Building new computer - what OS?

Muzic · Post by **Muzic** » 17 Aug 2007, 07:24

Wiiiittchh : O!!

Roger, you could go ahead and get Vista when you play games and then have Ubuntu for everything else. Though i've never used linux and I haven't thought about it becuase it probably requires abit of your own configuring and customization for it to feel 'homey'. You should get Vista though becuase its time for us to move on : P.

DirectX10 isn't something to worry about for now, and when games come out that needs directx10 hardware cause all the effects are DX10, there will probably be a new series of cards leaving the 8800's a year old.

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 17 Aug 2007, 08:01

RogerN wrote:Thanks for the suggestions, guys. Looks like I'm going with XP Home. It'd be nice to get Pro, but I don't see the extra cost as being worth the benefits (and no, I don't want to steal it :)).

Ubuntu might be interesting to try, but I don't have a practical need for it ATM since Windows is a must-have for my gaming obsession anyway. I can't think of anything I'd need Ubuntu for off the top of my head. Just in case, I do have a live linux distro on a CD around here somewhere...

EDIT: Ironically, the reason I need to upgrade is because the last time I built a PC I opted to go with Win2k instead of XP. Now I can't install the latest DirectX SDK 'cuz it's XP-Only. I'm afraid I'm making the same mistake all over again by not going with Vista... but Vista performance is just too crap-tastic to consider at this point

Ubuntu boots in about a third of the time XP does... that's one advantage... Security is like 100% better, file management is incredibly easy in comparison. General application lag is reduced. Process logging, you can see when each process has started, what security levels it has, where it was started from, no more of this "Gee, I wonder what this WinMNTdix8 process came from/what it does?". General applications run faster, IE webbrowsing, office, spreadsheets, whatever, they found ways around most of the windows standard "take forever to load" bugs. Much more UI optionality and control than the windows desktop... and like, some other stuff.

Generally speaking, when you've used a reasonable bit of lunix, you really feel begrudged when you have to go back and do stuff on windows, because it's just generally no where near as nice, smooth, quick, and clean.

genblood · Post by **genblood** » 17 Aug 2007, 11:23

You should stay away from Windows XP Home ... It will only
see the processor as a single processor. You are better of
getting Windows XP Pro w/sp2. 32b version. The 64 bit version
allows for more memory, but drivers are still issues. The Apps
are still another issue too.

I'm not big on dual boot systems ...

I have 3 windows pcs and a Gentoo system ...

I prefer Gentoo for my linux distro ...

Also, I prefer AMD processors over Intel ...

On the graphics front ATI or Nvidia for windows system
and Nvidia for linux distros ... ATI still behind on driver support
for linux, but trying to resolve that issue ..

Comp1337 · Post by **Comp1337** » 17 Aug 2007, 11:53

genblood wrote:You should stay away from Windows XP Home ... It will only
see the processor as a single processor.

Not sure if i misunderstood you here, but im running home, and my processah works fine(dual core)

Lippy · Post by **Lippy** » 17 Aug 2007, 12:03

Windows Home is fine; unlike professional it can only use 1 cpu (professional can take 2) but that only applies to physical cpus; therefore it could be a dual-core or a quad-core.

Ishach · Post by **Ishach** » 17 Aug 2007, 12:04

install dos and play the heck out of commander keen

Lippy · Post by **Lippy** » 17 Aug 2007, 12:06

Zpock wrote:(Man would it be sweet irony if when opengl uses all the fancy stuff on "dx10" cards, on XP/linux/whatever, everyone use this for writing games, and the whole thing backfires on microsoft nukeing dx10 and vista, instead of making everyone get vista and screw opengl like MS wanted.)

