[BarracudaUAK]

Originally Posted by Gray Lensman

When my current portable computer needs replacing, I'll be replacing it with a Linux/Wine capable computer. There is no way I'm buying any computer with a Windows Op system newer than Win7.

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I presume I'll have to shop/buy a printer supported by standalone drivers for a computer running Linux/Wine?

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

You'll find that Linux often supports hardware better than Windows. My graphics tablet just works in Linux without loading any drivers at all, but in Windows, it's been a struggle and still doesn't work right.
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Gray Lensman...
Although there are some "kernel plugin" type drivers, most "Mainline" drivers are in Linux kernel itself, so you most likely won't have to find drivers.
However if the hardware is much older, or really new, and they support Linux, the manufacturer may provide Linux drivers.

RR,
You have drivers, either 'Nouveau' Open-source Nvidia drivers, or "Gailum" Open-source drivers for ATI/AMD cards.

You can install the Proprietary drivers, but you don't NEED them for most things.
(I'm running the older proprietary drivers for my AMDs now, because I have 2 of them "Crossfired". And higher frame rate in Linux Native versions of Source Engine games. Half-life 2, Portal 1&2, etc.)

And I agree with your statement about Linux supporting hardware better!

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

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Ubuntu 16.04 runs Borderlands 2, Counterstrike Global Offensive, Portal and some other games at least as well as Windows. All the hokey stuff about Linux will never be playable because of missing DirectX turns out to be just baseless.
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RR, I pretty sure you already know this, but I'm putting it here for those who don't...

If they coded -or ported- a game to use OpenGL (Windows used to support it also), then you can run it natively. If not, then this is what WINE does.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a really, REALLY, REALLY simple, very "rough" explanation.

WINE "redirects" DirectX "calls" from the program to the OpenGL equivalent.

So if Windows stores "Blue" under "Colors", and UNIX/Linux stores it under "RGB"...
the program will say "I need Colors\Blue", and WINE says "OK, here is 'BLUE', go to RGB/Blue."
The program does, and gets the info for "Blue", and puts the "Blue" object on your screen.

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

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Fedora is a more aggressive distro than Ubuntu so it tends to use later Linux kernels, later versions of WINE, etc. Of course that is all moot because you can modify any distro in any way you choose. WINE is pretty amazing as of late!
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You can find most of this info scattered around the web. It'll be more accurate there, this is just a basic rundown...

Fedora uses newer "stable" releases for the distro, but is a "developmental" distro.
Fedora releases (roughly) every 6-8 months, and supports for 1 year after the next release...
I have Fedora 24, Fedora 25 is planned to be released late November 2016.
So 24 will (well it should) be updated/supported until November 2017.

Ubuntu is mainly "stable" releases, very little, if any "development" versions of anything.
They used things that are massively debugged, and have LTS (Long Term Service) versions. (3 years, I Think.)
If your hardware is older, or if you just prefer a "Debian" (Ubuntu is based on debian) distro, Ubuntu is probably the distro for you.

I mainly run Fedora because my PCs are all higher end "gaming" hardware.
(It's cheaper when you build your own...)
Even my 8-9 year old AMD 5600x2 with dual AMD 6750s isn't supported by the more "stable" distros.

Which is not to say that they are years behind, the AMD 6750s are relatively new.
(I upgrade the Video cards 3 times, 1650 pro (2), 2600xt (1), 4850 (1), and finally the 6750s (2) that are in the system now.)

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

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Linux is ready for primetime.
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On this point I definitely agree with you.
Then again, other than PCs, it runs almost everything anyway.

Originally Posted by Rockin Robbins

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It's just brilliant! Windows has fallen and can't get up. I'm having such fun with Ubuntu that I don't care that much. Heck, I've got five GUIs I can play with at will! They're all loaded up and it just opens your mind up to see the differnt ways we can interface with a computer.
... Linux is like that: very liberating.

Last time I saw a count, it was 8 Different GUI desktops (counting the Ubuntu Unity).

I run KDE, which used to be the most "heavy" of them, but I heard/read somewhere that Gnome 3 has overtaken it.
Boot up, login, sit idle, I'm using roughly 1GB for KDE.
LXDE, I think is the lightest, I read can be used with 384-ish MB of ram.

And LXDE isn't that bad, somewhere between Win98 and WinXP on the GUI looks, but at higher resolutions.

And I'm done, long winded I know. Thought I would expand on somethings mentioned by RR for those looking and wondering what we're talking about!

Barracuda