[clug] Switching to Linux issues

[Chris Smart]

Thanks everyone for their thoughts on the "Why switch to Linux?" thread.
As was raised in that thread, I think it's good idea to have an "issues" 
page on the website also.

Below is what I've written up for it, I would really appreciate anyone's 
opinions, thoughts and additions, etc.

Thanks again!

"Issues with moving

No operating system is perfect, and Linux is no exception. If it was 
perfect we wouldn't keep improving it!

There are some issues with Linux that we want you to know about so you 
can make an informed decision.

Windows Software
Windows software does not run on Linux natively. Linux is a completely 
different operating system and as such needs software written for Linux. 
Thankfully there are hundreds of thousands of free software applications 
available for you to use.

There are however some programs for Linux that let you run your Windows 
software under Linux via an "emulation" type method. One such program is 
called "wine". Wine is not actually an emulator but creates a pretend 
Windows installation on your Linux system (you do not need Windows 
installed on your computer). You can then install your Windows software 
through wine and run it under Linux. Not all software will work, but 
there is a good resource online which you check out, <a target=blank 
href="http://appdb.winehq.org/">here</a>.

A company called "Codeweavers" has a product based on wine called <a 
href="http://codeweavers.com">"CrossOver"</a> which allows you to 
install many common types of Windows software such as: Microsoft Office 
(versions 2003, XP, 2000 and 97), Microsoft Project, Microsoft Visio, 
Adobe Photoshop, Lotus Notes, Quicken, Shockwave Director, Quicktime and 
many more all under Linux. It is available to purchase online, the 
proceeds of which help to continue the project and provides you with 
support to help get your software running.

Remember there are usually excellent open source alternatives to the 
Windows software you want to use, but if you absolutely have to run it, 
then something like this could be the answer.

Games
As with the issue above, most computer games will not run natively under 
Linux. There are a few however, like the Unreal Tournament and Quake 
series of games, which will run natively under Linux. The main reason 
for this is that they use the OpenGL 3D rendering engine, which is open 
source and runs under Linux natively. Many other games use Microsoft's 
closed source DirectX 3D engine which will only run on Windows. Once 
again wine comes to the rescue here as many games will run through it.

There is also a product called <a href="http://cedega.com">"Cedega"</a> 
which, like Crossover, is based on wine and specialises in supporting 
thousands of Windows games under Linux. Once again you must purchase a 
license for this software if you want support. More information 
including a database of supported games can be found <a target=blank 
href="http://transgaming.org/gamesdb/">here</a>.

Microsoft Office Compatibility
Please have a read of the <a href="data.php">"What about my data?"</a> 
section of this website where we discuss Microsoft Office formats. 
Essentially, even though Microsoft Office formats are closed source and 
proprietary, they are supported very well under the <a 
href="http://openoffice.org">OpenOffice.org</a> suite. While free open 
source software file formats exist for most things you are likely to 
want to do on your computer, you may experience problems when swapping 
complex Microsoft Office files, but it is always improving. As Microsoft 
owns the code to these formats they can (and do) change the format with 
new releases. Still, if you require Microsoft Office support under 
Linux, OpenOffice.org should do almost everything you require (and 
more). You can also try out OpenOffice.org for yourself under Windows!

Hardware
Linux supports more hardware devices out of the box than any other 
operating system, however there are a number of devices that do not work 
easily. Most of these are what is called "win-hardware", hardware that 
actually works because of software that is installed onto the Windows 
computer. Because Linux does not run Windows software these devices are 
often hard to configure. Some wireless cards, some printers, and some 
internal dialup modems are examples of devices that can cause trouble 
for a Linux user. The open source community often writes their own Linux 
drivers for these devices, however because they do not get an 
information from the manufacturer this is hard. Fortunately this is 
changing as more and more manufacturers start to support Linux.

Another example of this is video cards. Linux supports almost every 
video card in existence, but not always the 3D features of the card. For 
example, while Linux supports NVIDIA cards well in the 2D arena, there 
is no open source 3D driver available for them. NVIDIA however does 
provide excellent Linux drivers for their cards to provide probably the 
best 3D support under Linux. The drivers however are NOT open source and 
as a result Linux distributions do not distribute them. The end user is 
welcome to install these drivers if they wish. Installation difficulty 
varies with the different versions of Linux, but it is usually well 
supported and there are always people willing to help.

Codecs
Once again Linux struggles in this area because many codecs for your 
favourite videos were not written for Linux. Fortunately there are 
packages such as "win32codecs" which allows Linux to use the Windows 
codecs to play all your videos! Because the codecs are not open source, 
many distributions to not come with this installed out of the box. These 
codecs are usually quite easy to install, but does vary between versions 
of Linux.

Encrypted DVDs
Linux has excellent support for DVDs. There is a package called 
"libdvdcss" which can play your DVD movies (which are encrypted), 
however due to patent restrictions in the United States this package is 
often not included in Linux. Depending on your chosen Linux version it 
can be quite easy or a challenge, but again there are always people 
willing to help you get sorted.

In Summary
As you can see, most of these issues arise from the use of Windows based 
hardware and software. Linux does a very good job in helping these 
products work, but it is not always perfect and can be tricky to get 
working. Some cheaper "win-hardware" may not work well under Linux and 
you might have to wait a while for the latest game or Windows software 
to be supported through software like wine. As Linux gains in 
popularity, more and more devices today are created to be compatible. 
Chances are all of your devices will work out of the box after a Linux 
install, but some things like 3D video drivers and some programs may 
not. If this is the case, help is always available!

Hopefully this information will equip you to make a balanced decision on 
whether Linux is for you. We feel the pros of Linux far out weight the 
cons, and remembering that there is usually a program for Linux that can 
do everything you can do under Windows so many do not consider the above 
issue to be a hindrance."