Online chess on Linux

Hi,

I am considering installing Linux on my computer, to wash away the viruses and stuffs and supporting an open source OS but I was wonderring if playing online chess on Linux works great.

Is there any bug, problemes ect that make it unfriendly?

Thanks.

I am running Fedora 19 and I have never had any problems whatsoever.

Chess.com uses HTML5 and Javascript technologies, which are handled by the browser and not by the operating system directly. As long as you install a reasonably modern linux distribution with the current version of any major browser, I would be surprised if anything wouldn't work as expected.

Other chess servers are mostly based on cross-platform web technologies too, with a minority relying on Telnet + GUI, which isn't a problem on Linux either.

You might instead face problems with some commercial chess engines/interfaces/DBs, I'm not sure if things like CB have linux versions.

I'm running Fedora 18, no problems here

The nice thing about linux is you can try a live CD or USB and see for yourself without having to install anything.

I have had no problems with linux and online chess.

Linux is a rock solid OS. It's everywhere: data centers, your phone, 98% of the supercomputers run it etc. 

I've been using it for 14 years exclusively.

Getting on the internet and doing simple desktop type tasks is easy.  Doing anything major (like forcing it to let you play a fullscreen windows based video game) can quickly lead to a very difficult learning curve.  The more complicated the task you wish to perform, the harder it gets...  something as simple as adding hardware to a system can force you to recomplile the entire operating system from scratch, for example.  Something as simple as building an opensource project can have you hacking on code, trying to resolve mismatched library versions, or trying to deal with archaic makefile syntax. 

So, um playing chess in a browser, very easy.   But if you want to do much more than surf the web, be prepared to put in the time to learn the OS and how to make things work.   The best way to summarize it... windows users spend their time running sofware and fighting viruses.  Linux users spend their time messing with the OS itself (compared to running software and doing tasks), but they do it pretty much virus free.

I hate this kind of developers...

Blatantly false.

Linux is not any more difficult than any other operating system to use. Sure, advanced level things are difficult. Computers are difficult. Deal with it and don't blame the OS.

Operating a Linux PC for "standard" use (web, mail, office and so on) is not a single bit more difficult than doing the same with a Windows PC. This is not 1998, things have actually changed.

I am currently running Linux Ubuntu exclusively on a desktop, it's easy to install and runs fine. You can play chess in any Internet platform (chess.com being the best!) or download software such as FICS and the new FIDE Online Arena. As far as I know ICC is not compatible with Linux but you've some other options to enjoy online chess.

Once Linux Ubuntu is successfully installed on your machine, there is some advantages: Long term support, no need of antivirus and you've a built-in firewall. You've everything you need, such as open office (the open source equivalent of Microsoft Word), A MP3 Reader named RythmBox ect. and a software center on which you can find plenty of useful things to download. Most important: It's enterily free.

There is desadvantages though, It's not always easy to use, espeically if you're coming from Windows, some basic things like managing an Ipod on a Linux system may be difficult for many people such as me or other MP3 player which require a software are probably not Linux compatible. Also, building a Internet network with a router is not very convenient on Linux, as many Router brand such as the popular D-Link doesn't support Linux. So you've to find your way through all these obstacles, which require some Computer knowledge and willingness.

So, I would say Linux is an experience to try, you may like it or not, some have used it since then and are very confortable with it. As for me, I will probably someday come back to Windows (or join Google !) for I don't dislike these OS.

I am planning on buying a chromebook soon, and try the Chrome OS.

I am currently running Linux Ubuntu exclusively on a desktop, it's easy to install and runs fine.

That's true.

You can play chess in any Internet platform (chess.com being the best!) or download software such as FICS and the new FIDE Online Arena. As far as I know ICC is not compatible with Linux but you've some other options to enjoy online chess.

That's not. Let's get a few facts straight. Chess.com is a server you log into from a web browser through port 80, FICS and ICC are telnet servers you log into from a telnet session through port 23. Telnet is a standard protocol supported by almost every operating system ever coded, including any linux distribution. FIDE Online Arena is a Java client, which runs on everything that has JWM ported to, i.e. any modern operating system including the vast majoirity of linux distributions. "ICC is not compatible with Linux" is a sentence that doesn't mean anything.

It's not always easy to use, espeically if you're coming from Windows, some basic things like managing an Ipod on a Linux system may be difficult for many people such as me or other MP3 player which require a software are probably not Linux compatible.

Huh? Yamipod anyone? The only real problem on Linux is proprietary hardware support, which is not as bad as it was ten years ago. Once you get your hardware to work (for 99%+ of the systems it's just automagic) it's not more difficult than Windows for daily use.

as many Router brand such as the popular D-Link doesn't support Linux.

Most routers use web interfaces. It's safe to assume yours is a fairly rare exception.

You can even install DD-WRT linux on D-Link brand routers.

You can run the xboard or jin (Java) clients for ICC or FICS. SCID is a linux native chess database app with the capability of interfacing with FICS. I could not get it to work with ICC, though.

Xboard works fine for ICC if you are comfortable with typing server commands in a terminal window. There are some graphical elements with xboard on ICC or FICS. Clicking the board toggles between a chessboard and a clickable seek graph, for example.

The Jin java interface provides a graphical client similar in capabilities with ICC's proprietary Blitzin interface.

eehc posted: "Also, building a Internet network with a router is not very convenient on Linux, as many Router brand such as the popular D-Link doesn't support Linux."

This statement is misleading. Routers do not give a flip what operating system a client uses. It's just that the setup software that comes with the router may be Windows/Mac centric. That's no problem for those with minimal network configuration experience. You would be hard pressed to find a switching router for home use that does not have a web interface set for the 192.168.x.x or the 10.x.x.x private network IP address ranges.

Software Links for more information:

http://www.tim-mann.org/xboard.html

http://www.jinchess.com/

http://scid.sourceforge.net/