Gaming on Linux, it isn't that bad - Page 3

On July 20 2014 10:55 SiskosGoatee wrote:
Yeah, installing software on windows is a pain in the proverbial butt:

The windows way:

- Google the name of the application.
- Go to the site
- Go to the download page
- Download the right one for your architecture and OS
- Right click, save as
- Open your file browser
- navigate to your downloads folder
- Click the executable
- Run it as administrator, hoping it doesn't bomb your system
- Agree to a licence you never bothered to read
- Select the folder you want to install it in
- Close all active applications, the installer says so
- If you're in bad luck, reboot after install

The linux way:

- apt-get install <application name>
- sit back and watch some videos of Avilo getting thoroughly beaten by Minigun in offrace

On July 21 2014 02:35 SiskosGoatee wrote:
And can you give me an example of something released with linux in mind but not having binaries?

On July 20 2014 10:55 SiskosGoatee wrote:
Yeah, installing software on windows is a pain in the proverbial butt:

The windows way:

- Google the name of the application.
- Go to the site
- Go to the download page
- Download the right one for your architecture and OS
- Right click, save as
- Open your file browser
- navigate to your downloads folder
- Click the executable
- Run it as administrator, hoping it doesn't bomb your system
- Agree to a licence you never bothered to read
- Select the folder you want to install it in
- Close all active applications, the installer says so
- If you're in bad luck, reboot after install

The linux way:

- apt-get install
- sit back and watch some videos of Avilo getting thoroughly beaten by Minigun in offrace

On July 21 2014 05:03 BigFan wrote:
For bold, never had to do administrator thing since guess what, it can be disabled from the control panel once lol.

On July 21 2014 04:54 T.O.P. wrote:

This is so misleading lol. Installing applications on windows is so much easier than using the linux package manager. The only reason why you would want to use linux is if you work in IT and you need fix things for a living. If you're just at home using your computer for entertainment, why would you want this headache?

On July 21 2014 05:03 Mindcrime wrote:


I'm sure that there's always a binary of some version of a piece of Linux software available for some distribution. But, depending on the version of software you want and the distro that you want to use it on, a shit ton of packages can only be built from source.

On July 21 2014 05:03 BigFan wrote:

I used linux for a bit to see what it was like a while back and it was more annoying than windows was. I'll give you an easier solution for most of the later steps: enter -> enter -> enter -> enter lol. Maybe move the arrow keys once or twice (for I agree etc...).

For bold, never had to do administrator thing since guess what, it can be disabled from the control panel once lol. For active applications, only recall one install asking me to close stuff otherwise no problems there.

For last step, most cases, you can still use it before reboot and I rarely reboot after installs. Honestly, most of what you wrote is just nitpicking. Anyone who's installed anything just a couple of times will be able to go through installs easily.

On July 21 2014 05:53 SiskosGoatee wrote:
, And you still have to read it, just clicking enter without reading is a sure way to get malware on Windows because a lot of the installers if you don't read carefully install a "sponsor application" with it which is malware. You have to read every step carefully. There is no such need in linux.




Yeah, you can also set your email to autologin and tell your browser to remember you password on TL, not a smart idea.

Hence I said, "if you're in bad luck", how windows is just designed is that in a lot of cases you have to reboot after installing stuff to use it. In Linux you can more often than not upgrade a program while it is running and the new features become available to you as you update in plenty of cases. You pretty much never have to restart your computer ever. My uptime is often months

That still doesn't address the issue of that you actually have to go to a site and download an executable and then run the executable though instead of just typing in the name and sitting back.

On July 21 2014 08:48 BigFan wrote:

Come now, not sure why you're making it sound like it's complex to deal with window installations lol.

You're sitting there, see the first screen to see what the install is and make sure it's what you want then you just click enter several times for the agreement, directory then installation. It's literally painless and you need seconds to do it! lol. Are there more steps? maybe a couple more. Are they time consuming or painful? no, infact, they are pretty easy to follow and it becomes like a pattern.

That's not much of an argument against my point lol. I'm talking about the annoying administrator message that would pop up with every single thing you did back in vista. I dunno if it's still around in windows 8 or not but it wasn't needed and is really easy to disable when you first get your computer. If you use adblock and are careful which sites you visit, the chances of getting any viruses, trojans etc... goes down a lot which means that leaving some passwords saved won't hurt. My TL is always logged on. I don't with email since I don't need to check it that frequently.

Thing is, that's really dependent on what you are installing. In cases where you need to do it, it's such a minor inconvenience at best considering how fast computers restart these days. I haven't restarted my laptop in ages either.

Nickpicking imo. Windows has much more variety in terms of software last I checked in comparison to Linux so you work a bit more but get software that have great support and enhance your experience. For the record, I'm not hating on Linux but don't think it's right to claim that windows is that much of a pain when it comes to installations.

On July 21 2014 05:53 SiskosGoatee wrote:
Unless you are on Gentoo, in which case you specifically choose Gentoo because you want to build from source to get the best optimization for your architecture. All packages in your repo are in facy binary packages.

apt-get does not compile from source, portage does.

On July 21 2014 10:21 Mindcrime wrote:


What?

