Linux n00b. Please gentle.

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When asking questions or troubleshooting, try to fart around with your device/software/whatever such that you narrow the scope of the issue.  If you can't pinpoint the exact issue right away, you can probably eliminate other things as the source of the error.  When you can do this you feel a sense of progress and you don't feel compelled to scream at your computer.

You don't even need to know a lot about something to be able to troubleshoot it.

There's an Italian word used to describe James Bond in some 007 book I read as a teenager - I can't remember the word, but it means you have the ability to do something gracefully without understanding how it works or even having experience with it.  Part of this is temperment, but a large part is being able to break down something into parts and test them until you remove what is not the issue.
 
Random thoughts...

If the OP was serious they should be asking for help in the distros forum or IRC channel. I think I maybe one of the few with any knowledge of Linux. This is a Forum for Final Fantasy modding not linux use.

If you want to be successful with moving to a new OS the first thing you need to stop and realize that your previous OS is not like your new OS and there will be some learning todo. The main issue from what I see is new users do not understand this and just bitch about how Their new Os is not the same as the old OS.

The Group of people saying that using Linux is not user friendly is either ill informed, lying to you for their own reasons, or do not know what the term they are using means. Using a Linux distro is not harder then using a Windows machine or Mac Os.  Place a New user without preconseption of how things work and you will find they can use any of them equally.  Most things on linux are much easier then other OSes.

Using wine to install your windows applications so you can ease your way in to linux is just asking to be fustrated when something in wine is not working right. Wine is far from perfect and you kinda need to know how to set it up correctly for somethings. Successful use of wine requires knowing both windows and linux well. If you must use wine maybe stick to something like Play On Linux its just a wrapper around wine that will help you set up you prefixes and install applications. Truely Worry about these later.

If your trying to learn Linux you should use it and its native applications.

Not ready to Switch the OS try using the Programs you will be using on linux. Your not using the os your using applications they are using the os.  Firefox,  VLC, Libre Office, and other are common  cross platform Open source applications using them will help you greatly when you change the OS. Not only will you be given time to moveany needed documents to new formats while still having access to your old applications.

Read the manual or help files. You would be amazed how often the answer is there.

Use the package manager to install programs if your not then you are doing it wrong and asking for problems.

Learn how to ask questions while also providing information that helps people answer them.
 
Phew, it's been like a month, but I finally got it up and working. My final "trial by fire" to see if I finally got the gist of this was to play everyone's favorite game, Final Fantasy VII, in ePSXe through WINE, while running PSX Emulation Cheater through WINE, and recording with OBS. The results were far better than on my previous Windows 7 machine.

At this point I've come to the conclusion that "if it isn't Debian, it isn't worth my time" since installing software that isn't in a neat Debian package is so time consuming and frustrating. It isn't Debian, I'll use the Windows version through WINE. If WINE fails, I'll load it up in my Windows XP x64 VirtualBox.

For example, the Linux version of ePSXe doesn't come in a Debian package, and is a hot mess to install. And even when I did install it, it would crash and never let me even play the game. So I pretty much just avoid anything that isn't in a Debian package since it will probably fail because it's missing "library/program A" which is dependent on "library/program B" which is dependent on "library/program A" (again) and I just wind up going around in circles. Even when everything is installed it probably doesn't even work right. If program installations were all Debian packages like how Windows installations are all ".exe" or ".msi" files that conveniently install after double clicking, Linux wouldn't be so overwhelming, and maybe more people would switch over (and screw over Microsoft).

I'd like to thank the members of this forum for helping me, as I've posted on other forums (not saying which ones, but more than one) and the threads would be derailed by--get this--Windows fanboys.

They would just derail the thread and preach to me about how great and superior Windows 7/8.1/10/69 is, and that going to Linux was like some terrible sin. If someone prefers Windows, that's their opinion and fine, but what is the point of posting in a Linux help thread just to waste time trying to convince people to use Windows?

It's like going to an anime convention, only to get in everyone's face and tell them anime sucks and that Tijuana comics are superior and that everyone there should be into that instead.

Or going to a strip club only to preach that nudity and sex stuff is wrong and everyone there needs to go to Sunday school instead.

I mean, if they have such a huge boner for Windows, they should just jack it off somewhere else, not in a Linux thread. That's just indecent.

Anyway, although I'm going to be busy with IRL stuff soon, I was thinking about writing up a newbie reference guide for Linux so that new users don't have to fumble around and try and figure things through brute force (and yelling and screaming at their computer while giving it the finger like some angry YouTube reviewer) like I did.

Would anyone be interested in passing around such a document in circulation?

Also, what is the best free video editing software to use with Linux?
 
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For example, the Linux version of ePSXe doesn't come in a Debian package, and is a hot mess to install. And even when I did install it, it would crash and never let me even play the game. So I pretty much just avoid anything that isn't in a Debian package since it will probably fail because it's missing "library/program A" which is dependent on "library/program B" which is dependent on "library/program A" (again) and I just wind up going around in circles. Even when everything is installed it probably doesn't even work right. If program installations were all Debian packages like how Windows installations are all ".exe" or ".msi" files that conveniently install after double clicking, Linux wouldn't be so overwhelming, and maybe more people would switch over (and screw over Microsoft).
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Dont run unmaintianed programs and you wont have that issue.. Do you think that in 2 years since the last epsxe release none of the libs that epsxe use have been updated and some have released newer versions . sometimes rebuilding is enough but if those new libs drop old calls then you have a problem.
 
