So I ditched Windoze

[Xyphos]

I got tired of Microsoft's data mining and invasive behaviors in Win10, I very much regret upgrading from Win8.

Unfortunately, my PC is far too new to use Win7 as there aren't any Win7 compatible drivers for my hardware.

So, I wiped the entire disk and installed Kubuntu Linux instead.

Installation was a breeze and everything works just fine, and the best part, no spyware or 0-day backdoors built into the OS as hidden "features"

my webcam and microphone no longer randomly turns itself on, which is a relief, because that blinking red light made me paranoid.

I'm currently installing the Linux Steam and KSP so I came here to post about it.

[Columbia]

That's good to hear! I'm still skeptical about updating myself.. From what I hear, it invades your privacy a lot.

[windows_x_seven]

Windows 7 is love.

Windows 7 is life.

xoxo ~windows_x_seven

[stratvox]

I'm a long-standing unix geek at this point; my personal PC history starts with DOS 6, includes Win3.11, Win95, OS/2, NT, XP, and linux. On work machines I also have extensive experience with Solaris.

You're not going to regret doing this. It's very nice having the high degree of control over your system that you get with *nix systems. Very nice indeed.

And in Kerbal land, you get to run 64 bit stably and with zero hassles.

My home system is Ubuntu with Gnome. I checked out KDE but I'm at the point where the tweakability of the UI just doesn't matter so much to me any more.

I'd highly recommend copying your KSP install elsewhere on your file system and running it from there. That way you don't get nailed with having your install upgraded and trashing your save game. Also, you don't need to run it with Steam going in the background by running it directly (~/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal\ Space\ Program/KSP.x86_64 on the command line, or set up an app launcher with that command) so you can keep the RAM for stuff you actually want to use. One last trick I've been doing; I create a career and sandbox game together (game-career and game-sandbox) and then delete the sandbox save's craft folder and soft link it to the craft folder in the career game. The command to do this is something along the lines of "ln -s ./Ships ~/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal\ Space\ Program/saves/game-career/Ships" and similarly for the Subassemblies folder. This permits easy prototyping and testing of your craft in the sandbox game; just gotta be sure that you don't save them with parts that are still locked in the career game.

One last thing; learn how to use prompts (i.e. bash). You'll find there are many Many MANY tasks that you can accomplish with a little bit of shell magic that make handling stuff a thousand times easier once you get past the initial learning curve.

You've got some fun times ahead getting yourself down to living in linux land. Enjoy!

[LordFerret]

I'm a long-standing unix geek at this point; my personal PC history starts with DOS 6, includes Win3.11, Win95, OS/2, NT, XP, and linux. ...

My history started before there was a PC... can relate.

I got tired of Microsoft's data mining and invasive behaviors in Win10, I very much regret upgrading from Win8.

Unfortunately, my PC is far too new to use Win7 as there aren't any Win7 compatible drivers for my hardware.

So, I wiped the entire disk and installed Kubuntu Linux instead.

Installation was a breeze and everything works just fine, and the best part, no spyware or 0-day backdoors built into the OS as hidden "features"

my webcam and microphone no longer randomly turns itself on, which is a relief, because that blinking red light made me paranoid.

I'm currently installing the Linux Steam and KSP so I came here to post about it.

Smart move!

[PB666]

I'm a long-standing unix geek at this point; my personal PC history starts with DOS 6, includes Win3.11, Win95, OS/2, NT, XP, and linux. On work machines I also have extensive experience with Solaris.

You're not going to regret doing this. It's very nice having the high degree of control over your system that you get with *nix systems. Very nice indeed.

And in Kerbal land, you get to run 64 bit stably and with zero hassles.

My home system is Ubuntu with Gnome. I checked out KDE but I'm at the point where the tweakability of the UI just doesn't matter so much to me any more.

I'd highly recommend copying your KSP install elsewhere on your file system and running it from there. That way you don't get nailed with having your install upgraded and trashing your save game. Also, you don't need to run it with Steam going in the background by running it directly (~/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal\ Space\ Program/KSP.x86_64 on the command line, or set up an app launcher with that command) so you can keep the RAM for stuff you actually want to use. One last trick I've been doing; I create a career and sandbox game together (game-career and game-sandbox) and then delete the sandbox save's craft folder and soft link it to the craft folder in the career game. The command to do this is something along the lines of "ln -s ./Ships ~/.local/share/Steam/SteamApps/common/Kerbal\ Space\ Program/saves/game-career/Ships" and similarly for the Subassemblies folder. This permits easy prototyping and testing of your craft in the sandbox game; just gotta be sure that you don't save them with parts that are still locked in the career game.

One last thing; learn how to use prompts (i.e. bash). You'll find there are many Many MANY tasks that you can accomplish with a little bit of shell magic that make handling stuff a thousand times easier once you get past the initial learning curve.

You've got some fun times ahead getting yourself down to living in linux land. Enjoy!

Hmm, my next system is going to be 10, software is sitting on the box on the floor, but I wanted to have a dual boot system.

