like' cannot express how precisely this post aligns with my thoughts, on every single point... Are you reading my mind? *checks special hat for holes*

My last remaining Windows install bit the dust right about when MS cranked the GWX obnoxiousness up to 11, and tried backporting the spyware to earlier versions... The last remaining vestige of Windows in my life is a thoroughly gutted (~300MB, IIRC) XP VM that gets cloned as a "single app container" on the rare occasion I actually need it.

Using Windows, without all the things that come standard with GNU, BSD etc. is (to quote a wise man slightly out of context) "Like learning to tap-dance in a body-cast". It just frustrates me at every turn.

 

53 minutes ago, The Great Potato said:

it doesn't collect any more data than Google. Or half the programs on your computer. Or the phone in your pocket that is literally tracking your every move.

The only application on my PC that collects any data without my say-so is my web-browser, and that mostly due to the foul morass of ad-bots and tracking the internet has become... As for my phone: custom OS build, pretty sure I ripped all the spyware and anti-features out, thanks but no-thanks Google. The radio firmware is another story, but what can you do?

TBH most of this is due to a need to tinker and build things myself, rather than outright paranoia, but running a FOSS OS does give you options if there are "features" you don't want... MS gives you none at all.

 

----Edit---

And then there's this kick-in-the-teeth for sysadmins:

 

Edited April 1, 2016 by steve_v

[Deimos Rast]

Using linux now and will continue to do so after 1.1. Now if only it didn't run like a dog, that'd be a treat...

[steve_v]

Just now, Deimos Rast said:

Now if only it didn't run like a dog, that'd be a treat...

Must be Puppy Linux then.

How's 1.1 on Linux shaping up anyways? I'm feeling a little out-of-the-loop.

[Green Baron]

I play ksp because it runs on native linux, not the other way round and i'm totally with renegrade and steve_v. The only reason why i still run a win7-partition is orbiter, in that case the application dictates my os.

That is because gnu/linux is the most sophisticated, fastest, versatile, stablest and best documented and configurable programming environment and os that exists, well that i know of ...

Does that answer the question :-) ?

[Curveball Anders]

I'm running win10 on most of my desktops, since I have to for professional reason.

But all servers and firewalls are running BSD.

[Kaa253]

I have Windows 7 on a spare partition and almost never boot into it. Its whole design annoys me these days and Windows 10 looks even worse.

5 minutes ago, kemde said:

I play ksp because it runs on native linux, not the other way round and i'm totally with renegrade and steve_v. 

I am with @kemde here too. KSP is the best game ever because (a) it is about space (b) you don't need to shoot anything and (c) it runs native on linux.

My first linux install was done in 1997.

Edited April 1, 2016 by Kaa253

[Morse]

Sure, I'll still use linux. Just not for KSP. My distribution has long stopped packaging mono2 which provides .NET3.5, so it's impossible for me to develop mods in linux. Also, linux version loads screens much slower for some reason. Maybe when I finally change my old laptop to something recent and with SSD...

[steve_v]

3 minutes ago, kemde said:

...programming environment and os...

This is actually an interesting point, most distros are not just an OS, they also include all the tools to build an OS. Where Windows discourages tinkering with the system and has mainly third-party coding tools, GNU/Linux is a programming environment out of the box, from the shell to the compiler and toolchain.

5 minutes ago, Curveball Anders said:

I'm running win10 on most of my desktops, since I have to for professional reason.

I feel for you, this must be hard.

6 minutes ago, Curveball Anders said:

But all servers and firewalls are running BSD.

But I see you know what you're doing.

[Curveball Anders]

10 minutes ago, steve_v said:

I feel for you, this must be hard.

I'm a security consultant.

If my customers moved from Windows I'd be out of customers ...

Edited April 1, 2016 by Curveball Anders
grammaries

[ThomasOnLinux]

Currently i am running ArchLinux (x86_64). Very nice for KSP, i even wrote small bash-scripts for saving and restoring savegames, backup downloaded mods etc. But to be honest, not using Windows was a rather personal descision that had nothing to do with KSP. Therefore, i'm writing this comment, because i do not know if SQUAD really knows how important it is for their business to support Linux. People are following the operating system, not one game only.

By the way: modders should also consider the fact, that there are a quick growing group of Linux users, using their mods.

Edited April 1, 2016 by ThomasOnLinux
typo

[jonrd463]

KSP introduced me to Linux. I frequently saw people mention Linux Mint and good performance on KSP. Since I'm constantly trying to break KSP with an overabundance of part mods, getting CTDs from running out of memory in Windows became a way of life. I decided to see if I could dual boot, which I could, so I got Mint 17.1 at the time and was pretty amazed at just how easy it was to set up. Before this, I had this preconceived notion from the old days that GUIs were rudimentary and everything must be done from the command line. Mint is one of the best distros for newbies, as I am a perfect example of this.

KSP now runs great for me. I have never once had a CTD from running out of memory. In fact, I haven't had a CTD in KSP, period. Performance is really nice, and with a little tweaking, I've got OpenGL looking pretty snazzy. Since Mint comes with a host of extras, like a full office suite, and since games are more and more becoming Linux compatible, I too have made it my "daily driver". 

I still have Windows that I can boot to for the occasional non-Linux game, but I find that becoming less and less. One thing about it, though, is I rarely mention I'm now a Linux user, because some people seem to take great offense to that. I never understood why, but my philosophy is "Use what OS serves your needs in the best way that works for you." For me, that's Linux at the moment.

Oh, and TL;DR-- I'll be sticking with Linux for KSP.

[stibbons]

My gaming rig dual-boots, but I built it with an eye for good Linux compatibility and boot Windows as little as possible. So, no, absolutely no intention of switching to running KSP in Windows.

[hildegain]

"Will you still use Linux after KSP 1.1?"

Yes. But not for KSP. I've never found that Linux matches up with my Windows install for gaming. Even on KSP. I do use Linux for a few niche applications that allows me to do some advanced networking and occasionally for testing purposes. I generally use SteamOS and tweak with it from time to time. It's a bit of fun.

Also to quote some users here, "most people prefer to keep datamining to a minimum given the choice" that's cool. The data gathered by microsoft is trivial and non-identifying. Google gathers more data and stores it for years. It's also used to identify you.

"I already use Linux for everything, mostly because it doesn't treat me like I was repeatedly dropped on the head as a child." That's cool, too. Neither does Windows. Simplicity and ease of use isn't for the purpose of insulting your intelligence.

"The excessive phoning-home in Win 10 is just the final straw." You might wanna stop using any search engines then. Microsoft anonymously collects data about Cortana's usage and that's about the extent of the "phoning home". You might also want to buy a tinfoil hat and make all shopping trips outside of the internet anonymous by only using physical paper money. You might also want to wear gloves to cover up prints.

Seriously though, conspiracies are fun but they serve no purpose.

[Hary R]

7 minutes ago, 322997am said:

This is now a discussion about Linux vs Windows. This will turn into fire and it must get locked.

No as no one will defend Windows. And most people that have posted here are Linux user.