what can linux do for me
 

windows is getting on my nervs again so I wondered what linux could do for me since I have no expercience with it whatsoever.

main criteria would be it has to run ALL games
does msn messenger work? (seems unlikely but I'm no IRC'er so msn is my way atm)
how do progs work in general? all those usefull tools for pc monitoring and all, does that work on linux or is linux a bit like a mac meaning it requires it's own progs and everything? :/

no linux runs all games.

games that require Direct X (and that are a lot of games) won't work. Only open GL games do (UT by example)

Re: what can linux do for me
 

- all games?
forget about it

- MSN
=> GAIM for example. there's another one, forgot the name, and it's pretty good too

- programs
=> yes, all programs are designed either for windows, either for linux. the program Wine (WineX) allows you to run windows programs from linux

Or in short, forget it.
Linux is an awesome server OS for the smaller things (gameservers and such)
and a very capable OS for desktop use. (browsing and office work)

BUT, it takes a lot of time getting used to when comming from windows. It a pain to install third party addonds (some people can't even install the OS) And runs only a fraction of the games available (great for office application :p)

most linux distro's have a graphical install program, and it's just the same like installing windows. it's pretty hard to fail installing RH9/Suse/mandrake/...

installing apps isn't hard. read the M A N U A L, that's the rule of thumb under Linux. almost everything is documented.

either you install something with APT (like apt-get install mozilla), or you compile it yourself. the manual always describes how you have to do that. unzip it, ./configure, then use the 'make' command. except for dependencies (missing librairies), it's once again very hard to fail installing a program. if you even can't follow a manual then you shouldn't be working with linux at all

installing extra librairies isn't very hard either. once you've found the right package, install or upgrade the library. man rpm for instructions... I prefer APT though, it automatically installs required libraries

I haven't found any manual more usefull then toilet readings.

Also free downloadables rarely have a decent manual, looking for one in google means cutting trough about 500 sites of **** before finding the any key.

Linux just misses some good centralization. it's just too much details and no solid info.

Your accusations are only true for distro's like suse,redhat,mandrake,...

I get software installed much faster in linux than windows.

that's because you're a windows n00b ;)

hahaha

no, seriously .. :)

if you know what and where to install it, installation of software on Windows is 3 times nothing. I don't have experience with linux, so I won't comment on that :)