Linux version advice sought
I'm thinking of building a cheap x86 PC to be my Blender rendering bitch. (Blender is a 3d modeling and animation program)
Since I am poor and I may someday use this for commercial gain and for reasons of good kharma (sp?) I need to have a legit and free OS running on it. This would mean Linux right?
I know absolutely nothing about Linux except that it exists and there are lots of free flavors. Can anyone point me to a Linux flavor that;
-Is Free
-Runs on x86,
-Is network compatible with OSX
-Is relatively easy for a MacOSX/Windows familiar person to use. I'm not afraid of command lines, but I have no terminal experience. Basically all I need to be able to do OSwise is run the program itself and move files back and forth from my renderer to my Mac.
-is compatible with Blender.
Blender's "Will it work on my system" blurb.
Since I am poor and I may someday use this for commercial gain and for reasons of good kharma (sp?) I need to have a legit and free OS running on it. This would mean Linux right?
I know absolutely nothing about Linux except that it exists and there are lots of free flavors. Can anyone point me to a Linux flavor that;
-Is Free
-Runs on x86,
-Is network compatible with OSX
-Is relatively easy for a MacOSX/Windows familiar person to use. I'm not afraid of command lines, but I have no terminal experience. Basically all I need to be able to do OSwise is run the program itself and move files back and forth from my renderer to my Mac.
-is compatible with Blender.
Blender's "Will it work on my system" blurb.
Comments
-Is Free
Most Linux distrbutions are. I would probably recommend Fedora Core 2. CD and DVD ISO images available for download from that site.
If you want to be a real UNIX geek and don't mind a pretty sharp installation curve, there is also Debian or Gentoo.
I would not recommend Slackware (and I am sure you'll get a lot of recommendations for this; it's not a good Linux dist but has a very loyal, perhaps slightly ignorant following).
You will find most support for Fedora, Debian, and Gentoo.
-Runs on x86,
All of the above mentioned do.
-Is network compatible with OSX
You can run Samba and/or NFS on Linux to make it "network compatible" with OS X. Linux also has some support for Apple-type networking but I am not sure how this works.
-Is relatively easy for a MacOSX/Windows familiar person to use. I'm not afraid of command lines, but I have no terminal experience. Basically all I need to be able to do OSwise is run the program itself and move files back and forth from my renderer to my Mac.
In that case, Fedora Core 2 is probably your best bet. Installation is a snap, it's fully GUI enabled, and if you need help, you'll find it in relatively short order.
-is compatible with Blender.
There are Blender packages available for Fedora, so that shouldn't be an issue.
I run Fedora and Gentoo at home and have lots of experience with Debian, Slackware, Knoppix, and a couple other smaller dists.
As for a cheap machine, look to a Dell special. You can get a decent barebones machine for next to nothing. Stock up on third-party RAM and you're good to go.
* It's official release is in the next couple of weeks so it will be bang up to date
* It's based on Debian (much geek respect)
* It's got Gnome 2.8 (the latest, and most Mac-like, version of the user friendliest Linux Desktop. One of KDE's main selling points is that it can be set up to look the exact same as Windows)
* It's designed for newbie, desktop users
more info: http://www.ubuntulinux.org/
have a free copy sent to you on CD: http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org/
Should you do Ubuntu?
Originally posted by mikef
This review might change the OP's mind about Ubuntu:
Should you do Ubuntu?
Why are open source products always dogged by such pathetic reviewers? No writing skill, no ability to communicate, a surprising lack of technical understanding, basically nothing but enthusiasm.
Having said that, and despite being written by a standard linux gimp, the review is mostly positive about Ubuntu apart from a few minor bugs. The reviewer however fails to note that they are reviewing a pre-release beta and that the majority of these minor problems will be fixed by the time it is actually released. Given that I don't see how it should put people off.
Also a few of the other teething issues are due to the reviewer being used to other Linux distributions. For example, Ubuntu, exactly like Mac OS X, uses sudo without a root account and asks you for your own user password when you need to install system updates etc. So that's actually a plus for Mac users, even though it threw this reviewer off.
As is the reviewers preference for KDE (shudder), and even then GNOME gets props. Again, with reference to this particular user, GNOME is good because it's Mac like (in philosophy rather than visually) and the reviewer likes it despite it not being like his crack-addled SUSE/KDE monstosity.
So Ubuntu's still my recommendation, I'll go into further details if I can be bothered later, but I'll note that Fedora is repeatedly slammed for being flaky, as it is effectively a test-bed for Red Hat's other products and has yet to develop an effective community around it like Debain (and therefore Ubuntu by proxy).
My original recommendations still stand.
I've about decided that I need to learn a more mainstream program than Blender if I'm going to add modeling to my resumé so I'll probably put the money towards a new vid-card and the student version of Lightwave, which I've pleasantly discovered is an affordable $250. I still want to play with Linux though.
I've tried to install Fedora 2 or 3 times in VPC to no avail. It always froze when installing GNOME packages. The last time I actually got it completely installed by unchecking GNOME and checking the one below it. I think it was called KDE. Anyway, when I try to start up that one, it crashes VPC in the startup phase.
As far as I understand, no version of Linux is under VPC. It works perfectly under VMWare on x86.
Originally posted by mikef
Apparently I've touched on a nerve...
Not really, but I've read too many poor reviews of Linux distributions and Open Source software from the Eugenia Loli-Query school of journalism. And sometimes it gets to me.
So while I thought it a bit off to discount my suggestion with a link to such a poor review, I was pissed off by the review, not by you.