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I'm curious. I am trying Linux because I don't like Windows crashing all the time. Why do you guys use Linux. In what ways is it good?
Thanks
personally, I like it because you have more control over your computer. you can choose how to install and run programs. its also good because its free. windows to me seems to be an OS for people who are lazy. Linux also offers a lot of programs that you dont have to buy or download (pending on which type you have) that are already on the disks.
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As soon as it became readily available for PC's, I have used *nix as my primary desktop. You do not have to fully comit to Linux, as you can dual boot windoze. What are the top 10 applications you require? For me, there are fine (free) L-applications for browsing, spreadsheets, graphics, support of my digital camera, scanner ..... .If you are into,or interested in, software development, there is an endless list of languages and tools.
Use of CDE-like window managers (e.g.,KDE, GNOME) will provide comfort in your transition.
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With Linux you can upgrade your hardware without having to call and beg to be let back in to your own PC. With M$ if you apply a security patch you have to sign your PC over to bill g. I wished I had never spent the first dime on M$ crap. This Linux thing is just fine for me.It is easy to start with and can take forever to master. The possibilitys are endless with Linux .Buying M$ is like buying a car with the hood welded shut that uses lots of oil.
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Linux is much more stable and reliable. Linux is free. It is fantastically versatile -- you can optimize it for specific tasks.
Have you ever used a Windows machine (especially 95 or 98) that would start running really slowly, you'd reboot it, and it would be working again? The reason this works is because Microsoft software is sloppily and hastily written, and loses track of chunks of memory as it runs. Microsoft has a limited amount of time to release their products, limited resources to debug it, and financial incentive to do it as cheaply as possible.
Linux, and linux software, is "open source." There are many more programmers working on Linux than MS could ever afford. Additionally, we can actually see the "source code" to linux and its programs. If you're using a program and encounter a bug, you can look at the code, find the bug, and email the folks who maintain it. They fix it on their end, and release it to the world. Microsoft releases patches to major security holes, but pretty much relied on the fact that their software was bug-ridden to be an incentive to buy the newer versions when they came out.
Most computer "viruses" are really exploits of Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, or Windows flaws. MS has dealt with these problems in an appaling poor way.
Windows does have it's place. If you use a home computer to browse the net, email, listen to music, etc, Windows works fine. Linux has a very steep learning curve. I never recommend it to anyone who doesn't enjoy playing with computers for fun. If you want to try it, definitely dual-boot with windows.
Good luck.
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As all of the above mentioned reasons are valid. I would like to add that i have found it to be a great OS for beginners. My girlfriend ( who is semi computer illiterate ) has picked it up with no problems and is running it like a pro ( she uses winblows at work ). As for compatability issues, why would you want to run any of the MS garbage that they put out, when Linux has everything you need; from an outlook type EMail program from Ximian to a complete office environment from OpenOffice.org.
There is a learning curve if you go and get a distribution like RedHat Linux ( I use this one ) but, for a beginner here are some great distro's to start with; Starting with ease of learning
1 - Lindows ( www.lindows.com )
2 - SUSE Linux ( www.suse.com )
3 - Mandrake Linux ( www.linux.mandrake.com )all of the above are free... So try it out
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If you have a K6-550 computer DO NOT get Mandrake it is discustingly slow and will make you hate Linux.
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All I have is a PII-350 with 256ram and it runs very slow with KDE3 (I think it's version 3) but GNOME runs a little faster. I actually have two Macs at home for main use which I love but I also have a couple of PC's too which I wanted to put Linux on. I bought a boxed copy of SuSE linux 8.1 professional. I find it easy to use generally except when it comes to installing apps and the like. Using the terminal will take some getting used to.
One thing I do like is at the login stage I can choose from a pull down list of GUI, starting with KDE at the top they seem to get more basic and faster as I go down the list. Anyway, I'm sticking with this and it will be much nicer if I build a new PC. On that subject, I was planning to use an Athlon. Any hardware I should really avoid?
Thanks for your opinions and advice
Rich
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Yea Rich, Stay away from the A7-V333 motherboard. Other than that get a good hardware modem.
Good Luck
Ron
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I am currently living in Ireland and I was remotely administering my PCs in the UK. I sat and watched my Windows PC crash and reboot. All the computers (Linux, Windows and Solaris) had been up 21 days. BTW the Linux box runs far more stuff (email, ftp, apache, ...) than the Windows box.
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I use Linux b/c I'm interested in something new and different for me, I still use windows xp which is by far the best OS from MS, has never crashed and I've never had any major problems, if you hate windows 95/98 good but don't hate win xp since it's based on NT and very stable, I use Linux RH 8 currently but I don't use it as my main OS since I use many win apps like Photoshop, until I get driver support for my vid card, then I will use Linux as my main os :]
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note:
lindows is not free. yo uhave to pay about $99 or something.
SUSE doesn't have the ISO available for download. you have to pay. so go and get redhat or debian.www.redhat.com
www.debian.orgn0dez
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Stability. JUst finished setting up a gateway/proxy and a NT Domain Controller using SAMBA...its beautiful, only had to reboot for hardware failure, and ups installation but other than that its more reliable than anything else. prog stops responding, everything else still works, then the frozen prog comes back, never had a program freeze so bad i had to kill it.
And the command line...hehehe the ability to stop every single service right down to mouse controls in the console, is beautiful, try restarting the gui in winblows and u have to reboot the pc, that sux much rather boot into command line, fix the config/re install x, then start x.
THe ability to configure every single service on the pc. i mean that is beautiful and highly functional winblows doesnt allow u to configure any of the scripts by hand which makes troubleshooting a nightmare. and in linux each specific service is a different program, unlike winblows where 90% of the components are so intertwined that manual seperate and troubleshooting is near impossible.
Example:
i had a winblows 2k file server. it became corrupt for some reason. it couldnt tell what the error was nor was the corruption uniform. unexpected crashes, crashing after 3 hours of no input. replace with a mdk9 file server. Just completed the diagnostic on the old file server. windows (all versions) couldnt tell what was wrong. boot up once with mdk9 and it tells me the ram is faulty. Process of elimination (had 2 sticks of ram) and i did a quick install of mdk9, copied the remaining files to the new server, and now the old one is a test machine for os as the managing director is keen on the idea of moving of winblows onto linux for all the clients after how well the new file server and new gateway have been performing...Eat that bill gates.....
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