No, sometimes shit isn't in the repos.

Gnome 3.10, for example, never fully made into any of the debian repos and parts of 3.12, which is supposed to be adopted, still aren't even in experimental. Maybe they're in unofficial repos by now, but there was a long stretch where If you wanted them on a debian system, you had to compile them.

On July 21 2014 09:38 SiskosGoatee wrote:
It's hardly complex, just a lot of effort. Having to google the site, download the executable and then click on it is effort and time that I'd rather save.



You're ignoring the fact that you first have to download the installer and search for it. And those steps don't even exist on linux. Let's say we both want to install skype, who do you think is done more quickly. All I have to do is:

- press alt+f2 to open up a terminal
- type "sudo apt-get install skype"
- press enter

That's it, can you honestly say that that takes more time than what you're doing? You have to download the executable and all that stuff.

Well, let's put it like this, the GOM player when you install it on windows if you just click enter without reading installs adware on your computer.

Then you haven't updated its security definitions or updated your video card drives because those require it.

You checked wrongly, Linux has far more software available to it. Most software written is only available to POSIX compliant OS'es

The thing is that most people who write software don't use windows to do so because it's a bad development environment so much software also isn't targeted to that platform. Common conveniences such as firefox were first available to POSIX and only later ported to windows, in fact the web was first only a POSIX thing, why do you think the internet still uses '/' to separate directories as in linux and not '\' as in windows?

I mean, you can even choose between like what, 20 different file managers on linux? Windows has one, the explorer.

On July 22 2014 06:49 SiskosGoatee wrote:
That's not what you said, you said a _package_ can only be built from source, a package is something that is in some repo. Some programs can only be made from source because they are in no repo whatsoever, but that's super rate.



https://launchpad.net/~gnome3-team/ archive/ubuntu/gnome3-next

You know you can add other repos to your repo list right?

One of the main reasons that people use Arch and its derivatives is for access to the huge amounts of new software in the AUR, and those aren't binary packages.

On July 22 2014 07:09 BigFan wrote:

My tags were breaking so I wasn't able to split your quote lol. I'll keep it in the same order though:

Takes a bit more time, yes, but it's so easy to do and most people using windows are accustomed to it so I doubt many want to learn a new OS if it saves you a bit of time (even with the simplified commands)

apt-get install <program1> <program2> <program3> <program4> <program5>

0 0 0 7 * * apt-get install >> sudo crontab -f

Doesn't really address the administrator thing I mentioned though. Other than that, it's a pretty minor inconvenience since you'll see what you are installing before you do it. If I went to install x and was also told y will be installed, I just check it off and continue pressing enter. Again, minor imo but ok.

Yes, I haven't updated my video drivers recently or security definitions. I was a hardcore gaming enthusiast at one point where I used to spend hours upgrading video card drivers from beta to official release ones to get more fps or see benefits so I know you need to restart but the average person likely wouldn't update anywhere close to that. Infact, for most people, unless they are having some graphics problems whether it's a bug, problems in game etc... they likely won't update them much (maybe 1-2 times a year if even). Heck, I haven't even updated my own laptop drivers in years since I don't play much games on it. For security, it's not like you have to update with every single release. I time my updates when it comes to that and just do all of them at once then I don't update again for x time.

I'll give you this since you're likely right. Maybe I was thinking of mac when I was considering linux software. You make it sound as if I'm trying to bash linux. What I'm saying is simple. Windows might have a couple of extra steps when installing but anyone who's installed enough times will be able to easily go through the steps and it's a minor inconvenience at best. Finding the software through google is also a simple process if you know what you need. Does it takes a bit more time? yes but it's really negligible imo. Linux is a cool OS but for my purposes, I can put up with a couple of extra steps to keep using windows.

On July 22 2014 20:07 SiskosGoatee wrote:
Yes, it takes more time. And it's even easier on linux, however, this is only for one program. Imagine you have to install 5 programs. In this case the windows version pretty much is five times as time-consuming. The linux version becomes:

apt-get install <program1> <program2> <program3> <program4> <program5>

Let's say you wanted to write some code that updates all your programs once a week at midnight to the latest versions. How would you do that in windows exactly? Write some program that downloads the executables and automatically installs them? On linux it's a simple matter of:

0 0 0 7 * * apt-get install >> sudo crontab -f

It means you have to read it and if you make a mistake your system is filled with obnoxious adware.

Okay, so you're saying that Windows is convenient only if you are satisfied with not getting the latest drivers and security updates?

A "gaming OS" is convenient for you only if you don't demand the highest FPS?

Does it take a lot of time? No, maybe 1 minute or something until the installer starts rolling and you can sit back, but 1 minute is 12 times as much as 5 seconds. And if you install multiple programs it already starts to become quite a lot.

If you have to perform a repetitive pattern in Windows you'll often find yourself just doing it over and over which becomes super obnoxious. In Linux there's usually one command that streamlines the repetition for you.

On July 23 2014 02:34 ComaDose wrote:
i think that's the first time you mentioned that you program. it shocks me to learn some people prefer to do that on windows. what kind of stuff do you do?