Opengl 3.0: http://www.opengl.org/cgi-bin/ubb/ultim ... 015351;p=0

clericvash · Post by **clericvash** » 17 Aug 2007, 15:44

ubuntu all the way!

i plan to get a new machine sometime this year hopefully, with it i will have ubuntu, and no fricken windows :)

REVENGE · Post by **REVENGE** » 17 Aug 2007, 16:10

Lippy wrote:
Zpock wrote:(Man would it be sweet irony if when opengl uses all the fancy stuff on "dx10" cards, on XP/linux/whatever, everyone use this for writing games, and the whole thing backfires on microsoft nukeing dx10 and vista, instead of making everyone get vista and screw opengl like MS wanted.)
Opengl 3.0: http://www.opengl.org/cgi-bin/ubbultima ... 015351;p=0

Yeah, well unfortunately Microsoft will still be winning the standards war being one step ahead of Opengl 3.0 with the impending release of DX 10.1.

Why do I say unfortunately? Because on paper, the DX 10 generation will be Orphanware less than a year after the final implementation [via Vista] was released. And no, migrating to DX 10.1 isn't going to be a remotely easy task.

What sortof game developers would dev up to 10.1? Who knows, but they must be out of their mind.

RogerN · Post by **RogerN** » 17 Aug 2007, 17:02

Well I downloaded the latest Ubuntu ISO yesterday. We'll see how this dual-booting thing goes... parts should arrive on Tuesday.

Comp1337 · Post by **Comp1337** » 17 Aug 2007, 18:18

Ive had hell with getting my nvidia drivers working properly though.
This is what worked for me
Now I've spent all day fiddling with beryl, trying everything out :)

imbaczek · Post by **imbaczek** » 17 Aug 2007, 19:12

beryl is:
1) outdated - it's being merged with compiz, you're better off trying that
2) dangerous to productivity - users are known to be doing nothing but staring at wobbling windows for a good amount of time

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 17 Aug 2007, 20:48

Ishach wrote:install dos and play the heck out of commander keen

I did that with one of my new Damn Small boxes. First I wiped it using DSL, then I ran it under DOS and played some old classics...

Then I installed Damn Small Linux.

Relative · Post by **Relative** » 17 Aug 2007, 20:53

Comp1337 wrote:Ive had hell with getting my nvidia drivers working properly though.
This is what worked for me
Now I've spent all day fiddling with beryl, trying everything out :)

For nvidia drivers you should check out this:

http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

Comp1337 · Post by **Comp1337** » 17 Aug 2007, 20:59

Relative wrote:
Comp1337 wrote:Ive had hell with getting my nvidia drivers working properly though.
This is what worked for me
Now I've spent all day fiddling with beryl, trying everything out :)
For nvidia drivers you should check out this:

http://albertomilone.com/nvidia_scripts1.html

Have it, didn't work

) dangerous to productivity - users are known to be doing nothing but staring at wobbling windows for a good amount of time

I know that feeling

*Wobble wobble*
EDIT: Oh my god
I can bend a maximized window
this is awesome

tombom · Post by **tombom** » 17 Aug 2007, 21:03

if you use your computer almost completely for playing games it's silly switching to linux imo. linux has a lot of cool stuff about it but most of the time switching just isn't worthwhile.

btw rogern are you the same guy on the space empires 5 forums

RogerN · Post by **RogerN** » 17 Aug 2007, 21:50

btw rogern are you the same guy on the space empires 5 forums

Yep :) Amazing... I didn't think anyone else played that game.

iamacup · Post by **iamacup** » 17 Aug 2007, 23:43

i have the 6000 on vista ultimate x64 works like a charm.

(and the OEM costs 30 quid more than XP so why the f not.)

Sleksa · Post by **Sleksa** » 17 Aug 2007, 23:48

RogerN wrote:
btw rogern are you the same guy on the space empires 5 forums
Yep :) Amazing... I didn't think anyone else played that game.

. .. THERES SPACE EMPIRES 5????+

Ishach · Post by **Ishach** » 18 Aug 2007, 03:56

I got space empires 5 like a week ago and after it taking a good 40minutes before I had started my empire and got half way through designing one vehicle I decided there was no way I would have the patience to play it any more.

That and it runs at 6fps on my very modern computer :S

Spring RTS Engine

Building new computer - what OS?