I still do stuff in windows that can't really port to Linux, like MS Excel, VB aps, etc. How is this going to be possible in a linux only system.

Taking a full dive into C with all the RT-libraries you have to build to run it - may be to someone who has work related experience but for the untrained its a nightmare.

I used a SunOS and XWindows back in the 1990s, its very much the kind of thing one wants to leave at work and go home and not work on computers.

I very much tried to learn C, but since windows stopped the push and pokes that used to allow real power, every single application I could think up for C, was 10 times easier to program and 100 times more understandable in visual basic.

I need a real impetus to drive me to learn C.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't have webcam and haven't had microphones since the days of Roger-wilco. Yeah, those things are invasive. Even my USB Wifi I unplug when I put the computer to sleep.

Be glad for the blinking lights, you know they are on and if they keep you awake at night, a good reason to unplug them. The microphone you can buy an extender cable and just unplug it at your desk.

[Frankenchokey]

I'm always a bit envious of those who are able to make the switch to Linux. I keep a Linux dual boot on my system these days, just in case something goes wrong with windows and really like it when I decide to play around with it for a while.

Unfortunately, however, as long as I can only run some of my games on it, I'll probably continue to end up using Windows a significant portion of the time. If it weren't for that, I'd likely have switched over long ago.

Maybe a self imposed challenge of only using Linux for a week or two would be a good idea sometime.

Edited August 29, 2015 by Frankenchokey
Me fail English? Unpossible!

[peachoftree]

Good job. You'll love linux!

[LordFerret]

...

I still do stuff in windows that can't really port to Linux, like MS Excel, VB aps, etc. How is this going to be possible in a linux only system. ...

Open Office

Gambas ... plus other alternatives like the Mono Project.

Edit:

...forgot, LibreOffice too.

Edited August 29, 2015 by LordFerret

[Xyphos]

Unfortunately, however, as long as I can only run some of my games on it, I'll probably continue to end up using Windows a significant portion of the time. If it weren't for that, I'd likely have switched over long ago.

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install playonlinux

oh look, there's Skyrim and everything else I played on Windows.

oh hey, you don't need Windows anymore!

[Vanamonde]

As this is not about KSP, the thread has been moved to the off-topic lounge.

[Frankenchokey]

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install playonlinux

oh look, there's Skyrim and everything else I played on Windows.

oh hey, you don't need Windows anymore!

That's a good idea, and I have used playonlinux before. There are some performance compromises to be made with using Wine though, aren't there?

As I said, maybe I just need to challenge myself and try it out more seriously for a while. The problem with having both Windows and Linux on dual boot, is that it's all too easy to run back to the familiar when I hit a snag.

[Virtualgenius]

All of the stuff that drives your paranoia can be turned off quite easily there is a link to a thread in the forums here that turns off all of the intrusive behavior i will see if i can find it

[Xyphos]

That's a good idea, and I have used playonlinux before. There are some performance compromises to be made with using Wine though, aren't there?

As I said, maybe I just need to challenge myself and try it out more seriously for a while. The problem with having both Windows and Linux on dual boot, is that it's all too easy to run back to the familiar when I hit a snag.

eh, those "compromises" are negligibly minuscule, with the right configuration settings. you almost won't notice them.

[RainDreamer]

Hmm, I am interested in using Linux too, since I just got a handed down computer from my brother, and it has a cracked version of windows, and it is a pain to use. Getting a genuine version is damn expensive though, so Linux looks very, very appealing to me.

If not for the reason that most of the programs and games that I use runs on windows and have no equivalent on Linux (especially some small modding tools developed for some games), I would make the switch...

[Flymetothemun]

I don't have webcam and haven't had microphones since the days of Roger-wilco. Yeah, those things are invasive. Even my USB Wifi I unplug when I put the computer to sleep.

Be glad for the blinking lights, you know they are on and if they keep you awake at night, a good reason to unplug them. The microphone you can buy an extender cable and just unplug it at your desk.

I hear you, I have a laptop and I found a setting in the bios to enable/disable the webcam. It's currently set to disabled. I keep my ethernet plugged in, though, but in my bedroom I have zero lights other than the alarm clock, which is so dark that it can only be seen at night. Even the light from a power strip will prevent me from going to sleep, and before I had the idea to just leave my power strips switched off I was using groups of 20 or more post-it notes folded in specific ways to block the various lights that were shining.

[Xyphos]

OK, I'm very impressed with the Linux version of KSP - I noticed there is NO LAG in the editor that I used to get with the Windows version. the camera is quick to respond, no delay.

flying a test rocket of 600+ parts has much less lag then windows, but there is still some noticeable lag.

I should have switched sooner

[problemecium]

I continue to have zero regrets about sticking with Windows 7. I knew enough of Microsoft's history to anticipate that 8 would be junk. As for 10, mostly I like the idea, but I'm against things like mandatory updates and various other shenanigans they snuck in there. So 7 all the way ^^

My sympathies for OP being unable to use it.