I always find these threads kind of ironic. Windows causes the very least amount of problems for me, but I actually enjoy solving the tons of quirks getting Linux set up correctly -- which it _does_. Maybe I'm just cool like that
 
I really wasn't going to even say anything in this thread until someone dragged me here ..

It's funny you would say that because with windows you have a longer post install, you get to do a half dozen reboots while you install all your drivers. Then some other ungodly amount of time to install all the other software that the machine needs. Windows has no package management so you get todo it all one at a time and then more update time. In the amount of time windows it takes to set up I can have a dozen Linux machines working. The post install for Linux is to use the machine since everything is FOSS it comes with most of the software for daily use out of the box and the hardware support on linux is superb no drivers to install most hardware will "just work" . Granted some hardware doesn't work out of the box or have drivers yet but its less common then needing to install drivers on windows.

tldr: Windows may work with less problems for you but I suspect you spend as much it not more time then setting up linux to that same point.
 
Eh? I guess it depends on the person installing and what they've been using all their life.

It only takes me a weekend to get Windows XP and all my favorite programs running on it.

It took me a month to get Linux up and running to a point I am satisfied with, but this is the first time in my life that I've ever used Linux.
 
Stuff changes all the time in linux. It doesn't take long for an unmaintained program to become unuseable. I have heard only bad things when I ask how a deb is made, and I know from personal experience that cross compiling/linking/assembling can be a nightmare.

Make a guide so you van reference it in the future. That's what I do.
 
I have heard only bad things when I ask how a deb is made
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Debs are not really that 'hard' to make the documentation is intimidating but the process itself is not really all to bad. Arch Linux with its PKGBUILD system is really easy and the documentation is so short you will wonder where the rest of it is.

Currently package systems are a hot topic with several cross platform formats being talked about. There is Flatpak and Snap that allow for simple install of applications in a cross distro way by providing a common base system their packages are built from. Now to me that seams kinda silly since its creating a shadow system on your system. For example the flatpak of my current project needs several other flatpaks as dependencies. It ends up needing alot more space then just my application because it also needs to have bundles for all the run times it needs and such. If this is sounding similar to the current package system on your current linux that would be because it is. The main difference is that the flatpak come from flathub (or another flatpak "repo") not your distros servers. Snap is similar to flatpak. Then there is Appimage; Appimages are a self contained format that is akin to the mac os "App Bundle" where all of an applications dependencies are contained with in the appimage. Chances are that at some point in the future that unmaintained application deployed as a flatpak, snap or appimage will continue to work long after the libraries its using have been changed.
 
I am trying to see if my Windows XP x64 VirtualBox can run games in case a program doesn't work under WINE, but when I try to run a game in the VM it says DirectX 9.0c isn't installed.

But the download here won't work for Windows XP x64, I think only the 32-bit version.

How do I get games/emulators to run on this thing in case Linux and WINE fails me?

Or should I be using VMware Player instead?

UPDATE:

Okay, after scouring Google and YouTube, found the answer.

Machine --> Settings --> Display

Set Video Memory to 128 MB, then check BOTH Enable 2D Video AND 3D Acceleration.

Then download the latest VirtualBox Guest Additions ISO. Then:

Devices --> Insert Guest Additions CD Image...

Restart and keep hitting F8 after shutdown until reboot to get to the Safe Mode menu. Boot into Safe Mode, then run the Guest Additions CD Image in a virtual drive lying in "My Computer". During the install, remember to check "Direct3D Support" and continue installing, then restart into "normal" mode.

Direct3D should be available now. Just don't expect to play anything like Metal Gear Solid V though.
 
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Direct3D should be available now. Just don't expect to play anything like Metal Gear Solid V though.
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Metal Gear Solid V uses DX11. You have NO chance of running it on Windows XP Since Xp doesn't support Dx11 at. It does however work in wine using dxvk (if your card has vulkan support) . MGSV AppDb
 
Great thing about vms: really easy to have multiple images, only limit is hard drive space and getting activation keys. You could try ReactOS, I suppose, or research how Windows 7 does activation to see if it's possible to circumvent it.

I have a list of things I want to make once I have a functionimg computer and experience with C. A universal application manager is one of them.

Hey NERV Agent, why dont you get one of these and load it up with 128gb x 16 ddr4?
https://raptorcs.com/content/TL2WK2/intro.html

I would humblebrag on /g/ so much if I had that...
 
Great thing about vms: really easy to have multiple images, only limit is hard drive space and getting activation keys. You could try ReactOS, I suppose, or research how Windows 7 does activation to see if it's possible to circumvent it.

I have a list of things I want to make once I have a functionimg computer and experience with C. A universal application manager is one of them.

Hey NERV Agent, why dont you get one of these and load it up with 128gb x 16 ddr4?
https://raptorcs.com/content/TL2WK2/intro.html

I would humblebrag on /g/ so much if I had that...
Click to expand...
From what I've seen of ReactOS so far, it's a hot mess that can't even run Doom. Let's hope that changes in the future.

As for the Raptor Computing Systems price tag, this is an appropriate reaction.
 
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