Linux Client a Priority?

I only got Winblows so I could run SL. I would love to be able to switch back to Linux and still be able to do SL.

Id LL is going to 'force' us to use Windows, they should just save us some time and give us a free virus and crash our systems on install.

Windows quicks butt, enough said.

Linux is popular simply because its free (as in beer).

Same reason folks drink Old Milwaukee beer instead of Beck's or Heineken and say it is because they love the taste..

UNIX? Solaris is the real thing (as in Coke).

- T -

And because it's more secure. And because it runs faster. And because it doesn't try to second-guess you and treat you like you're a point-and-click booger-eating moron.

Linux is free though, unless you choose to buy your distribution. It's like getting a free Newcastle when all your friends have to pay for Bud Light with a bug in it.

If it runs. Too much hardware out there is not supported.

I have challenged many, even in my trips to DEFCON to crack a properly secured Windows box. Not a chance.



If you have never experienced the power of the command line from a Windows box, it is not my fault!

Do you use KDE or GNOME?

- T -

Personally? I would never use either.
I use Openbox with XFCE's panel to monitor my system status, a single tabbed terminal, gaim to handle my IRC and messengers. (CenterICQ now and then), and wine to handle SL. Oh, and Mozilla. Gotta have mozilla. Damn graphic internet.

Unsupported hardware? I've yet to see it.

Has the support for wireless network cards gotten better in Linux?

Over the last 2 years, I'd say markably so. However, certain WiFi cards still have issues (most notoriously the newer prism chipsets, and the ones intel use in the Centrino branded boards).

-Adam

The problem is, however, the moment you start using that box, the security rating drops through the floor. It's one thing to have a box which is completely locked down (usually involving lots of 3rd party apps, eg Virus Scanners, Firewalls, etc.), and another to have a box in frequent use that is still secure.

The biggest difference however is default configuration. Linux generally does not need to be locked down, because it was built from the ground up as a multi-user network-enviroment operating system, this means things like permissions are something that is tried & true, - in the windows model, you are expected to be running as an administrator, otherwise things just dont work, in the UNIX model running as administrator/root is actively discouraged.

-Adam

SL is the only reason I dual boot XP. Though I don't like it, I have to dual boot, for now

The only good thing some of the open source programs are now running under windows, eg. GAIM, GIMP, FireFox, or else I'd die

I want an SL Linux port! BTW, I've heard that while the Mac userbase is slowly stagnating or decreasing a bit, the Linux share steadily increases.

Harsh question. My knee-jerk reaction is "yes, of course." But since I have
dedicated a PC to running Windows and SL, it isn't an issue for me personally.
And I don't think a Linux version would somehow make my oldish laptop a
viable SL platform But hey, if anyone knows of a kick-ass 3D gfx chip on a
PCMCIA card, let me know and I'll recant...

If adding another client platform would bring in a lot of users, and thus more
resources to LL to support other initiatives, then go for it. But what else could
that engineering effort go into? If promoting a Linux port would slow down the
push for the SL 1.6 and 1.7 client, then I'd have to say ignore the port.

KDE, with some GNOME aps, and Mandrake dist. Though right now I'm using exclusively Windows (curse you LL!) I would dearly love to get back to Linux.

Heh, to the KDE or GNOME question, I'm mixed.

I personally love XFCE, but I abandoned it for KDE at 3.9, apparently 4.1 is worth taking a look at again. I've used GNOME exclusively on my laptop, since it's got a more laptop-friendly UI IMO, but KDE is nicer on a full fledged desktop, with XFCE being the best of both, but lacking in some features (which supposedly 4.1 adds).

-Adam

What I'm talking about is two bugs that appeared with the 1.5.8 installer: you must have your WineX temp directory on a VFAT-formatted partition, and for some people, the installer will fail to extract a needed DLL and then tell them they're running as a "Limited" user.

The old bug of the installer wrongly detecting SL as being running was easy enough to fix with a custom compile of WineX.

So did you get the .tgz? Can you give us a link to it? I'm somewhat dissapointed about no linux client like was promised:


link here: http://lindenlab.com/press_story_6.php

It's not too bad, I have an older windows pc I can boot up to play SL, but it would be nice not to have to. It would probably run faster on my main machine as well.

This one gets a "YES" out of me, not because I have any explicit knowledge on how much the Lindens support/neglect the idea, but because marketting SL to that audience is something that will build an even stronger user base, much for the reasons described above.

Honestly, though, I use Windows largely for compatibility reasons, and even then only because I'm adept at playing Whack-a-Mole with background processes they provide as a "service." I do, however, use many programs that are open-source (GIMP, Blender, Firefox), but I'm stuck feeding the Evil Empire until there's Linux support for some of my other programs (Anim8or, FruityLoops, Painter IX, and job-related ones).

That said, I'll acknowledge that the Linux community, while still dwarfed by the number of Windows users (for obvious reasons), is a market far less saturated - and should stay up there with support for Mac and Windows. Unfortunately, though, Windows support needs to come first for now.

I must be wierd, I use MWM mixed with console. (come to think of it, console's normally in my config)

Give me a Linux Client... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can I be a Linux Client Beta Tester?

You wouldn't like Linux. It's not a massively overpriced commercial venture. You'd take one look at it and think it was some kind of communist trick to rob you of your prestige.

heheh I used to toy with my own window manager for fun -- when I had my really low end 'toy box' I used FVWM or AmiWM (for the nostalgia).

I'd like to see a Linux Client - the only reason I even use Windows was for video editing, and later SL.. although for the former I will pretty much always have to keep Windows around (for as long as I use a PC) -- even if Linux did the 'catchup' with apps.
With freelance work, clients want to see a 'big camera' no matter the technical advances, and they want to see a big AVID logo when you start editing.
Also the advantage of having the same interface for work and home in that regard.

Now that being said.

I hate Windows.... always have, always will.

I'd like to have all my 'fun stuff' on one computer -- from programming to gaming...

Siggy.

Can someone explain to me why a game might run faster under Linux?

With the winex wrappers, there's a non-zero overhead for translating between a host and target environment. That performance penalty must be offset somehow. But in the end, less than 2% of the time is spent in the kernel, which doesn't leave much room for performance increase.

The only time you'd really get to see performance gains is when you have a better virtual memory or file/IO subsystem. But, if you don't have enough memory to run your game, and you have to hit the disk - well, chances are your performance isn't that great to start with.

I can understand that the difference between Linux/Windows game performance might be negligible, but better? I want an explanation

As for the debates on your favourite window manager, I run whatever is installed by default. I'd run TVTWM if I didn't need to fetch and build it

Sometimes the translation is exceedingly minor. (simply a remapping of functions), most of the translations are small - only a few require serious computation. With something like SL, it's not going to be very large, since most functions already exist (WINE acts as the windows-api for linux, it isnt a interpreter or emulator for windows binaries)

This means, in a lot of situations - not too many cycles is lost to WINE, those cycles can be gained back through better memory management, window managers & other programs with lower overhead.

-Adam

Linux is my Baby!!!! '

Silence before I (mv Siobhan_Taylor /dev/null) to you.. lol

I suggest against doing that, /dev/null is usually a symlink If you overwrite it, often the system will go belly up.

-Adam

"/dev/null" a symlink? I don't think so. What kind of OS are you running?

~Ulrika~