do not use Linux or Windows to play online games but I have installed Windows web browsers using Wine as the Linux version of Mozilla Flock comes bare with no plug ins so you cannot play videos.
Again if you have all the plug ins they should work, besides why complain about Flock for, you can social network in standard firefox and in my honest opinion Flock has no reason to exist as you can use firefoxes native features to use facebook and other websites that it offers.But the Windows version of Flock installs and works perfectly on Linux and you then just download the Adobe flash player plug in for Windows in the Windows Flock browser. You can install Windows Flock browser through Wine 1.2 but I do not have Wine doors as it does not work.
Again why use a windows version of an app you can get natively in the OS, if you are too lazy to install plugins of your own one by one there are many tools in Mint and Ubuntu to get one started.If you have Wine 1.2 installed you just go to the website of the web browser you want to download and then download it the same way you do on Windows. Then the windows installer should be in the downloads folder in home folder. right click with your mouse on the file and select propriorites and make sure you tick run executing program or it wont install. After this select open with Wine. Then click open and the web browser will then install on your computer in Linux.
Again you have plenty of native browsers for linux that do the same job.And thats it. I have successfully installed Pale Moon web browser,which is strictly for Windows only but it is running on Linux,along with Comet Bird,Safefox and Wyzo. All of these are Windows only browsers but are running on Linux but I have not however been able to run Aim Messenger or ICQ both Windows only video chat messengers or the Windows version of Google Talk. Much to my dissapointment.
Yeh but quality over quantity, Linux has fewer apps yes but I think most of the linux apps are more stable and more secure then some of the windows counterparts.But it is true that Windows has more choice of software than Linux as a lot of web browsers and video chat messengers are not compatible with Linux.
Windows is the best choice of operating systems as it is easy to use and very user friendly. And it is not true that there are viruses on Windows. The problem is Internet Explorer web browser.But I have uninstalled it completely from my Windows 7, so it is no longer a problem. And Windows is working fine if not better without IE. Andrea Borman.
On both Windows and Linux there is not a lot of choice of chat messengers...
To install addons in firefox on linux, use the browser to install them, or import them from windows by copying them from the c:/documents & settings folder to the folder on linux /home/username/.mozilla/extensions. But why would you ever do that when it takes like 3 sec to install the add ons from the firefox browser itself.I am not clever enough to build my own computer and I don't think that most people can either. I have read several websites on how to export Firefox plug ins to Linux Flock by using different commands in the terminal. I have tried all the commands I have read about and NONE of them would export the plug ins needed for Linux Flock. But with Windows Flock running on Linux I have installed the Adobe flash player for Windows on it and Windows Flock does play videos but Linux flock does not. So it is pretty much useless.I suppose it is cheating using Windows Flock on a Linux operating system,but if it works,why not?
All you do is bitching about programs you can't figure out due to poor pc knowledge.And again in Linux they only have the multi network chat messengers,which like the Windows versions are not user friendly and do not work. But there is a way around this and that is to use a web messenger like Meebo,that you use in a web browser just by going onto the website. This will enable you to do voice and video chat to friends on Google Talk or Aim or any other messenger network,such as Yahoo and Windows Live.
With Linux OS's, the choice of what OS to run poses a challenge within itself. But for beginners (or "newbies"), OS's such as Ubuntu, Mint, Zorin OS & PCLinuxOS are good choices. Zorin OS is showing a lot of potential these days. One myth about Linux OS's that must be addressed is security. Many OS's (or "distros") claims that there's no need for additional security, but I beg to differ. When I use my choice of Linux, I always run the ClamTK Virus Scanner after use.
Cat
Andrea, yes you can reinstall Windows after a Linux OS has been installed, but it will need to be formatted. The Windows install disk has the option to format.Well I got given 2 netbooks as presents from a friend. And now that I have got a plug in USB DVD CD drive, I can install any operating system I want. As well as reinstall Windows if I have to.Instead of having to restore to factory condition.
So I went ahead and installed Linux as the only operating system on those 2 netbooks. On one I installed Linux Mint 11 Gnome edition and the other Zoren OS also Gnome.
The 2 netboks my friend gave me used to have Windows 7 on them. But as I have 6 other netbooks,3 with Windows 7 and the other 2 with Windows XP. So I had nothing to loose by installing Linux on those 2 netbooks.
The Linux Mint is running fine. I chose it because it has the Windows style start menu that Windows users are used to. And you can pin shortcuts to your desktop like on Windows.
The Zoren OS has given me a few problems and I have had to reinstall several times. Once when I started my computer I got a black screen that looked like Windows booted into safe made saying Zoren OS could not start due to error.So I had to reinstall it. Then another time I had to reinstall because my taskbar and start menu disappeared and I did not know how to restore it.
Actually in Linux it is called a panel not a taskbar. Although Zoren OS too has got the Windows start menu,I have had several problems with it. But none with Linux Mint,so I am going to put Linux Mint on that netbook.
If you install the ISO file onto a DVD you can actually try out the live CD before you install. That way you can see if you like it or not. And also see if it works with your computer and all of the drivers are working.And note some Windows computers do not have drivers that work with Linux.
I tried Lubuntu in live CD but I rejected that because you cannot change the desktop background. And I rejected Xubuntu because it would not install the Adobe flash play needed to play videos. And it is not as user friendly as the Gnome desktop.
With the coming of Windows 8 and because in the latest version of Windows 7,Consumer Preview.They have made it so you cannot turn off Metro like you could in Developers Preview. And any third party software that would give you a Windows XP or Windows 7 start menu does not work in CP. People are looking for an alternative to Windows 8.
Yes,you have got a start menu in Linux maybe not quite like Windows but a start menu listing all of your programs.