[Nibb31]

I've tried Linux several times. Each time, it was nice and refreshing at first. It's fine for browsing the web or office stuff, but I kept on running into roadblocks when I wanted to use specific programs. There is always some obscure command line that you need to search for to install the latest library or to set specific permissions for something. Google is your friend, but sometimes the help you get is for a different flavour of Linux or for an old version, and the commands don't work.

In the end, I usually get tired of the constant googling for help and reinstall Windows.

Windows has its faults, but in most cases, it just works.

[Kinglet]

Open Office

Gambas ... plus other alternatives like the Mono Project.

Edit:

...forgot, LibreOffice too.

OpenOffice is kinda bad. The formatting of Microsoft office documents always gets messed up, and the user interface is very chunky.

[Harry Rhodan]

I still do stuff in windows that can't really port to Linux, like MS Excel, VB aps, etc. How is this going to be possible in a linux only system.

By using Windows in a virtual machine.

Even the light from a power strip will prevent me from going to sleep, and before I had the idea to just leave my power strips switched off I was using groups of 20 or more post-it notes folded in specific ways to block the various lights that were shining.

Have you considered using a sleep mask?

[Dispatcher]

I got tired of Microsoft's data mining and invasive behaviors in Win10, I very much regret upgrading from Win8.

Unfortunately, my PC is far too new to use Win7 as there aren't any Win7 compatible drivers for my hardware.

So, I wiped the entire disk and installed Kubuntu Linux instead.

Installation was a breeze and everything works just fine, and the best part, no spyware or 0-day backdoors built into the OS as hidden "features"

my webcam and microphone no longer randomly turns itself on, which is a relief, because that blinking red light made me paranoid ...

Good for you! Enjoy!

[steve_v]

Even the light from a power strip will prevent me from going to sleep, and before I had the idea to just leave my power strips switched off I was using groups of 20 or more post-it notes folded in specific ways to block the various lights that were shining.

I know the feeling, I rather like the white-noise hum of the machines though.

Black insulation tape in your friend.

I also have a habit of replacing obnoxious blue ultra-bright LEDs with old-school green/amber/red, even if it does mean cracking open those devices.

Xyphos, Welcome to the other side, enjoy your stay.

Pretty much anything you can do in Windoze you can do in *nix, and much more besides.

Harnessing the power of the GNU toolkit that lurks just beneath the GUI can be... emancipating, just don't expect everything to be like MS land, and try not to fear the CLI - it's where some of the best toys are.

Some seem to find the plethora of software choices and desktops confusing, but I personally have real problems re-adapting to the one-size-fits-all MS attitude.

Keep in mind that if you don't like the way something works, on a GNU/Linux system you always have options.

While I haven't really found much software that has no Linux equivalent, I do at times need to use truly horrid outdated proprietary applications (mostly for work).

VirtualBox is excellent, and allows me to use such abominations as Windows XP and 2k while keeping my calm mostly intact.

If you have any "must use" Windows apps, odds are they will run just fine in a VM, you can even use "seamless" mode, presenting them like native windows.

For games there is PlayOnLinux/wine and more are being ported all the time, thanks in part to Valve/SteamOS.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm a long-standing unix geek at this point; my personal PC history starts with DOS 6, includes Win3.11, Win95, OS/2, NT, XP, and linux. On work machines I also have extensive experience with Solaris.

Likewise, sans the Solaris bit - I've used it, and it's pretty nice. But GNU/Linux is "home" now.

I'm even making (slow) progress slipping it into a very MS-centric workplace here and there.

- - - Updated - - -

OpenOffice is kinda bad. The formatting of Microsoft office documents always gets messed up, and the user interface is very chunky.

I actually prefer the somewhat "old-fashioned" interface in OO/LO, I really cannot understand the logic behind the UI changes in the recent (post-2009-ish) MS orifice. That "ribbon" thing is horrible.

Edited August 29, 2015 by steve_v

[Flymetothemun]

I actually prefer the somewhat "old-fashioned" interface in OO/LO, I really cannot understand the logic behind the UI changes in the recent (post-2009-ish) MS orifice. That "ribbon" thing is horrible.

I agree with the "old style" interface, even though I use MS Office. I have an old disk of MS Office Pro 2003 and I don't anticipate ever having to buy (or download) another office program. I can't navigate any MS office beyond '03; that whole "ribbon" thing made the UI, in my opinion, nearly unusable and illogical. I don't think it has a number of installs limit, either, I've installed it 5 or 6 times (various computers and HDD failures) and I'm sure it was used much more before I had it. If I didn't have that disk I probably would've switched to OO/LO, but as the old saying goes, If it isn't broke, why fix it?

[steve_v]

If it isn't broke, why fix it?

Yeah, if only MS (&many others) would take that concept to heart.

This kind of insanity is even finding it's way into GNU/Linux, this abomination springs to mind. It's a text editor, f.f.s. Leave it alone.

Happily, there are alternatives.

Edited August 29, 2015 by steve_v
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