But the disadvantage of Linux is-
It is difficult to install software from the Internet. So if the software you want is not in the package manager,then you cannot have it.
You have to log in with a password and enter it every time you do something on your computer. But on Windows you do not have to have a password if you do not want one.
When things go wrong on Linux you often don't know how to fix them. So like me you end up doing a reinstall of the system. But on Windows I rarely have to do a reinstall. As most problems can be fixed in a few minutes without this on Windows.
Most software only works on Windows not Linux. So you still need Windows if you want to run software like Windows Movie Maker or Windows Live Messenger or Windows Live Mail. As anything that is Internet Explorer based does not work in Wine.
And as for the password thing which you cannot remove or disable in Linux. I get round this by creating a simple password like yes or no,which is a password you will never forget.
And now the new versions of Linux now come with broadcom wireless network drivers. So you can connect to the Internet right away. Without installing additional drivers. And often Linux will activate the drivers for you but you must be connected to wired broadband first.
So yes I do have Linux as my only operating system on 2 netbooks but I have also got Windows on my other 5 as well. Also bear in mind that once you replace Windows with Linux,you cannot reinstall Windows again on that computer. I got a message saying my hard drive needs to be a FAT or NFCS partition. So the Linux install must have altered the hard drive.
but if you have other computers with Windows on it is okay to install one computer with Linux. But you will probably need Windows as well at some point. As not all software works on Linux.Andrea Borman.
Last year, Linux Mint moved up a notch, making the OS the #1 most used consumer OS. The most recent version, 12, is good, but has some kinks to iron out with some AMD/ATI cards. The driver that's offered, in both the 32 & 64 bit versions, messes up my screen. For this reason, I've rolled back to Mint 11. No problem, as it's still supported for some time.
Which brings up another thing, for most Ubuntu based OS's (or distros), the user can run the version prior to the latest, and be fine. The bugs have usually been worked out of the prior release, and updates are available as soon as released.
Just as with Windows on Update Tuesday, these updates includes security updates & patches, so it's important to install them. Usually, the updates are rated by priority (1 through 5), level 1 & 2 updates are important, level 3 & above may be optional, I simply install them all.
blackoutworm, you may want to check this out:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Antivirus
While the chances are low of the actual OS being infected unless running as root (a knowledgeable Linux should know better than to do this while connected to the internet), there's always the chance of picking up viruses & malware through the browser & pass it on to other Internet users. For this reason, just as when running Windows, Linux users need to scan their computers. Most of the scanners takes very little time to do a recursive (full) scan of the home folder, which includes the installed browsers, Wine, VirtualBox VM's & other items in the folder.
And Linux OS's are not exempt from remote code execution. No OS is. OS's are written by humans, who aren't 100% perfect, therefore the OS isn't perfect either. Check this thread out, it's been ongoing since 02/02/2006, 6 years.
Mozilla Firefox Vulns
I was an actual participant in this thread, and made an ignorant statement, going along with the common perspective that this kind of thing just couldn't happen while using a Linux OS. I was wrong, was warned, and issued an apology for my statements.
Security is imperative, regardless of whatever brand of OS is used. This includes Mac users, I haven't ran any of those OS's, but there has been recent reports of compromised security on those systems.
Cat
I have Mint 11 also, but for a different reason. The video card drivers for ATI/AMD are buggy, the last time I tried to install Mint 12, less than 2 weeks ago. I'll wait until the next release, which should be an LTS (3 year support) before upgrading.I tried to install Linux Mint 12 from the CD I made. It goes fine until I get the the bit where it askes you to choose a picture or take a photo for your user account. Because I have a netbook,my screen is very small.
So I had to minimise the Windows to see the next button to click on after I took my picture. But even when I did click on the next button in the now minimised Windows. That was as far as I got, and Linux Mint 12 would not install on my netbook.
I have this problem a lot on my netbook because my screen is small. And on Windows I can just move the taskbar to the left to adjust settings in Windows Live Messenger for example. But I could not do this with the set up of Linux Mint 12. So even though I minimised the set up Window the install would not finish.
That's why I have got Linux Mint 11 instead, because I cannot install Linux Mint 12. Andrea Borman.
I have Mint 11 also, but for a different reason. The video card drivers for ATI/AMD are buggy, the last time I tried to install Mint 12, less than 2 weeks ago. I'll wait until the next release, which should be an LTS (3 year support) before upgrading.
Right now, Mint 9, the current LTS, is still supported, but I prefer not to run a Linux OS that's that old. I skipped Mint 10 altogether, went from Mint 9 to 11 when it was a RC.
At the current time, the Gnome deal is changing, so this is a major adjustment period for anyone who is using the most current Ubuntu based versions. Many users don't like it, but there are other options. Mint comes in at least 3 types, many users are opting to use another shell besides Gnome.
Cat
Yes, those older Mint ISO's are still available for download, but that it. If the OS is on the unsupported list, it won't update. You can still use them, but in the years since those OS's were released (I started with Mint 7, Gloria), support & security has improved.Well from what I read Linux Mint are using Mate in version 12. I don't know what Mate is but that is the reason why there are 2 panels in Mint 12. I at the bottom that is the normal Mint menu that looks like Windows. And the top panel looks like Ubuntu.
But I cannot install Mint 12 anyway due to the problems I mentioned.
But there are many different version of Linux Mint. There are also the older versions like Linux Mint 7 and 8 that the website says are no longer supported. But the ISO files can still be downloaded and burned onto a CD. But the problem is that if you use Mint 8,you may not get all of the latest updates.
I don't know if that matters or not on Linux. But it does on Windows.Andrea Borman.